Chapter 26
NICOLETTE
My temples throb, like someone slammed a hammer into my head. I groan.
Or I think I do. It doesn’t even sound like it’s me.
I force my eyes open, but there’s mostly darkness, and it takes me a few minutes to adjust to my surroundings.
I’m sitting on the floor. It’s cold. Wet. Is that water? Blood?
A shiver spirals down both arms.
Grumbling, I try to get to my feet, pulling at my hands.
I gasp, turning to find my right arm restrained at my wrist. All the little hairs on my body stand up.
Where am I?
I remember her. That woman. The liar. Does she work for Giancarlo? Is that who kidnapped me?
It has to be him. Who else would it be?
Raph has no idea I’ve been taken. I’m on my own.
Fear has completely snapped me out of the fog and the adrenaline pumps through my blood. I have to find a way out.
“Hello? Is anyone here?” My heartbeats drum faster, almost to the point I grow dizzy.
What will these people do to me?
Panic sets in full force, and my panting intensifies, echoing through the cold room. The moon shines through the window behind me, providing enough light to see around me, but not enough to make out the rest of what looks to be a sizeable room.
“Nice to see you again,” a woman says from across my left.
“Who said that?” My harsh inhales and exhales permeate the room.
It can’t be.
Fear coils in my gut.
Because for a second, that voice sounded like…
No. It’s not possible. I must be having a nightmare. There’s no way I heard that right.
“Hello?” she calls again. “Do you hear me?”
That was definitely her.
Oh my God.
“Bianca?”
My pulse thrashes and fills my ears.
“Hey, sis.”
And all of a sudden, the room is bathed in a soft light. She grins as I finally take her in, chained up like me on the opposite side.
“H-how? How are you here?” My voice trails.
My mouth falls open. How can she not be dead? I saw her. She was motionless and bleeding. She was gone.
“It’s a long story, but my God, Nicolette, I’m so happy to see you!”
She is?
My mind and my body haven’t caught up yet. I stare at her in disbelief. It’s definitely her. I’m not imagining it. She’s still pretty. Still looks the same. Like nothing has changed. While for me, everything has, and it’s all her fault.
“How are you here, Bianca? I don’t understand.” I try to climb to my feet, but stumble back down, my head spinning.
“Well…” She easily stands, walking over to where I am and stares right down at me.
The chain around her wrist is long enough for her to move around with ease. Of course the bitch gets the bigger chain.
“When they brought me to the hospital, I actually made it through surgery, and when I woke up, I begged my doctor friend to tell everyone I was dead. You know I knew everyone at that hospital.” She laughs coldly.
“I knew lying to you all was my only chance of getting away from Giancarlo.” She runs a finger through her jet-black hair and bats her lashes.
“I didn’t want to. Obviously. I had a good life with Raph and all of that, you know? But I had no choice.”
“And…and the baby?” I whisper. “You were pregnant with his damn baby!” I shout, anger seeping into my pores.
“I lost it when I got shot. Whatever.” She shrugs.
“How could you do that to Raph?”
“Listen,” she sneers. “My marriage has never been your business, though you always made it yours.” She yawns like she’s bored. “May I finish my story now?”
I grit as she goes on, already hating her all over again. I’m not even happy to see her alive, and I’m not sorry about it.
“The doctor was a good friend of mine. He was a little more than a friend, if I’m being honest…” She grins, looking past me as though she’s imagining him right now.
My God, she slept with him too. I shake my head, unable to comprehend how horrible she truly is.
“The doc offered his help after I told him the amount of danger I was in. He arranged for his rich uncle to get me out of the country. I was living a good life on a remote island near France. That is, until one of Giancarlo’s bastards recognized me.”
Her face turns with revulsion. “The asshole followed me home and tied me up. Told me his boss would be happy to know I was doing well. He was gloating.” Her eyes narrow. “He drugged me and brought me here.”
“Did you see Giancarlo?”
She nods. “He came here the next day and told me how happy he was that I’d returned from the dead, and that Raph would be thrilled to see me.”
“Has Raph come?” I know he hasn’t, but I want to know what she says.
“Not yet.” She arches a brow. “He will soon. Gian promised I could have my life back. It will just take a little time.”
“Time for what?”
My stomach flips. I don’t like this at all. There’s no way he’ll let her go just like that. Is he waiting for Raph to die to release her? And he’s definitely not letting me go. I’m as good as dead.
“It’s Giancarlo, Nicolette.” Her face pitches with annoyance. “He didn’t give me a play-by-play. I’m just glad he didn’t put a bullet in me again.”
“How long have you been here, exactly?”
“A few weeks. I think. Not like there’s a calendar here I can tick off.
” Her lips press into a thin line of irritation.
“You should be happy to see me instead of asking me all these questions. I mean, my God…” She walks back to her original spot and lowers into it. “I’m alive. You have your sister back.”
“Um, I don’t know what fantasy land you’re from, but you and I were never close, sister.”
Her face tightens, and then she’s smiling. One of those fake smiles she’s perfected over the years.
“You’re right.” She clears her throat.
Wait, did she just admit I was right? Is this an alternate universe?
