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“Fine, I’m sorry, but if he’s not here in five minutes, he’s on his own for a ride.”
“Very well, agreed.” I rolled my eyes and wrung my fingers, waiting for the passenger, making me late. I have protocols in place in case of an emergency delaying my arrival at Lucy and Pierre’s house. I can’t raise those alarms because then it would surely alert the family of my presence. I know I need to reach out to my brother, but only when I know it’s safe. I was about to drive the van when the passenger we were waiting for arrived. He had no luggage and wore an expensive suit that my father and brother had dropped thousands of dollars on. He was handsome, and I couldn’t help but stare longer than I should have.“Okay, Sabina, stop drooling already; he’s not the first handsome man you’ve seen. Yeah, keep telling yourself that because Sabina, this guy is fucking unreal.”
He stepped up, and I nearly bit my tongue when I heard him speak. “My apologies for my lateness. I’m truly sorry for delaying your departure.”
The driver said something I couldn’t even grasp because I was still staring at the beautiful man with a British accent, for fuck's sake. He was vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place where I’d met him before. He could easily be a model for all I knew, and I’ve seen him in a magazine or on a billboard. The encounter shook me because I believed I would be traveling alone. I couldn’t just step away and call Pierre now, so I had no choice but to continue my plan. He said nothing more, and once I snapped out of my haze, I saw him waiting for me to get into the van.
I apologized in Italian and reached for the handle to climb into the tall van. He extended his hand for me to take, and I did it without care whatsoever. What is wrong with me? Our hands touched, and my nerves calmed like a warm breeze over my face, a feeling I’ve felt before but can’t remember when. Why? I didn’t have time to entertain these confusing thoughts and took my seat. The stranger reached for my seatbelt and secured me.
“There now, ready to go,” he said, fastening his belt. “Driver, proceed.” He commanded, and we left the airport in silence, but the tension inside the van was thick with so much intensity I almost felt faint. I couldn’t trust what was real or imaginary right now. All I know is that I have to get to my friends. I concentrated on the plan and tried to block out the man beside me with all my strength.
“Hold it together, Sabina.”I chanted silently, but the way he stared at me, he probably sensed my anxiety. When the driver reached my stop, I tried to escape him, but he was quicker, pulling me close to his body. He kissed me, and I tried to pull away from him, but his hold on me was too tight. I admonished him in Italian, which only encouraged him to be bolder with me. And then he called me Principessa, and my body felt like molten lava. Damn, he was sexy.
After he let me go and promised to “get to know me better,” I could finally exit, hurrying as fast as my feet would take me, knowing he was still watching. My mind was still in a haze after Lucy picked me up and drove us back to her home with Pierre. However, once the car was in the garage and the gates behind us secured, I sighed in relief.
“Hey, are you okay? You haven’t said more than three words since I picked you up. Did something happen?”
“Yeah, you can say that. I don’t know, it was strange.”
“What was strange?”
“This guy that shared the transport with me.”
“What!? How did that happen when you were supposed to be the only person on that van?”
“I don’t know, Lucy, but it was fine. He looked like he should be starring in the next spy movie or something along those lines. He was British and devilishly handsome, like David Gandy beautiful.” I touched the spot on my hand that his lips kissed and felt a tingling sensation between my legs.Wow! I felt dizzy.
“And? Hello?” Lucy waved her hands in front of my face.
“He called me Principessa, and it was nice.”
“Oh, girl, you have to be careful and not fall for some stranger’s charms, especially with your father hunting you down. For all you know, he could have been working for him to kidnap you. I thought you were smarter than that,” she admonished me.
“Stop it, Lucy. I wore a disguise and didn’t say much to him.”
“Yeah, it’s all great until he slips you something, and you wake up three days later, not knowing where you are. Don’t you see? You are in danger, and you cannot be so trusting. Pierre is working day and night to keep you safe, and what do you do? You fall head over heels for a flirty stranger?”
I sighed with my anger about to spill over, “Look, that’s twice you’ve yelled at me, and I’m still in the damn car. Can we go inside before you make it a third?”
“Fine! Pierre can yell at you because you won’t listen to me clearly.” She huffed a little, and then we got out of the car and stepped inside to call out for Pierre. He called back and said he would be out in a second. I placed my bag down, and Lucy handed me a bottle of water as I removed the silly wig I was wearing and contacts from my eyes.
“It’s not much of a peace offering. I’m out of wine, if you can believe that.” Pierre hugged Lucy and then one for me before asking me to sit down.
“It’s good to see you again. I wish it weren’t like this.”
“I know, and I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused you and Lucy.”
“Shut-up! You know we love you and would do anything for you, but Sabina, it’s unsafe here. You bought yourself a couple of days at best. It won’t take long for your father or anyone else to track you here.”
“Like the mysterious stranger?” I questioned. Pierre looked over to Lucy and then back to me.
“What stranger? You were supposed to be by yourself.”
“It’s what I thought too, and then this guy boards the van and starts,” I hesitated and suddenly felt nauseous at the realization that I may have gotten played by the stranger.
“Oh, Sabina, it’s normal to flirt, but have you considered that this guy was no ordinary man? As I said, he could be working for your father. I don’t want to think about what could have happened to you if your father got to you first instead of Lucas.”
“Lucy,” he said and frowned at her before addressing me. “Listen, you don’t know that, and so far, it’s been quiet here, but I don’t want to take any chances either. I made some calls and found a place in the countryside far away from the city. You can stay there for as long as you like until you reach Lucas.”
