Treasured Dreams (39 page)

Filippo twisted to her. ‘Shut up, Rosa.'

‘We did this for you.'

A blaze of red flooded Filippo's cheeks. ‘Bullshit. You selfish fucking bitch. You never did anything for me.'

Archer stood solid, his face a mask of defiance and fury. His eyes bounced from Nox to Filippo, to Rosalina, to the cliff, and Nox was certain he was planning every step of his attack.

‘Filippo, I love you.' Rosalina fell to her knees, clutching her stomach as if trying to tear her guts out.

Archer fell in at her side, his arms around her.

‘Family!' Nox said sarcastically. ‘Isn't it precious?'

Filippo spun to him so quick Nox was caught off-guard. His elbow came up fast and hard, ramming into Nox's ribs with the force of a sledgehammer. Nox's breath punched out of him as he doubled over.

‘Give me my fucking diamonds.' Filippo went for his pocket and Nox cracked the gun over his head.

Screaming and clutching his temple, Filippo stumbled backwards.

Out of the corner of his eye, Nox saw Archer reach behind his back. A glint of steel flashed in the sunlight, but when he looked at Filippo again, Nox knew what was coming. Filippo charged like a raging rhino. Nox didn't even blink. He drew up the weapon and fired. Filippo barely broke stride as the bullet tore through his shoulder.

Nox thought it would stop him. Instead, the unthinkable happened.

They both went over the cliff. A gnarled tree jutting out from the rocks glanced off Nox's back, and the blow created enough momentum to roll him sideways, edging him above Filippo.

With a loud crack, Filippo hit solid rock first. Nox landed hard at his side.

The wind slammed out of him. Pain ripped up his spine and his back blazed with fire. His legs were alien, somehow removed from his body. The sun's inferno was behind his eyes, burning his eyeballs from within.

As he lay there, gasping, Rosalina's screams mingled with the crashing waves.

His body was broken, every bone shattered like fractured ice. A wave crashed over him and his head rolled to the side. When he blinked back the salty water he saw diamonds,
his
diamonds dancing with the sunlight shimmering off the ocean.

He reached out and wrapped his fingers around a brilliant gemstone, and as he closed his eyes the pain washed away with the next wave.

Chapter Forty-Two

At the edge of the pier, Rosalina held both her Nonna's hand and Archer's hand as Jimmy guided
Evangeline
into her allocated berth at Marina Di San Vencenzo. The second the glass on the bridge moved out of the reflecting sun, she saw Jimmy's grinning face. Archer jumped aboard as soon as he could, but Rosalina waited until the engines turned off before she helped Nonna on board.

‘Watch your step, Nonna.'

‘Stop fussing. I'm fine.'

Nonna's stubbornness always surprised Rosalina. Her grandmother might look frail, but there was one hell of a strong woman within that thin frame. Nonna mumbled signs of approval as Rosalina led her along the main deck. Archer embraced his mother when she found him in the saloon. Helen actually looked healthier than when they'd left her with Jimmy in the Solomon Islands.

Rosalina hugged Helen to her chest. ‘How are you?'

‘Fantastic. We've had a grand time, haven't we, Jimmy?' Helen turned and grinned at Jimmy.

‘Yeah.' He thumped Archer in the shoulder. ‘You never told me your mum was a shark at the card table.'

Rosalina cringed at Jimmy's choice of the word ‘shark', but Archer's laughter saved her.

‘I had no idea you played cards, Mum.'

Helen grinned. ‘Your father and I played all the time. Didn't think I'd remember how.' She shrugged. ‘Guess it's like riding a bike.'

‘Pfft, is that what you reckon?' Jimmy huffed. ‘I think she's been zipping off to Vegas in her spare time. You should see her poker face.'

Leaving them to tussle it out, Rosalina tucked her arm beneath her grandmother's elbow and led her towards the galley. ‘Let me show you the kitchen.'

Nonna refrained from displaying any emotion as she touched all the surfaces. She opened and closed cupboards and drawers. It wasn't until she walked into the pantry that a look of pleasure lit up her face.

When Nonna finally emerged, her eyes beamed. ‘I've been waiting years for you to show me your home. It doesn't disappoint.'

