BAGIANNI
Twish I could say the satisfaction of claiming my woman has calmed me down, but that’s not exactly true. I know she’s mine; nó one’s taking her from me
Certainly not some sleazy piece of shit like Donovan Moroni. His last name is the only reason he’s still breathing. That and the witnesses present at the restaurant
Still, I’ve been insulted. That kid was supposed to be here to meet rey daughter, not to feel up another girl while sitting at the same table as Tatiana Jack had better do a lot of thinking on how to make this up to me. If not, I’ll set the terms myself.
Terms he will not like much
Our table is empty now, and our servers stand around looking guilty and confused.
“Sorry to have broken things up,” I murmur, but it’s Tatiana I’m concerned with now. Scanning the dining room, I find her sitting alone at the bar, nursing a glass of wine. Something about the way she holds herself gives off aDo Not Approachsignal. but I’m her father. That sort of shit doesn’t work on me.
She spots me in the mirror behind the rows of bottles along the wall and cuts me off before I’ve said a word. “That’s who you were going to marry me off to, huh? A real Prince Charming”
I can’t hold back a sigh. “There was never any real chance of a marriage.”
“Of course. How could I forget? I’m a pawn.”
“You’re being a little dramatic, don’t you think?”
“No, I don’L How could you even give that guy the idea I would marry his son? You didn’t even ask me about it
“How many times do I have to explain myself, Tatiana? It would never happen. You’re making a big deal out of nothing ”
“I didn’t like that Jack guy looking me up and down like some prize heifer”
“I didn’t like it, either.”
“You didn’t stop him, though.” She stares down into her glass, baling her lip Dressed the way she is, she could go to any club in the city at this very moment and have her choice of any man. I’d have to break their hands for touching her, of course
Right now, she’s my little girl. Unsure of herself and lost in her feelings.
“It was business,” I remind her, gentler this time–gentler than normally am “Emotions can’t get involved with business.”
I catch my mistake when she lifts an eyebrow, but it’s too late. “So, you weren’t emotional back there at the table? She arches the other eyebrow and folds her arms
“That’s a different story.”
“Is it, though?”
“What was I supposed to do? I would have stopped him if it was you he was fondling under the table, too. You know I would have. That’s unacceptable ”
When she dips her chin, I tilt it upward with one finger until her green eyes meet mine. “He insulted you, too. It I wasn’t already planning on fucking that Moroni bastard over, I would start making my plans now.”
Her lips twitch. “I should’ve known.”
“Anyway, Thaven’t forgotten you aren’t on the market, even if I am waiting for Christopher to thank me for those suits you bought him.”
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It isn’t my imagination. The light leaves her eyes a split second before she pulls free, examining her wine glass and avolding my gaze again. “I don’t know if you’ll see him anytime soon.”
“Why not?” Something about the way she says that–her flat vol me I haven’t paid her a lot of attention since she got home. I have to life in the back of my mind. “What’s going on with you two? Du
the sadness running like a river under her words–reminds asked the important questions, and now uncertainty stirs need to have a conversation with him?”
“Not everything can be fixed with a conversation.” She smirks, and there is a deep wisdom and understanding in the way she looks at me. “Not even the kind ofconversation you would have.”
I’m wondering if I’ve kept her as far from my work as I’ve always imagined.
“What are you trying to say? And now I’m prepared to close out the night by paying Christopher a visit to make sure he pays me back in blood. “What happened when you were gone?”
Instead of being straight with me, she wraps her shawl a little tighter around her shoulders. “Where’s Caterina?”
“Don’t change the subject.” Although, that is a good question. I didn’t expect her to take this long. “She went to the ladies” room. Can you go check?”
“What, you mean you’re not going to storm into the girls‘ bathroom? You own the place.” Still, she gets up from her stool and walks to the back while shaking her head.
She doesn’t reach the swinging door before an ear–splitting shriekslices through the air. The wailing of an alarm. Diners look up from their plates, and a few of them push out of their chairs and climb to their feet. The hostess cuts across the room, ponytail swinging, and instinct forces me to follow her.
