Chapter Seventeen
My face was sticky with last night’s tears when I woke shortly after sunrise.
Nestore wasn’t there. I put on a bathrobe and slippers before I left the bedroom in search of him.
I prayed that he hadn’t spent the night in the basement torturing my father.
I could only imagine what that would do to him.
I found him in the gardens, asleep on one of the many stone benches along the pathway. He lay on his back, his legs dangling over the armrest, his hands folded on his chest. He looked as if he had fallen asleep while stargazing, and that thought made me smile.
My steps crunched on the pathway. Nestore startled awake, his body tensing as he reached for the knife at his calf holder. When his eyes registered me, he lay back and released a deep breath. “What are you doing out here?”
“I was worried about you when you weren’t in bed with me,” I said, taking a few steps closer.
He slanted me a wary look. “Do you really want me to spend the night in bed with you? I’m a monster, remember?” He sat up.
My brows puckered. “Of course. Did I ever push you away?”
“You didn’t,” he said, his voice almost curious.
He shoved to his feet and bridged the distance between us.
He was barefoot again. I wasn’t sure how he could stand the pebbles against his feet.
My thin slippers barely offered protection, and it definitely bothered me.
On the other hand, Nestore had scar tissue there, too.
He stretched his arms over his head, and I allowed myself to admire his muscles, then flushed when his gaze settled on me. He extended a hand. “Let’s take a walk. I want to show you something.”
Worry tightened my belly. The last time he’d said something similar, we’d ended up watching the brutal fights in the pit. I really didn’t want to witness any bloodshed before breakfast.
Despite my apprehension, I put my hand in his.
He closed his fingers around mine and tugged me along.
We went down the winding path, past the rose maze, which made me shiver, and past the rotunda with the Roman fighting pit until we reached the very edge of the premises.
My eyes widened when enclosures came into view.
The first one closest to us held two lions, a female and a male, who lounged on a massive boulder that overlooked their spacious enclosure.
The fence was at least twelve feet high and curved inward, with additional barbed wire as a deterrent.
When they were my father’s pets, they lived in small cages so Father could easily reach them.
One time, he had made me pet their fur while they were being drugged.
My initial awe had turned to pity when I’d looked into their unfocused eyes.
The tiger in the enclosure to the left of the lions was frolicking in a lake and licking a massive ice cube with pieces of meat in it.
In the last enclosure, the cheetahs paced along the fence, a groove in the ground from daily habit.
Their enclosure offered them enough space to run, but they seemed to stick mainly to a small circular walkabout within the scope of their former enclosure.
“When I first had the bigger enclosure built for them, they hardly set foot into the rest of their area. They stuck to the small route they were used to, prisoners of years of captivity in a small cage, but now they venture out often.”
Nestore brought his fingers to his mouth and let out a shrill whistle. Both cheetahs stopped in their tracks, and even the lions and tiger perked up.
“Come on. Let’s give them the chance to hunt.”
“Hunt?” I echoed, worried about what the wildcats would hunt.
Nestore led me toward a platform at the end of the cheetah enclosure.
A small house harbored a freezer and a fridge, plus a massive wooden board with a butcher’s knife.
Nestore walked over to the fridge and took out a rabbit, fur and all.
I grimaced at the sight of the cute animal hanging lifelessly in Nestore’s grip.
Nestore’s eyebrows climbed his forehead. “The cheetahs need to eat, and we had beef stew yesterday.”
“I know I’m being a hypocrite, I just prefer not to see the whole animal.”
“It eases the conscience but not the guilt.”
He had a point. Only because I was served a cute piglet as a cutlet didn’t mean it hadn’t once looked like a real animal.
“Come on.” He took another rabbit, then motioned at two steel ropes with hooks attached to them.
He fastened the rabbits to the hooks. One wall of the house had a large window overlooking the enclosure.
The two cheetahs sat on a stone platform right in front of it, obviously familiar with the procedure and eager for their prey.
Nestore picked up a small remote I hadn’t noticed before and pressed a button that made a flap near the ceiling slide open.
Then he pressed another button, and the rabbits shot out, dangling by the hooks.
It almost looked as if they were actually racing.
The rope dipped lower shortly after it entered the enclosure, so the cheetahs had a chance to chase it.
