16. Marisol
16
MARISOL
The feeling of being watched is much stronger this time.
I’ve been coming every day to swim around the same time as the first day. At first, it was just convenient, but as the week wore on it’s more than that.
If someone was watching me that first day, they’ll probably come back. The notes came back. Once a day. Meet me in the garden.
Meet me in the garden near the mango tree.
Meet me in the garden under the banana leaves.
Meet me in the garden at two-thirty, on the bench near the fountains.
Each one is more and more specific, like whoever sends them is insistent on meeting with me, and they’re getting more frustrated by the day.
So this has to be the same thing.
Right ?
But every day, I don’t see anyone. It’s just me, swimming laps in the pool, and Andrei guarding the door.
Andrei is getting impatient with me. I can practically feel it in my bones. I know that he wants an answer from me.
Today’s conversation confirmed it.
I set off on another lap, unwilling to look up from the pool. There’s no one in here except me. Andrei doesn’t watch me while I swim, which is a relief.
My hands slice through the water. I’m almost to the edge of the pool. I reach forward, expecting to connect with smooth tile…
Instead, I feel something else.
A body.
A very, very firm body.
Startled, I rear back. My eyes snag on a man’s chest, covered in tattoos…
And bruises.
I look up.
Standing in front of me, in the shallow end of the pool, is a familiar face.
Too familiar.
Dino… Drakos, I guess, is staring at me from the pool.
For a minute, I don’t know what I should do.
Then, I realize what I should definitely do.
I open my mouth to scream .
Quick as lightning, Dino’s arm snakes out and he pulls me close, covering my mouth with his hand. I struggle, making noises, and they echo in the hall.
“Stop,” he rumbles in my ear. “I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to talk.”
I must be insane. That’s the only explanation.
Because when he takes his hand off of my mouth, I don’t scream.
I just nod.
Dino takes a breath, but I shake my head. My eyes dart to the door, where Andrei is definitely standing outside.
If he finds Dino in here…
Fear makes my chest ache.
Dino nods. He gets up and looks around, poking into the little baskets around the edge of the pool. Eventually he comes back…
With a wind-up toy.
I have no idea why there’s a toy down here. I’ve never played with it, even though it looks to be a little old. Dino winds it up, then sets the little boat in the water.
It makes a sound…
But most importantly, it creates a rhythmic wave that slaps against the sides of the pool.
Just like someone swimming.
In the space, the noise of the toy sounds just like me doing my laps .
Dino jerks his head toward one of the changing rooms, and I nod.
As quietly as I can, I follow him out of the pool. I do my best to not make any sound as my fingers press against the hard tile, aware of every single drip of my swimsuit on the smooth surface.
Dino pulls me into the changing space, his hand like a brand of fire around my wrist.
He leaves the door slightly cracked, and we move in.
The changing room is small. There’s a small space to wash your hands, and a teak bench to aid in putting swimsuits on and off. There’s a shower back in the corner, and judging from the droplets of water clustered on it, Dino’s been in here somewhat recently.
“What are you doing here?” I hiss.
Dino glares at me.
“If Andrei finds you, he’s going to…”
“Andrei?” he rumbles.
God, his voice. The rasp of it, the way it sounds so hoarse and harsh, skates over me like a hand.
My nipples pebble, and Dino’s eyes drift down to my chest before snapping back up again.
“That’s his name,” I say, not willing to give him an inch.
“But why are you calling him that,” he snarls.
“Because I…”
I don’t have time to react .
Dino leans in, crushing me against him in an earth shattering kiss.
For a second, I don’t have any thoughts. I am nothing but feeling. Nothing but the sensation of his lips on mine.
Nothing but the fire that’s burning through me.
It’s not like being numb. Not really.
It’s like…
Coming home.
The safe, calm sensation quickly dissipates though, when Dino slants his mouth over mine. His fingers glide up my back, threading into my hair, which he pulls roughly, tugging my head to deepen the kiss.
Then, I’m more than just sensation.
I’m detonating.
Just like our first kiss, this one makes me feel like I’m perilously close to melting. His hands are hot as they roam me, tugging and kneading at my wet skin under my swimsuit. When he slips one of my straps off of my shoulder, I let him.
When his fingers find my taut nipple, I let him do that too, gasping against him at the sensation of him tugging at me there.
Hard.
Dino moves down to my neck, kissing me as he goes. “There are no more men’s names in your mouth except mine,” he snarls against my breast.
I’m about to protest when he sucks my nipple into his mouth.
Then, I don’t protest .
I arch against him.
I want to moan. I want to scream his name. Dino….
Drakos.
“Stop,” I whisper.
Dino snarls against my skin. It feels so good, but I…
I don’t know him.
“Stop,” I repeat, louder.
Dino’s head snaps up and he stares at me. “What?”
“I said stop.”
It’s clear that he’s not exactly okay with this. His eyes flare with darkness, and he looks at me like he’s considering doing exactly the opposite.
“Please,” I whisper. “We need to talk.”
Dino visibly makes an effort to pull himself back. I slide my shoulder strap back into place, staring at him as he paces the small space.
The door is cracked. He listens intently, then looks back at me. “Nothing,” he whispers.
I nod.
“You wanted to talk. What do you want to say?”