“Someone tripped the emergency exit,” she calls out, but the siren almost swallows her voice.
Tatiana stands in the bathroom doorway, holding the door open wah one hand. She grabs my sleeve as I pass. “Did you say she was in here? Because she isn’t”
No, not this. Anything but this.
I break free of her grasp and run the rest of the way down the hall, st the empty banquet rooms, and out through the emergency exit, which empties onto a line of dumpsters and employee parking. “There!” I shout to Roger when he falls in next to me, pointing to a pair of taillights dwindling to pinpoints before they blink out. “There she is.”
I don’t know how I’m so sure, only that I am. Part of my soul is in that car, and somebody is taking it away from me. The weight of that knowledge threatens to buckle my knees.
“Dad, what’s happening?”
Ispin in place to find Tatiana shivering despite the heavy humidity Thunder rolls across the sky before the sky opens, and rain spatters the ground, adding to the sense of everything falling the fuck to pieces.
“Somebody took her.” I take one more look in the direction the car disappeared before pulling Tatjana back inside the building.
But we’re going to get her.”
“Why?” Her lips pull back from her teeth in a horrified grimace. “don’t understand!”
“Neither do I. I’m going to need you to listen to everything I say and do what you’re told “With one hand firmly around her arm, I direct her back to the dining room. Some heroic soul cuts the alarm, but somehow the silence is more deafening.
Roger and 1 exchange a look. “The tracker,” I remind him, and immediately he pulls out his phone.
What tracker? What is happening? Then, before I can order her outside to our car, she gasps. “Maybe it was Luciano.”
Jcan hardly keep up!
with the rush of thoughts running through my head. All my frenzied subconscious can latch onto is that
- me. Luciano
“What does he have to do with this?”
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day outside the store. I didn’t think I mean, I figured –
“We saw him today
“Slow down.” I take her face in my shaking hands. “Breathe. Tell e what happened.”
“He just came out of nowhere, and he looked crazy. But I kind of lighed it off because I figured he was just being a loser and trying to get her back.” Her chin quivers, her eyes welling up withars. “That’s what he’s doing, right? He took her so that he can convince her to stay with him?”
Fucking hell, and I did not know. “She didn’t tell you?”
“Didn’t tell me what?”
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“It was Luciano who hit her with the cat,” Roger says, rather than leave the announcement to me.
“Are you fucking serious?” Her scream echoes through the dining room. We already had an audience. What’s more attention on ms? “Why didn’t she tell me?”
“One thing at a time. We don’t know if he took her.” Or what he hopes to get out of this can’t imagine it wasn’t him. Especially if he confronted the girls earlier today. If one of them had inkime bout that, and I’d known he was in the area, I could’ve been on alert. I could’ve stopped this from happening.
“I have the signal from her phone.” Roger shows the the screen, where a blinking blue dot tells me she’s moving
Dad, please, find her. Please get her back!” Tatiana is weeping as wrap any arm around her shoulders and walk her out of the dining room with Roger on our heels. A snap of my fingers and theatr of guards waiting under the awning in front of the restaurant jump to attention, Damn it, it never occurred to me to have any in the back. I wan’t thinking. Why wasn’t I thinking? I’ll never forgive myself-
Stop it Focus. She needs you.
“Take Tatiana home,” I tell them, raising my voice to be heard over the storm. “Then wait for further instructions.”
Roger heads for the second car and is already behind the wheel before 1 join him. The tires squeal across the pavement before I’ve closed the door.
“We can’t afford to chase them down,” Roger says as he speeds through the lot before bursting out onto the access road running behind the restaurant, “He might try to outrun us.
He doesn’t have to say anything more. I’m as aware of how this could end up as he is, already playing out every possibility in my racing mind.
“That doesn’t mean you need to drive like an old woman. Move “Luciano–it it is Luciano–is already miles ahead of us. What he drives them both off a bridge? Or deliberately slam into the concrete wall of an overpass at top speed? The way Tatiana described him, he’s completely unpredictable.
I should have tried harder. Should have stopped at nothing before finding him.
“Where the fuck has he been?” 1 demand, punching the door.
