27. Isa
ISA
Nova and I lay side by side on the bed, looking up at the ceiling.
I wasn’t sleeping, and I knew she wasn’t either, although she had been quiet, and any attempt I made to try to talk to her had been useless.
For someone who was forced to share her room with me, she knew how to avoid talking.
And I learned something about her.
She was stuck.
She might have been able to roam about the house, but she wasn’t free, and she didn’t like to go outside her room. And during the few times we did talk, I could tell she didn’t know much about the world.
She didn’t know much about what she wanted.
I reached my hand over for her. “Nova?”
She didn’t answer me right away. I almost didn’t think she would until she said, “Yeah.”
“You know, there is so much more out there in this world than just this house.”
I could hear her swallow. “Is there? The world is a dangerous place.”
“This house is a dangerous place. Do you really think your father and your uncle will let you live here until you're old and gray?” She sucked in a sharp breath from my words. I forged on. “And even if that is the case, is that how you want to live your life? Forever stuck here?”
I didn’t know what her purpose for being here was, but I knew it couldn’t be good.
“There’s nothing I can do. I’m stuck here, and tomorrow, after you marry Uncle Waylen, you’ll be stuck here too.”
My blood ran cold from her words. I was running out of time.
I tightened my grip around her hand, and she didn’t say anything about it.
“There is something you can do,” I said.
“What?” she whispered, her voice low and terrified. I closed my eyes, not even knowing if this would work.
“Help me get in contact with my brother. With my… boyfriend .”
It was the first time I had ever referred to Elio as such. I just wished it were under different circumstances.
“What can they do? Waylen is?—”
“Not as powerful as you’re making him out to be.”
“You don’t know that. You don’t know him.”
“But I know my brother. I know the men under him. And what’s more, I know Elio. And he wouldn’t give up until he found me. And your uncle is scared of him.”
“Waylen isn’t scared of anyone.”
“That’s not true. He just wants you to think that. He’s a weak man who’s desperate for power, and that desperation will get him killed. Don’t go down with him.”
I knew that to be a fact. If he were as powerful as he had Nova convinced, he wouldn’t be hiding from the De Lucas.
He wouldn’t have taken my father up on his help and accepted me as his bride as some sort of consolation prize.
I wasn’t conceited enough to think he was enraptured by my beauty, and that was why he needed to marry me. This was about power.
And it was about him thinking he had a bargaining chip with my father for holding his precious daughter in his hands.
I could laugh at his stupidity if my safety weren’t at risk.
I wasn’t my father’s precious daughter. And he would learn soon enough that Joseph Gambino only cared about one person, and it was himself. He couldn’t give two shits if I were to die.
“I don’t have a phone.”
“But you can get access to one, no?”
If there was one thing Nova had, it was resourcefulness. She wouldn’t have survived in this house for so long if that weren’t the case.
“Help me. And Elio will help you. He’ll create a safe passage for you to leave this life behind once and for all. I saw the metal bars outside your window. I bet they put them up there after you tried to escape. You want to escape. And you haven’t given up, yet, have you? Come on, Nova.”
She was silent beside me. For a moment, I really thought I had gotten through to her. Then she pulled her hand away and turned her back to me.
I let out a small sigh in disappointment.
“I’m sleepy,” she said. “And you should sleep too. We have a big day tomorrow.”
Yeah, a big day tomorrow. How could I forget?
It was going to be my wedding day.
I shook my head. I would die first before I said “I do” up at the altar to Waylen Thompson.
I fucking vowed it.
Nova helped me with my makeup, with what limited makeup she had in her room. It wasn’t much.
I ended up doing most of the work while she avoided my eyes.
I put the mascara stick down and turned to her. “Nova.”
She shook her head. “You should put on your dress. Oliver will be here to escort you out to the backyard soon.”
She walked out of the room before I could say anything more, and I felt my hope diminishing with every second I spent here.
