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‘Come on. We’ve got another twenty minutes before we have to leave. You know it’s gonna happen eventually. We know it’s gonna happen. One way or another, we’re getting you into that dress. This is your last chance to do it the easy way — before things get seriously uncomfortable for you.’
‘I don’t care,’ she said. ‘Things are already as bad as they can be for me.’
She’d been hoping — praying — for rescue. Each night, lying in her cage, uncomfortable, miserable, she’d imagined seeing Wolf climbing up to her window. His warm, strong, safe face. She’d thought about how wonderful it would be to see him, and how good it would feel to melt into his arms and let him kiss her everywhere.
It was a type of intimacy she’d never felt with anyone else. When they’d moved together — a physical expression of their love — it had changed something inside her. He was part of her now. He always would be. Lodged in her heart, beating with her.
What would her life be like if she never saw him again? If she was never reunited with her second heart, her protector, her Daddy?
Paulo slowly unsheathed a long, straight blade. ‘You think you’re safe because your Papa doesn’t want a bloody mess to walk up the aisle, huh? Well don’t worry. There are hundreds of ways we can hurt you — thousands — that won’t leave a single mark.’
‘I’m good with pain,’ she said, defiant.
‘Let’s see, shall we?’ He licked his lips and rose to his feet.
Stay strong, Sophia. What would Wolf do?
Just as she was about to answer the question, there was an angry knock at the door.
‘Your father must have lost patience,’ the other guy — whose name she didn’t know — said.
‘Hope he’s not too angry with you,’ Sophia said, sticking out her tongue.
But it wasn’t her father.
Although, over the years, Sophia had a hard time remembering exactly what her father looked like, the image of her mother was far, far clearer.
A striking woman, with the same gray eyes as her. She was tall, with high cheekbones, and a soft frame. Although her mother was beautiful, she’d always struggled with self-confidence, which made her permanently shrug her shoulders.
When Sophia saw her mother standing in front of her, she couldn’t believe it — she looked like a whole new person. The shrug had become a hunch. Her eyes, which had been so clear and bright, were now heavily lined and hooded. Her full figure was gone. It was as though she’d wasted away.
‘Darling,’ her mother said with tears in her eyes. ‘My darling girl.’
Ignoring the two men, Sophia rushed to her mama, and threw her arms around her. She still wore the same perfume and her skin felt the same as she remembered — soft, almost waxy — and it smelled so, so good.
‘I missed you so much, Mama,’ Sophia said, sniffing heavily.
‘I missed you too. We were all so worried,tesoro,’ she said. Her voice had changed too — she sounded croaky, like she’d cried so much that every word sounded like a sob.
Tesoro. My treasure.
She’d forgotten her mom used to call her that.
‘I’m sorry about Vincenzo,’ Sophia said, already sobbing.
‘My poor boy,’ her mom said, holding her daughter close. ‘He left us,tesoro. He left us forever.’
They held each other, then her mama looked deep into her eyes. ‘You’ve grown up, darling. You’re a woman.’
Sophia nodded.
Her mother wiped tears from her eyes. ‘Darling, I don’t have long. Your father wasn’t going to let me see you, but I convinced him. He kept saying I’d see you at the wedding, but I kept asking. And then, when he said he was going to come in here and… hurt you, I asked him to let me see you first.’
‘Hurt me?’ Sophia said.
Her mother nodded. ‘Your father is an angry man, my darling. He’s been angry with me many, many times.’
Sophia stroked her mother’s arm. ‘I’m sorry, Mama.’