“For all we know, he could’ve been living out of his car all this time.” He glances my way before weaving around a line of cars traveling too slowly. “You did everything you could.”
That doesn’t matter. “It wasn’t enough.”
And I will never forgive myself if my failure means losing her forever.
CATERINA
“You’re safe now. You don’t have to be afraid of him anymore.
All I can do is groan. My head is so heavy, just like my eyelids. I cant open them. I’m so tired, and it feels like I’m still dreaming even though I know I’m awake. Stupid pain meds always mess me up like this
Wait. No. I’m not taking them anymore.
The voice comes back, weaving its way through my foggy brain. “I know you didn’t want to listen to me. That’s why I had to do this. You let me no choice, but it’s for your own good. You’ll see.”
If I didn’t know better, I would swear it was Luciano talking. I must still be dreaming or caught between a dream and reality.
It’s storming outside, and the sound of thunder and fat raindrops batting the windows makes me want to go back to sleep.
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“Gianni” I whisper while I cut into a ball. I want him close to me I want to sleep safe and warm in his arms while a storm
“You never have to be afraid of him again. I don’t care how long it takes. You’re going to forget Glanni Rossetil ever existed.
Walt
I’m not in Gianni’s bed.
And I am not dreaming.
That really is Luciano murmuring close to where I lie
1 force air into my nostrils. My mind is on the fringes of panic. Instead of the familiar, spicy scent of Gianni’s skin on the sheets. it’s wood I smell. Lots of wood, like I’m in a room filled with it. Or made of it. The mattress under me has springs that poke into my hip and shoulder.
Lightning flashes bright enough that I see it from behind my closed eyelids, and it’s followed by a clap of thunder that shakes the room. Lean’t pretend to be asleep, not with Luciano so close. And I know he’s close. I smell his acrid sweat, the way I did outside the store and in the bathroom, where he knocked me out Kidnapped me.
I should’ve taken him more seriously. Why did I think I was doing him a favor by letting him live?
“What…what’s going on?” 1 force my heavy eyelids open. My vision is blurry, and it takes me a moment to fully see the Bat once my eyes focus, 1 find him sitting in an armchair beside the bed. His intense stare makes my skin crawlStay calm Reason with him.“Is this your parents‘ cabin?”
A soft smile touches his lips. It’s obscene looking. “I knew you would remember.”
“Is this where you’ve been living?” There are dirty clothes in one comer, and faint food smells come through the open bedroom door, giving me my answer.
“I’ve been here a few days.”
“But why?”
“Ineeded somewhere to go.”
“Don’t you have a place?”
“I don’t want to talk about that right now. I want to talk about you? When he leans in, I have to force myself not to recoil in disgust. This is not the Luciano I used to know, who would spend longer in the bathroom getting ready to go out than I would Even though he only worked at a gym, there was never a hair out of place and no stubble on his cheeks. He was clean and mostly respectful. This version of him looks like he just crawled out of a sewer and smells about as good, too.
“Okay, let’s talk about me then.” I have to get out of here. At least I know where we are, can’t get the keys to his car
but that o
it doesn’t do me any good if I
Through the frantic thoughts bouncing around my head, I try to zero in on the layout of the cabin in my memory. Down the stairs, front door straight ahead. Maybe he left the keys by the door if they’re not on him right now. Can I get him to take me down to the kitchen so I can get a look?
I got you away from him. Finally. You’re safe now. He’ll never find you here.”
Gentle Becareful Who told you I was in danger?”
His eyes darken, and his voice slides into a growl “Somebody who would know.”
What does that mean? “Luciano, I’m fine.”
He grits his teeth. “You were groomed, you mean.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
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“Ilonow about everything,” he growls. “I know it was Cilami who called me that night at the clubs. Did he force you? Jest to make
“Na. He never forced me.”
“Right, because he got in your head. He didn’t have to.” He snickers in the way that says he thinks he knows better. “I used to think you were small.”
