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I still don’t feel a hundred percent but the ibuprofen, a bath, and food did me wonders.
I feel strangely detached from this entire situation; it’s unnerving.
Shouldn’t I be angry, furious even? But there’s only numbness. It’s like my emotional side has shut down and I can’t get myself to care about it. Perhaps it’s the only way for me to cope at the moment.
Not beating about the bush, I ask, “Why did you kidnap me, Gualtiero?”
He takes a sip of his coffee, studying me intently. Seemingly coming to a decision, he gets straight to the point.
“Because I can’t and will not let you go,” he states matter-of-factly.
I raise an eyebrow at him.
Then he blows me out of the water. “I love you, Ella.”
What?!
I blink a few times.
He loves me?!
He has a cruel way of showing it.
I stand up and go to the balcony railing, gripping it so hard my knuckles turn white.
Turning to him, I say through clenched teeth, “You love me?”
I shake my head humorlessly. “No, Tiero, you don’t love me. You don’t kidnap someone you love. You don’t drug someone you love. And you most certainly don’t put someone you love through hell.
“Do you have any idea how terrified I was? Not knowing who took me, where I was, or what was going to happen to me?!”
Gualtiero flinches briefly before schooling his expression back to the emotionless mask he shows the world.
“It’s unfortunate it turned out this way, but it couldn’t be helped,” he offers as an explanation… a highly inadequate one in my books.
“You’ve only known me for a few days. How can you possibly love me?”
I’m purposefully ignoring the fact that I’ve fallen in love with him, too. It’s something he’ll never hear from me… not after this.
He steps toward me, takes my hand, and leads me back to the chair. Sitting me down, he’s still holding my hands as he crouches before me… just like he did the afternoon we first met.
“Since I’ve been a teenager and pretty girls got my blood boiling, I had this knowing that there’s one particular girl who’s meant for me. And for me alone. I’ve never had an image of her in my head. But I knew instinctively how it would feel when I’d found her.” Tiero pauses for a moment, appearing deep in thought about how to proceed.
“I’ve been with lots of women, Ella. More than I care to admit. And never have I felt the way I knew I would when I’d finally meether… until you. The moment I first looked at you, all these feelings came rushing in, and I knew in that instant you wereit.”
I’m rendered speechless.
I’m it for him?
And why does this surprise me?!
He showered me with attention and gifts, took me to his island no one gets to go to and showed me a warm, caring side I’m certain the rest of the world doesn’t get to see.
More importantly, he spoke of hisOneearly on. He was obviously trying to tell me something. And there I was thinking he used it as a bait to lure in women.
God, I’m so naïve sometimes.
I want to slap myself.
