Chapter 6 Megan #2
I don’t add the words ‘in time’. That would unleash a whole bunch of terrifying thoughts that I can’t deal with right now. It would give this situation an alternative ending, and I won’t do that to Amber. I have to stay positive.
“Yes.”
But she hesitated, and I wish she hadn’t, because now all I can hear are the words she didn’t say out loud.
Gio comes over and folds me into his arms. “She isn’t here, Meggie.”
The relief is still there, tinged with frustration and guilt and something cold lurking beneath the surface that I don’t want to examine too closely.
Instead, I listen to his heartbeat, the steady da-dum, da-dum, and remind myself that this isn’t over yet.
I have Amber’s hairband in my pocket, and bizarrely, this more than anything else that has happened, has given me hope that she is still alive.
Back at the cabin, I tell Gio that I’m tired and retreat to the bedroom. Alone. I see the concern in his eyes and reassure him that exhaustion is catching up with me while my leg is healing. I sense his eyes on me as I hobble along the corridor and into the room, but I don’t look around.
One glance, and he’ll know that I’m hiding something. It makes my heart swell with love to think that we are so closely intertwined that he knows what I’m thinking and feeling better than I know myself, but it also fills me with panic for withholding my treasure from him.
What if there are fingerprints on the stone?
What if Amber’s father watched me pick it up and is already using my silence to his advantage?
I can’t explain it, but I need to unpack this message—whatever it is—for myself before I go to Gio with it.
Inside the room, with the door closed, I sit on the edge of the bed, my heart thumping. I listen for movement elsewhere in the cabin, but all I can hear is the blood gushing through my veins.
When I’m certain that Gio isn’t going to follow me, I slide the stone from my pocket and rub my fingertips over Amber’s hairband.
It’s grubby, dirt clinging to the stretchy material and the plastic rainbow clip attached to it, but I feel connected to her just holding it in my hand.
She was wearing this. I brushed her hair that morning.
I was with her when she chose this hairband to match her dress.
Tears sting my eyes. I slide the stone out and a tiny, folded note drops into my lap.
My fingers tremble as I unfold it, the words slowly coming into focus.
MEET ME
MIDNIGHT
CABIN AT BOTTOM OF SLOPE
COME ALONE
I read the note three times, memorizing the words like a child learning to read. I turn the slip of paper over; there’s nothing on the reverse side. No name. No mention of Amber.
But they used her hairband, so this must be about her.
COME ALONE
Panic swills about inside my gut.
It sounds like a death-trap. Why else would he want to meet me alone? He knows that if I tell Gio and his men about the message, they’ll be waiting for him to arrive at midnight. Which in turn means that he won’t come, and I’ll have lost the only opportunity I have to find out where she is.
I’m scared.
Scratch that. I’m absolutely fucking petrified.
But I already know that I’m going to meet him. I owe it to Amber. I’d never forgive myself if he murdered her because I didn’t show up.
The only problem is: how?
Even if Gio wasn’t here, I’m surrounded by his security team, and after what happened before, they’re taking no chances.
But… I suck in a deep breath, hold it in my lungs, and release it slowly while I consider my options.
Perhaps sharing a bed with Gio will work in my favor. Everyone knows how protective he is. They know that he won’t let me out of his sight, and they must also know what he’ll do to The Fish when he finally catches him.
So, I need to focus on getting away from Gio at midnight. The bodyguards will be alert to movement approaching the cabins; they won’t be expecting anyone to leave, and certainly not in the middle of the night.
I glance down at my cast. When I look at my foot, the pain starts up like an orchestra striking the first chords of a concerto, but if I don’t think about it, if I concentrate on doing this for Amber, I can blank it out. I hope. What choice do I have?
Standing, I test putting my weight onto my foot.
“Fuck!” I whisper to myself, conscious that Gio might be listening out for me.
Taking deep breaths, I stare at the door, think about Amber, and take a step.
The pain is real, sharp and hot like flames licking the bottom of a log.
But I keep going. I don’t know how long it takes me to reach the bedroom door, but when I do, I lean against it, turn around and stare at the bed, sweat beading on my upper lip.
It’s a start. I’ve no idea how long it will take me to reach the cabin at the bottom of the slope, even if I can slip away while Gio is asleep, but the pain meds will help.
The pain meds.
