Page 6 of Bad Husband

Marco woke up the following morning to Chiara knocking on his car window. She was dressed as she was last night, in her waitress uniform. He opened the car door and Chiara stepped back, not getting within touching distance of him.

“You need to leave. You’re going to start drawing attention and I don’t want any trouble from the locals or the cops, got it?”

“Damn it, Chiara, get in the car, and I will take you away from all of this.”

She stared at him with a frown. “All of this? All of this has been my home for the past six months. This is my family. My home. My place. You kicked me out of my last home, remember? Removed me as if I was nothing more than a piece of dirt. Leave, Marco.”

“Don’t you want to know how I cleared your name?” he asked, as she took a step away.

Chiara turned toward him and shook her head. “No, I already knew I was innocent, I was there.” And with that, she started to walk away.

Marco was not used to being ... disobeyed. He was used to men and women following his orders. Getting back into his car, he turned over the ignition, drove out of the trailer park, and followed closely beside Chiara.

“Get in the car,” he said.

“No.”

“Damn it, Chiara, this is for your own protection.”

“I’m as safe as I was yesterday and today. Remember, you didn’t care about that. You didn’t want to listen to me, or to reason, and guess what happens when that happens?” she said. “You don’t get what you want. You get tossed out of your own home at Christmastime. I was lucky I got here. I could have died.” She turned to look at him. “You have no right to be here. I have learned to make my way, and it doesn’t involve you. I want you out and I want you gone.”

He hated this. Instead of doing as she said, he followed her all the way to the diner, and he parked as it was early and there were barely any cars. Grabbing his cell phone, he dialed Angelo’s number.

“Do you have her?” Angelo asked.

Her father had offered to come and get her, but Marco wanted to make this right. He didn’t anticipate her being so stubborn.

“I’ve found her.”

“And she’s safe?”

“She’s living in a trailer park and she wants absolutely nothing to do with me.” He ran a hand down his face, because this was turning out a lot harder than he anticipated.

“Tell me you had a plan?”

“Yeah, it was to come and pick her up, take her home, job done.”

“You had her beaten, Marco. She was tortured to the point where she still didn’t give up anything, and you believed that freaking footage. This is not going to be easy. My daughter was not brought up to be a doormat. She’s a fighter. You are going to have to win her back.”

The only thing he had ever had to win was a fight, to be the best. This was all new to him. Women fell over themselves to be with him. They were happy to line up and take their turn, and he had done that at least once, but not since he was married to Chiara. He didn’t look at any other woman, not even Gabrielle when she attempted to throw herself at him. He didn’t give her the time of day.

Running a hand down his face, he felt sick to his stomach. This was not going how he anticipated. A brunette admired his car as she made her way into the diner. Another woman, slightly older, was outside, setting up chairs and tables. It was already set to be another scorcher.

“You’re going to need to come down and get her,” Marco said. “She needs to come back home.”

“No, you’re going to fix this with my daughter. It’s the least you can do. You owe her.” Angelo hung up.

Gabrielle and Henry were currently locked away in cages in one of their warehouses, being managed twenty-four-seven. Gabrielle had tried to lie her way out of it, but the truth had finally come out. She wanted to be his wife. Gabrielle hated Chiara and wanted to destroy her. He was supposed to kill Chiara that night, not banish her. It would seem Gabrielle, in her spare time, had been trying to locate his wife, just so she could kill her, and that pissed him off.

There was no other choice. He had to stay in No Point.

Turning off his ignition, he climbed out of his car and buttoned up his jacket. He had a feeling he should have brought Poodles along with him. His dog might be able to win over his wife, better than him.

He was sweating his balls off, but he made his way inside the diner and took a seat in the corner, picking up the menu. There was nothing he wanted.

The brunette was eyeing him, and from the looks of it, he hadn’t actually stepped into her section, but she clearly asked Chiara if she could take him. Chiara looked at him, forced a smile on her lips, and told the other girl she could have him. He’d been able to lip-read for a long time. He practiced ever since he learned it could be an advantage.

Now, his wife wouldn’t give him the time of day.