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I knew that I was overthinking. There were plenty of long white candles in the world. I looked around again, headed to the table, and stared down at the platter of different cuts. It was then that I noticed there were little white labels on the table near the cuts of meat. I read them quickly. “Venison, lamb, bison, beef.” I read them out loud and then paused as I couldn’t decipher what the next label said. I could see that the meat had been sitting there for a while. It was brown and looked like it was starting to rot. It was disgusting. Suddenly, I heard a click, and I froze. I didn’t know what was going on. The faint sound of music played in the room, and I looked around. Was someone watching me? Was Antonio watching me? Was he that much of a sick fucker that he would stare at me while I was in here trying to figure out what was going on? And then a song started playing.
“Who’s afraid of the big, bad wolf? The big, bad wolf? The big, bad wolf? Who’s afraid of the big, bad wolf? The big, bad wolf today?” The voice seemed to be almost cackling. I bit down on my lower lip. Did Antonio think this was funny? I didn’t. I wanted to cry. I walked over to the bed, sat on the mattress, and tried to think about what to do. I walked over to the door again, jumping up from the bed, not caring if I was making noise. I grabbed the handle and tried to open it, but it didn’t even move to the side. I banged against it, screaming and shouting, “Help, help, help. Please, somebody. If anybody can hear me, help. Get me out of here. Please, please. Antonio, please. I don’t want to be in here. I hate you. I hate you. Just let me go.” If he could hear me, he didn’t care. Tears were falling from my eyes as I sobbed and looked around. I was stuck and didn’t know how long I’d be here. There weren’t even any windows in the room.
I took a deep breath and walked back into the small bathroom so that I could wash my face. I turned on the faucet and wrinkled my nose as I saw dirty brown water coming from the taps. No one had been here in a really long time. I was grateful when the water changed colors and was more opaque, and then I brushed it against my dirty skin and rubbed. I looked around the bathroom to see if there was any way to escape. There was a small cupboard next to the wall, and I opened it. There was one towel sitting on a shelf. I pulled it out and dried my face. As I pulled it out, I noticed a tiny hole in the wall. My heart raced. “Oh my God,” I whispered to myself. “Could that possibly be leading to the outside?”
I crept into the cupboard and tried to peer through the hole, but there was nothing to see. It didn’t go deep enough. I stepped back, about to go back into the other room, when suddenly I heard another noise. It sounded like music again. I started to scream, annoyed and frustrated. If Antonio kept playing this song over and over, he was going to drive me crazy, but maybe that was what he wanted. Maybe that was his ultimate revenge. It would make sense. I hurried back into the other room but noticed the music had stopped.
“The music stopped,” I said, blinking and surprised, but I’d heard a tune, and if it wasn’t coming from my little room, then where was it coming from? My heart was racing, and I hurried back into the bathroom and into the closet. As I pressed my face against the wall near the hole, I could hear the music. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I could definitely hear something. Was Antonio in the room right next to mine? Was he perhaps staring at a TV screen, looking at me via hidden cameras? I backed out of the closet again and looked up at the walls in the ceilings. I didn’t see any cameras. But that didn’t mean they weren’t there. I didn’t know what sort of technology existed.
I headed back to the closet again to see perhaps if it was voices I was hearing instead of music. It was my only lifeline right now, and I needed to figure out what was happening. I pressed my head against the wall again and closed my eyes. I just needed to concentrate. At first, all I could hear was the dripping of the water from the faucet. It must have had a leak. And then I heard only the sounds of the atmosphere. It was like the walls, floors, and every piece of furniture in that room were trying to talk to me. And then I froze because I could hear the song from next door. I could hear the singing. It was a woman’s voice. I bit down on my lower lips so hard that I could feel blood on my tongue, but I didn’t even move. I couldn’t.
“Hush little baby. Don’t say a word. Mom is going to buy you a mockingbird.” The voice sounded so familiar. I dropped to my knees. I didn’t know what game Antonio was playing, but he was a crueler and sicker bastard than I’d ever thought he was.
28
Antonio
The room was packed full of people. Alessandro and Elisabetta stood on one side of the room. Gia and Imogen were on the other side. I could see everyone sizing each other up. Gia and Alessandro glared at each other, and I hoped that they would let bygones be bygones, at least for now. We needed to figure out what had happened to Callie, and I needed to figure out what was going on with Jimmy.
“Where is Callie?” Imogen said, sounding frantic. She walked over to me. There was hatred in her eyes as she stared at me. “You’re a jackass, an asshole. And when we get her back, I hope to God, she never sees you again.”
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, too,” I said, pressing my lips together.
“You think this is funny, you fucking jackass? The way you used her? You took her virginity. You—” She stopped as she looked around. Gia was holding her shoulder.
“It’s okay, Imogen. It’ll be okay. If anyone can find Callie, it’s Antonio.” She looked at me. “I hope we’re not putting our faith in you blindly, but you’re the one that got her into the situation. You are the one that needs to make sure she’s okay, because if she’s not, I will make sure that the Marchesi family is taken down once and for all.”
“Yeah, and how are you going to do that?” Alessandro said snidely.
She turned to look at him for a second and then looked away and at me. “And just so you know, just because I’m here doesn’t mean I like you or your brother again. It just means that one of my good friends needs your help.”
“Well, it’s because of you that she needs to be found. But I get it. I fucked up,” I said, shaking my head. They couldn’t hate me any more than I hated myself. I couldn’t believe that I’d gotten Callie into the situation.
“Don’t tell me you’re going soft now, bro,” Alessandro said, shaking his head as he headed over to me. He looked down at Gia, scorn in his eyes. “And don’t speak to my brother that way. You can be a little brat to people in your family and maybe to the Di Lorenzos, but you’re not going to be a brat up in this house.”
Gia looked at him and rolled her eyes. She looked over at Imogen. He was staring behind her.
“Is everything okay?” Gia asked Imogen softly.
“Yeah.” She nodded. She was staring at Elisabetta.
“What is it?” Elisabetta said, walking closer to the two girls. “You keep looking at me, and I don’t understand why.”
“You just remind me of Callie,” Imogen said, “the way you stand there looking uncomfortable, but you have a smile on your face. You kind of smile like her.”
“Oh?” Elisabetta said, her eyes widening. “She’s pretty, so I guess, thank you?”
“Yeah, it’s just weird is all,” Imogen said, shrugging. “I just wish we knew where she was. I’m so scared and worried, and I wish I would’ve told her to never meet up with you. I wish I never would’ve encouraged her to have fun. I wish that she was at home, reading her book and calling me on the phone and talking about romance in novels and not romance in her real life.”
“Yeah, because that romance became a nightmare,” Gia said, shaking her head.
“I mean, let’s be real,” Imogen interrupted her. “There was never really any romance in the first place, was there, Antonio?” She looked at me, and I stared back at her.
“I know you don’t know me, and I know you don’t understand, but this is a lot more complicated than—”
“I know enough,” she said. “Gia filled me in.” She pressed her lips together. “And I’m sorry about what happened to your mom, but you don’t take that out on an innocent twenty-two-year-old girl who’s never done anything wrong to you. And yeah, I also know that people say the sins of your father, la-di-da-di-da, whatever. You’re a jackass, and I’m sure you’ve been called that many times before, and I’m sure you don’t care, but when you burn in hell, it’s going to be because of what you did to Callie.”
I press my lips together. “Do you think I’m not in hell already?”
