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“Love you too. Make her come with us in five minutes, or I’m coming back.” He turned and disappeared through the door that was his victim.
She loved him? But she looked so sweet and delicate, like he could snap her in half. And he loved her back? That giant didn’t strike me as a man that was capable of love.
“Who are you?” I tried again, now that the less threatening person was the only one left in the room.
“Hello, I’m Catherinelle Nucci.” Nucci. Roman’s so-called family. “Damn it. Mustafa! I’m Catherinelle Mustafa. I really need to get used to my new name. It gets Hugo really pissed when I say I’m a Nucci still. And trust me.” She rolled her eyes. “You don’t want to see that man pissed.”
That man was her husband? How could two people so radically different end up together?
“Did…did Roman send you?”
“Yeah, he’s my brother and he’s pissed at you. Which means I’m pissed at you. Which means Hugo is pissed at you and we already established that you don’t want my husband to be pissed. You want him happy. So let’s make him happy. Pack your things and let’s go, and please tell me you have a passport.”
“I don’t get it. Why are you here?”
Her face turned sober.
“Because you left your fucking daughter. Listen, we can do this nice and peacefully or the hard way. But you are coming with us.”
“No!” I cried. “You don’t understand. I didn’t want to leave her. I…I…I…can’t let her see…” I wanted to tell her that Romina shouldn’t see me die in front of her eyes, but my lungs gave out and I started to make the wheezing sound again. My chest was going up and down, but I couldn’t feel any air going in.
“Wow, are you ok?” The woman – Catherinelle – came to me and stopped when she saw the blood in the sink. “Jesus. Did you slaughter a bird or are you on drugs?”
“No.”
“What’s really going on here, Salvatrice?” She knew my name.
“I…I’m dying.”
~~~
Catherinelle called her husband back and he carried me to their car, an SUV, that was waiting in front of the run-down hotel. She only grabbed some of my clothes and the zip-lock bag where I had my ID. I had no idea if they paid for the room or not, or where we were going, but I was too weak to fight them.
Catherinelle climbed in the back with me, and forced me to lean down with my head on her lap.
“I can stand.” I told her, but I was shushed.
“Hugo, she can’t fly commercial, there’s no way. Call Gino and tell him to arrange a private flight. Soon.”
“Already texted him, princess. We’re going straight to the airport. Your brother pulled some strings.”
“Great.”
“I’m gonna call Roman before we depart,” Hugo said and I flinched. Catherinelle saw the anxiety on my face and put a calming hand on my chest.
“Don’t. Let’s tell Roman when we’re there, ok?”
“Princess, this is none of our business.”
“Of course it’s our business. Roman is family. If you call him now, he will be worried until we make it to New York and he needs to be able to take care of Romina.”
Hearing the name of my daughter brought tears in my eyes. I grabbed Catherinelle’s arm to catch her attention.
“How is she? Is she ok?”
“She’s fine, but she’s missing her mom.” She looked up at the road. “Hugo, this is the wrong way.”
“It’s the way to the airport.”
