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***
We pull up to the mansion in an armored vehicle. I am not allowed to let myself out. I must be guarded at all times. For now, I am okay with that, but I hope I am going to have the freedom to investigate the way I need to in order to get to the bottom of this.
I pull out my key and take a deep breath as the men that were sent with me surround me, encircling me until we reach the door so I can get to it. I don’t know what to expect when I walk in; some kind of bloody scene, another person trying to take over the estate. I just have no idea.
They all have their guns at the ready when I open the door and surround me once again, several going in ahead of me. I stand in the entryway with three of the men as one of the ones who went into the house calls out. “Miss, you are going to want to see this.”
I follow the voice slowly into the master bedroom, my heart racing at the thought of what I might find. Could his body still be in there and rotting, or is there blood splatter everywhere? Every horrible scenario goes through me as I take one step at a time, feeling like I am walking miles to get to that bedroom we once shared.
But what I do find has me screaming at the top of my lungs because it is none of the things I was thinking of.
Because right on that bed on top of silk sheets sits a grinning and relaxed version of my very alive husband.
I turn to the men and scream at them. “I want to leave now! Just get me back to the airport and get me home!” I say it over and over, but no one heeds me. I don’t know if this is all part of the prank that has been played on me, or if it has to do with the fact that they are too in shock to know which way is up. They aren’t exactly forthcoming with their facial expressions since they are bodyguards for hardened criminals, so I can’t really say for sure.
“What have you done?” I ask Stefan who now stands up and comes over to me.
“Aren’t you glad that I am alive?” he asks. “I would think you wouldn’t want to be a widow at your age. Or were you just after the money?” I slap him hard, and no one moves in his defense. Good.
“You are crazy. I never should have agreed to be in this with you. Have you ever told the truth about anything?” I ask him.
“Yes, I have told you the truth about everything, even if sometimes I omitted things for your safety or for my own damn selfishness. And I am about to spill more of the truth right now.” Stefan reaches out and puts some of my hair in his hands, running his fingers through it.
“No, you don’t get to tell me anything anymore –“
“I love you,” he interrupts me. I gape at him, and now I know he has lost his mind. Even if he means it, this is just about the worst time for him to do such a thing.
I don’t even get a chance to respond, though, as his phone rings. I debate letting him take the call and then leaving while he is distracted, but then he says the name Enzo, and I know I need to stay. Enzo is the man he hired to find out who was after us. This would at least make me feel safer to know the man had been found and dealt with.
He hangs up and looks at me, dismissing some of the men and giving them orders in Romanian – a language I probably should have attempted to learn considering I was his wife. But maybe it just goes to show it was never meant to be.
But then I think about the child I am carrying and feel a tug towards him, leaving me confused.
“Enzo knows who is after us – a man named Marius Lungu. He is the estranged younger brother of one of the Clan leaders. Evidentially, he is part of a larger trafficking ring that Lajos was helping him run. Lajos was nothing more than a lower class middle man in all of it, but one of his best. I am guessing that’s what has him pissed off about what I did. I am also sure it only adds to it that I am also a Clan leader, so it would serve him well to get rid of me and have a good reason. He might even try to go after his brother next.”
I shake my head, and it’s a lot to take in right now. I don’t understand the motives of these criminal families; the depths of their evil baffle me. But I do know one thing – that this puts me in danger again if he is not found.
“Did Enzo say where this man is?”
Stefan nods. “He is here in Brazil, probably checking up to see if I am really dead. Even if Enzo can get here this evening to finish the job, something could easily happen to you on the way home. I am afraid if you want to leave, I must insist you wait until we have word that this man is dead, and the threat gone. I will not have you die on me whether you love me back or not.”
I don’t know what to say to that because my heart is so afraid to love a man like him. But I did already. I was so close to telling him before it all came crashing down at his father’s birthday party. But how can I love him if I can’t forgive him?
So, instead, I opt for a cup of tea and to sit down with him to plan how we are going to take care of this scumbag who wants us six feet under.
