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“They would do that?”
“If I don’t stop them, yes. Once your brother releases them... they’re not going to be very happy with him. And I can’t blame them. I’m not even sure I’ll be able to stop them.”
“Are you kidding me? Then go! Why are you still standing here?” I shoved him away from me. Most of the people I’d met at Sebastian’s house had been pleasant despite my irritation with them.
I didn’t need the gory details to know that Dante hadn’t walked up to the front door and just rang the doorbell.
Sebastian reached for me and dropped a hard, quick kiss on my mouth. “Trust me. If you and Noemi weren’t here, I wouldn’t give a damn how they treated him.”
He tried to walk away, but I grabbed him back for another kiss. I kissed him with promises of more to come, rubbing my body suggestively against his, until he groaned and slipped his hands down to grasp my buttocks and pull me hard against his thigh.
I pushed away from him and left him standing with a shocked expression on his face.
I raised my chin. “Make sure everyone walks out of here safely and I’ll give you what you want.” It was a tease, partially a joke, but I meant every word.
Sebastian started to leave the room, but as he stepped by me, he grabbed my hair and pulled my face to within an inch of his.
“I told you, prisoners don’t get to make demands. You’ll give me what I want, Princess, because it’s what you want, too. But everyone here will be safe because it’s what I want.”
I jumped when he had the audacity to smack my ass before he walked out of the room with a sly grin on his face. I jumped...and smiled.
***
CUPS CLATTERED AGAINSTsaucers; a sound usually unnoticeable amongst the conversation. Since conversation was absent, the clink of China rattled like a meteor crossing the sky a mile above us.
Noemi and I tried at first. She asked how my mother was doing. It’d only been three days since I saw her, so the answer was easy to give. She asked me how Gabriel was doing, which brought up a sore subject with me.
“Don’t you know how he’s doing?” I asked. “Dante’s been in touch with him. Which really sucks,” I added, ignoring Noemi’s shocked expression. I turned to glare at my brother. “I’ve been worried about you, both of you, for months, and I find out you’ve been talking to Gabriel.”
Dante shook his head. Whether to stave off my protests or to soothe Noemi’s furrowed brow as she turned to face him. Apparently, we had both been kept out of the Calegari loop. Typical Calegari male chauvinistic, overprotective crap.
“That’s not correct,” Dante replied in his usual cool tone, but he spoke to Noemi, not to me. “We exchanged a few texts, one to let Gabriel know we were okay, and he sent me a text the night Lilly... left town.”
Noemi frowned but didn’t question him. Of course, she didn’t. She wasn’t on the inside track either.
I threw down my napkin. “Well, isn’t that peachy?”
Dante sat up at my tone, tilting his head with his usual unreadable expression. Noemi gasped but didn’t say anything. Sebastian sat back in his chair with an amused expression on his face.
“Letting people know you’re alive after walking off into the sunset together... that’s important. But a lot of other things have happened between then and the night I left with Sebastian. Months have gone by. And here you are, forthis? Because me spending the weekend with Gabriel’s rival warrants the two of you coming out of hiding to make sure I’m okay?”
My chair clattered backward as I stood up. Sebastian rose to grab it and stood beside me as I finished my tirade. “People think I’m the selfish, entitled one, but that’s not true, is it? I’m really the clueless, sheltered one who can’t be trusted to know what’s really going on around her or who the people in her life really are. Don’t tell Lilly the truth; it might upset her. Buy her some jewelry and some clothes and she’ll be alright.” I glared down at Dante. “Or better yet, give her the money to open her boutique so she’ll be preoccupied, keep her busy while all the world burns down around her. She’s too stupid to notice. Meanwhile, communicate with each other behind my back and don’t tell me shit until... until... until when? You still haven’t told me anything.” I wagged my finger at Dante and Noemi. “I’m not buying this. None of it. I may not understand what’s going on, but I’m not blind enough to think this was just a social call because you were worried about me. So much BS... You all suck.”
I ran out of steam at the end. I’d already said more than I planned to, but I couldn’t take another minute of stupid platitudes and condescension.
From any of them.
I slapped Sebastian on his abs. “And that goes for you, too. I’m going to go take a shower.”
I didn’t look back. They did all suck. I just needed the right opportunity to tell them so. “And when I get home, I’m going to tell Gabriel how much he sucks, too!”
I was just outside the door when I heard Noemi say, “I’ll go talk to her. She’s upset—
”
I walked faster. I didn’t want to talk to her or anyone else. I practically ran to my room, ignoring Noemi’s calls to slow down. Once in my room, I locked the door behind me, tore off the kimono, and started the shower. I heard Noemi knocking as I stepped under the hot water, but I let it pour over my body and pretended not to hear her.
If they wanted to leave me to figure everything out on my own, then that’s how I’d do it. On my own.