Her fingers flutter across the side of her throat. “I do take the fault in that. Most of it anyway.”
She looks like she’s about to say something. A few seconds pass before she actually does.
“I’m sorry I’ve been such a bitch to you.”
Her voice softens, and I find it hard to believe. She’s never in her life been nice to me. Maybe whatever happened to her has changed her.
“I know it may mean nothing now, but…” After the longest pause known to man, she says, “If we get out of this, I hope we can be a family. That we can have a fresh start. Be sisters. Wouldn’t you want that?”
No. She’s lying. There’s no way in hell this is the real Bianca.
“Why the sudden change of heart?” I ask, hating to admit that in the pit of my stomach, I’m wishing she’s earnest.
I’d do anything to have a sister. But is she really capable of that? And what about when she learns what’s been going on with Raph and me?
Oh, God. Raph. I can’t give him up. Not after he’s finally admitted to wanting me. Not after we’ve been together.
What will he do once he learns she’s still alive? Will he want her back? Will he want to make his marriage work? I know how seriously he takes his vows. Shit, he may actually forgive her. Or pretend to. He always said he’d never divorce. His family is against it.
An ache pulses in my chest, and I rub at it, feeling the pain settle comfortably. I fight not to cry from the loss that’s inevitable. Once he finds out, he’s going to choose her. I just know it. Because no one ever chooses me.
“Why aren’t you saying anything?” The shrillness in her tone grates up my insides.
“I don’t know what I want, Bianca. There’s a lot to think about. A lot you’ve done to me over the years.”
“Typical.” She snorts. “I’m extending you an olive branch and you won’t accept it.”
Is she doing it for Mom and Dad? Why would they care? They never have before. Maybe she thinks Raph would forgive her for fucking his father if she were nicer to me. He’d be an idiot, an absolute moron, if he didn’t divorce her after everything she’s done.
Wait, does she even know that he knows about the affair? Time to burst her little bubble.
“I appreciate you wanting us to be sisters and all of that, but why now? Is it because of Raph?” I straighten my shoulders, the throbbing in my head dissipating. “Because you should know, he knows everything.”
I don’t tell her he doesn’t know about the baby. Let her think he does. Let her suffer.
Her eyes expand. “He knows about Gian and me?” A hand curls into a fist by her thigh.
“You told him, didn’t you?” Rage laces through the narrow slits of her snake eyes.
“You bitch!” She jumps to her feet. “You always wanted him.” Her nostrils widen with every raging breath. “Always tried to ruin us!”
I climb to my feet as she comes closer.
“Are you happy now?” She grabs the front of my shirt and pulls her face up to mine, nose to nose. “He’ll still want me back. He’ll forgive me.”
I laugh, shoving her hand off me with ease. “Or he won’t. Or he’ll think you’re a cunt for fucking his father and getting knocked up by him. He’ll divorce you, and you’ll crawl back into your hellhole where you belong.”
My words spray vitriol on her face. She’s ready to claw my eyes out.
“I hate you!” she shouts, throwing her other palm across my cheek.
I rub my burning skin, laughing fiendishly, enjoying the look of despair and anger twined on her features. I don’t buy her innocent act. She doesn’t care about me. Never has. Never will.
“I know you hate me, and I no longer care, Bianca. You are not better than me.” I poke my index finger into her chest. “Never were. Never will be.”
She hisses as I back away.
“He’s going to come for me. He’s going to save me,” I tell her and she’s the one laughing now.
“You’re so na?ve. You think he loves you, don’t you?” She slants her head to the side. “Aww. You’re still so pathetic, it’s almost cute.”
I’ve heard her call me things like that for too long, and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t bother me.
Her body rocks with more laughter, but I can tell she’s nervous.
“The only person my husband will be saving is me.” She curves a single brow. “You never meant a thing to him. Stop fooling yourself with your childhood crush. He only ever saw a little girl who was desperate for his attention.”
“Is that what you think?” Fury churns in my chest, and with a hard shove, I push her back and fold my arms over my chest, thankful that my bullet wound has mostly healed. I grin when she stumbles.
Her eyes widen as she takes in the gloating riddled on my face.
“What did you do?” The words fall on a whisper, shock threaded through them.
A slow-growing smile ticks up my mouth. “I think you may have finally started to put the puzzle together.”
I let her stew, my lips thinning.
“You slut! Did you fuck my husband?”
“I guess I wasn’t that pathetic when he was fucking me in every position, telling me how he never loved you at all.”
The next thing I know, she’s rushing toward me, roaring like a damn animal. Her fist lands across my jaw and I give it to her just as good, unleashing all the years of pent-up resentment.
I throw her on her back and sit on top of her, slamming a punch into her cheek. “I’m not afraid of you, Bianca.”
I hit her again when she tries to claw my arms.
“You never loved him. He didn’t mean a thing to you! You just didn’t want me to have him.”
“That’s right!” She spits up blood. “He’s mine! I’ll kill you before I let you have him.”
“You can try.” I hop off and tower over her. “But you won’t succeed. People like you rarely do.”
“And what kind of people are those?”
“The sick, piece-of-shit kind.”