Rosalina was taken aback. Her home was Villa Pandolfini, the seven-hundred-year-old villa that had raised four generations of the Calucci family. The home she was born in and lived in until the day she left to explore the world as a naïve twenty-two-year-old. That was eight years ago. She'd been living on
Evangeline
for just over seven years. It surprised her to calculate that it was more than one quarter of her life. Maybe it
was
time she called it home.

Alessandro and Ginger walked in, holding hands, and by the look on his face he was itching to tell them something. As Rosalina knew he would, he paused to say hello to everyone first, and she took the opportunity to lead Nonna to the lounges. She helped Nonna to sit and Helen sat beside her.

Alessandro rubbed his hands together. ‘I'm so pleased you are all here.' He reached for Ginger's hand, and Rosalina's breath hitched. She was certain he was about to announce their engagement and she readied to cheer.

‘We've spent the morning with Professor Sezoine.'

‘Beauty,' Jimmy said. ‘What'd he say?'

‘As we had hoped, the blue cylinder contained a scroll—'

‘We were lucky we didn't open it,' Ginger interrupted. ‘Because it had a vial of liquid in there that would've ruined the whole thing.'

‘Anyway,' Alessandro continued, ‘the scroll details an exchange that was made seven hundred years ago.'

Archer cocked his head, and Rosalina agreed with the confusion etched across his face. ‘The Calimala treasure?'

Alessandro clicked his fingers. ‘
Correcto
. We learnt that the priest who stole the treasure from the Church of St Apostoli, Tommasello da Lucca, was concerned about pirates. So he arranged for the ships to separate. The scroll inside the monkey statue constituted the deal he made with the three captains. The plan was that once he'd built his new church in Rhodes, he would arrange for the transportation of the rest of the treasure.'

Jimmy clapped his hands together with a loud crack. ‘But he never made it.'

Alessandro pointed his finger at Jimmy. ‘
Correcto
. So the treasure could still be hidden where it was buried centuries ago.'

Jimmy swatted Alessandro across the shoulder. ‘So spit it out, Sherlock. Where'd they bury it?'

Alessandro's thick eyebrows bounced together. ‘Abu Simbel Temple in Egypt.'

‘Holy shit, that's fantastic.' Jimmy clapped his enormous hands together with a loud crack.

Rosalina felt Archer looking at her, and she glanced in his direction. A shadow played across his eyes. He was torn. The excitement of yet another treasure hunt was right at his fingertips, but she'd already asked him for a break from treasure hunting for a while.

‘But …' Alessandro caught her attention, ‘there's one problem.'

Jimmy scrunched up his nose. ‘Let me guess—more bad guys.'

Rosalina's mind drifted to the picture of Nox in the hospital bed that she'd seen on the news yesterday. His back was broken, they'd said, and he may never walk again. She felt no pity. He was a murderer, though not convicted yet. The trial would be months away as the police continued to piece together and gather evidence to the mounting atrocities he'd committed.

‘Worse than bad buys.' Ginger's comment dragged Rosalina from her mental drifting.

‘I don't think that's possible.' She joined in the conversation.

Alessandro's bushy eyebrows launched upwards, and he cleared his throat. ‘Abu Simbel temple was relocated in 1968 to save it from being submerged when they built the Aswan High Dam.'

‘Which means our treasure is somewhere beneath Lake Nasser,' Ginger said it like she was announcing a party or something.

Archer's jaw dropped.

As did Jimmy's. ‘It's in a lake? In Egypt?'

‘That's what we believe.' Alessandro twisted his hands together.

Nonna clapped her hands together. ‘Oh, how exciting. The way you gather these clues together is
affascinante
. So are you going to look for it?'

Rosalina frowned at her. ‘Nonna?'

‘What, Rosa? Hardly anyone lives the exciting life you have. I think it's wonderful.'

‘Me too.' Jimmy beamed.

Rosalina shot Jimmy a look, and the smile slipped from his face.

‘What?' He shrugged.

Rosalina turned her knees towards her grandmother. ‘Nonna, these treasure hunts take me away from you.' She owed it to her family to be there for them now. It didn't matter what Archer said, or the rest of her family—Filippo's death was her fault.

