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Allegra scoffed, lying down on the bed face-up. I was grateful this safehouse had a pull-out couch, because I didn’t want to risk sleeping next to Allegra. I pulled it out, making up the bed, and Allegra stared at me. “What, you’re being a gentleman now that you’ve abducted me?” she asked incredulously.
My shoulders stiffened. “I didn’t abduct you to have my way with you, Allegra. You know I’m not that kind of man.”
“I have no idea what kind of man you are,” she responded bitterly. “Not if you’d do something like this.”
“I did it for you,” I said firmly.
Allegra rolled her eyes, rolling over on the bed and facing the wall. “You did it for Enzo,” she said, still facing away from me. “You did it because you’re his little lapdog.”
I winced at her words, hating the way she called me that. We’d had so many fights years ago about how I chose Enzo over her that it was almost like a flashback, this argument. “You could get hurt if you stay in town,” I insist.
“I’ll just wait until you fall asleep and get out of here,” she argued.
“We’ll see about that.” I didn’t plan on sleeping.
Allegra was silent for a long moment, and when I walked over to check on her, she was snoring softly. Thank God. What the hell had I gotten myself into? How was I going to keep a woman like Allegra captive for God knew how long? It could be anywhere from a couple of days to an entire month or more before Ricardo might call me. I’d have to learn how to sleep with one eye open, that was for sure.
9
ALLEGRA
I woke up in the dead of night and froze, not wanting Rocco to know I was awake. I wasn’t sure if he was asleep. I crawled over onto my side, looking toward the couch bed. He laid diagonally across the bed, his eyes closed. He was breathing deeply and evenly, but I knew Rocco was a light sleeper.
I slid onto the floor, realizing he hadn’t even taken my heels off. I slipped them off so they wouldn’t make noise on the hardwood floor. Shit, what was I going to do? I didn’t even know where I was, only that we had been driving for hours. I slowly crept by the couch bed, watching Rocco to make sure he didn’t wake. I still couldn’t believe he’d done this. I didn’t know exactly what Ricardo was planning, but I knew it couldn’t be anything good. I needed to get back to my home, get back to my father…get back to Matteo. I couldn’t tell Rocco that I had certain responsibilities at home, and besides, he’d abducted me. I was getting out of here, one way or another.
I didn’t have my phone or my purse, so when I walked outside, I looked around. There had to be neighbors somewhere close by, but when I looked out at the road, I couldn’t see any houses or cars. I started walking down the sidewalk, barefoot, hoping to hail someone. It was only about ten minutes before I heard footsteps behind me and I sighed heavily. I turned around to see Rocco striding up to me, his long legs overtaking mine. I bit my lip, wondering if I should run for it, but there didn’t seem to be anyone around for miles. “There’s a reason this is a safehouse, Allegra,” Rocco said dryly.
I slumped my shoulders. “So I’m just stuck here? With you?” I asked.
Something flashed across his face. “Only for a while,” he muttered.
I rubbed my hands over my bare arms, cold. Rocco took of his suit jacket and draped it across my shoulders. I accepted it, but not without glaring at him. “What are we supposed to do for ‘a while?’” I asked, making quotation marks with my fingers.
Rocco shrugged. “I’ve got cards. We could just talk.”
I scoffed. “Talk about what? How you left me in the middle of the night, never to return?”
“I returned,” he said, as if I was being overly dramatic.
I looked away, feeling suddenly vulnerable. I didn’t want him to know how much he’d hurt me, but at the same time, I did want to know where he’d been. I wanted to know why he’d gone, why he’d left me. “I don’t want to talk,” I said stubbornly.
“Well, the house has cable television,” Rocco said dryly, and took me by the elbow, walking me back to the house.
I wrenched away from him, stalking back to the house ahead of him. I wasn’t going to let him baby me if I was going to be here for God knew how long. Rocco followed me, sighing, and I ignored him, heading back into the house and plopping down on the bed, flipping on the television. There was nothing good on the news, so I flipped to a sitcom channel so I could watch something mindless. “So you’re telling yourself that you’re doing this to protect me?”
“No matter what you think, I’ve always tried to protect you,stellina,” he said fiercely.
I rolled my eyes, looking back at the television. “Could have fooled me. You left me and then you come back and kidnap me. None of that screams protection, Rocco.”
“You think you know everything,” Rocco snarled. “But you don’t know a damn thing about me, Allegra. Not anymore.”
“I’m not arguing that,” I said flatly.
The next few hours passed so slowly that it was like watching paint dry. Rocco hummed as he played solitaire and I watched episode after episode of ‘80s sitcoms. “I’m going to die of boredom if you keep me here much longer,” I whined.
Rocco chuckled. “There’s a pool out back,” he said.
I sat up, my eyes widening. The house was nice, just a one-story one-bedroom, but it was cozy. I wouldn’t have imagined it had a pool. “And you’re just telling me this now?” I walked out onto the balcony and, sure enough, there was a small pool out back. “Maybe I can drown myself,” I muttered.