Even if I want to laugh, I need to be gentle. “I’m sorry, but whoever you got your information from, they’re wrong Whatever is between us is between us, and it’s what I want. I really am sorry if Llorts you-
“Hurts me?” Icringe at the way he jumps out of his chair, his fist balled up tight. His expression is crazed “How could you let somebody like him touch you? How could you let him fuck you? Do you know what he does? Do you know how he made all that money he has? Do you even know the type of person be ly? The monster you’ve been sleeping with?”
It takes all my determination to not back down from his temper. One of us has to stay calm. “Yes I do”
“Are you sure of that? Or do you only know what he wants you to low
“I know plenty.” It isn’t easy keeping my voice neutral. Just like it’s not easy to keep from shaking when I see eye. The one that tells me he’s capable of doing anything that will keep me where he wants me
that look in his
“Do you know he’s a fucking murderer, Caterina?” He sneers. “Ion’t believe you let a filthy fucking murderer inside you? I know I wasn’t the best boyfriend and made mistakes, but I never killed anyone.”
“It’s okay, Luciano. Everything is going to be okay.”
His head snaps back from the shock of my words, his eyes bulging so much it looks like they’re going to fall out of his head. “It’s not okay. Nothing is okay. How can you sit there and act like anything about him is sane? Do you think the things he’s doing are okay? What the fuck did he do to you?
My defenses are up. I can’t bite my tongue on this one.
“Ican
tell you one thing he never did to me,” 1 blurt out because I’m sick of his sanctimonious attitude. It’s probably a bad move, but something has to snap him back to reality. “He’s never tried to run me down in the street. He’s never tried to kill me.”
“How do you know about that?”
“Why would I have brought it up today, outside the store? I know exactly what you did. You’re alive right now because I told Gianni not to kill you because I didn’t want you to die for making a mistake.”
Immediately, I regret what I’ve said. I know it the second his featurs soften, and he releases a long sigh, with his head tipping to the side. “I knew it.”
His reaction sends fear skittering up my spine. “What did you know?”
“We’re not over. We will never be over.” A flash of lightning illuminates his Lace. The circles under his wide, crazy eyes look darker. “You covered for me. You protected me.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Luciano. I’m sorry, but you don’L‘
He’s faster than I recall. Before I know it, he’s on top of me, taking my wrists in his hands when I beat at him with my fists.” This is what’s meant to be.” He forces my arms apart and pius myrists to the bed.
“No! No, no, don’t do this!” I’m a wild animal, bucking and kicking, twisting from side to side because I need to get him off me. I have to. This has to stop.
But no, he wedges his knee between mine and forces my legs apart“Don’t make me hurt you,” he says in a strained voice. “You mean so much to me. I didn’t mean to do it. I wanted to scare you, that’s all ”
This is going to break me. This is where I shatter into pieces so tiny that no one will ever put them back together,
His sweat drips onto my cheek, and I scream in horror. This is happening, no matter how hard I tight.
- t. He’s too strong. “Please,
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don’t!” I can hardly hear my pleas over the constant rumble of thunder shaking the cabin. The storms at its peak, adding to the blood–curdling nightmare I can’t wake up from.
“Stop… fighting”
I won’t. I can’t “No!”
“Get your fucking hands off her!”
Luciano freezes, and so do I for a heartbeat before I crane my neck see who’s standing in the doorway
A flash of lightning reveals a soaked, very enraged Ganni. He’s a lion ready to strike. Nothing has ever looked better
A second flash reveals the gun in his hand, aimed right at Luciano Get Off Her
Luciano pushes up onto his knees. I can’t see his face, but he’s going to break my wrists if he squeezes any tighter. “You. This is all your fault. You destroyed her.”
“Luciano “My throat’s so tight I can hardly whisper. “Listen to him.”
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don’t!” I can hardly hear my pleas over the constant rumble of thunder shaking the cabin. The storm is at its peak, adding to the blood–curdling nightmare I can’t wake up from.
“Stop… fighting”
I won’t. I can’t “No!”
“Get your fucking hands off her!”
Luciano freezes, and so do I for a heartbeat before I crane my neck to see who’s standing in the doorway.
