Chapter Nine
J ustina ended the call with practiced grace, her French-manicured nails gleaming as she set her phone down. "Giancarlo asks that we wait here. My husband will join us."
Bile rose to Sarica's throat at the way Justina uttered Giancarlo's name with affectionate possessiveness, and her mind, unbidden, conjured images she didn’t want to see.
Giancarlo and Justina together, their bodies entwined, their breaths mingling in the dark.
But since it was Giancarlo and Justina who were married—-
Didn't that make her the villain in this story instead of the other way around?
Justina indicated Sarica's already-empty glass. "Would you like another one?"
What I'd like, Sarica thought, is Giancarlo back, and for you to disappear.
Shame ate her alive as soon as the thought popped into her mind, and Sarica managed to shake her head with a polite smile. "I'm fine, thanks."
Sarica made a show of texting someone on her phone, but it was all for show. She just didn't have it in her to indulge in small talk with a woman who professed to be Giancarlo's wife.
What now, God?
What do I do?
What do You want me to do?
The Giancarlo she knew would never have made love to her if he was truly married. But what if she was wrong? What if he had really changed that much?
And if Giancarlo was married, then—-
Help me, God.
Please.
Because she loved Giancarlo so, so much that only a miracle would enable her to walk away from him for good.
GIANCARLO FELT THE weight of both women's gazes as they watched him approach. The silence stretched taut between them, laden with unspoken questions and painful truths. Justina was a picture of confidence and ease, her lithe and slender form perfectly accentuated by the designer dress she wore.
He took the chair next to Justina and heard Sarica suck her breath as he did. He didn't want to look at her but forced himself to.
Dio mio.
He had been hoping the photos his security sent to her had exaggerated her loss of weight. But it had not. She had also changed her hair color to periwinkle, but that only made things worse. Such changes always meant she was not okay.
And this time, Giancarlo knew he had only himself to blame for her troubles.
"I've heard a lot of rumors about you two," Justina murmured. "The people from your world—-they made it sound like neither of you were in favor of being married to each other. That you were only doing it to obey Signora Marchetti. Were they wrong?"
"No."
"Yes."
It was Sarica who had said 'no'...in a pathetic attempt to save her pride. But when Giancarlo had actually said the truth at the same time, and she saw the way his lips tightened when he realized what he had revealed...
Puzzle pieces started falling into place as Sarica finally got past the veil of her heartbreak, and her mind began to work like it was supposed to.
"I think I should rephrase my answer," Sarica heard herself say. "I fell in love with Giancarlo right away—-" She saw Giancarlo's jaw clench at this, but she told herself to ignore this. "But I didn't want us to marry if he was only making me his wife out of duty." She looked at Justina then, asking softly, "Does that sound familiar to you?"
Sarica was hoping to catch the other woman off guard, but the words only made Justina smile. "It does, actually. Very much so. And come to think of it, the three of us have that in common. People say 'thank you' when someone lends them a helping hand—-and leave it at that. But the three of us?" Justina shook her head with a laugh. "We always want to go the extra mile, regardless of whether we're returning the favor or paying it forward."
Sarica's heart started pounding. Was this the other woman's way of acknowledging the truth about her marriage?
"Do you know what I owe Giancarlo?" Justina asked.
Sarica slowly shook her head.
"I was abducted on my way to an event I was hired to host. I caught the eye of the wrong man, my abductor had told me. And that was why I became their target."
Even though Justina's voice was clinical as she recounted her ordeal, the pain in her words was all too easy to imagine, and because Sarica herself knew what it was to be surrounded by evil—-she also knew there was so, so much that Justina was leaving out.
"I was about to be auctioned off when Giancarlo came to rescue me. But because he was unable to find the people behind my abduction, he arranged for my disappearance instead. He gave me enough to start fresh, but all I wanted was revenge. And Giancarlo, he, too, did not stop looking. Because he knew I wouldn't be the last girl whose life they would destroy. We pursued every lead. We didn't leave anything to chance. And then one day, Giancarlo told me he was getting close to discovering the truth..."
The truth dawned on Sarica with painful clarity. "It was Viktor...wasn't it?"
"To be fair to Giancarlo's friend, subsequent evidence we've collected suggests that his involvement isn't...voluntary. Someone had something on him. And whoever it was...had also ordered Viktor to kill Giancarlo when they realized he was on their trail."