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I jump up with such force that the chair tumbles over. Ethan, if that’s even his name, looks startled. I snatch up my bag and run…run as fast as my legs will carry me, but I don’t get far.
Ethan easily catches up with me and grabs me around the waist, lifting me off the ground as I kick and screech.
“Woah … Ella, calm down,” he says in a soothing tone. My heart is hammering uncontrollably in my chest, adrenaline pumping rapidly through my body.
How does he know my name?
“Let go of me!” I yell, the fear obvious in my voice.
“I will. I promise. I’m not here to hurt you. Just calm down,” he implores.
But a full-blown panic attack has me in its grasp, there is no stopping it now. All air has left my body, and I’m a shaking mess.
I’ve come so far.
No, no, no, no, no.
Gualtiero will be so furious.That belt… he warned me he wouldn’t be lenient again.
I’m gasping for air but can’t seem to pull it into my lungs.
Feeling sick, I start retching, and within seconds, I throw up the contents of my stomach while Ethan holds back my long, black fake hair.
“Please calm down, Ella,” he says again. “Rhia sent me.”
What?
My head shoots up, and I search his eyes.
“Rhia sent you?” I repeat, somewhat disbelieving.
He nods and leads me to a park bench. My body is shaking as I sit down, and I’m still hyperventilating.
Rhia sent him?
It sounds too good to be true.
How would Rhia know? And how does she know this guy? I’ve never seen him or heard her talk about an Ethan.
No, he is lying.
He’s trying to lull me into a false sense of security, and any moment now a van will turn up, and they throw me in the back and take me back to Italy.
I frantically look around, half expecting Gualtiero or his goons to be jumping out of the bushes, and I shiver in fear.
“Ella. Look at me.” Ethan’s commanding voice breaks through my panic for a moment.
I do as I’m told and look into his steady, deep green eyes.
“Take a deep breath in for me and hold it …” I do. “Now exhale slowly and hold it… good girl… And again… deep breath in, hold it … good… now exhale slowly…”
He guides me through this breathing cycle patiently until my breathing normalizes and my heart calms.
“Are you feeling better?” he asks, concern edged in his face.
Instead of answering, I ask again, “Rhia sent you? Is she here?”
When he nods again, I know this is a trap, and they’re using Rhia as bait.