A flash of lightning reveals a soaked, very enraged Gianni. He’s a lion ready to strike. Nothing has ever looked better.
A second flash reveals the gun in his hand, aimed right at Luciano Get. Off. Her.”
Luciano pushes up onto his knees. I can’t see his face, but he’s going to break my wrists if he squeezes any tighter. “You. This is all your fault. You destroyed her.”
“Luciano.” My throat’s so tight I can hardly whisper. “Listen to him.”
33-2
He doesn’t listen to either of m, letting go of one of my wrists to reach for something at his side. All I catch from the comer of my eye is the plint of steel before he touches the cold switchblade to my throat, I can’t breathe Tran’t do anything but here helpless, afraid of what will happen next.
“I’d rather see her dead than bet you put your hands on her again, he snarls at Gianl
It all happens so fast. The boom of the gum as it goesult. The spray of warm blood across my face. The sudden release of my wrist He drops the blade before falling onto his side. For a inmeti, I can’t comprehend what has happened
A scream rips from my throat There’s so much blood is blond.
Gianni’s hands roam my body, touching my face, arms, and legs. All I can see is his face filling my vision. His hands cup my checks, and they’re warm, so won.
“Are you okay? Did he hurt you at all?”
He’s here. I’m sate. There’s so much blood, Luciano is dead, but I’m safe. My screams fade to gasps as I try to suck in enough air to clear my head. I’m okay. It’s over.
There’s a dead body sprawled across my leg. Bile rises up my throat 1 startle when Roger comes in, but Gianni’s arms hold me in place.
“All clear,” he says, looking around the room. “Is she okay?”
I don’t know what to say. I don’t think I can speak. All I can do is keep my eyes away from Luciano. He’s dead, and his blood is on my face. It mixes with the raindrops that soak Glanni and drip down onto me.
Roger pulls out his phone and starts barking instructions while Gianni lifts me out of bed. “We need to go.”
“But..
He turns my face away from the bed and angles me toward the door “Now. We’re leaving I’m taking you home, and Roger will take care of this. We’ll make it look like a suicide.”
I hear him, but nothing he’s saying sinks in. Like my subconscious doesn’t want to accept what’s happening
Gianni guides me to the stairs, but my feet won’t take me down. I can’t move anymore. Lean hardly breathe, there’s no air in the room. Why am I so cold? My teeth are chattering
I hardly notice him picking me up and carrying me down the stairs Only the rain pelting my face once we’re outside snaps me out of the worst of the shock. Lightning zigzags across the sky, and 1 bury my face against Gianni’s neck until we reach the car, where he lowers me into the passenger seat and buckles the seatbelt for me.
The rain sounds like hundreds of little gunshots going off at once as it pounds against the root. I fight off the urge to cover my ears while Gianni gets behind the wheel and starts the engine.
“Roger?” I murmur, looking back at the cabin. How many other cabins around the lake are being used right now? Did anyone hear the shot? Maybe not over the thunder.
“He’s staying behind. He’ll get a ride back with the cleanup crew.
He pulls away, and soon we’re rolling down the muddy road. The lices send jets of water shooting up both sides of the car, and lightning highlights the dark, towering trees.
Dead Dead. He’s dead.
Gianni killed him
Glanni saved me.
“You’re safe now.” Gianni’s calm voice slices through the fog in my head, the way lightning slices through the sky. “I’m sorry,
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I’m too exhausted to speak. All I see is the blood. It all happened so fast. One minute he was there, and the next, he was
“I will never let anyone hurt you again.”
I want to tell him I believe him but can’t make my mouth work.
He was alive, and then he wasn’t.
I must zone out for a while because, the next thing I know, the cars swinging through the front gate of the compound. We haven’t reached the courtyard yet when the front door flies open, and Tatiaria comes running down the front steps in the rain.
“Oh, my god!” She practically pulls me out of the car before squeezing me hard enough to make my ribs ache. “Thank God! Are you okay? Did he
“Get her inside,” Gianni urges, before nudging us both toward the house.
