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I think for several seconds about my life and the lies that have been concocted to keep me hidden. If that were true for me, why couldn’t it be true for Zoe? And…Carlo? Could he be…? No, I know that he’s dead.
But Zoe? She’s alive, and Alessandro has my precious Zoe?!
Nothing is making sense anymore. Why would he have her?
I hear something sliding behind me, and when I look up with tear-filled eyes, I notice two things. First, one of the wall panels was a secret door. Second, Alessandro stares down at me and doesn’t look happy.
“Who are you?”
His accent is thicker than ever, perhaps due to the anger I can imagine is running through him.
I stand slowly and start backing away from what appears to be fury in his eyes.
“What are you doing with my daughter’s picture on your desk?!” I demand.
His eyes narrow, and he angles his head slightly as he shakes it. His eyes widen again, and the confusion settles on his face.
“Your daughter?”
“I’m in the witness protection program. After the explosion, I had no choice if I wanted to live. I’ve had several plastic surgeries to repair the damage to my face and body.”
“The scars,” he says, referencing the ones on my back as understanding dawns.
I nod my head. “But I thought…how did you wake up and find me?”
“You thought you’d drugged me. You’ve been lying to me and left me with no choice but to watch you closely. There’s an app on my watch that allows me to see all the cameras in my house,” he says, tapping the watch on his wrist. “I saw you slip the drug in my drink. When you stepped into the bathroom to change, I replaced it with a fresh one. I was never asleep.”
“I’m so sorry, Ales. I never meant to hurt you, but I needed the truth.”
“When were you going to tell me the truth? That’s all I’ve asked of you. Loyalty and trust, you’ve deceived me every chance.”
“I’ve been honest about what I could be honest about, Ales.”
“What about you and me? Were you even honest about that?”
I hate the look of disgust that I see in his eyes. It’s torturing me, and I never expected to feel this way.
“I…”
“You know what? Don’t bother. What were you hoping to gain by coming here?”
“The truth! About what happened to my family and why.”
Alessandro swallows and drops his gaze to the floor.
“Alessandro. You know, don’t you? You know who did this and why. Why do you have my daughter?
“I have her for the same reason that you had to hide. If they knew about her, she would no longer be alive. These men don’t care about anything except their money. Trust me…I come from that stock.”
“Who are they?”
His jaw clenches and unclenches, and I can see the look of indecision in the furrow of his brows, the tightening of his mouth, and how he refuses to meet my gaze.
“Tell me damnit! I deserve to know.”
“It won’t bring your husband back,” he says.
“No…but it will bring closure,” I softly reply.
