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“What type of person?”
“Deals in anything. Drugs, guns, stolen art.” She whispers, “Kids, babies, even families. If someone wants to buy it, he’ll sell it. I would give everything I have to see him dead.”
She gets to her feet, shaking her head. “Please, don’t ask me about him again. I don’t want to talk about him. Ever.” She grabs the pots and walks out with them, leaving me alone with the icy fear spreading through me.
Is Leo telling the truth? If he is, what kind of choice have I got? There’s not much point going back to the mainland if that’s what’s waiting for me there.
I may as well stay here, at least for now. Try to make the best of a bad situation.
I know one thing. I saw it when I was trying to get Leo off the boat before I passed out. There is definitely a hurting person behind his cold exterior. If there’s fear of fire, there must be other emotions inside him too. It’s just going to be a case of trying to get them to come out.
If this is going to have any chance of working out, I need to get him to open up to me. Then we can talk like two people instead of master and slave.
I shake my head. Am I seriously thinking of trying to make this marriage work? Am I insane? I must be. Either that or Stockholm Syndrome is kicking in.
He saved me from the helicopter. If he’s telling the truth. The biggest problem is there is no way of knowing for sure.
Do I trust him? I’ve tried to escape twice and ended up back here. Try and fail again and who knows what he might do to me.
I head out of the dining room, walking out of the house and heading along the path to the beach. The burned out boat is still there. I stand next to it and look out at the water.
If I could at least talk to Fleur, I might feel better. Maybe he’ll let me. I’ll ask him next time I see him. Until then, I have one mission. Find out if he’s telling the truth about my father, about Giorgio Amato. A name I never heard of before today but one already seared into my soul.
I head back toward the house. I’m going to talk to Leo about all this. Come to some kind of deal.
Once he inherits the estate, he won’t need me around. Maybe he’ll let me go then. Maybe I can go back to the dig like nothing ever happened.
A lot of maybes but what’s the alternative? Live here forever with him? I can’t do that. If Stockholm Syndrome is sucking me in, how long before I start to crave being spanked by him? How long before I become dependent on him to make my decisions for me?
I’m an independent person. I don’t want to be married. I want to be getting on with my job. I just need to get him to grasp that. I’m not his possession. I’m a person with free will.
I need him to understand that I don’t belong to him.
Good luck with that, I tell myself as I walk back inside the house, hoping to sort all of this out, once and for all.
11
Leonardo
I’m watching the video of me and Giuseppe again. I need to keep that horror fresh in my mind. I need distracting from the truth. She saved me.
What does it say about me that I even needed rescuing from the fire?
I froze when I saw it licking toward me. That’s the simple truth. I froze and I would have burned to death if it wasn’t for her. The flames sent me back to the car crash, sitting on the back seat, watching the flames getting ever closer.
She woke me up when I passed out after my head slammed into the deck of the boat. She got me out of my stupor. She saved me.
Could have left me to die. Her life would have been a lot simpler if she had. She’d have been free to make a run for it.
Of course, she had no idea that there was no happy ending for her, even if I was dead.
Giorgio Amato has made a bid for her. A bid that’s been accepted. Paolo made that very clear. Told me he doesn’t accept that our marriage is legitimate. I’ll have Michael send him the paperwork to prove it, make him see that if he wants to bring Amato into this, his world will burn.
I’ve had nothing to do with that asshole my entire life. Amato and my father had the initial disagreement. A simple one, at heart. My father had some standards. Amato didn’t. Still doesn’t. Thinks his money means he can get what he wants.
He can’t have her. She’s mine. I’m going to keep her safe, make sure he can’t get near her. I’ll do whatever I need to in order to keep her safe.
Which is why I’m watching the video. That’s what happens when you’re weak. People you care about get killed.
