Trust me!
I can’t remember a time in my life when those two words were uttered and the outcome was positive. But that’s what Joey asked me to do, and with limited alternative options, that’s exactly what I did. And that is why at almost midnight, I am following her to God knows where.
I’d just dealt with a particularly nasty bout of morning sickness — although why they call it that when it lasts all goddamn freaking day, I don’t know — when she knocked on Dante’s bedroom door and told me it was time.
“How the hell do you expect to get us out of here without anyone noticing, Joey?” I snap, fueled by irritation and fear as she leads me down a hallway I’ve never seen before. This house is like a goddamn maze.
“Dante and Maximo are out tonight. Now is the perfect time.”
“But there are guards everywhere,” I remind her.
“Not down here though,” she says with a mischievous grin. “I used to sneak out this way all the time when I was in high school. It’s a secret entrance.”
“A secret entrance? Really? What is this place? Like Hogwarts?”
Joey stops dead in her tracks and glares at me. “Look, Kat, do you want out of here or not? I mean, I was even kind of getting to like you these past few weeks, so if you’d rather stay and be my brother’s little plaything for the rest of your days, then be my guest.”
She folds her arms across her chest and waits for my reply. I suppose I’ve kind of gotten to like her a little too. Once you get beneath all the snark and sarcasm, she’s actually really smart and funny.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I’m just nervous. If he catches us…” She’ll be fine, she’s his annoying little sister, but he’ll kill me.
“He won’t,” she says with an eye roll, full of that Moretti confidence that she and her brother have by the ton. “My guy is solid. We got this.”
I take a deep breath. I have to get out of this place. I have to get us away from him. “Okay. Let’s go.”
She smiles and then carries on walking down the hallway until we come to a small store room. Once we go inside, she moves a metal shelving unit out of the way and pushes a brick in the wall, and sure enough, it opens to reveal a hidden passageway.
“Wow,” I gasp.
“Told ya,” she smiles triumphantly.
“Doesn’t Dante know about this though?”
“Nope. Don’t think so. Like I said, I used to sneak out this way all the time.”
“Where does it lead to?”
“Like some kind of underground bunker or something. I don’t know what it is, but there’s a door that leads out onto the street. My guy will be waiting with your documents and a car and then you’re out of here,” she says as she steps inside the dark passageway and flicks on the torch on her cell phone.
I’m hit by a flood of emotion that almost knocks me off my feet. I feel something about leaving this place, about leaving him, that is not pure joy. And I feel so grateful to Joey. Whatever her agenda is, she’s giving me an out and I will always owe her for it.
I intend to change my name and get new papers as soon as I’m far enough away from this place, I mean she’s still a Moretti and if Dante wants to find me badly enough then she’d probably tell him. But I figure he might be pissed for a little while that we duped him, but he won’t bother coming looking for me. He’ll move onto the next warm body. At least that’s what I hope anyway.
“Thank you for this, Joey. I don’t know how to repay you.”
“Seeing the look on Dante’s face when he realizes you’re gone is payment enough for me,” she says as she heads along the dark tunnel.
I follow behind her until we reach another door. “Almost there,” she whispers. “Here, take this.” She passes me her cell as she starts to draw back the huge steel bolt. It creaks loudly like old, rarely used metal does, and I wince at the sound echoing off the stone walls. What if someone in the house hears?
“There,” she pants as she draws it all the way back and pushes open the huge metal door. I’m still holding her cell phone, pointing at the open doorway. It almost slips from my fingers when his face comes into view and my racing heart stops beating as time literally freezes around us.
“Going somewhere, ladies?”
“Maximo! What the hell?” Joey shrieks. “You scared the shit out of us.”
He shakes his head in amusement as he flicks on his torch and shines it in our faces. “And I’m not even the entrée,” he says with a cruel laugh. “Wait until you get back to the house and see how pissed Dante is.”
“N-no,” I stammer. “I’m not going back.”
“Oh, you are,” Maximo says.
“How the hell did you know?” Joey snaps, her body shaking with fury while I’m trembling with fear.
“You think we didn’t know about you sneaking out of here as a kid? You think I didn’t follow you every single freaking time? And your guy, Joey?” he hisses.
“He’s Dante’s guy,” she says with a sigh.
“Everybody is Dante’s guy,” he says, his tone dark and menacing.
“I’m going to throw up,” I whisper.
“Don’t give a fuck. You both better start moving. Now!” Maximo barks as he walks through the door, his huge frame crowding us backward as he does. Then he closes it with a bang, fixing the steel bolt back in place, and now, I can’t breathe.
I gasp for air. Joey grasps my hand and squeezes. “It’s okay,” she whispers. “I’ll tell him it was my fault.”
“It doesn’t m-matter,” I stammer. “He’s g-going to k-kill me.”
“Move!” Maximo barks again, and Joey squeezes my hand again as we start to head back through the passageway, which somehow seems even smaller and tighter than it did a few minutes earlier. It’s strange how a space can change without really changing. A few moments ago, this dark tunnel was full of hope and possibility. Now it’s full of fear and dread and monsters.
When we reach the doorway of the store cupboard, Joey opens it first and the small room is flooded with light. And he’s standing right there in the hallway waiting for us. His hands stuffed into the pockets of his suit pants and the fabric of his shirt stretched taut over his huge muscles as he literally vibrates with anger. The three of us step into the hallway, but Dante’s focus is entirely on me. His eyes are blazing with heat and fury and every single cell in my body is trembling with fear.
“Dante, it —” Joey starts, but he cuts her off.
“Go and wait in my study. I’ll deal with you later,” he snaps, never taking his eyes off me. And I can’t look away from him either. I want to avoid the intensity of his glare, but I can’t. So, I stand, blinking and desperately trying not to throw up.
“And this one?” Maximo asks.
“Take her to the guest room. The one in the east wing,” he hisses through clenched teeth, his rage palpable in every single word.
“I’m s-sorry,” I mumble, but he doesn’t acknowledge me.
“Follow me,” Maximo says and begins to walk down the hallway, and I obey him because at least it means I get to escape Dante’s wrath for a while. Maybe he will calm down. Maybe he will understand when I tell him why I tried to get away. Maybe pigs will fly over Chicago tonight.
I follow Maximo up the stairs and to the east wing of the house. He leads me to a bedroom which looks much like the others, until I notice it’s not.
“There are bars on the windows,” I say with a frown when I step inside.
“Yeah,” Maximo agrees.
When I scan the room, there’s nothing in here but a bed and a nightstand with a lamp fixed to the wall. It looks like there’s a small ensuite attached, but the room is sparse and nothing like the luxury of the one I was staying in previously.
“But I won’t… There are bars…” I blink at him.
“Yeah,” he says again. “And a lock on the door too.” And with that, he disappears out of said door, and I hear the click as he imprisons me inside.
My heart sinks in my chest and I fight the urge not to cry as I sit on the bed and wait for Dante.
Why did I listen to Joey? Why didn’t I just accept what was before? It was so much better than this. Except that it wasn’t really. I was still a prisoner, just a comfortable one. The reason I need to escape hasn’t changed.
I look at the pale, bare walls and wonder if this was Nicole’s room. Is this where Dante kept his fiancée before he murdered her?
I wonder if he’ll come tonight. If he’ll come at all or just leave me to drive myself into a full-blown panic attack while I wait for whatever punishment he has in store for me.
Lying back against the bed, I place my hands on my stomach and whisper quiet words of assurance to my tiny little ray of hope.
And I wait.
