Faith had gone straight to her room, Max following behind her. It was night, but with the outdoor floodlights she could see giant puffs of snow drifting down in a steady pattern.
While she’d been at dinner, one of the servants had started a fire in the fireplace. Moments like this obscured reality as if she were visiting royalty instead of a prisoner.
But she was trapped inside a Christmas card. What could be wrong with that? What kind of idiot complained or felt sad about that? She was still waiting for the other shoe to drop, for Leo to come blazing in to claim what was his, to make her pay with her body for all the kindnesses he’d bestowed. After all, she was his property, his ill-conceived early Christmas gift from his psychotic brother.
Max laid his head on her lap, and she absently stroked the soft, gold fur. He’d become her shadow these past few weeks, as if checking to make sure she was okay and then reporting back to his master with a daily status update. It had taken awhile for the cat to accept the dog’s presence, but now Squish was an expert at ignoring him. She’d briefly hissed when he’d entered the room before snuggling back into Faith’s pillow. In another week, he’d be beneath her notice entirely.
Half an hour or more passed like this when the doorknob jiggled. Before she could ask who it was, Leo stepped inside. He returned the key to his pocket and shut the door behind him. Since the last time she’d tried to lock him out, he’d taken to carrying the key with him. It was a reminder that she couldn’t keep him away from her. This house and everything in it was his.
“Are you okay?” He must not have believed her excuse about all the people.
Faith shrugged and turned her gaze back to the window. “It hurts. This lie. Pretending I’m your fiancee while I’m really your prisoner. They think I have this great life and everything is normal, but I’m like a captive animal. I don’t know if I can stand a week of this.”
She chanced a look at him in time to catch his wince, and immediately felt guilty.
“I told you, you can have whatever you want here. I can’t let you go. I can’t risk that you’d go to the police about Angelo.”
“He’s a monster,” she said, barely above a whisper. “I can’t understand why you’d protect somebody like that.”
“He’s family. I won’t choose a stranger over family, so drop it. We’re leaving for Mass in an hour; be ready.”
He left and locked the door behind him. Leo was right. He owed her nothing, but it still hurt. And yet, if she was only a stranger and family meant everything, why had he protected her from Angelo in the kitchen? Why had he given her this room? Why did he care about her comfort at all?
***
The drive to the church was silent-at least in Leo’s car. Faith’s body angled away from him in the passenger seat. They hadn’t spoken since their conversation in her bedroom, and now she was somewhere far away, staring out the window at the snow. He imagined she was contemplating the possibility and opportunity for escape. After all, it was her first time outside the house since he’d taken her.
A pang of guilt stabbed him. She was right. She was a captive animal kept in a cage, presumably for her own safety. But Angelo was the criminal, and she was the innocent-no matter how much Leo might wish to ignore the truth.
Gina sat in the back, squeezed between Uncle Sal and Aunt Lily. There was a loud sigh from the backseat. It had to be Sal, because nobody else in the family could sigh in such a heavy and all-encompassing way.
“Lily wasn’t Italian,” he said finally, as if he’d been brooding about Faith’s Irish blood since dinner. And probably he had. His quick dismissal of the Irish Problem betrayed how the thought dominated his mind. At least he was now acknowledging his own hypocrisy, given how his wife had been as fair as a Nordic princess. Maybe not Irish, but not Italian either. He’d suffered his own share of ribbing when he’d brought her home-if the family stories were to be believed.
Leo caught Lily’s reflection in the mirror as she made an annoyed look and flipped her blonde hair. “I’m still not Italian, Salvatore.” It had been a long time since her hair had naturally been that color, but she’d maintained it in the fight against the encroaching gray army with the help of a salon professional.
“Yes, dear,” he said, humoring her. The truth was, once they’d had kids, and they had come out of the womb all shiny black eyes and hair and olive complexion, her ancestry had been forgiven on the spot. Though, one of their grandchildren was fair like Lily. Surrounded by everyone else’s dark looks, Angelica looked as if she’d been kidnapped. But if the family noticed, they didn’t mind. After all, looking like Lily was far from a criminal act.
His Ma started to go on about weddings and babies and how long before she could have grandchildren. She made it a point to note that she didn’t care if they came out polka-dotted. All she wanted was babies to cuddle and coo over.
Leo winced and glanced over at Faith, who had gone stiff. He’d promised her she wouldn’t have to have children for him. And he meant it. He wasn’t about to violate her to keep up family appearances, and a turkey baster was too crude even for him. Either way, forcing her to incubate his progeny would be almost as bad as rape. In some ways perhaps worse. They’d invent a story of infertility.
This whole thing was spiraling too far out of control, far beyond the scope of his original intentions. Locking Faith in the dungeon each year for the holidays would have been less trouble. But then he came back to himself. As long as Faith was in his home, no matter where she was, he couldn’t have a normal life. These were things he hadn’t paused to consider when his concern had been keeping his brother from killing someone Leo could save.
Angelo had given him an obligation, not a gift. A package of guilt and frustration. All he wanted was to take Faith and fulfill his every twisted fantasy with her, but his brother had gotten all the sociopathic genes. Leo didn’t have the heart to follow through with an unwilling victim.
He parked the car on the far side of the church and growled in annoyance as he observed the bundled people rushing for the door. The Christmas Eve late-night Mass was always crowded. Although it was midnight and most people were tucked in their beds dreaming of sugarplums and fairies, for the faithful of St. Stephen’s, Christmas Eve was the longest night of the year. Even the New Year didn’t inspire staying up so late. It was countdown, kisses, champagne, and then passing out.
He came around to let Faith out of the car as a doting fiance should. She blushed and looked away when he took her hand and helped her out, catching her as she stumbled in the three inches of snow. Did she feel the spark between them? It would be safest for her if she didn’t. If she gave any indication she wanted him, her protected bubble would burst. He wouldn’t be able to make any promises about what he would or wouldn’t do with her then.
***
Faith sat in the pew toward the back of the church, sandwiched between Leo’s mother and Leo. She felt Gina’s shrewd eyes on the two of them, and God knew what the woman was thinking. She was probably fantasizing about baby outfits. The thought made Faith recoil. On the other side of her, Leo’s hand squeezed hers. She was so fragile sitting next to him, with her tiny hand trapped in his larger one.
They were in the last row of the benches the family had taken. Angelo and Davide sat two rows up, practically cuddling. Angelo had looked back and shot her an evil look once or twice during the service, but each time, his attempt at menace was interrupted by standing or kneeling or reading or singing.
When it was time for the Eucharist, Faith didn’t move. Leo’s mouth brushed next to her ear. “Are you not going up? It’ll look bad to the family.” “I can’t,” she whispered, “I haven’t been to confession in a long time.”
“I can’t imagine how you could have offended God.” The sincerity of his statement caught her off guard.
“I wouldn’t feel right about it,” she said, hoping that would be the end of the discussion. She didn’t know what she’d do if he tried to make her partake.
He nodded and disentangled his hand from hers to make his way to the line with the rest of the family. Caprice waited for him in the aisle with a man-eating look on her face. She looped her arm through his, guiding him toward the line and flashing a smug look back at Faith.