Chapter 35
Chapter Thirty-Five
Sophia
Exhaustion gripped me. My eyes felt droopy and kept rolling when I let myself relax, which wasn’t very often at all.
I was too wired, too nervous about what I was going to find when I got back home to London to relax for more than a few seconds.
I had no phone to call ahead, so I had no idea what was waiting for me.
The cab from the airport seemed to take even longer than the three flights I had been on in the last twenty-four hours. Minutes and seconds dragged for what seemed like forever.
Finally, a familiar street filled my gaze, and then, a familiar house. Paying quickly, I got out. My whole body ached from the travel and lack of sleep, but I looked around quickly.
Nothing was out of place.
No strange cars, no police or ambulances. I let out a sigh of relief.
I had made it in time.
Whatever happened next didn’t matter. I was in time, and in the next few seconds, I would see my daughter again and hold her in my arms.
I lifted my hand to knock, and the door swung open before my fist could make contact. Familiar, angry, whiskey-colored eyes stared down at me.
I reeled back, almost falling off the step. Matteo’s hand came out to catch me under the elbow and steady me before I fell on my ass.
“Matteo,” I squeaked. Oh, shit. I wasn’t in them at all. Not if he was here before me.
I had known all along that he would try to track me, but I thought I had done enough to put him off the trail long enough to let Nat and Lily get away.
Clearly, I had underestimated him.
“What are you doing here?” I asked as he yanked me into the warm confines of the house I called home.
“I could ask you the same thing, Sophia.” The hand around my elbow shook. “But to answer your question, I was looking for you.”
“Lil…“ I stopped myself at the last second. “Nat?”
“She’s fine.”
“I’m sorry if I don’t believe you, but…” I paused. I dragged my feet as he pulled me into the living room, and there she was, sitting on the sofa, her phone in her hands and a half-crazed look on her face.
“Thank God you are okay.” She lifted a tear-stained face to mine. “I didn’t know what to do, and then he showed up and I thought he might be able to help…”
My heart skipped a beat. “Help with what?”
A look passed between them. One I didn’t like at all. My mouth suddenly went as dry as a desert.
“It’s Lily,” she said in a quiet voice, and my heart dropped.
“He turned up this morning and took her out and…”
I didn’t need to ask who because I knew. I wasn’t in time at all. Gio had already been here, and now he was gone, and my daughter was with him.
My knees buckled and I fell into a heap. Or I would have, if Matteo hadn’t caught me around the middle and swung me up into his arms.
I stared at him, barely seeing his face through the thick sheen of the tears that flooded my eyes.
“Help me,” I whispered to him because he was the only one who could. He was the only one who could get my daughter back from my brother. He was the only one powerful enough.
I wasn’t. I had tried to play the game and failed and I was about to lose everything.
“Please, Matteo.” Clutching at his shirt front, I twisted it. “Please help me. If you have ever loved me, help.“
He cut me off. His attention on Nat. “Where is Sophia’s room?”
She looked at him blankly.
“Where is your room, Sophia?” he asked me instead. “It’s time we talked, and I would like to do it in private.”
Mutely, I pointed to the stairs. He took them two at a time, like I didn’t weigh anything at all. I didn’t even tense when he glanced into Lily's room.
Because what did it matter now? He knew I had a child.
He knew I had lied for six years.
“That one,” I said in a croaky whisper. “But you can put me down now. I’m not going to faint.”
If we were going to have this conversation, then I wanted to do it on my feet and not held in his arms like a child.
He kicked my bedroom shut before he dropped me to my feet.
“Maybe you won’t faint, but you are a proven flight risk, Sophia. Start talking.” Pointing to the bed, I reluctantly fell onto it, wrapping my arms around myself.
“If this is about the money, then I’ll find a way to pay you back,” I began to say.
He was on me in a second. Gripping my chin, he drew our faces together so only an inch separated us.
“Do you really think I give a shit about the cash, Sophia? I want to know why you ran.”
My eyes darted away. I couldn’t look at him, because if I did, then he would see the truth.
“I couldn’t take living with you anymore,” I lied. “You …
“Liar. But that’s what you are good at, isn’t it? This is your last chance, Sophia, because by God, I can’t take any more. The little girl who lives here is yours, isn’t she?”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. What would be the point of lying now? He already knew the truth.
“Yes,” I whispered, looking everywhere but at him.
“And you’re afraid your brother is going to hurt her?”
Again, I whispered, “Yes.” I fought back the sob that lodged itself in my throat and made it impossible to talk or even breathe. “Yes, I think he might hurt her.”
Finally, I lifted my eyes to him. “Please, Matteo. Please help…”
He cut me off. “How old is she?”
I froze. “She is…” Shit, what was I supposed to say now? The truth. I should have told him ages ago. Probably six years ago, when I had first found out and Gio had put me on that flight, kicking and screaming.
If I had been brave six years ago, none of this would be happening.
“She’s five years old.”
He fell back, stumbling like I had punched him in the gut and his eyes went wild.
