Enzo never came to dinner and Luca was called away on an urgent matter ten minutes into our meal, so it was just Veda and I. She tried to talk Lisa, the one who’d made the delicious meal, into sitting and eating with us, but she refused, claiming she wanted to take advantage of the men’s absence to tidy up Luca’s office before she cleaned up the kitchen and finished up for the night.
Veda was quiet during our meal, but then again, so was I. My stomach was in knots, and I pushed my food around on my plate, unable to eat more than a few bites.
“I know what you’re thinking.”
I looked up in surprise to find Veda’s eyes on me. “I’m sorry?”
She gave me a small smile. “I know what you’re planning, Sera. And let me be the first to tell you, it’s not going to work.”
I didn’t insult her intelligence by pretending not to know what she was alluding to. “It has to work. I can’t stay here and wait for my father’s men to show up to take me home.”
“What makes you think Enzo will allow them to do that? Did he say something?”
I shook my head. “No. He told me he and Luca would figure something out.”
“Well, there you go. You have nothing to worry about.”
I set down my fork and sat back in my chair, giving up all pretense of eating. “Then why did he tell me goodbye this afternoon?”
Veda’s smile fell from her face. “He said that?” she asked quietly.
“No. Not with words.”
She stared at me, not understanding at first, before saying, “Oh.”
“I tried to talk him into letting me go. But Luigi knows I’m here. There’s no way he can do that without paying the consequences. And I understand that.” Tears of frustration filled my eyes, and I stopped for a second to get myself together. “But I can’t go back there, Veda.”
“Can I ask why not? What’s so bad about it at home?” Her tone was genuinely curious, but it shouldn’t have surprised me. In the short time I’d known her, she’d never struck me as anything but down to earth and caring. So, I decided to be straight up with her.
“My father only cares about me in so far as the price he’ll be paid for my innocent body.”
She stared at me for a moment. “But are you? Innocent?”
“No,” I told her. “Not anymore. And therein lies the problem. Because when my father gets me back home, he’ll have his doctor examine me. And when he finds out I’m not a virgin anymore, I’ll no longer have any value to him.” And I honestly had no idea how he would react to that fact.
“How often does he check that?”
“Whenever he feels like there’s a chance somebody’s penis could’ve gotten too close to me.” I shrugged. “So it was a daily experience there for a while. It was the price I had to pay to be able to go to school.”
“Oh, my god. Sera! I’m so sorry.” Reaching across the table, she touched my arm where it rested on the table. “There’s something wrong with your fucking father.”
I looked her dead in the eye and laughed. “There’s something wrong with every man in the mafia. Haven’t you figured that out yet? I can’t imagine Luca is the image of virtue.”
She gave me a look that said I had a point. “No, he’s definitely not. But I think he really loves me. In his way.”
I immediately felt bad for my sharp tone. “I think he does, too,” I told her gently, and I meant it. Anyone with eyes could see how obsessed the man was with her.
A smile lit up her pretty face, and I smiled back. But then my own problems came crashing back. Placing my free hand over hers, I squeezed, my desperation coming through no matter how I tried to hold it in. “Will you help me, Veda? Please?”
She was shaking her head before I even got to the end of my question. “I can’t, Sera. I’m so sorry. I couldn’t betray Luca’s trust like that. Besides,” she added, “I don’t know that there’s anything I could do anyway.”
“I’m not asking you to betray anyone,” I insisted. “I’m just…” I didn’t know what I was asking, exactly. “Could you tell me how to turn off the cameras? Or do you know anything about the schedule of the soldiers outside guarding the house? I’m just asking for a chance,” I pleaded when she kept shaking her head.
Her eyes searched my face. “What about Enzo?”
The question hit me directly in the center of my chest. “What about him?”
Concern for her friend clouded her features. “He cares about you.”
“He’s giving me back to my father,” I retorted.
She pulled her hand from my arm and sat back in her chair. “I don’t believe that, Sera. I just can’t. I’ve seen the way he looks at you. And look at everything he went through to get you out of Mexico.”
Putting my elbows on the table, I rubbed my face with my hands and shoved my hair back from my face. “I’m telling you, there’s nothing he could do, even if he wanted to.”
“You have a few days,” she insisted. “He and Luca will think of something.”
This time it was my turn to shake my head. “No, Veda. You don’t get it. You’re not from this world. Luca will do what his father orders him to do. And Enzo will do what Luca tells him. It’s the way they survive.”
“There has to be something—”
“There’s not.”
She looked down at her hands, fingers laced together on the table in front of her empty plate. “I just can’t believe he won’t fight for you.”
“I think he tried,” I told her. Then I laughed softly as I looked away. “Or at least I like to think so.” His words earlier that day came back to me. “But I think he’s stuck in a hard place.” I met her eyes. “You should understand something about this world you’re living in, Veda.”
“What’s that?”
“These men”—my eyes swept the room, encompassing the entire house and everyone who was within it—“their loyalty to each other and to the family comes first. Before anything else. Before anyone else. Luca loves you. He does,” I assured her. “But if he had to choose between you and his mafia family, guess which one he would pick?”
“No,” she whispered. “You’re wrong.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered back. “But it’s true.”
She frowned at me. “No,” she insisted. “I don’t believe Luca would do that to you. And I don’t believe Enzo will do that to you. He genuinely cares for you. I can see it.”