“She needs to get cleaned up
He touches my shoulder, and I don’t know what makes me do it. The memory of the gunshot, or how easy it was for him to blow a man’s brains out. He didn’t even hesitate. How could be end someone’s life so easily? Whatever the reason, I flinch away from his hand and cling to Tatiana. His jaw works, but he doesn’t say a word.
“I’ll take care of it.” She steers me toward her wing once we’re inside, and I’m glad to let her take the lead. I can barely think, much less anything else. I’m numb. Why can’t I feel anything?
Come on, sweetie. You need a shower, clean pajamas, and a few days in bed.” Tatiana’s voice is soothing. It brings tears to my eyes. At least something’s getting through to me.
If she notices the blood on my face, she ignores it once we’re in the bathroom. She turns the shower on, and it doesn’t take long for steam to fill the space. I peel off my tom, soaked dress and let it fall in a sodden heap at my feet.
She helps me under the water and closes the shower door while I tip my head back to let what’s left of Luciano’s blood run over my skin and down the drain. The longer I stand here, the clearer I can think. The world comes back to me.
“You okay in there?” She pokes her head into the bathroom, and hits me that I have no idea how long I’ve been standing here.
I’m okay.” I shampoo my hair, and she’s cleaned up my messy clothes by the time I’ve rinsed it out. It’s enough for her to be here with me. A reminder that I’m safe.
“I’m just so glad he found you so quickly.”
“Me too,” I choke out. I’m halfway through scrubbing my arms–trying to keep from staring at my bruised wrists–by the time
it sinks in.
He knew where to find me. It didn’t even take long
“How did he know where I was? Did he tell you?”
“There was some kind of tracking app on your phone.
“He was tracking my phone?”
It should be the last thing on my mind, but it’s merely another brick on top of all the others. Once again, he’s invaded my privacy. I’m glad to be out of that cabin and safe, but I’m not safe i can’t have a single second to myself. It wasn’t enough for him to watch me. He has to know where I am, literally at all times.
What happens when he isn’t satisfied with that anymore? He might decide to keep me around the house instead. It’s not like he’s never threatened me with that before. Tying me to the bed and all. What if I’m the next person he kills? He threatened that once before. Alter witnessing the results first–hand, I have no doubt he’d kill me if he wanted to
“He doesn’t trust me,” I whisper, trembling under the hot water
“He doesn’t trust anybody,” she says with a sigh. Through the shower door, I see she’s finished changing into pajamas and is
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now taking off her makeup at the sink
*Why not?”
“I think my mom really fucked him sap, and now he can’t trust any woman.” She shrugs at her reflection, “thave no idea how his brain works. I’d be too afraid to dive in.”
She can feel that way, but I can’t. Our relationship is different. I need to understand him.
By the time I’ve finished rinsing off, there’s not a doubt in my mine. All my body wants is Gianni–the comfort of his tooch, his strong arms wrapped around me. Nothing in the world can hurt me so long as I’m with him.
Not quite Ime. There is something that could hurt me Glanni hanself. That’s the problem. The closer I get to him, the easier it is for him to cause me pain with his distrust and seTCLL
He has no problem killing a man and walking away. His crew will clean it up, and it’ll seem like it never happened. Ishould be prateful, but deep down, it terrifies me. What kind of person am 1, keeping a secret like this? Knowing Luciano didn’t commit suicide, the way they’re going to make it look. His parents will carry that with them until the day they die.
Is it better for them to know he lost his mind and was trying to rape me?
This is the world Gianni inhabits. The world he wants me to be a part of How much worse is it going to get? How many secrets will keep before they rot me from the inside out? While I waste away, locked up because he’ll never trust me
Topen the shower door and wrap a towell around myself before stepping out. “I need to leave.”
Tatiana lowers the towel she’s drying her face with. “What do you mean? Don’t be cash. You’re still in shock.”
“Maybe a little,” I admit, “but I have to do this. I can’t this can’t It’s too much. The pressure on my chest feels heavy again.
“Where will you go?*
“I don’t know. My dad’s, I guess.”
“But why?”
“Don’t make me explain, please.”
