Chapter 6
Keep Me Safe
School started again. I sit alone at lunch now. I don’t have any other friends. I wish you could come back. —Missing you, Izzy
Izzy
I see Enzo in the distance and pedal harder. He’s standing by our secret hide-out, a treehouse right by the olive grove.
The wheel of my bike hits a stone, and I go tumbling to the ground. My knee is scraped, and tears are streaming down my cheeks.
Enzo is at my side in an instant, taking my hands in his, inspecting my wounds like it’s life or death. He’s always so protective of me.
He dabs my knee with a tissue from his pocket then kisses it.
“There, all better.” He smiles at me and my stomach flips. I love his smile. He has these dimples that pop out making him look so adorable.
The festival is in full swing in the village piazza. Lanterns are strung between buildings, and a band plays upbeat music.
I’m standing at the edge of the square trying not to be noticed as everyone else dances, but of course Enzo is having none of it.
He runs up, grinning, and takes my hand.
“Come one, Izzy! You can’t just stand there.”
“I can’t dance,” I protest even though he’s already pulling me into the crowd.
He spins me around, him with rhythm, me awkwardly following along. We both laugh as I trip over and he catches me, steadying me with his hands.
“You have two left feet,” he jabs, continuing to sway to the music.
His green eyes soften as they look down at me. He’s so tall, even though he’s only twelve, I have to crane my neck to look at him.
For a moment it feels like we’re the only two people in the world.
We sit on our blanket under the night sky. The hill overlooks the town below. My head rests on his shoulder as we gaze out into the horizon.
“Are you happy?” I ask Enzo.
“I’m always happy when I’m with you, Piccola3.”
“Stop calling me that!” I cry, jabbing him in the side.
“Not my fault you’re tiny.” He laughs, catching my hands and holding them above my head as he tickles me.
We’re both laughing hard, and tears fall down my cheeks.
“Stop! Stop!” I shriek.
He stops and peers down at me, his head just above mine. My heartbeat picks up the longer he looks at me. Sometime in the last year, I stopped seeing him as just my friend.
He leans down and presses a kiss to my cheek. “I love you, Iz,” he says as he pulls back and tucks me back into his side.
“I love you too, Tesoro.”
My dream fades out and pain takes over.
I want to go back. To be back with Enzo, when life was good and I had my best friend at my side.
Why am I in pain?
“Iz?” Who is speaking?
“Izzy!” It sounds like—
I blink a few times, clearing my sight. Warm green eyes stare at me and for a moment I think I must still be dreaming.
But then—the memories flood back in.
Lucas.
The wedding.
He drugged me.
His friends, tying me down.
I remember what each of them did to me. I felt every moment of pain. I couldn’t move, paralyzed in my own body as they took from me.
My breath falters. I gasp for air.
“Breathe, Iz. You’re okay. You’re safe.” Enzo’s voice acts as a lifeline and I cling onto it with all my might as I drag myself out of my mind.
“You’re okay,” Enzo repeats, his voice trembling.
That’s when I notice how disheveled he looks.
He’s wearing sweatpants and his top is back to front.
His eyes look bloodshot and the bags under them tell me he’s not been sleeping.
He’s not the boy that left me all those years ago. He’s all man now. He was always tall, but he’s huge now, even sitting in the chair his presence takes up the whole space. His beard is longer than in the photos I see of him; it’s straggly and bushy but somehow even more endearing.
His dark hair is standing up in all directions like he’s been running his hand through it too many times.
He has an air of danger to him now, that wasn’t there when we were kids, but despite that, I feel that same sense of safety I always felt. Like he’d never let anything happen to me. Being around Enzo always felt like coming home.
I try to talk but my throat is too dry. Enzo passes me some water which I take a small sip from before giving it back.
“Hi,” I whisper, a small smile on my lips despite everything.
Something happens that I never expected. One tear falls from his eye, then another, and another, until he’s sobbing uncontrollably, his shoulders shaking with the force of it. He rests his head against the bed next to me and cries.
With a shaky hand I stroke his hair until he stops, looking up at me with a pained face. “I thought I’d lost you.”
“I’m not so easy to get rid of,” I joke, and try to laugh but wince at the pain in my head when I do.
“What happened?” I ask, looking around the room. I’m in a bedroom. The mattress below me is comfortable, the walls are my favorite shade of green.
“What do you remember?” he asks, looking apprehensive.
I swallow; my mouth dries again. “Everything,” I murmur as my eyes drop to the bed beneath me. “I remember everything, but how did I get here?”