‘
Ridicolo
.' Nonna scowled. ‘You phone me all the time. I speak to you more than I speak to all the family put together.'

Rosalina looked deep into Nonna's dark eyes. ‘Really?'

‘Yes, really. They're so busy with careers and
bambini
.' She flicked her hand as if brushing away flies. ‘It is
importante
to me that you enjoy your life.'

Rosalina swallowed and stood up. She reached out for Archer, and he strode to her side and draped his arm over her shoulder.

‘Nonna.' She glanced at all of them before she fixed her eyes on her grandmother. ‘We have some news. Archer and I are having a baby.'

Nonna clapped, everybody cheered, and Archer kissed her temple. He then looked at his mother, beaming. ‘You're going to be a grandma, Mum.'

Tears sprung to Helen's eyes. ‘Wonderful.' Her chin dimpled. ‘Wonderful, wonderful.'

Nonna tried to jump up but fell down again and Rosalina giggled as she lowered to her knees at her side and wrapped her arms around her frail old grandmother, the most important woman in the world to her. ‘This is why we can't go on any more treasure hunts, Nonna. We're going to be a family.'

Nonna squeezed her then pulled back. She waved her hand in an arc, taking in the people surrounding them. ‘Darling, this is your family too. You've been together for many years and it's time you accepted this. Treasure hunting is what you do, and from what you've told me, you are very good.' She raised one eyebrow. ‘Maybe I can come with you one day.'

Rosalina felt her eyes bulge. ‘Really?'

‘
Certamente!'
Nonna clasped Rosalina's hand within hers. ‘Rosa, every time you speak of what you do, you have gleaming in your eyes. You are living your dream. Not many
popolo
do.'

‘I'll drink to that.' Jimmy held up an imaginary drink.

‘I think we should all have a drink. Except you, Rosa.' Ginger giggled and trotted off towards the bar with Alessandro following her.

They were soon swept up in an impromptu party, and it was several hours later when Rosalina was in the kitchen, checking on the savoury scrolls Nonna had baked that Archer wrapped his arms around her stomach.

‘Gotcha,' he said. ‘How's my gorgeous baby-maker going?'

She snuggled into him. ‘You won't be able to do that soon.' At twelve weeks, she was just beginning to show signs of her pregnancy. ‘I'm sorry I announced our pregnancy like that.' She'd had trouble convincing Archer to keep it a secret, and they had previously agreed to make an occasion of their announcement.

He picked her up, placed her on the bench and nudged his hips between her knees. ‘Are you kidding? It couldn't have gone better if we'd planned it.'

She pressed her forehead against his. ‘I'm sorry, babe.'

‘Why?'

‘For being so selfish.'

He pulled back. ‘You're not—'

She placed a finger on his lips, hushing him. ‘Our childhoods were very different. Our families were different. Our homes were different. And I'd always stubbornly believed mine was better. But I was wrong, Arch. What we have here …' She glanced about the room. ‘This is the best home in the world. It's the perfect place to raise children.'

He tilted his head and the kitchen lights caught the golden halo of flecks around his dark irises. ‘Are you sure, baby?'

‘I'm more than sure. I'm convinced.'

‘What about the treasure hunting?'

It scared her to answer, not because she didn't believe it was right, for now. But neither of them had any comprehension of how their lives would change once their little baby came into the world. But even as the debate rolled around her head, she knew that with
Evangeline
as their home, and Archer as the father, this little baby would have the best of everything.

‘I think we should do it quickly, before this baby takes over our lives.'

‘Are you serious? We're still treasure hunting?' His eyes searched hers, no doubt seeking truth.

She cupped his cheeks and drew him in for a lingering kiss. ‘Yes, we're still treasure hunting.'

Author's Note:

The
Awa Maru
was a Japanese ocean liner that was requisitioned by the Japanese Navy during World War Two. Whilst the author has detailed some truth of the ship's history and its ultimate sinking near the end of the war, many details have also been fictionalised for the purpose of this story. The
Awa Maru
was also rumoured to be involved in billions of dollars' worth of missing treasure and the priceless Peking Man skulls. Some of these details have also been fictionalised for the purpose of this story.

Thanks for reading
Treasured Dreams
. I hope you enjoyed it.

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