CHAPTER 19 - ARIANNA
CHAPTER
Arianna
RED HAS THE GALL to eye me with concern. He has no right. His well-practiced pretense and game-playing no longer have power. The spell is broken.
I glare into the blue-gray eyes that I used to find so mesmerizing; the ones with the ability to melt me from the inside out, but that has evaporated. I will be Red Bateman’s revenge ticket no more.
I promised myself I wouldn’t react and would say nothing to this man. I’d accept the bare minimum of his “hospitality” in order to physically recover enough to walk away from his leeching hold and do what I need to do to my brother. But hearing Papà’s voice breaks my resolve.
Having a nice catch-up, were they? Brainstorming ideas about what to do next?
“Arianna...”
Imagining raking my nails down Red’s face; his skin collecting in bloody ribbons underneath my chipped varnish from the deep gouges is all I can think of as he moves towards me.
I hold my hand up. “Don’t come near me! Instead, tell me what percentage you’re getting from my father for your part in this. ”
Red’s approach halts, and the pity in his eyes infuriates me. “Don’t you dare look at me like that!” I snarl. “You’ve played me from the start, and you think this...” I wave my arm around the sitting room of the unknown house, “fools me into thinking your motives are good? Well, it doesn’t!”
I laugh loudly; sarcastically. I’m surprised my face recalls how to move to give the impression of amusement. “Wise up, Red Bateman! Your tactics of pretending to protect me are useless. They may have worked once, but they sure as hell don’t work now. You’re nothing but a liar!”
The flinch disappears as quickly as it appears across Red’s face. “Until your ankles are fully healed, you should rest, not wander around the house.”
“Oh, you’re a doctor now?” I walk around the room, refusing to use the furniture to steady myself just to spite him. My ankles jar and my legs are far too shaky, but I’ll be damned if I’ll stumble and back up his pseudo-concern. “I’ll be the judge of how I feel!”
I’m desperate to ask where this house is; desperate to ask about Maria.
Red was there the night I was taken away from Matteo’s, but I resent asking him anything.
It’s not like I’ll get the truth anyway, but last night’s nightmare is still fresh in my mind.
Have Matteo and Luca got Maria now they haven’t got me?
Suddenly remembering Red was in my room last night witnessing my distress only makes me more furious. I turn to face him. “Haven’t you got a casino to run? Drugs to peddle? Work to continue with my father and brother? Oh, and let’s not forget the Bristonis...”
The muscle in Red’s cheek twitches. “I do not work with them, you know that!”
“You could have fooled me!” I scream, my last threads of control snapping. “Is this what you did to your first fiancée? Set her up the way you did me?”
“You know that’s not tr...”
“I know what you told me! You know, the vague bullshit that Lorna killed herself because it ‘had to happen’. That she should ‘not have been involved with you in the first place’. Yeah, right... All part of the plan, huh?”
Red’s eyes narrow. “Listen, you know nothing about...”
“You’re correct. I know nothing - just the way you and every other fucker likes it! Hey, perhaps Lorna discovered you’re part of this ‘pureblood’ program? Maybe that’s why she had to die? I’m intrigued though; do you get commission?”
Moving forward quicker than I expect, Red grabs my arm. “I’ve told you – I’m not involved with their shit! I got you away, didn’t I?”
“And I’m supposed to be grateful for that?” I stare at the grip Red has of my arm and fight the overriding urge to panic. The last time my arm was grabbed like that, it was...
Red releases his hold and steps back. His act of chivalry and pretending to understand doesn’t wash. He hasn’t got a fucking clue.