15. Isabella
CHAPTER 15
Isabella
I couldn't stop picturing Amalia’s face when she mentioned Sienna’s name. She was terrified, like Lorenzo would be summoned with just a mention of the woman.
What had happened to her? Lorenzo didn't seem like the type of man who would simply let a woman go. Even though he had been ignoring me for days now, I was one hundred percent certain that if I tried to leave, he would stop me.
But trying to get Amalia to answer my questions was like talking to a brick wall. Beyond her admitting that Sienna was her cousin, Amalia had refused to mention her again and begged me to drop it. “Nothing good can come from asking those kinds of questions,” she had said, and now, she was avoiding me too.She would talk to me if we happened to be in the same room together, but she seemed to be making sure that we were never in the same room for more than five minutes. The only time I spent with anyone was at meals, and those had become increasingly silent.
I was lonely and having nothing to distract me had made it even harder to let Sienna go.
Had I slept with a married man? That was the question I kept coming back to. He wanted me to be his surrogate, and she wasn't staying at the estate as far as I could tell, so obviously, Sienna wasn't in the picture. Yet that didn't mean they were divorced.
Or that she hadn’t been put away somewhere.
“You look lost.”
I jerked from my thoughts. Cristian was seated at the piano in the corner of the formal living room. Since coming to the estate, I had never seen anyone play it. Or even sit on the bench. But it was always immaculately clean, and I was sure that it was kept tuned and ready. “I feel a little lost,” I admitted.
Cristian’s smile was warm. It was the kind of smile that you could tell all of your secrets to, which I supposed was the point, given that he was going to be a priest. “I’m waiting for my brother, but he seems to be running late.” He motioned for me to come sit beside him. “Do you want to talk about it?”
I shook my head but drifted closer to the piano anyway. “I don't think one day has passed since I came here where I didn't feel lost,” I admitted, wrapping my arms around myself. “I'm supposed to be working off my father's debt, but I haven't been allowed to leave the house, so how am I going to ever work it off?”
You know how you're going to do that . But Cristian might not know about my deal with Lorenzo, and I wasn't going to be the one to tell him. “You don't need to lie,” he said after a long pause. He pressed at one of the piano keys, and it trilled softly, echoing in the quiet room. “Lorenzo told me about the surrogacy.”
Well, that made things easier, and I felt my shoulders relax. “Besides one consultation with an IVF doctor, he hasn't made any other arrangements.” I rolled my eyes. “Not that it might matter anyway, but?—”
“Why is that?”
I felt myself blushing and tried my best to ignore it. “Even if you are going to be a priest, I'm sure you can figure out the answer to that.”
Cristian looked horrified . “You had sex with him?”
Great, I was going to be slut shamed by a representative of the Church. “It wasn't planned,” I said. “I mean, I don't know what Lorenzo’s thinking, like ever, but I didn't plan on sleeping with him. It just happened.”
Cristian’s expression didn't change. He heaved a heavy sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose in the same way I had seen Lorenzo do. Migraines must run in their family. Hopefully, the baby won't get those genes . “My brother is an idiot,” he said.
Dread pooled in my belly. “I knew it,” I said, more to myself than anything. “I knew there was more to the Sienna thing.”
“You know about Sienna?” Cristian's tone was different now, almost manic. He reached out and grabbed my hand. “Lorenzo told you about Sienna?”
“No,” I said and looked over my shoulder on instinct. Amalia had done the same when she had dropped Sienna’s name the first time. “No, from what I understand, he doesn't talk about her at all.”
Cristian sighed, disappointed. “You’re right. No one in this house dares to speak about her.”
“Where is she?” I asked.
He was quiet for a long moment. “Sienna is dead,” he said finally, and it felt like an icy wind followed the words. Everything about the room was colder.
“How did it happen?” Did he kill her? It wasn’t a kind or generous thought, but it was the first that came to mind.
Cristian was going to tell me, I could see it on his face, but someone cleared their voice behind us, and I knew before I turned around that it was Lorenzo. “Come to my office, Cris,” he commanded. “We can speak privately.”
Cristian stood up from the piano bench. “Sure, fratellone .” He looked at me, and although he smiled, it was grim. “It was nice seeing you again, Isabella.”
“You too.”
Lorenzo looked at me; those light eyes seemed to pierce into my soul. “Keep your nose out of my business, Isabella.”
His tone turned my stomach to stone, but I made a show of rolling my eyes. I wouldn’t allow him to see me afraid. “If I had something to do with my time, I wouldn’t have to dig into things that don’t concern me.”
Lorenzo’s jaw flexed; his nostrils flared. “Go read a book or something,” he said dismissively. “And keep all your goddamn questions to yourself.”
The or what was on the tip of my tongue, but the look in his eyes was near murderous, and I swallowed the taunt back. He was the kind of man who could—and more than likely had—kill a person. He might have killed his wife. What would stop him from doing the same to me? Especially since I hadn’t held up my end of our bargain yet. At least as far as we knew; it was too soon to know that for sure.
I dipped my head in acknowledgment, and while it didn’t make him any happier, it did make him leave the room. For now, I would call that a victory.