“What do you think?”
Silence. “Will she be all right?”
“She’s a fighter. Stronger than any in her family that I’ve met.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
“I hope you are. If I learn you had a hand in this, I will kill you. Slowly.”
“Then I’m in no danger.” I hear him take a puff of his cigarette. “You want an act of good will? Trust building?”
“Fuck you. You’re wasting my time.” I’m about to hang up when he calls out my name.
“Cristiano.”
Something in his tone makes me stop.
“I will give you Rinaldi’s location once I have it.”
8
Scarlett
I wake to the smell of coffee. I move, rolling onto my side, but wince and stop as soon as I do. I remember instantly why I’m sore. Everything that happened comes flooding back to me at once.
“Good morning,” Cristiano says.
I open my eyes. Deep orange light, the first light of morning, filters into the room washing it in its warm glow. I watch Cristiano get to his feet from the armchair he was sitting on. His clothes look rumpled, his hair like he’s been running his hands through it all night.
I’m back on the island. Back in his room. In his bed.
“Morning,” I say, slow to push myself up to a seat.
“Easy.” He’s by my side in an instant, lifting me gently.
I suck in a breath and he draws back. Even the lightest touch hurts.
“I’m sorry,” he says.
“It’s okay.”
He adjusts the pillows behind my back.
“Is Noah okay? Did anyone—”
“He’s fine. Safe. They only hit the house you were in.”
“The soldiers are dead.”
He nods.
“Alec. Is he…”
There’s a momentarily shadow that crosses his features but he hides it quickly. “He’ll be okay. Took two bullets, but nothing fatal.”
“That’s good, I’m glad.” I adjust the blankets, just wanting to feel their softness, their warmth. Almost not believing I’m here and safe. I look back up to find Cristiano watching me. “Did I dream your brother in the water?”
He smiles. “No. He went in after you.”
“Oh. Really?”
“Really.”
“How did my uncle know I was there at that house? That I was alone?”
“He was tipped off.”
“By whom?”
“I don’t know that yet.”
I nod, look down to find I’m wearing a negligée in dusty pink. I don’t remember it, but it must have been in the things Cristiano bought for me on our shopping trip. It’s meant to be sexy but with my striped, bruised skin beneath it, it falls short.
“I don’t remember coming back here,” I say. It’s true. I don’t remember much after my breakdown in the shower. The thought of that makes blood rush to my face. I’m embarrassed.
That person breaking down, that woman who couldn’t hold her own, that’s not me. I don’t lean on people. I don’t trust people. Not even him. I can’t.
And I’m embarrassed about it.
“You were pretty out of it,” he says.
It’s silent for an awkward minute and I watch him turn to the side table to pour me a cup of coffee from the small pot.
“Have you slept?” I ask.
He returns, cup in hand, eyebrows raised.
“Sleep. Did you sleep?” I repeat only to get the signature grunt as he hands me the cup. I take it. Sip the burning-hot liquid. It feels good after all that cold. The memory of the ocean, of being dumped in, sends a shiver through me. I’ve never been afraid of water. I don’t know that I am now, but I was scared then. The vastness of it. The depth. The dark.
“Cold?” He picks up the blanket at the foot of the bed.
“I’m fine,” I say, shaking my head. Clearing it. “Why did you do it?”
“Why did I do what?”
“Jump into the water after me.”
“The alternative would mean you drowned,” he says like he’s confused by the question.
I know. I’ve come close to death more times than I care to remember but this one, it feels closer. More real.
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
He studies me, big and silent. “I wasn’t going to let you drown, Scarlett.”
“You could have had him.”
“The cost was too high.”
“I—”
“I wasn’t going to let you die. Period. Is that so hard to understand?”
It is.
“Besides, I’ll find him again. I’m not worried about that.”
I nod and silence falls again for a long minute. I feel him close by. Feel his eyes on me. I can’t look at him just yet though. “I’m not a whore.” I don’t know why I care if he thinks I am, but I do.
“No, you’re not. I know that.”
I look up at him. “Why did you accuse me of being one then?”
“I expected…” he shakes his head, gaze shifting away from me, forehead wrinkling. “No, that doesn’t matter.” He looks back at me. “I heard what you said. Finally.”
“What did I say?”
“It won’t hurt as much.”
I’m surprised. I guess I don’t expect to hear that. I remember the words. My words. Did I expect him to understand their meaning? Did I want him to? Why say it otherwise?
I shift my gaze away from him feeling suddenly too hot.
“Did he hurt you? Before, I mean? Did Rinaldi—”
I snap my gaze back to his. “Rinaldi didn’t touch me. Not like that.”
Cristiano looks confused. “Then—”
“He made me watch him hurt others, but not me,” I cut him off before he can ask the question I know he wants to ask. If not Rinaldi, then who? That’s what he wants to know.
I remember my uncle then. Shot. Dead. The bullet an utter surprise from the look on his face. I don’t feel anything at the memory. Not afraid. Not upset. Not relieved.
“Do you think there’s something wrong with me?” I ask.
Again, I see confusion.
“I mean I don’t get upset…It doesn’t bother me.”
“What doesn’t bother you?”
“I watched my uncle kill my brothers. I watched Marcus kill him in turn. And I can’t tell you how many other murders I’ve seen. I don’t get upset anymore. I’m not even sure I get scared. I don’t feel anything when I see it. Even when I feel their blood splatter my skin, I feel nothing. Not an accelerated heartbeat. Not fear. Not upset. Nothing. I just…stand there and watch.”
Grunt. He takes my coffee mug and sets it down.
I wipe a lone tear, looking down as I process. “Maybe I’m more like them than I think.” A monster.
“They were bad men, Scarlett. I know monsters and you are not one. Not even close.”
“I’m not so sure, Cristiano.”
“Listen, you have many, many things wrong with you, but this isn’t one of them.”