“Ask him what happened to Enzo’s first wife,” I told her. “Or ask Luca if you don’t want to hear it firsthand. Then come back to me and tell me again how Luca would choose you.”
“Enzo was married?”
I nodded.
“How do you know?”
“Everyone knows,” I told her. “It’s part of the reason he got a reputation that traveled all the way up to Dallas.” And beyond.
“What do people say about him?”
I almost told her. I almost said the words out loud. But then I backed off. She might not believe me, but she would believe Luca—or Enzo—if they told her. “Just ask,” I told her. “And then think about your decision not to help me. Either way, I don’t plan to be here tomorrow.” Sorrow filled me at losing this person who, I truly believed, would’ve become one of the best friends I’d ever had. “But I understand where you’re coming from, and I won’t blame you for it. So, all I’ll ask is that you don’t give me away.”
She didn’t respond, but I could tell by the look in her eyes that she wouldn’t.
I stood up and took our plates to the sink, leaving my untouched meal to the side. “Is there any alcohol in this kitchen?”
“In the pantry over there,” she said in a distracted tone. “There’s some wine. Help yourself.”
I opened the door and found a few bottles of some kind of pinot. I wasn’t a wine expert, but honestly, I didn’t really care what it was.
Taking one of the bottles, not bothering with a glass, I stopped when I got beside Veda. “Thank you for being so nice to me. I really like you, and I wish I didn’t have to go.”
She pushed back her chair and stood to give me a hug. “You don’t have to,” she insisted. “Please. Just hang around and give me a chance to talk to Luca and see what’s going on.”
I hugged her back as tight as I could with the bottle of wine dangling from one hand, and then released her. “I don’t have time to wait. And if I’m going to get out of here, tonight is probably the only chance I’ll have. The guys will be gone for a while and I’m sure Luca took some of his soldiers with him. Which means there are less men patrolling the property and lessons the chance of me being caught. Or shot.” I tried to make light of it, but the joke fell flat.
Veda gave me a serious look, and I thought she’d try again to talk me out of it, but in the end, she only said quietly, “Be careful. And good luck. I’m going to be in the library for a bit working on a project for school and then I’ll be in my room. The door will be closed, and I’ll be watching something on TV.”
“Thank you,” I told her. “For everything.” Leaving her in the kitchen, I made my way across the great room to the stairs. I didn’t hurry. As a matter of fact, I made it a point to seem only as nervous as anyone would be as the new guest of the mafia underboss who was left to their own devices. I knew there were cameras throughout the house. Luca would be stupid not to have surveillance both outside and inside his home, and that man was definitely not stupid. However, they were hidden well. I’d only been able to locate a few of them—one in the kitchen while Veda and I ate, one in the hall outside my room, and one near the front door. As far as I knew, there weren’t any in the bedrooms or bathrooms. So I had that going for me at least.
What I didn’t know was how I was going to manage to sneak out with a suitcase. The answer was actually simple. I wasn’t.
I didn’t have any money, either. But what I did have was Enzo’s watch that I’d tucked beneath my pillow earlier during our sex-filled afternoon. I wasn’t an expert on watches, but it was a Rolex, so it had to be worth something. And judging by the tags on his suits and overall quality of everything he wore, it had to be worth a decent amount of money. Enough to get me the hell out of here. I’d worry about everything else once I was free of the threat of my father.
Six hours later, I sat on the edge of the bed in the bedroom. I’d added a thicker, long-sleeved fleece over my T-shirt and put sneakers on my feet. Enzo’s watch was on my arm, and my coat was lying beside me on the mattress. I wasn’t taking anything else. If I got caught trying to get off the property, I had a better chance of making the guards believe I had insomnia and got bored just being in the house if I didn’t have a bag of clothes with me. They’d believe me. After all, I was just a woman. And every man knew women were ridiculous enough to do something like wander around outside at night by themselves without thinking they could be in danger.
Or, better yet, I could tell them I was looking for Enzo. That we’d had a fight or something. A few tears and it was guaranteed every man there would be too uncomfortable to question me farther.
Also, I didn’t want anything on me that could identify me as the runaway daughter of Ciro Cordaro. My driver’s license was staying here along with anything else that could tell people who I am. When I got to where I was going, I’d make up a name and a story and only work jobs that paid me under the table.
It would work.
So, why was I still sitting here?
Veda had come upstairs hours ago. I’d heard her door shut. The house was quiet. I had no idea when Enzo, Luca, and Tristan would get back, or how many guards remained outside, but it didn’t matter. If I was very careful, I could get past them.
Taking a deep breath, I stood up and pulled on my coat. It had a hood that I’d use to cover my bright hair once I got outside. I glanced around the room one more time, blinking back the tears that were gathering in my eyes. Stupid, traitorous tears that dreamed of things that couldn’t come true. Wiping them away with the back of my hands, I used the bathroom one last time and then I strode across the room and opened the bedroom door.
As quietly as I could, I made my way downstairs and out the patio doors. A cold, misty wind blew up around me as though the night itself was trying to tell me to turn back. But I couldn’t. Not now.
The pool was lit with softly glowing lights that lit my way across the deck. To the right, a set of stairs disappeared into the dark. Stepping carefully as I lost the light from the pool, I made my way down into the darkness.