“Who are you?”
The question seems to make Dino unbalanced. “What?”
“I said who are you?”
“I am Dino De Luca. The father of your children. I am…” he stops .
I stare at him. “And how much of that is a lie?”
“None of it,” he says fiercely.
I arch my eyebrows at him. “Dino Drakos?”
“A technicality.”
“How?”
“A technicality I exploited so I could come to this fucking place and save you, Marisol!” he barks.
It’s loud.
And we both know it.
Dino cautiously pokes his head out of the door again. The only noise I can hear is the gentle slapping of water against the pool, and the thunder of my own heart.
He turns back. “It’s nothing. I just want to get you the hell out of here.”
I blink at him. “You can’t.”
“The hell I can’t,” he snarls.
“Dino. Seriously. Think about it,” I whisper.
He stops, looking at me.
“If you try to pull me out of here right now, my dad is going to know exactly who it is. And your little pseudonym isn’t going to do anything to hide you. He’s going to know that it was Dino De Luca who pretended to be Dino Drakos. It’s going to be obvious. Then, he’s going to scour the globe with whoever he decides wins this competition, and he’s going to find you. He’s going to find me,” my lip trembles.
Dino’s eyes widen, watching the wobble in my lip .
I take a breath. “And he’s going to find the girls. He doesn’t care about his grandchildren, for reasons that I can’t figure out. But this might be the time that he finally does, Dino.”
“He wouldn’t hurt them. He can’t…”
“My dad once killed an entire village because they wouldn’t let him store his supplies there,” I whisper. Tears are gathering in my eyes now as I remember the untold number of atrocities I’ve seen my dad commit.
And I’m sure I haven’t even scraped the surface.
“He would hurt the girls. He would kill all of the Rossi family. He would hunt down everyone related to you until he found us.”
“Marisol…”
“He would kill my children, Dino,” I whisper.
He looks at me.
“Our children,” he says.
The word our sounds painful. Full of longing.
Full of something I can’t quite put my finger on.
“He would hurt them, Dino. I can’t let that happen.”
“I can protect you.”
“For what? So that we can live on the run for our entire lives? SO that the girls will never know peace?”
“What peace are they gonna’ fuckin’ have here? You think that if that fuckin’ Russian wins, he’ll let you live with the girls?”
“No. Of course not. I’m not betting on the Russian.”
“Then who… ”
His eyes narrow to slits when he figures it out. “Moretti.”
“He promised that I could have the girls with me. That he would protect me.”
“That fucking rat bastard is not going to have my fucking family,” he snarls.
“He’s not, Dino, but I’m not your family.”
Dino freezes.
I take a deep breath. “We don’t know each other. I don’t even know you, Bernadino Drakos,” I say in a whisper so small, it’s barely audible.
Dino looks like he’s going to explode.
“We aren’t anything to each other, Dino. We had sex. One time. Years ago…”
“You’re wrong,” he mutters.
I look at him.
“You’re wrong, Marisol. If you don’t want me, that’s fine. If you truly don’t fuckin’ want me and you want to choose him, I won’t beg you. I won’t fuckin’ beg someone to be with me,” he mutters.
It sounds like he’s reassuring himself more than making a statement to me.
“But you’re wrong. You ain’t meant to be with Moretti. You, and the girls, are mine. You’re meant to be with me,” he says.
The ferocity in his voice makes the little bubble of hope in my chest, that I’ve done such a good job of squishing down, feel like it’s expanding.
“Dino… ”
“Drakos is a Greek name. Apparently, my mom had a little vacation right after she and my dad got married. She came back and I was born too soon for comfort, so they just… yeah,” he mutters.
My jaw drops. “You aren’t your father’s son?”
“No,” he says.
It looks like it pains him to say.
“Dino…”
“Drakos is the name Marco gave me. He fuckin’ apparently knows the whole thing. Read my mom’s fuckin’ diary after she died.”
“And he kept that information from you?” If I remember right, the patriarch and matriarch of the De Luca family died several years ago, after Caterina’s engagement to Elio was formalized. The whole underworld was buzzing, speculating on who it was. Many people blamed my father, but he had a good alibi at the time.
And, he didn’t have any issue with the De Lucas.
Then.
Dino’s jaw clenches, and I know that Marco’s lies of omission hurt him more than he’s willing to say.
“Look. I ain’t askin’ you to love me. But I am…” Dino looks down at me.
He takes a huge breath.
“I’ve lived a shit life, Marisol. Shit in a lot of ways. But you are the only thing that’s kept me going. You and the girls,” he adds .
“I don’t know what to say…”
“Don’t,’” he says. “Just don’t. I know. You don’t know me. But I… I’d like to change that,” he mutters.
“I’d like that too,” I whisper.
Dino studies me. “You swim here every day?”
I nod.
“I’ll be back tomorrow,” he grunts.
Then, on feet so soft and quiet I’m surprised that they belong to him at all, he opens the door and pads away.
I watch him go. He slips into the pool maintenance room before disappearing.
Staring, I almost forget that I need to be in the pool.
By the time Andrei opens the door again, I’m back to swimming. The toy is hidden, back safely where Andrei can’t see it.
Tomorrow.
I don’t know if Dino will be here tomorrow.
But I will be.