AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You really don’t have a heart.”
“It’s not a prerequisite to live.”
“Have some compassion, Aidan! For once in your life. First you used a little boy to get to me, now you’re using an old woman? Mama has nothing to do with us!”
He cackles loudly. “Nothing? Amalia, your shop is mine, your face is mine, yourlifeis mine. Why, you ask? Your mother stole from me!”
He appraises my face. He runs his fingers over my cheek. I flinch, but I don’t dare retaliate. “You don’t look that different. You’re still as beautiful as you were.”
“Please don’t hurt Mama.”
“You know, my love? If you’d chosen to be an accountant like your parents, I wouldn’t have had a chance of finding you. But you just had to be cute, didn’t you? A teddy bear mender. There are only a handful of them in the world—good ones, anyway. The experts, the specialists. I was a fool to search for you around Europe. I was convinced you would’ve resettled in Italy. But hey, when you’re from California, you’ll always go back to California.”
“Where are we going?” I ask again.
“I could tell you, but what would be the fun in that?” Aidan whistles. “Enjoy the ride. We used have fun on long drives along the Alps. Remember those days?”
I did enjoy those trips, until his end-of-day rage started to emerge.
“Why are you doing this? I’m not yours, Aidan.”
“No one says no to me. You should know that! You built your dreams on my misery. You’ve gotta pay for it.”
“You wallowed inmymisery. The glasses, the plates, the threats, the shouting. And don’t forget what you’ve used that knife for!” I eyeball the sailing knife resting in its sheath, hanging off Aidan’s belt. “You wallowed in my blood, my fear and my hopelessness. What gave you the right to destroy me?”
“You did it to yourself. You were asking for it.”
“How could I be asking for my own suffering? I’m no martyr.”
He looks at me with pity. “You know, Amalia, what I want most in this world hasn’t changed since the day I met you. I still want you. Maybe it was worth the misery, because my life will always lead back to you.”
“I’m not yours, Aidan.” I breathe hard, looking around for an opportunity to get the attention of the people on the road.
He notices. “You don’t seem to understand how hopeless you are. You’re still thinking that you can trick me?”
Aidan fishes out his phone and shows me a live video stream. Mama is inside what looks to be a blacked-out van. Then Aidan switches to another view. That corgi.
“Aidan, my man,” he answers the call with a wide grin.
“Pull over,” Aidan says to his accomplice. “I just want to show my guest something. Fernando, this is Amalia.”
The corgi stops driving.
“Go and join that geriatric,” Aidan instructs.
Fernando slides the back door open. Then Aidan shouts into the phone, “Slap her!”
And he slaps Mama.
I squirm in my seat, sending the car swerving left and right. “Don’t hurt her!”
Aidan grabs my neck. “Don’t you try to create a scene, Amalia. You don’t see it yet, but he’s got a weapon too.”
I keep driving.
“Loosen her gag,” Aidan instructs, and Fernando obeys.
“Rosa, don’t give in to thatstronzo!” Mama says desperately.