I hadn’t had any visitors since I was taken, thank God, but that didn’t mean the four walls weren’t getting to me.
It had been three days.
Three days and two nights of torturing myself by thinking of all the possibilities of how today would go, and none of them were good.
Not for me.
I still hadn’t put on my dress when the door opened. I stood up quickly when I found Dad standing by the doorway.
I didn’t say anything to him, but whatever love I might have felt for the man simply because he was my father had long ago vanished, and what was left was resentment and fear. I hated him as much as I was scared of him.
He took a step into the room.
I moved back.
“Why?” I croaked out. “You betrayed the organization?—”
He laughed, cutting me off. “Did I betray them? Or did they betray me? Trying to get rid of me under the guise of retirement.”
I didn’t know what to say to that because I knew it was true. Massimo forced Dad into retirement, and I completely agreed with that. Dad wasn’t loyal to Massimo. That had been easy to see, even when Dad had been putting on a front.
And I knew Massimo would have put all the men in Dad’s circle into retirement had he been given the choice.
Dad’s injury just made him the perfect candidate for that.
“This is a death sentence, and you know it. You ruined the Gambino name?—”
He slapped me.
I fell back on the bed and looked at him.
“ I ruined the Gambino name? You want to say that after you whored yourself out to Elio De Luca?”
I could feel the blood drain from my face, and he laughed.
“What, you didn’t think I knew about that, did you?
Do you think I’m stupid? The only good thing that came out of this is that I think you might have the stupid fucker by the balls.
” He cackled. “And that would be the De Lucas’ downfall.
While you’re Elio’s weakness, he is Massimo’s.
And what wouldn’t Massimo do to save the woman his brother loves? Even give up his empire.”
I shook my head and pushed myself off the bed. “You’re wrong. Massimo would never give up his empire for me.”
He shrugged, moving over to me and cupping my cheek.
I flinched, trying to pull away. He tightened his grip, and I let out a small grunt in pain.
“Perhaps not. But as long as I have you, my dear, I have a bargaining chip. And while Massimo and his brothers were too busy ruining all that I had helped Amadeo accomplish, Waylen has been building his army. With his backing and the information I had gathered over the years, do you really think we can’t take on the De Lucas? ”
He cackled. “Better get ready. I heard the fucker Waylen isn’t a patient man. You keep him waiting, and I can’t promise he won’t fuck up that pretty face of yours.”
He pointed to the wedding dress and walked out of the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts. Tears streamed down my face.
What was I supposed to do now?
The door opened once more, and for a moment, I thought Dad was back to tell me I had run out of time.
But it was only Nova.
I looked away from her.
I was still thinking about my predicament when she walked over to me. Her shoes came into my line of sight. Then her hand. I blinked, trying to process what I was seeing.
A phone.
“It’s not mine. I don’t know how long it’ll take before my dad finds out it's missing. But it’s a risk we’re both taking.”
I nodded. I got what she was saying. She had as much riding on this as I did… for both of us to escape.
“Call for help. And leave the location on so they can find you.” She moved over to her desk and tore out a piece of paper from her notebook, writing something down. “The address,” she said, handing it over to me.
I took it from her hand, mine shaking as I tried to read the words.
“Thank you,” I gasped out.
“Don’t thank me yet. And remember our deal. You’ll help me escape.”
I nodded and stood up, filled with renewed hope. “I will.”
I looked back at the phone, pulling up the messaging app, and tried to think. I only had one number memorized. And it wasn’t Elio’s or Valentino’s.
I typed in my message and hit send before moving over to the settings and turning on the location. Then I handed the phone back to her, and she shoved it in her pocket.
“Now what?”
“Now you get ready for the wedding. Put on your best performance. Do as they ask, and just wait for help to arrive.”
The tone in her voice told me there was a small part of her that doubted help would be arriving.
Perhaps because she was so used to having everyone let her down, she was expecting the same from me.
But despite all that, she still helped me.
And that was all that mattered.