Chapter Ten
Leo
Imanage to disarm Alessandro’s man and rip the knife away from him. “You’re actually going to kill me, right here, in the middle of this theater?”
Alessandro shrugs. “If that’s what it takes to get my daughter back. I will not have you using anything against me. You think you can win this war. But you can’t. Gabriel killed my brother. That will not stand.”
“Maybe your brother shouldn’t have killed Gabriel’s entire family then if he didn’t want the consequences.”
He sneers at me. “You’re arrogant. But boy, I have been in the game much longer than you have and you will not win.” He turns to Emma. “Come along.” But then he stops and looks around wildly. “Where is she?”
It’s then that I realize that Emma is gone.
I run past Alessandro, looking all over the large lobby but there’s no sight of her. “What did you do to her?” I growl, going back to Alessandro and grabbing his jacket. I point the knife I stole from his man against his ribcage. “What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything. I came to get her back. But she must have ran. It seems she doesn’t like you, Leo.”
“She doesn’t like you either. She made it clear you’re a stranger to her. Is that true? Did you have any part in raising her?”
Alessandro shoves me back. “I don’t have to explain anything to you. I am getting my daughter back before you can get her.”
I leave Alessandro behind and run outside, searching wildly for her. But there’s no sight of Emma anywhere. The one card I had to use against Alessandro… gone.
But it’s not even that fact that’s making my chest squeeze. It’s the fact that I have no idea where Emma is. If she’s in danger. And that worries me more than anything.
She’s my wife. My prisoner. I get to decide what happens to her.
If she’s hurt…
I shake my head. Why would Emma be hurt? If she’s working with her father, then she’s a good liar. Deceptive. She’ll be fine.
But if all she told me was true and she’s completely innocent, then Emma is na?ve. She could end up in danger once again. I need to find her before Gabriel finds out I lost her.
I also need to find her for myself… because I don’t want to let Emma go, despite my conflicting feelings for her.
The only question is: where is she?
Emma
“What kind of dress is that?” Mother asks, looking my evening gown over with pure disgust. “What happened to you?”
I’m standing beside my bed with my head bowed. It’s how my mother always expected me to greet her whenever she’d come into my room. “I was kidnapped by a man named Leo Detti. He wanted to use me against my father. The father you never told me about.”
She scoffs. “I told you, Emma. It was for your own protection. Your father is a bad man. I didn’t want him getting his hands on you. So I kept you here, safe.”
“You locked me up,” I snap.
“Is this any way to speak to your mother?”
I flush. “No. I am sorry.”
“Good. I kept you here to keep you safe. You have to see that. I will not give you over to those mafia men. Here you will be given food and safety, like you’ve always had.”
Food yes. But safety…
“Please stop locking me in my room at night,” I beg. “Please. I’ll stay here with you, Mother, but please don’t lock me up.”
“How can I trust that you won’t run away again?”
“I just… won’t.”
She walks over to me and rips the sleeve of my dress. “Good girls shouldn’t be wearing such whorish things. I’ll give you your old clothes to wear. This little adventure you went on is over. You’re safe back here. With me.”
Except, I don’t feel safe. I feel trapped all over again. My only choices in life: be a prisoner to my mother or be a prisoner to Leo. None of this is fair.
Mother rips my other sleeve down before tearing at the rest of my dress. She does it so aggressively that she leaves tiny cuts from her nails behind on my skin. I wince but don’t say a word against her. I know better than to.
“There,” she says once the dress is off me. “Better. But you’re naked underneath. Don’t tell me you acted like a whore on this little adventure of yours.”
“No.” My mind flashes back to Leo touching me between my legs. Or when he put his mouth on me. “No. Not at all.” In those moments, it had felt perfect but with my mother staring at me with disgust, all I feel is revulsion for myself. How could I have let Leo touch me like he did?
She goes over to the simple wooden cabinet in the corner of the room and pulls out a shirt and pants for me to wear.
My old clothes. “Here.” She throws them at me.
“Put them on. You’re going to spend the day scrubbing the floors.
This place has fallen into ruin ever since you left.
You will not stop scrubbing the floors until I say so. ”
I get dressed with her watching my every move before going downstairs.
A bucket with soapy water and a sponge are waiting for me.
Without a complaint, I get on my knees and scrub at the floors like she wants me to.
The entire time, I can feel her eyes watching me.
