Venice
He Wasn’t Supposed to Say That.
Chapter 15 of Hold Fast takes Jason to Italy.
First stop: a stone farmhouse in the Veneto, olive trees in the yard, a kitchen that hasn’t changed since Rami was a child. Rami’s father is waiting. He pours three glasses of wine without asking and sits across from Jason and begins to measure him.
This is not a comfortable meal.
Jason has been nervous since the Gulfstream lifted off. Not about the flight. Not about Italy. About something else entirely — something he says on the plane to Rami that changes the itinerary before they even land.
But first: the table. The scarred wood. The copper pots. The question Rami’s father sets down like a weight in the middle of the room.
Do you understand what you’re getting into? With my son. With this family.
What Jason says next — without hesitating, looking the man directly in the eye — is not what anyone at that table expected.
It’s the moment Rami Moretti realizes exactly who he’s been falling for.
Chapter 15 is waiting at reamstories.com/romanhenrystories.