“Someone found you and brought you to me. Apparently, you refused the hospital and gave him my name.”
I frown, struggling to remember anything after they dumped me at the side of the road. Small fragments of memories push into my mind.
“How long have I been here?” I try to sit up but my whole-body aches. I look down to see I’m in nothing but a large men's top. A wave of embarrassment washes over me knowing that Enzo saw me at my worst.
“Two weeks.”
My eyebrows shoot up. “Two weeks?”
“Longest two weeks of my life,” Enzo chuckles, but the sound is hollow. “Why did you ask for me, Iz?”
Two weeks.
Fuck.
I gasp.
“I need your phone,” I demand, my heart racing.
“Iz—”
“Please?” I plead desperately.
Enzo hands over his phone for me and I dial the number that’s been burned in my brain for the past twelve years.
It’s picked up after the first ring.
“Code?”
My gaze flicks to the man beside me, my cheeks heating as I say, “Tesoro.”
“Isolde?” Cam’s worried voice coming through has me exhaling unsteadily.
“It’s me.”
“Fuck, we thought you were dead.”
“I could have been.” I pause. “Lucas knows.”
He curses. “Where are you now?”
“Better you don’t know. I need to lay low for a while.”
Cam grumbles but eventually relents before we hang up. We won’t speak for a few weeks now, as the dust settles and the operatives go further underground. If Lucas knows about me, we can’t take the risk that he doesn’t know the others.
Enzo stares at me with raised eyebrows.
“Lucas wants me dead. If I went to the hospital he would have found me,” I tell him.
“Your husband did this to you!?” he roars, and I flinch at the harshness of his voice. He softens his tone to say, “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”
I nod. “Him and his friends.” Enzo’s expression becomes murderous, but it doesn’t scare me. “I know who you are, Enzo. I know what you do. I need your protection.”
His expression eases slightly. “Iz—”
“I know that we haven’t been friends for a long time. But I hope… I hope that you will keep me safe. Long enough for me to disappear anyway. I won’t disturb you for long. And you’ll barely know I’m here. I can cook, and I—”
My pleading is muffled by Enzo’s hand over my mouth. “Izzy. I mean this in the nicest way possible—shut up.”
He removes his hand from my mouth, and I gape at him.
“You never need to ask me for my help, Isolde.” The use of my full name from his lips catches me off guard. “You’re my best friend.”
My heart stutters in my chest and butterflies alight in my belly. “And you’re mine.”
“I need you to tell me everything. Doc’s examination told me a lot, but…” he trails off looking uncomfortable.
I sob breaks free from my chest as I’m reminded of my wedding night. Enzo carefully, avoiding the various wires sticking out of me, gets onto the bed next to me. Taking hold of my head, he pulls me into his chest and strokes my hair. “I’ve got you. I’m here.”
“You didn’t call him, did you?”
“Who?”
“Lucas.”
“God no. I didn’t want to do anything until you woke up.”
I breathe in his scent, and gag. “Ew. You stink.”
His laugh reverberates through his chest against my head. “I’ve had other things on my mind than a shower, Cuore mio.”
I let Enzo’s warmth comfort me, and slowly my tears dry up and my breathing evens out.
“Who is Doc?” I ask after some silence.
Enzo tenses under me. “My doctor… he examined you.”
My breath catches. “All of me?”
“I’m sorry, Iz. I needed to know how badly you were hurt.”
I’m not sure how to feel about this information. I know that he was doing it for me, and that he wouldn’t have let the doctor do anything if he didn’t trust him. But at the same time… I feel even more violated.
“What else did he do?” I ask, feeling nervous.
“You had some tearing… he had to stitch that.”
I push away from Enzo. “You had no right,” I hiss, my voice rising.
“Iz,” he looks at me pleadingly, “you needed it. There wasn’t a choice.”
A tear falls down my cheek once again. “It should have been my choice.”
Enzo jumps up from the bed and starts pacing. “You were asleep! You could have died, Izzy! You would have preferred me to leave you in that state? You came to me because you knew I’d look after you. That’s what I did.” He crosses his arms in front of his chest and glowers at me.
I shrink back. “I’m sorry,” I whisper.
I feel so lost. I know that, rationally, what he’s saying is true. And I know that deep down I’m grateful. But that doesn’t stop the shiver running down my spine knowing that another man has touched me without my consent.
“Tell me what happened, Cuore mio. Then I’ll make them pay.”
I let out a long breath. Then… I begin.