Is it just me, or does he sound mildly impressed?
“Do you know what your father’s going to do to her now that she’s been caught helping?” Ras asks and looks down at the plate Martina places in front of him.
“No. He wouldn’t tell us.”
Damiano meets my gaze. “I’ll find out. I just need a bit more time to secure the deal.”
Would he be able to patiently wait if this was Martina we were talking about? I glance away. Ras doesn’t look too happy with that answer either. He sticks his fork into the tuna and tears off a piece.
“How did she look?” I ask him. “Did she seem happy?”
Ras peers at me from under his brows. “She looked…fine.” He clears his throat. “We didn’t talk much until she got on the phone with you.”
There has to be something I can do for my sister from my new position by Damiano’s side.
But it’s not up to me. It’s up to him. He will be don, and it will be his word that matters, not mine.
“Finish up your food in my office,” Damiano tells Ras as he gets up. “We have things to discuss.”
I’m so absorbed with my worries I barely notice them leave. My wineglass is empty. I refill it nearly to the brim.
Why did I agree to involve Gemma in all of this? I should have run when Damiano offered me my freedom, instead of sticking around and thinking I can help. Now I’ve created problems for her and I don’t know how to solve them. It’s like everything I touch turns rotten. Damiano might not understand this yet, but I know it to be true.
I’m sick of it. Sick of being who I am. A coward, a fool, and a killer.
Rising from the table, I realize Martina is gone too. Wasn’t she here when Ras and Damiano went to his office?
A foreboding feeling prickles the back of my neck. She probably went up to her room when she realized I wasn’t in the mood to converse. Still, I decide to check on her. When I get to her bedroom door, it’s silent on the other side. I knock and walk in. She’s not there.
My feet move quickly as I go back down and check the kitchen, the next most likely place for her to be. It’s empty. I grab a small cutting knife and slip it into my pocket, alarm bells ringing inside my head.
When I return to the living room, I see something move by the pool. I walk closer and closer to the glass doors leading outside. It’s dark out there, with just the built-in lights giving the water a soft glow, but I can’t see around the edges of the garden.
I flip the light switch. Suddenly, everything is illuminated, and that’s when I see Martina.
It’s like someone dropped me into a vat of thick tar. Every movement feels harder, every breath impossible to take. She’s in Lazaro’s grip, his knife pressed to her throat. Icy panic creeps into my lungs until I can’t breathe. How did he get in? How is this happening?
I push the sliding door open and run toward them. “Martina!”
Lazaro smiles and squeezes her harder. He rarely smiles with teeth, but this time I see them. It looks grotesque on his face, like an alien going through the motions without understanding the emotion behind it.
I stop when I’m a few feet away. “Let her go.”
He rakes his gaze down me before settling it back on my face. “Wife.”
“Let. Her. Go. Lazaro.”
“I’ll have a scar for the rest of my life,” he says, ignoring what I said. “The bullet went right through my chest.”
Martina’s pale and stiff with fear. Her worst nightmare’s come alive. God, I’ll do anything to get Lazaro away from her. I just need an opportunity.
“I wish it had gone through your heart,” I whisper.
He chuckles dryly. “I didn’t teach you how to use a gun yet. Don’t worry, when we’re home, I’ll teach you everything I know.”
I always thought there was a chance he’d be done with me after I betrayed him, but now I know I was wrong. He’s not going to kill me. He’s going to take me back, punish me, and have me kill again.
I can’t do it. I won’t do it.
Pounding footsteps sound behind me. I don’t need to turn to know it’s Damiano and Ras.
“Drop the knife, or I’ll put a bullet in your head.”
I hear Damiano but can’t see him. I don’t want to take my eyes off Martina even for a moment. He must be a few meters behind me.
“If my pulse stops for any reason, I blow up,” Lazaro says simply, nodding toward the watch on his wrist. It must be tracking his heartbeat.
My eyes widen.
That smile is back on his face. “I’m not an amateur, Valentina. You managed to trick me once, I’ll give you that, but it’s never going to happen again.”
I believe him. A strange sensation materializes inside my ribcage. I feared this moment so much, but now that it’s here, my fear takes a back seat. I meet Martina’s gaze and know what I must do.
“I’ll go with you if you let Martina go,” I say.
“She’s staying with us until you and I are on my boat.”
A boat? There’s no beach here, just a sharp cliff that leads to the water. How did he get a boat here without it being detected by Damiano’s guys?
Damiano tries to step closer, but I move out of his reach.
“Vale,” he says under his breath.
I look at him over my shoulder and shake my head. A dozen emotions play across Damiano’s face. I’ve made many choices in my past that I regret, but I’m not going to add another one to the list today. I will get Martina to safety, even if it’s the last thing I do. He loves her so much-more than my parents ever loved me. I won’t let him lose her.
Turning back to face Lazaro, I take a step forward. “Look,” I say as I spread my arms wide. “I’m unarmed, I don’t even have my phone with me. Take me to the boat and leave her be. If you say you’ll release her, they won’t shoot me.”
Lazaro eyes the men behind me. The only advantage I have here is that he knows nothing about my relationship with Damiano. For all he knows, Damiano has been punishing me for my involvement with his sister’s kidnapping all this time.
“Is that right?” he asks.
“Vale,” Damiano grinds out. “What the-”
“Tell him you won’t shoot me if he lets your sister go,” I insist. He can’t blow this chance.
I hear him heave a breath. “I won’t shoot her.”
Lazaro’s knife glints in the light. “Good. I’ll let your sister go when the time comes. Remember, if you kill me, we will all be dead. Don’t follow us unless you want me to slit her throat.”