Both animals hunted the mechanically moving rabbit corpses with a speed that made me gasp.
Eventually, they caught up with their prey, and each cheetah captured a rabbit.
They split up to opposite ends of the enclosure to eat their food in peace.
Nestore watched them with a small smile. “At the beginning, they didn’t even chase; now they’re rediscovering their instincts. It’s a thing of beauty.”
“It is,” I agreed softly. These animals had been prisoners and lost part of themselves because of it. Maybe Nestore recognized himself in them.
“Why do you use them in pit fights?” Nestore touched my back and led me back out of the house toward the lion enclosure.
“Not all of them, only the male lion and the tiger. They displayed great joy when prisoners accidentally climbed inside their enclosures shortly after you ran. I decided to give them the chance to get payback on certain humans as long as they do it without prompting or drugs.”
I shook my head. Nestore made his twisted actions almost sound… reasonable.
I looked past the three enclosures but only found the fence marking the end of the premises.
“Where are the chimps?” My father had kept two chimps that he’d dressed up in human clothes and drugged so they would be complacent.
Sometimes they’d even been allowed inside the mansion.
It had freaked me out because their eyes had been too knowing and not like an animal’s at all.
“When we stopped giving them drugs, they became too dangerous. We had to remove them from the premises. They killed two of my men and always made a ruckus that upset the cats.”
“So you killed them?”
“No, they are in another enclosure, but they are very aggressive. With their conditioning, you can’t release them into the wilderness, and sanctuaries wouldn’t take them because of their volatile behavior. They are too traumatized.”
I pressed my lips together. These animals and Nestore had so much in common. Nestore extended his hand for me to take. I slid mine into his without hesitation and allowed him to lead me back up the pathway and away from the enclosures.
Nestore stopped abruptly.
“What’s wrong?”
I followed his narrowed gaze toward the mansion where Niccolo stood on the balcony that led into the grand entry hall.
“Did you expect him?”
His tight jaw and furrowed brows answered my question. He gave a small shake of his head, his fingers around mine tightening. “Niccolo wouldn’t show up unannounced unless it’s serious.”
Nestore tugged me along, his steps long and purposeful. I had to run to keep up with him. When we reached the balcony, Niccolo scanned me. I was still in my nightgown and silk bathrobe, and the thin fabric didn’t hide how the cool morning air affected my body.
Nestore stepped in front of me, his voice sharp as a whip. “Why are you here, cousin?”
Niccolo met Nestore’s gaze, hesitation reflecting on his face. “Maybe we should discuss the matter alone.”
I stiffened. Was it because he considered me a security risk or simply too weak?
“Amelia is my wife. She will stay unless I decide she must leave. Now tell me why you’re here. I’m losing my patience.”
“You don’t have any patience to spare,” Niccolo drawled, then quickly continued. “Achille Lamorgese’s nephew Corvin contacted me thirty minutes ago.”
My lips parted in surprise. Corvin was alive? I would have thought Nestore had killed him the moment he claimed power. Corvin was a slimy, sadistic pig. He wasn’t a loss to this world.
“He and a couple of Lamorgese’s supporters kidnapped Luciano Lamorgese from his daycare.”
“No!” I gasped, my heart clenching as tears sprang into my eyes. Luciano was only two. He was a small, innocent kid. “Oh God, Flavia. She must be heartbroken and terrified.”
Nestore’s expression remained hard. “What do they want with the boy? He’s too young to serve as their future leader, and from what I know about Corvin, he thinks he has it in him to become Achille’s successor one day.”
Niccolo nodded. “They called and told me the kid will die if we don’t exchange Achille with him. They want a reply within the next hour, or they’ll start cutting off his fingers and send them over to us.”
“I’m wearing their friends’ fingers as a crown, and they think I’ll break because they threaten the son of my tormentor?” he snarled.
I shot him an incredulous look. He had to save Luciano!
My father’s life was worthless, but Luciano needed to survive.
He needed to be spared further trauma and pain.
“Nestore,” I whispered, gripping his arm.
He narrowed his eyes at me. “Luciano is a small boy. He’s innocent.
Wouldn’t you have wanted someone to save you from my father’s clutches?
You have the power to spare a child the trauma you had to endure. Do it for me.”