My head throbbed as I regained consciousness. I was seated in a chair with my hands tied behind my back. I could feel my feet, so I didn’t think they tied them up. Above my head, there was a light, like the small rooms where they extract information from people in soap operas.
I quickly dropped the small cutter hidden in my sleeves. I always carried one, just in case situations like this arose. Besides being easy to sneak through metal detectors, it was quick to hide.
The door opened as I tried to cut the rope around my hands. I saw a man with half of his face covered. I frowned at him but didn’t reveal that I was working on an escape.
“Hello, Mrs. Locatelli,” he greeted me.
I faced him with courage, not showing an ounce of fear, even though he wasn’t alone. He had three other men with him in the room.
“What do you want from me? If you think I’ll be used against Gio, I highly doubt it! He’s just my husband, and I’m not that important to him!”
The man in the mask stared at me. What was with the mask? What was he hiding behind that half-covered face of his?
“Do you really think I’ll believe what you’re saying? If you weren’t important to him, as you claim, he wouldn’t have assigned so many guards to you, Millie Locatelli. It just so happens that today, you all thought it was just a normal conference you were attending, but little did you know, I had a literal explosion planned.”
He continued to explain their plans for the day, how they had studied the movements of the guards around me to execute their plan to abduct me. I paid little attention to that because I realized I had successfully untied my hands.
As the man was engrossed in his speech, I glanced at the man beside me. I wondered if I could grab the rifle he was holding, and when I realized I could, I acted swiftly.
I stood up and grabbed the chair I had been sitting in earlier. I struck the masked man with it and swiftly kicked the man beside me. He dropped the rifle, which I grabbed.
I heard a gunshot before I could make another move, so I decided to freeze.
“We don’t wish to harm you, Mrs. Locatelli. We took you not to use you as leverage against your husband. You’re here because I have something important to tell you about him. So, just take your seat and listen to what I’m about to say.”
One of them approached me and took the rifle from me. They seated me again, making sure I couldn’t escape. However, they didn’t tie me up anymore.
The man with the mask moved closer to me. I reminded myself not to believe anything he said, especially if it would only tarnish Gio’s image.
He pulled a chair and sat on it, facing me but leaning backward, resting his hands on the chair’s backrest while looking at me.
“I know what really happened to your mother, Millie.”
I shivered when he called my name, but my spine tingled even more when he mentioned my mother.
“My father killed her.”
“Tsk, tsk, poor you. It seems like your husband has spun quite the tale for you. Love makes you blind, huh? Perhaps that saying is true after all.”
I regarded him with a steady gaze. I wasn’t sure if I could trust him, but for now, all I wanted was to know what he had to say. I would contemplate later whether he was believable or not.
“We won’t harm you, Millie. We’ll release you after I’ve told you everything I need to say. It wouldn’t be fair to you if your husband knows everything about you, but you know nothing about him, would it?” he said.
His words made me swallow hard. It was true; I only knew a few things about Gio, but I felt like he knew everything about me. I cared very little about that now.
I was waiting for the day Gio would be willing to tell me everything himself.
“Who are you?” I asked. I decided to listen to what he had to say. He mentioned that he would release me later after sharing all the information.
Gio was currently in another country. I wondered if he had already received the news. Besides, Mariana! I hoped she was okay. She risked her life protecting me from the explosion. I prayed that nothing bad would happen to her.
I still couldn’t accept that many innocent civilians got involved just to abduct me. Perhaps they took this opportunity because, unlike other days, my security was a bit lax, and not all my guards were allowed into the venue. They saw it as a golden chance, especially with Gio out of the country.
“You can call me Nicolas,” he replied. “But I won’t give you my last name. I know you’ll only tell it to your husband, and he’d immediately know who I am.”
I gritted my teeth. He wasn’t just anyone. Someone like him, who spoke with such confidence, probably had hidden plans. I could see traces of Gio in him, though a more carefree version.
He reached for my chin and examined my face closely. I pulled his hand away because I didn’t like strangers touching me.
He sighed. “You’re just like your mother. You look so much like Aunt Astrid.”
I shivered upon hearing my mother’s name from his lips. Who was this Nicolas? Why did he know my mom? What was their connection?
“Too bad, huh? She never got to teach you what she should have,” he said, shaking his head.
“What do you really know about my mother? My father was the one who killed her! That was proven in court!” I shouted at the man in front of me.
I scrutinized his half-covered face carefully. He wasn’t that old. If he wasn’t as old as Gio, he might be just a few years older.
“Proven in court? What do you think of our justice system? Fair? Justice can be easily manipulated, Amelie. And what do you think about your husband’s family? Do you think they can’t use their knowledge of the law to escape the consequences of their actions? Don’t you wonder why, despite the countless lives they’ve taken, the suffering they’ve caused, and the havoc they’ve wreaked, they’ve never been imprisoned? Why, even with their numerous illegal businesses, they get away with everything? There are people in high positions, in politics, and other parts of our government where they hold sway, Millie. They’ve studied the law to know how to get away with their inhumane deeds. Do you really believe your husband is a saint? Maybe you should rethink that.”