Hovering over me. This is the reason I left in the first place.
The need for my own freedom. To not be watched all the time.
And I couldn’t even find that.
A sob escapes my lips.
“Why are you crying?” she snaps. “You did this to yourself, Emma. You never should have left.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You’re not sorry. You wouldn’t have left otherwise.
But you will be sorry once you’re done with the floors.
I want to see you scrub them harder. Harder!
” She nudges my back with her foot. It doesn’t hurt but I know that if she keeps it up, it can.
One time, she kicked me so hard in the ribs, I couldn’t breathe normally for a week.
I continue to scrub floor after floor. My mother watches me the entire time. Always nudging me with her foot. Always scolding me for stopping.
Hours pass and I’m only halfway done. My hands are red from the soap and the sponge. They used to get so cracked in the winter time when she’d make me do this. Why did I come back home with her? Only to get away from Leo and my father. It’s a depressing thought.
“You’re not doing enough,” she says after I finish scrubbing the floor of her bedroom. “You still have your own room to do and then the hallway and then the bathroom. Keep it up.”
“My hands hurt,” I whisper.
The look she gives me is devoid of empathy. “You brought this on yourself, Emma. Remember that before you try to leave again. I am doing this for your own safety. I am keeping you in line. You need discipline. Your father knows about you now. I might not be able to protect you. Think about that.”
“I am sorry,” I cry. My tears mix into the soapy water in the bucket.
“Keep scrubbing.” This time, she kicks me hard in the ribs. I flop onto my face, crying out. I will bruise there. I know it. She kicks me again before I can push myself back onto my hands and knees. I scrub at the floor and this time, I don’t stop.
More hours pass and my hands turn even more red. It’s then that I see my knuckles are bleeding. What did my mother put in the water to make my hands respond like this? I know she’s trying to punish me even more.
It’s only once I finish the last floor that she lets me get to my feet. My knees and back are killing me from kneeling on the hardwood floors all day. I haven’t eaten in twenty-four hours. The moment I stand up, I stumble.
Mother scoffs. “You’re weak, Emma. But I am teaching you to be strong.”
The sound of a car approaching the house makes us both look out the window. The car is one I recognize. It belongs to Leo.
He gets out of the car – all by himself I notice – and starts walking towards the front door.
“Who is that man?” Mother hisses.
“Leo.”
“The mafia man who stole you? Your father told me about him.” She hurries into the living room and grabs the shotgun off the wall and aims it at the front door. “If he even thinks of coming in here, I’ll kill him.”
My chest squeezes at the thought of Leo dying. The last thing I should care about is him. He’s been nothing but horrible to me and yet… there were moments I saw him look regretful for what he had done to me. My mother has never looked that way once in my entire life.
Leo knocks on the door.
“Go away,” Mother shouts. “I have a shotgun and I’ll shoot you.”
“Valentina, I presume.” His low voice through the door sends shivers down my spine. Is Leo here to kill me for running away?
“Go away,” she threatens. “Now.”
“Is Emma in there with you. When she disappeared, this was the first place I thought of. Did you come back for your daughter?”
“Leave my daughter out of this. I raised her on this farm to protect her and mafia men like you just had to come in here and ruin it for me. So leave. Now.” She cocks the shotgun. “I will shoot.”
I can hear Leo’s footsteps as he walks away from the door. I watch him get back in his car and drive away. For some reason, I let out a sigh of relief. He’s alive.
Mother lowers the shotgun. “Good. That scared him away. But more mafia men will be coming for you now that your father knows of you. We need to leave.”
My heartrate spikes. “And go where?”
“Anywhere that your father and that man, Leo, can’t find us. There’s no time for packing. We have to leave.” She ushers me outside and around the house to where her car is parked.
“You never told me that you had a car,” I say. “Where did you keep it all those years?”
“Now is not the time to question me, Emma. Get in the car.”
I step away from her, not wanting to get in. “You lied to me about so many things.”
“But I was right about a lot. You left and were kidnapped by that man. I told you the world out there is dangerous. You just refused to listen and look what happened to you. Now, get in the car before I make you.”
I have no choice. No agency in my life. It’s utterly soul crushing.
Before I can move, Leo’s car comes racing back towards the house. I gasp when he gets out and runs at us with his gun raised. My mother left the shotgun in the house.
He points the gun at my mother. “Emma, get in my car. I am taking you back home.”