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He won’t let me go.
So, I have no choice but to take control and leave. It’s time I take my safety into my own hands.
“I’m leaving Nick’s tonight. Right now,” I say, reaching for a bag and running to the closet to pack a few things. “I need a place to crash. Someplace Nick, my father, and anyone else who wants my head can’t find me.”
“What’s going on? Are you okay?” I hear the fear in her voice.
“I am for now. But I need to leave. I need a place to lay low for a bit. Is your offer of Italy still on the table?”
“What did Nick do to you? He swore—”
“Nick didn’t do anything,” I interrupt. “The situation has escalated, and I just need to get away. Now.”
“Okay… Yes, Italy. I’ve been giving this a lot of thought ever since this mess started,” Sasha says. “My parents have a vacation home in Loro Ciuffenna which is a small town about thirty minutes from Florence, Italy. It’s tucked in the hills of Tuscany, and there are no future plans of anyone in the family using it. It hasn’t been used in years. It’s far from here, and I don’t think anyone would think you’d flee there.”
“Italy?” I say, frozen in my actions. “I have no way of getting to Italy.”
Then it dawns on me. I have no way of getting anywhere. I have no money at all. How far can I get with no money? I’ve been poor all my life, and I’ve always been resourceful, but this is different.
“Did Nick at least give you your wallet with your I.D.?” she asks.
“No,” I say. Which means that even if I borrowed the money from Sasha to fly to Italy, there is no way to get on a plane without a passport.
Sasha pauses. “Well, good thing you look like me. We’re the same age and I think you can easily use my passport to fly.”
It’s a risk, but… we do look a lot alike.
“And then when you get to the vacation home, you’ll just be Sasha Morelli. The property manager and housekeeping staff won’t know better since the last time I was there, I was just a kid. They’d have no reason to question you.”
“I don’t know—” If I get caught…
“I’m in Bishop’s Landing tonight,” she adds. “I’m going to buy you a ticket in my name right now. I’m also going to get all the information together about the house in Tuscany and will pick you up in thirty minutes. Where should we meet?”
I know that Nick and his entire security are dealing with the burning boat, so everyone will be distracted. This is the perfect time to escape unnoticed.
“I can get outside the gate of Nick’s if you can meet me down the street from his house,” I say. “Do you know where he lives?”
“I do.” There’s a pause and then she says, “It’s going to be okay. We’ll get it figured out. But let’s get you out of the house, away from that man, and away from everyone. We need space.”
The way she said “away from that man” bothers me. I don’t like that Sasha believes that Nick’s the bad guy in this story, when in fact he’s been nothing but… what?
I’m not sure what Nick has been to me.
Protective? Possessive? Controlling? Generous? Caring? Sexy as hell? Punishing? Loving?
The list really could go on forever. The man gives me whiplash with his contradictions. One minute I hate him, the next minute I want to be wrapped in his arms and never let go.
When it comes to Nick, all I know is that my emotions are dancing in a sea of chaos. Voices are screaming for me to run. But others are screaming for me to stay.
This rabbit hole of confusion is too much for me to process.
Nick is the king of my darkness, and I don’t see the light in the distance.
But I do know one thing for certain. I have no choice but to leave and become the queen of my own destiny, because right now he’s going down in flames on my account, and I know I need to stop the inferno.
I hang up with Sasha and grab the bag that I quickly packed. I take a quick look around to see if there is anything I can grab that maybe I can sell in Italy, but then realize that if I do that… if I steal from Nick… I’m no different than my mother. I won’t become a lying thief no matter how desperate I feel. I won’t steal from a man whose intention has always been to help me. No matter how twisted his terms may be, his one goal has always been to keep me protected.
Not knowing what the weather will be like in Italy, I reach for one more bag and pack it with warmer clothing and shoes. Plus, if I were to only show up in Italy with one bag—as Sasha Morelli—it would send out a red flag to anyone with half a brain. I need to make it appear like I’m going there on vacation. I do feel slightly uneasy packing items that Nick bought, but then tell myself that he bought them for me, and if given a choice, I’m pretty sure he’d want me to have them. Fleeing his home or not.
