13. Adriana #2
"It wasn't that." He yanks up his pants and stands, looking down at me, and I feel the fear intensify. "I don't understand why you're lying to yourself, Adriana, but it wasn't that. It was real, and it's still real, and you fucking know it."
"I…" I swallow hard. I want him so badly. This is unfair, and it hurts so much. But if I let us make the same mistakes again…
"I need time," I whisper, and I know it's a coward's way out. I'm giving him hope while getting space for myself, and I think he knows it, too.
But he just nods and turns to go. He pauses at the door and looks back at me.
"Thank you," he says softly.
And then he's gone, the door closing quietly behind him.
—
When I've had a chance to shower and gather myself, I go to see Matteo. He's in his room, and when I walk in I see him sitting on the floor, his legs tucked up under him, staring at something in his hands.
A phone.
My heart stops. Matteo doesn't have a cell phone. He never has. So where the fuck did he get this?
"Matteo." My voice comes out sharper than I mean for it to, and he jumps, his head snapping up to look at me. "What is that?"
"I—" He looks down at the phone, and I can see the guilt written all over his face. "I found it. In my bag. I didn't know it was there, I swear."
I cross the room and snatch the phone out of his hands. He flinches, his eyes going wide. "Where did you get this?" I demand, my voice shaking. "Who gave this to you?"
"No one gave it to me." He shrinks back against the bed. "It was just in my bag. I didn't know it was there until today."
I look down at the phone, and my stomach drops. There are text messages on the screen, dozens of them, and they're all from the same number. I scroll through the messages, my hands shaking, and with each one I read, the knot in my chest tightens.
Matteo, it's Uncle Gio. I know you're scared, but I need you to know that I'm doing everything I can to get you back. That man who took you—he's dangerous. He's a kidnapper. He's not your father. He's lying to you.
Your mama is confused right now. She doesn't understand what's happening. But I'm going to fix this. I'm going to bring you both home.
I miss you, buddy. I miss you so much. Just hold on a little longer, okay? I'm coming for you.
Don't trust him. Don't trust anything he says. He's a violent man. He's going to hurt you and your mama if you're not careful.
I love you, Matteo. I'm going to get you back. I promise.
The phone slips from my hands and clatters to the floor. I stare at it like it's a snake, something venomous that's going to bite me if I get too close.
"Mama?" Matteo's voice is small. "Are you okay?"
I can't answer. Gio has been in contact with my son.
He's been feeding him lies, poisoning his mind, making him think that Lachlan is the enemy and that Gio is the hero.
And I didn't know. I was so focused on trying to figure out how to navigate this new nightmare that I didn't think to look for if Gio had found a way to reach us.
"Mama." Matteo reaches for me, and I can see the confusion in his eyes. "Uncle Gio said he's trying to help us. He said he misses me. He said—"
"He's lying." The words come out harsh, and Matteo flinches. "He's lying to you, Matteo. Everything he said is a lie."
"But he said—"
"I don't care what he said." I pick up the phone, gripping it so tight my knuckles are white. "He's not trying to help us. He's trying to manipulate you. He's trying to make you think that Lachlan is the bad guy so you'll want to go back to him. But Lachlan isn't the bad guy, Matteo. Gio is."
"But Uncle Gio never hurt us." Matteo's voice is rising, and I can hear the desperation in it. "He took care of us. He kept us safe. And now we're here, and I'm scared, Mama. I'm so scared."
"I know." I drop to my knees in front of him, trying to make him look at me.
"I know you're scared. But you have to trust me, okay?
You have to trust that I'm doing what's best for us.
Gio didn't keep us safe. He kept us prisoner.
And Lachlan—" My voice breaks, and I have to swallow hard before I can continue.
"Lachlan is your father. And he's trying to protect us. "
"I don't want him to be my father." Matteo is welling up with tears now. "I want to go home. I want things to go back to the way they were."
I have to close my eyes against the pain. He doesn't understand. He doesn't know what Gio did to me, what he was planning to do to him. He doesn't know that the life we had wasn't a life at all, and I let him grow up in it because I didn't know how to get us out.
"I'm sorry," I whisper. I pull him into my arms, holding him tight. "I'm so sorry, baby. I know this is hard. I know you don't understand. But I need you to trust me. Can you do that? Can you trust me?"
He doesn't answer. He just cries into my shoulder, his small body shaking.
—
I find Lachlan in his office, sitting at his desk and staring at a laptop screen. He looks up when I walk in, and I can see the wariness in his eyes, like he's not sure if I'm going to yell at him or break down or both.
I hold up the phone. "We need to talk."
He stands up immediately, his eyes narrowing as he looks at the phone in my hand. "Where did you get that?"
"Matteo had it." I cross the room and set the phone on his desk. I can see his jaw tighten as he picks it up and starts scrolling through the messages. "Gio's been texting him. Telling him that you're a kidnapper. That I'm complicit. That he's trying to rescue us."
Lachlan's face goes dark, and I can see the fury building in his eyes. "How long has he had this?"
"I don't know. He said he found it in his bag today, but I don't know if that's true.
He could have had it this whole time." I wrap my arms around myself, suddenly cold.
"Gio's poisoning him against us. Against you.
He's making Matteo think that you're the enemy and that he's the hero. And I don't know how to fix it."
"I'll fix it." Lachlan's voice is hard. "I'll stop Gio. I'll make sure he can't reach Matteo again. I'll—"
"How? How are you going to fix it when you're part of the problem?"
Frustration builds in his gaze, and he lets out a sharp breath. "What are you talking about?"
"I didn't ask for your protection. I didn't ask you to kidnap me and my son and bring us here. I didn't ask you to lock me in my room at night or tell me where I can and can't go or make decisions for me without asking what I want."
"We've been over this, Adri—"
"I told you to stop calling me that!"
"I'm trying to give you the life you deserve!
" He stares at me. "The life we both deserve.
What was stolen from us. And you fight me at every turn.
You give an inch and then run away a mile.
I know you're scared and traumatized. I'll get you a therapist if you need it.
I'll get Matteo one. I'll do fucking anything, Adriana.
But blaming me for how I got here when the alternative was to roll over and die isn't fucking fair! "
"I don't want the life you think I deserve.
" My voice breaks. "I want my son to be safe.
I want him to grow up away from men like Gio.
Men who use violence and fear to control the people around them.
Men who think they have the right to decide what's best for everyone else.
I want him out of that world, and you've dragged us deeper into it. "
"I'm not like that." He reaches for me, but I step back, and I can see the pain in his eyes when I do. "I'm not like Gio. I would never hurt you. I would never—"
"You're a violent man, Lachlan. You kill people.
You come home with blood on your hands. You run a criminal empire.
And you think that because you love me, that makes it okay.
But it doesn't. It doesn't change who you are.
It doesn't change the fact that my son is terrified of you.
It doesn't change the fact that I don't know if I can trust you. "
"Adriana—"
"I want my son away from men like Gio." I'm looking him straight in the eyes, and I can see the moment my words hit him, and he understands what I'm saying. "And I want him away from men like you."
The silence that follows is deafening.
Lachlan stares at me, and I can see the devastation in his face, the way my words have cut him deeper than any knife ever could. And part of me wants to take them back, to tell him I didn't mean it, that I'm just scared and confused and I don't know what I'm saying.
But I don't. Because it's the truth.
I look at him for one long moment, and then I turn and leave.