CHAPTER 29
When I saw you kissing him.
Two weeks, and I still can’t get it out of my head—not even when I’m trying to get Finn to sleep.
Stefan was my husband. What else was I supposed to do? Cry? I was surrounded by men who could hurt me; Stefan had threatened to beat me. I was terrified because I didn’t understand what was happening. I wanted Dante to rescue me. He’d promised…
I couldn’t cry. I had been pretending all my life, so what was a little more?
That night, after I saw Dante, everything fell apart. I ran after him, but my father blocked my way and told me the truth about his absence.
It all made sense then.
Why else would he have stood me up? Why else would he have come to the party if not to laugh at me?
I was so desperate I asked my father for help. For something, anything, to get me through the night. To my surprise, he gave me a pill that left me high enough to be unable to move… but I was still conscious.
The next morning, when I finally managed to get up, I sat in the bath and cried until Stefan came and used me—this time with nothing left for me to hold on to.
I didn’t have my mother. I didn’t have the solitude and safety of my room. And I didn’t have Dante.
What hurt the most was his absence—his lie.
If I’d hated him before, I hate him even more now.
If he had planned to kidnap me since that day, why didn’t he do it sooner?
Why did he wait a year, when I was already used to the constant beatings and rapes?
Why did he wait? Did he want me in Stefan’s hands first?
Was it another one of his sick arrangements?
Every day my anger grows, and so does my sadness. Every night, a bad memory wakes me. Every day he sends me texts I don’t answer. Every day I walk downstairs in provocative clothes to tease him.
It isn’t working, but I won’t give up.
He must react somehow. There must be something. He can’t be immune to me. Yes, my seduction techniques are a little rusty, but I thought the sight of my body would be temptation enough. It was enough for the others.
I want him to abuse the woman he kidnapped. I want him to show me his true self because the facade he’s been wearing since he met me is not it. He is someone much worse. Someone who could kill me if he felt like it. They all told me so. Why the hell would I be an exception?
If he can do that to other girls, why wouldn’t he do it to me?
Finn finally falls asleep. I lay him gently in the cot. He needs to get used to staying like this, alone—though I won’t force him. If he wants to come to bed, I’ll welcome him with arms wide open.
Greta says getting him to sleep on his own takes time, so I’ll start now, even though I want to keep him in my arms for the rest of my life. Once we’re out of here, I’ll have to leave him alone for hours. He’ll get used to it. We’ll both get used to it.
I hate leaving him alone.
A soft knock breaks the silence. No voice calls my name, so it’s neither Greta nor Dante.
I walk to the door, unlock it, and pull it open.
“What are you doing here?” I whisper.
Angelo’s gaze drags down my body, lingering on my breasts before crawling back up to my eyes. Did he mean to do it, or did he think I wouldn’t notice?
“I’ve come to kidnap you.” He smiles, lifting a basket. “I was wondering if you’d like to go on a little date with me.”
“So, is this our second date?” I ask, sitting on the tablecloth spread over the grass.
“More like an escape—or a distraction,” he replies, sitting beside me. “I’m kidnapping you for tonight.”
My stomach knots at the memory.
“A date?”
“That’s right.”
“Isn’t that… kind of unethical?”
His smile widens.
“I don’t care, principessa.” 17 He holds out his hand. “Just one date. You can even bring Finn if you like.”
I never thought my flirting would work on anyone. Nor did I expect him to ignore Dante’s direct orders.
But here he is, with a basket and a hopeful smile, instead of being in the comfort of his home.
I don’t want to go. Going would mean misleading him and using him as they have used me. As much as I want to fall in love with a normal man like Angelo, someone has already ripped out my heart and hasn’t given it back.
I catch a glimpse of Finn’s cot.
“He’s asleep.”
“He can sleep on his own. He’ll be fine.”
I gulp. “He tends to have nightmares… I don’t like to leave him alone.”
His smile fades, dropping his arm and exhaling.
“It’s okay. Perhaps some other time.”
He takes two slow, faltering steps toward the staircase. I press my lips together, close my eyes, and sigh.
“Only for ten minutes.”
As he turns, his face lights up.
“That’s enough for me.”
Just ten minutes. Ten minutes without my son. He’ll be fine. He is not going to die. He’s not going to get killed or kidnapped.
I wouldn’t be so sure if I were you… and I am. This is not your brightest idea, but I guess Angelo could help you if something comes up.
We’ve slept under the same roof for… several weeks. We’ve spent time with Greta and Dante; there is security, and Dante swore we were safe. They can’t do anything to him in ten minutes. Besides, I’m in the garden. It’s not like he’s sixty miles away.