“Her name is Lily Anne, and she was born in Aunt Beatrice Private Hospital on the twelfth of June,” I mumbled under my breath.
Matteo’s head snapped up like that meant something to him. His eyes widened and then narrowed into angry slits, and I knew he was doing the math.
“Who is her father?” he hissed
“Matteo.” I shook my head.
Grabbing my chin again, he yanked me forward. “Whose child is she?”
“Mine,” I answered. “Look, I don’t have time for this. Either you will help me, or you won’t, but I need…”
“Who is Lily’s father?” he roared, and I would have fallen back, but his grip on my chin was just too tight. His fingers dug into my skin and I knew they would leave bruises.
“It doesn’t make any difference…”
“It makes every difference to me, who is…”
I tore myself from his grip and stood. “I don’t have time,”
“Make the time. If you want my help, then it’s time for you to be honest with me.”
“I just want my child back. That’s all. You’re getting married,” I said in a rush. “You don’t ever have to see us again. I promise I won’t…”
“Who is the girl’s father?”
“Matteo, please don’t make me say it.”
His eyes narrowed and jumping to his feet, he headed towards the door. “Good luck finding her.”
Desperately, I grabbed at the back of his pristine shirt. If he left now, then I knew I wouldn’t see her again.
And my pride wasn’t worth her life.
“You,” I whispered.
He froze. “Me?”
“Yes.” Dropping my hand, I straightened. There was no going back now. The truth had to come out, and I had to face it head-on. “You are.”
Turning slowly, he speared me into place with his eyes. It wasn’t anger I saw in them, or at least it wasn’t just anger. There was hurt and desperation as well.
“I am her father?” he parroted back.
Mutely, I nodded.
“I have a daughter, and you didn’t tell me?” His voice was rising. But could I really blame him for being angry?
“You had my fucking child.” His hand closed around my throat and together we fell onto the bed. “You kept my daughter away from me for years, Sophia.”
My eyes widened into saucers. “He wouldn’t let me tell you. He said you killed our parents. He said I would be next. Me and the baby—"
He jumped back from me like I had shot him.
“You thought.” A hand went up to tug at his hair.
“Fuck Sophia, you believed I would hurt you and the baby? That’s what you thought I was capable of.
” Shaking his head, he walked away, leaving me on my back on the bed. I jumped when the front door slammed.
“Soph,” Nats' voice said from the open doorway. “What’s—"
I couldn’t answer her. Rolling into my side, I curled into a ball and sobbed.
I had told him the truth, and he had left. Even knowing that his child was in danger, he had walked away.
But hadn’t I always suspected this would be his reaction? Matteo was never going to be the man I needed or the father Lily deserved.
“I heard him leaving.” She crept into the room. “That’s Lily’s father, isn’t it? That’s the man you loved?”
Loved? A crooked smile split my lips, and I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and sat, taking a deep breath. There was no love here, but I still loved him.
“Yeah.” I sucked in a breath, trying to calm my heart before I had a full-blown panic attack. “He’s her father.”
“Is he going to…”
With difficulty, I pushed myself to my feet. “He isn’t going to help me.”
Hadn’t I always known that, though? Matteo would never be there for us.
“We are on our own.”
“What do you want to do? Should we call the police?”
I paused. In my circles, that was a death sentence, but this wasn’t my old life, and my daughter’s life might be on the line. The old rules didn’t apply.
Not now.
“Yeah.” Shaking out my shoulders, I nodded. “Yeah, I can’t think of anything else we can do. I need to phone the police.”
The words had barely left my mouth when her phone rang. Wide-eyed, she stared at me. “It’s…”
Either Gio or Matteo. It didn’t really matter which one it was.
“Answer it,” I hissed.
“Hello?” Her eyes met mine as she listened to what was being said on the other end of the line. “Yeah, she’s here now. What? No.” She began to shake her head violently. “No, I won't do that, Gio. Just bring…”
I held out my hand demandingly. “Give me the phone,” I ordered. If it was Gio, then he had called to speak to me.
“Where is my daughter?” I hissed down the phone.
His mocking laughter filled my ears. “Safe for now. But I can’t promise you for how much longer.”
I blinked in shock.
“Did Matteo run away when he found out the truth?”
Wildly, I looked around. How did he know? How could he possibly know that Matteo had been here or did he now know the truth and had abandoned me?
“Just bring my daughter back, Gio. I don’t know why you are doing this, but she’s just a child. She’s your niece.”
He cut me off with more laughter. I had never heard him laugh like that.
“If you want her back, Sophia, then you will leave that dump you call home and get into the BMW at the end of the street. The keys are in the ignition.”
I swallowed hard. “And where do I go?”
“The address is programmed into the navigation. Come alone.”
“Gio, please.” I didn’t understand any of this. He was my brother. He was supposed to love me like I loved him. Only he didn’t sound like my brother anymore. He sounded like a stranger.
“No, Sophia,” he barked at me, and my blood ran cold. “It’s time we end this once and for all.”