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“I try not to hope for anything,” she said. “If you expect nothing, you aren’t disappointed when you get nothing.”
“That’s . . . sad,” he said. “You don’t have any hope?”
“I guess I do a little bit now.” She kicked around in the mud, not wanting to dwell on the fact that she now had the one thing she told herself she’d never succumb to. “What are you afraid of?”
“Losing my dad,” he said. “I already lost my mom to this life. I don’t want to lose him, too.”
An ache strangled her chest as she thought through his words. Her mama was still alive, but she felt as though she’d lost her forever.
“You should always have hope, you know,” Dominic said.
“My mama used to say that all the time.”
“Smart woman,” he said. “You knew her?”
“Yes. I spent my whole life with her. She told me to run, to try to escape, but I got caught. That’s when your father took me.”
Dominic stared at her. “My father took you from your mother? Does he know that?”
“Yes, he knows.”
They were quiet for a while, Dominic sitting in thought as she stomped around in the creek. “I’m sorry you’re here,” he said eventually. “It stumps me that he’d take you from your mother. That’s wrong.”
“It was scary to leave her, but I wouldn’t call it wrong,” she said. “Compared to where I came from, my mama would say he did me a favor.”
Dominic stared at her in silence for a while before telling her they needed to get back. Although she hadn’t wanted to go inside, she tentatively stepped out of the water. Her feet were covered in mud so she cleaned them off, figuring Dr. DeMarco wouldn’t be happy with a dirty-footed servant scampering around when he had company.
They strolled toward the house in silence, finding a large white box truck now parked in the backyard. The men from last night were unloading boxes, taking them into a door in the side of the house, hidden under vines and green growth, blending into the surroundings.
“I didn’t know a door was there,” she said.
“It leads to the basement,” he said. “Trust me when I say you don’t want to go down there.”
Nunzio stepped from behind the truck with a box then, his eyes drifting toward her. Haven moved closer to Dominic and focused her eyes on the ground, not wanting to give him the wrong impression.
* * *
Dominic went to take a shower when they made it inside, while Haven gathered Carmine’s laundry, intending to start her daily cleaning. A foot or so from the top of the steps, she froze when she saw someone heading toward her. Fear ripped through her, so powerful she lost her breath.
Nunzio.
What she saw in his eyes alarmed her, hatred and lust thrown into a big frenzy of excited emotion. Her heart pounded fiercely, that voice in the back of her head telling her to get away. She took a few steps back and dropped the hamper, the clothes spilling out into the library as she sprinted to her room. She could hear him behind her as she flung the door closed, his foot blocking it before it could latch.
She backed away, looking around for some protection when he stepped into the room. Nunzio closed the door behind him, and Haven’s knees nearly buckled when the lock clicked into place.
She was trapped.
Nunzio calmly pulled off his coat and tossed it on the table, the nonchalance when he spoke making it sound as if they were old friends. “Alone at last.”
Loosening his tie, he pulled his shirt from his pants and let it hang as he sauntered toward her. Haven let out a scream for help, but Nunzio backhanded her before it could echo from the room. The strike stunned her into silence. “Behave, and I’ll make it worth it for you.”
Tears flowed from her eyes as she stepped back once more, her legs colliding with the footboard of the bed. “Don’t touch me.”
“Aw, don’t be like that.” He smiled vindictively. “Don’t you like making people happy? That’s all you gotta do. Be a good girl and please me. After all, that’s why you exist. It’s all you’re good for. It’s not like anyone could actually love someone like you.”
He closed the distance between them as he unbuckled his belt. She fought the urge to heave, her body trembling. Stepping to the side, she tried to dart around him, but he blocked her path.
“Don’t bite, or I’ll knock your teeth out,” he said, his voice gritty. Grabbing her head, he tried to force her to her knees as his other hand snaked into his pants. Out of time, panicked, Haven snatched his gun from his waistband. Using every ounce of strength she could muster, she swung and smacked him across the face with the butt of the gun. Nunzio stumbled, stunned, and let go of her.