He’ll be fine.
Can you blame me for being worried?
We sit on the floor on a brown blanket. Angelo brings out a chocolate cake.
“I figured you wouldn’t be out long, so I just packed dessert.”
I snort and shake my head.
“You know Dante’s going to kill you, right?”
He smiles.
“I’ll die a happy man.”
He cuts the chocolate cake into eight pieces while my mind drifts back to my first date with Dante. He had made me drive his car, and I was so happy I thought I would burst.
“We could’ve crashed!”
“I would’ve died a happy man.”
“Why? Because you were killed by an incompetent driver?”
“I’m with you.” He pauses. “Dead or alive, I’m with you.”
He hands me a piece on a plastic plate.
My stomach knots again. Dante and I had our first kiss like this—did he plan this to stir my feelings back to life? Does Angelo know what he did? Or is this just something men do on a date? And saying the same lines…
Now we’re being paranoid!
“Don’t you need the job?” I ask.
I take a small piece into my mouth. A delighted moan escapes my throat, and I continue to eat. It’s the most delicious chocolate cake I’ve ever tasted.
“Yes, but I can’t resist a beauty like you. I’m human, not a robot.”
What a disappointment.
A beauty. That’s all they see in me.
He leans closer until our shoulders touch.
“How did you come to work with him?”
He snorts and takes a bite of the piece he’s served himself.
“It’s classified,” he replies with his mouth full. “How did you meet him?”
I smirk sadly. “He was trying to save me from a prison.”
Angelo is a stranger, so what harm will it do to tell him the truth?
“Did he get you out of one to put you in another?”
“Yeah. Apparently, he saved me from sex traffickers, though I thought the first time we met was a little different.”
“But Dante is also a sex trafficker. What’s the difference? What did he do?”
What did he just say? Did I mishear?
A shiver runs through my body. Here might be the answers I’m looking for.
“So, it’s true? You all kidnap—”
“Women and children,” he replies nonchalantly. “I was in charge of that, actually, before he asked me to come here.”
Fuck.
“And you think that’s okay?”
He shrugs. “They pay good money.”
I turn my gaze away, grabbing the water from the basket and drinking it. I can’t believe he’s saying that.
But you already knew!
What if—
“Do you use them?”
“No. God, no! I don’t agree with any of this, but some of Dante’s men…” He sighs. “They have my family. If I don’t work like this, they’ll kill them. I can’t let that happen. I have a baby boy just like Finn, and he lost his mother not so long ago.”
My stomach flips, and tears well up in my eyes.
My Dante did that?
I told you!
The part of me that hoped to be lied to is crying in a corner of my mind.
I manage to swallow the lump that has formed in my throat.
“Does Dante… uses the girls?”
When he doesn’t answer, I stare at him. He nods with his eyes closed.
“All the time. He’s the one who tries all of them, even little girls, though I’ve heard he likes boys. That’s why I’m most concerned about my baby.”
I want to vomit.
I leave the cake on the floor. I need to go inside. I need to be alone.
I must see Finn. I have to get him out of here.
“Finn must be—”
Angelo pulls me down onto the grass and presses his lips against mine.
I keep my eyes open, even as he deepens the kiss, even as he touches my body and presses himself against my stomach.
I feel nothing.
There is no feeling at all, not even a tickle in my belly.
Nothing.
It’s like kissing a wall. A wall that knows how to kiss—I’ll give him that—but I don’t like it.
I don’t want him.
My date with Dante ended the same way, although I was the one who started the kiss because I needed to distract him.
Everything I lived with him ruined any other experience for me.
Angelo pulls away and stares at me. My chest tightens.
I can trust him. My rejection won’t make him angry.
Are you sure?
“I-I should go s-see Finn,” I say in a breathy whisper.
He nods with a cocky grin. Doesn’t he realise how uncomfortable I am?
“See you tomorrow, principessa.”
I stand up and run inside the house.
This is not right. None of this is right.
I need to see my son. I need to check he’s okay.
Once I reach my room, I lock the door behind me and take a deep breath.
This can’t be real. This can’t be happening. How the hell do I take my son out of here? How can I keep him safe with someone like Dante? He may have brought those poor people here—that must be why he has that room. Maybe that’s why he had clothes for us that didn’t fit when we first came.
He’s been lying to me all this time. Again.
Stupid. I’m so stupid. Finn is just a baby; I can’t—
“Did you have fun?”
Oh, God.
I’m dead.
Notes:
17. Princess.