AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That’s why you wanted keys.” He spears his hands through his hair. “Jesus.”
“Then a cake I baked disappeared from the windowsill. I think she climbed through a window to watch television while I was out for a walk. Fabien must’ve scared her away when he arrived.”
He stares at me with an incredulous expression. “How did you finally catch her?”
“I baked another cake and sat outside, waiting. At first, I thought she was a boy. Until she spoke. I managed to rid her hair of the lice and to scrub her in the bath.”
“Why the hell didn’t you say something before?”
“I didn’t know who she was until today. I saw a handprint on the window and a dent in a garden cushion from time to time, but I didn’t want you to chase the child away. It was obvious that she was hungry. I went looking for her last night after you left, but I couldn’t find her.”
His eyes tighten. “You did what?”
“I had to try. I couldn’t just leave her out there in the cold night. She told me she lives with her brothers in a cave somewhere by the river.”
“Christ.” He pinches the bridge of his nose. “Don’t ever do that again. The area is dangerous, especially if you don’t know where you’re going. There are gorges and rivers, not to mention venomous spiders and scorpions. If you ever walk around alone in the dark again, I swear I’ll lock you up at night.”
“Aren’t you forgetting the issue at hand?”
“I’m not,” he says, getting into my space. “You are my priority. Always.” He cups my jaw, his grip a little too hard. “Do you understand, Sabella?”
“Yes.” I pull away. “What about Sophie and her brothers? She said their grandfather went back to the camp. A friend apparently drove him while the kids stayed behind.”
“Fuck.” He turns in a circle, his head tilted toward the ceiling. “That old bastard.”
“If she’s your niece, that makes him her great-grandfather. Where is her grandmother?”
“We didn’t keep contact with that side of the family, but from what I learned, the old man had two daughters—my mother and Francesca. Francesca, my aunt, died in childbirth. The baby, Maria, was raised by the old man and his wife. My grandmother died not long after. Sophie is Maria’s daughter. Maria and her husband and their four kids lived with the old man.”
“Why didn’t you stay in touch?”
His manner is curt. “That’s just the way it is.”
“They’re stealing food to stay alive. We have to do something.”
“Do you think I don’t know that?” he asks, facing me.
“I can’t even begin to imagine their suffering.”
“Believe me, those kids are tough. They’re scoundrels, but they’re survivors.”
“They’re children.”
“I know what they are.” His eyebrows snap together. “I’m not going to leave them to their own devices.”
“Why didn’t they stay in the house?” The question puzzled me since Sophie told me they moved to the cave. “At least here they had comforts like water and electricity.”
A muscle ticks in his jaw. “You saw the state of the place when I first brought you here. It must give you an idea of the kind of people they are. They don’t care about luxuries. They don’t appreciate kindness or charity. All they know is destruction and vandalism. They’re savages, Sabella.” The light in his eyes turn hard. “That’s who they are, who we are.”
No matter what’s passed between us, the vulnerability he tries so hard to hide doesn’t leave me unaffected. I can’t help the compassion that sparks in my chest.
Laying a hand on his arm, I say, “That’s not who you are.”
He may be cruel when he hates someone as much as he loathes me, but he won’t destroy a beautiful house just for fun. Yes, deep down, he is a savage. His actions are as brutal as his personality. On the surface, however, he’s perfectly civilized, a man who behaves as society dictates if only for the sake of pretending to fit in.
His chuckle is dry. “Then you don’t know me very well, wife.”
He shakes me off and walks to the window, staring out at the night. I take in his broad back as I contemplate the statement. I know him better than he thinks. I know what motivates him. I know his family meant everything to him and that his hatred will drive him until his dying day. I know that I’ll be the bane who satisfies his quest for vengeance. I know that he’s my enemy, a man I despise as much as I once liked him.
