I notice him reaching for his left wrist, rubbing it gently, the action subconscious. He’s shifty, more on edge than I’ve ever seen him. I chew on my bottom lip, growing worried.
“Why can’t I stay in the city, Carlos?”
“Because I’m leaving soon,” he replies. “I’m going to head to New York. You should go as well, there’ll be better opportunities for you there than Jersey especially if you want to pursue songwriting.”
I shake my head, “I don’t like New York, Carlos. I want to stay here.”
His expression grows frustrated, “What about him? What if he finds you?”
There’s no need to ask who the him he’s talking about is.
“Oh, I’m sure that’ll be fine,” I say unconcerned. “It’s been more than a year. There’s no way he’s still looking for me. I admit, I was scared when I left but thinking back, there was really no need to be. He made it clear he wanted nothing to do with me and I’m sure by now he’s forgotten all about me.”
I have no doubt in my mind that Rafaelle Vitale has moved on by now. It’s the only reason I feel confident enough to move back. The city is huge and I doubt we’d even run into each other. I’ll keep my head down and try my best to avoid him.
The only reason I left in the first place was because I was pregnant. And I had no clue what I was going to do about it.
“You’d be a fool to believe he’s not still looking for you,” Carlos rumbles.
My eyebrows rise, “Was he ever looking for me?”
He grunts in frustration before finally lifting his left hand and taking off the gloves. My heart stops at the sight of his fingers. All three of them instead of five. Where his pinky finger and ring finger should be, there are only stubs of skin. Someone cut them clean off.
My stomach rumbles. I suddenly feel sick.
“Wh-who did that to you?” I stutter.
“Rafaelle Vitale,” he says bitterly. “The night after you left, he came looking for you. When he didn’t find you, he grew angry. Especially since I wouldn’t tell him where you went to. Not that I knew anyway, but he didn’t believe me.”
There’s a haunted look in his eyes. The face of a man that’s gone through a lot of trauma. I feel a ringing in my ears as I imagine what he could have experienced.
“He took us hostage. I and Bryan. He wanted to question us, torture us. As for the bar, he’s the one that burned it down. Doused it in kerosene and watched it all turn to ash.”
My throat dries, no words coming out. Carlos continues speaking.
“He’s a madman, Lily. Do you understand me? He kept us in locked up in some underground basement for days without food or water. Eventually when he came down, he started torturing us. Told him men to beat us up while I watched. It was the worst week of my life and by the end of it, he took two of my fingers. He called them his memento, said it would ensure I would never forget. Bryan got off lightly in comparison. He didn’t end up mutilated but he was so traumatized after, he disappeared. I haven’t seen him since.”
“I didn’t want to tell you,” he continues. “I know you must be feeling guilty right now, but I need you look at me and understand that you cannot live in the same city as that son of a bitch. I thought you were long gone by now, started a new life somewhere far away. Imagine my surprise and horror when I got your e-mail asking to meet up. I didn’t want to but you seemed insistent. But now, you have to get out, Liliana. If he doesn’t already know you’re in the city, he’ll know soon enough.”
My vision turns hazy and I can barely hear Carlos over the sound of my pounding heart. I stumble to my feet, tears welling in my eyes as I think about how stupid I’ve been.
My mother was right.
Mila, oh my God, I’ve not only endangered myself, I’ve endangered my daughter by coming here.
“Lily, can you hear me?!” Carlos says insistently. “You need to run. You need to leave this city and you can never look back. He’s an obsessive psychopath and he wanted to find you badly. It doesn’t matter how long it’s been, he’ll be coming for you.”
I clutch my stomach, fighting not to lose my lunch.
I really did come face to face with the devil. And now I’m forever intertwined with him.
If he finds out I gave birth to his daughter, he’ll never stop. I’ll never be able to escape him.
I’ll never be free again.
CHAPTER EIGHT
RAFAELLE