“You can’t come at me with an announcement like th
that and expect me to let you go without asking you questions”
I know she’s right, which is the only reason bother putting my feelings into words as I rush into her room barefoot and wrapped in a towel. It must’ve been instinct that made me keep my stuff on her side of the house instead of moving it into Gianni’s room. Like there was a part of me that always knew this wouldn’t work out and wanted to protect itself.
“I can’t do this,” I whisper while pulling bags from the closet. I’monly revisiting the same situation I was in more than a week ago, packing in a hurry, ready to run. Isn’t that the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over, even when the outcome never changes.
“Can’t do what?” She stands back and lets me p
me park, at least, instead of getting in my way.
“This. All of this. I won’t stay with a man who’d install a tracking app on my phone without my knowledge. What else has he done then I don’t know about?” I glance up from the drawer full of underwear I’m clearing out to find her face pinched in pain.” I’m sorry. I’m not trying to hurt you.”
“You“re sorry?” Amanic laugh escapes her. “I’m the one who should be sorry. Not you. I know I didn’t do anything wrong, but he’s still my dad.”
“None of this is your responsibility.”
I still feel like shit. Plus, I was the one who told you about the tracker ”
**You told me the truth, and that’s probably more than I’ve gotten before now.” I can hardly think. I’m so angry and frustrated. How could he betray me like this?
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“You’re not really going to your dad’s, are you? You know, if you show up like this, he’ll assume something’s wrong. He’s not going to let it go, and then you’ll have to explain everything to him
L
She’s right. One look, and he’ll know something is wrong. Then lock me away for who k hurt his little girl, and that would be without knowing the truth.
i knows how long because somebody
“1” figure it out.”
“He’s going to expect an explanation. He’s a detective for a reason”
“Then I won’t be upset. Simple.”
Tatiana rolls her green eyes. “Then he’ll want to know why you’re there.”
“Jesus. I’ll make something up. I’ll figure it out.”
She sighs, her shoulders sinking “Was it Luciano who took you from the restaurant?
I can’t speak over the lump in my throat, so I nod
“You come back here in shock, with blond all over you Her breath hitches. “He’s dead, isn’t he?”
I don’t realize my legs have buckled beneath me until Tatiana’s arms circle my waist, holding me up. “I’m sorry. But I had to know. It’s true, isn’t it?” All I can do is nod because, of course, she knew with nobody having to say the words
“Hearing it.” I whisper before choking up.
“If your dad gets even a hint of there being something wrong with Luciano… and if Luciano goes missing officially… if his parents go to the police.”
And I’m not a very good liar, at least not when living with the man, Telling a few libs over lunch is one thing, but being in the same house… It’s inevitable that I’ll let something slip.
“Then I’ll go to a hotel.” I gently push her away and slip into a pairot leggings and a T–shirt chosen at random. Tonly know I need to get out of here before he talks me into staying
“We’llgo to a hotel.”
“No, you don’t-”
“Shut up.
Like I would leave you alone right now. That’s not what trends do. You’re in shock, and it something happened to you. No. I’m going ”
Ishake my head. “I’m not trying to drag you into this.”
“You’re not dragging me into shit. I love my dad, and I’m glad he found you and brought you back, but he’s not my favorite person right now. He’s made some serious errors lately, not to mention he used me as leverage for a fucking business deal. Do you know how insulting that is? I’m not a fucking object to be bid on.”
No, I can’t imagine, but I know what it feels like to be hurt by him,
There is no talking her out of this. She grabs a bag from the closet and starts packing “Forget it. I’m going with you, so move
your ass.
Even though it’s painful to move my ass, I do it. I don’t want to do this. It hurts so much. Like I’m physically being torn in two But I refuse to live the rest of my life in a cage. If it means having my heart ripped out for the sake of protecting myself in the future, that’s the way it needs to be. And that’s what I tell myself as Tatiana and I sneak out of the house in the middle of the night, the storm still blowing hard, but not as brutally as before. We look over our shoulders as we run, bags in hand, before fleeing in my car like a couple of escaped convicts.
That’s exactly how I feel. Like I just broke out of prison.
A prison I walked into with my eyes wide open.