They make me drowsy. That’s an understatement, they literally make me unconscious, which is why I stopped taking them. But if I somehow slip them into Gio’s drink…
I limp back to the bed, sit down heavily, and raise my throbbing foot, easing it gently onto the comforter.
My chest aches with the thought of drugging Gio after everything that he has done for me and Amber. But I can’t think of another way to get out of the cabin unnoticed, and he’s hardly going to agree to me meeting The Fish alone if I show him the note.
I tip a couple of pills into the palm of my hand.
I could crush a couple and add them to Gio’s drink later.
I can’t believe I’m even contemplating doing this, but he’ll understand my reasons.
He would do the same for me, and this is the thought I hold onto when I crush the pills into a tissue, put them in my pocket and lie back on the bed.
Gio and Enzo are preparing the evening meal together when I wake up and wander back to the kitchen. Demi is sitting at the table building a house out of playing cards. It’s a picture of domesticity that sends a spear straight through my chest.
Amber should be here trying to build a house of cards and giggling when they collapse. But instead, she is still out there somewhere.
“Meggie?” Gio wipes his hands on a towel and comes straight over to help me sit down. “How are you feeling? You looked so peaceful, I didn’t want to disturb you.”
“Fine.”
The three of them share a glance that doesn’t include me.
Enzo finds a cup and fills it with steaming coffee. Gio sits down next to me and reaches for my hand.
“My men are still out there looking for Amber.” He raises my hand to his lips, oblivious to the fact that he has an audience.
Under any other circumstances, I would feel like the luckiest woman alive, but how can I when they’re acting like they’re on vacation?
“Has anyone seen him?”
I don’t need to say his name out loud, and besides, the question is irrelevant. He’ll stay hidden until midnight. Why risk getting me alone even if he does enjoy the game way more than any sane person should?
“Not since last night.” Gio holds my gaze. He’s trying to gauge what’s going on behind the ‘fine’.
“Where is the map?”
I’m struggling to act normally when the pills are burning a hole in my pocket, and the note is branded behind my eyelids, so pushing the search for Amber forward seems like my best option. It’s something to hide behind while I count down the hours until midnight.
Demi knocks down the card house and stacks the deck to one side. She smooths the map out across the table and taps the spot marking the empty ski lodge that we spotted from the cable car.
“The men found nothing there.” Her eyes flick back and forth between me and the map. “They’re searching the slopes.”
“The slopes?” I turn my attention to Gio, and his expression confirms my worst fears. “You mean you’re searching for the drops.”
“We’re eliminating them from the search, fiore,” he says gently. “Amber is still alive; I’m certain of it.” His eyes bore into mine, waiting for confirmation that I believe him, and I nod.
Would he still be so sure if he knew about the note?
I drink my coffee slowly, nausea crashing through me in waves.
We eat meatballs and spaghetti and salad with feta cheese crumbled over the top.
Enzo opens a bottle of red wine and half-fills three wide-bottomed glasses.
They wash it down with iced water, and talk about their childhood in Sicily, while I try to figure out how to get Gio to swallow the pain meds without realizing.
At least one of them remains at the table like they’re a tag team taking turns to keep an eye on me. I feel like a dangerous criminal planning my escape from a high security prison. Because I realize that my life is at stake here, but so is Amber’s.
The opportunity to add the meds to Gio’s glass of wine comes when Enzo and Demi are ready to head back to the cabin they’re sharing.
Enzo stands up, his eyes on me. “Please don’t think that we’ve given up on her, Meggie. Sometimes, the simple things that bring us comfort, like good pasta and childhood memories, also help us solve unsolvable problems.”
He kisses my cheek as he passes, and tears well in my eyes.
When I first met him, I would never have thought him capable of saying something profound; he was like a teenage version of Gio, living his best life, the center of a universe that revolved solely around him.
But I realize now that he is more like Gio than either of them realizes.
When they leave, Gio busies himself with the dishes, eyeing up my barely touched meal without acknowledging it.
My pulse races as I slide the crushed meds from my pocket and tip them into the remains of his red wine. The bits settle on the surface, and I panic. Shit! I didn’t consider that they might not dissolve—this never happens in the movies.
I pick up the glass, my heart hammering, and swirl the drink around, praying the pill crumbs will dissolve before Gio realizes what’s going on.
How will I explain why I’ve crumbled pills into his wine?