Before I Forget His Name novel · Chapter 15 of 24

Chapter 15: Not in a Lobby

Aldo Donati stood in the middle of the hospital lobby holding a bouquet of white roses, and people were already looking at him.

He had a soft face and silver hair and a gold ring on his smallest finger.

A man in a gray suit waited at his shoulder with a leather folder and a notary's stamp.

I came out of the elevator with Philip on one side and Bruno on the other.

Adriano stayed three steps behind me, as I had asked.

"Piccola." Aldo opened his arms. "Look at you. So thin. So brave."

I did not step into them.

I knew him. I had known him since I was a child, and Giulia had told me in a SoHo restaurant to stay far away from him.

"Mr. Donati," I said.

"Aldo, always Aldo." He laid the roses in my arms anyway. "I flew all night. I heard you were unwell, and I thought, a girl alone in a foreign country, with no one from her own family."

"I have people."

"Of course." He glanced past my shoulder, and his smile did not change. "Some of them are better company than others."

Adriano said nothing.

I felt him not say it. It filled the space behind me.

Aldo took the folder from the gray man and opened it on the information desk, where everyone could see.

"A small matter of paper. Last week you came to dinner at my house. You were very sweet. You signed over your father's shares in Pier Seven, so the Donatis could hold them for you while you were ill."

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