Deadly Affair: SCVC Taskforce World Novella (SCVC Taskforce Romantic Suspense Series Book 5) by Misty Evans, Amy Manemann Page A

ice cream on it. “You’re right, we don’t know Roberto Verdoni,” Celina said, “or Ana for that matter. But you do, and I have a feeling you know more than you’re letting on. Am I wrong?”
    Uneasily, Elizabeth glanced at Cooper, back to Celina. “You said you were here unofficially. I assume you’re not telling me something about this?”
    Celina met Cooper’s gaze, saw his jaw tighten. They couldn’t divulge anything. Nothing had been confirmed, and they were only running on a theory. The bones would undergo DNA testing and a host of other tests, but that could take days, even months.
    Which was why after they’d returned to their room last night, Cooper had put in a call to his boss, Victor Dupé, to see if he could get things pushed along faster. Getting a direct call from the Director of the West Coast FBI tended to make people scramble, and with any luck they would have the results back sooner rather than later.
    Until then, they were on their own.
    “I wish I could tell you everything,” Celina said, “but at the moment, we know very little and are simply working on hunches. We’d appreciate anything you can tell us about your former student.”
    Elizabeth seemed to deflate slightly on a deep exhale. She looked away, toward the floor. “Ana turned eighteen that summer, the summer she disappeared, and everything was about to change. You see, from the time she was a young girl, she was set on the path to becoming a nun. It was what her father wanted, what the first born daughters on her father’s side of the family had always done. It wasn’t what Ana wanted, though.”
    “What about Ana’s mother?”
    “She didn’t agree with it. I heard many arguments in the time I spent as Ana’s tutor. Meredith and Roberto would argue in the library, and you could hear them shouting even with the door closed. Those arguments I could handle. It was the ones where they were oddly quiet that disturbed me the most, for it was after those particular arguments that Meredith would take great care in keeping her face hidden from prying eyes. But I saw the bruises. I knew what he had done.”
    Elizabeth shuddered from the old memories washing over her. “Ana was their only child, and Meredith wanted her to marry and have children. Roberto would not hear of it. Family tradition dictated that the first daughter born was to become a nun, and Ana was that. He refused to budge.”
    Celina was saddened by the story. She could very well imagine the thoughts of a young Ana, on the precipice of becoming a woman but already having her entire life mapped out for her.
    “Did Mrs. Verdoni ever report the abuse?” Cooper asked.
    Elizabeth shook her head. “Roberto was a very influential man in Paso Vallejo. He still is. There was no one here who would have helped her.”
    “What about Ana?” Celina asked, her hand instinctively going to her belly. “Did she know what was going on? Did Roberto ever hit her?”
    “Not that I’m aware of. Ana knew her parent’s marriage wasn’t the greatest, though I’m not certain she knew the full details. The bruises, though? She couldn’t have missed those.”
    “And you said becoming a nun wasn’t what Ana wanted?”
    “She wanted love.” Elizabeth sighed. “And she had it. She fell deeply in love and wanted to marry the young man, but it was going to be the scandal of all scandals in this town. She knew her father would never approve, so the two kids met in secret. I helped them—God forgive me. Ana needed a confidant, and I suppose I was the closest one she had. Considering the scandal she was about to bring down on everyone, she didn’t even trust her friends.”
    “Classic Romeo and Juliet,” Celina mused.
    “Who was the guy?” Cooper asked. “This Romeo.”
    Elizabeth rolled her lips in for a moment, hesitant even now.
    “Ana is gone,” Celina said. “She may even be dead. You can’t hurt her by divulging the truth.”
    A heavy sigh left Elizabeth’s mouth and