Page 40 of Sinner's Vows

A beat of silence tears through the room as Luca freezes on the spot, his eyebrows shooting to his hairline.

Fuck.

21

ARIANA

I stand in the middle of the room where Dominic just left me and breathe deeply, trying to get a grip. Telling him other people could get hurt if I contact anybody isn’t a lie. I don’t know what dominos Franco had put in place before he kidnapped me and then took me to Boston. For all I know, some of his henchmen will start mowing down my team if I even contact one of them. It’s a risk I can’t take.

My best bet is still to get back to Italy. Once I’m there, I can make contact after I’ve sussed out the situation.

For now, I stay right where I am and figure this out while holding my cards close.Observe, adapt, and only act when the time is right.

Dominic has locked the door, and I’m a prisoner again. From what I’ve seen yesterday and experienced today, I now know better than to mess with my hosts. When it comes toIl Consiglio, I’ll have to wait it out until the time and space is right. It won’t hurt to work on my physical strength and mental fortitude in the interim.

At least this is peaceful, what with the stunning garden view from my bedroom window and the sense of light and spacewith the high ceilings. The room smells of lavender-scented wood polish and is spotless. The antique furniture gives it a homey feel, one I didn’t expect to find. There’s a small adjacent bathroom with a shower, handbasin, and toilet. It must have been added on during a restoration, because this house is old and wouldn’t have come with this type of amenity two hundred years ago.

I close the bathroom’s door and cross the room to the desk placed by the window, and the old hardwood floor creaks underneath my feet. My mind is too busy to focus on anything but my dilemma while glancing through the stack of magazines and puzzles. I’m in anIl Consigliostronghold. but it isn’t Dominic’s place. I don’t even know who heads this crime ring, but since escaping isn’t an option, maybe I can barter my way out of this situation. With information. I just need to figure out what I have they’d want, desperately. Beyond what I can tell them of Franco Fiore, I’m screwed.

My ears prick. Was that?—?

I freeze. Listen closer.

There. Again. A strained scream sounds from afar.

No. Impossible.

My head is messing with me.

After weeks in that dungeon without light, I’ve started hearing things, making up for loss of sight.

But there?—

Chills crawl over my skin as I sink down on the bed. Not here, too. I close my eyes, drop back to the pillows and pull one over my head to block the sounds. And still, the screams slice right through my skin like a scalpel. No, it’s just me, hearing my inward screams at the memories of what Franco has done to me. I bore every cut in silence, refusing to feed his sadistic needs.

Dominic said they had some work to wrap up here so I’m going to be alone for a bit.

Thisis the work. What did I expect? For him to take his laptop bag and go punch numbers at some audit firm? Put on his construction hat and go do stuff on a building site? These people aren’t normal, and things went down yesterday. It’s never a one and done. Every action has a reaction, sets something else in motion that needs to be contained, controlled, subdued.

With Franco Fiore on the hunt for Gigi Trapani and her fleeing here, things didn’t pan out for Franco…but they didn’t pan out for someone else either. Someone who is being tortured to death. If I don’t watch out, I could be next.

I’m going to have to give them something, or else?—

For a long while, I lie there, my head squashed between two pillows, my thoughts and heart racing, and then the sounds die down, and the adrenaline seeps out of me.

When a soft knock sounds on the door, I startle. I’m hardly sitting up when the bedroom door swings open, making me cower.

“Shit, sorry. Didn’t think you’d be sleeping. I’ve been knocking a while, so…”

I blink. It’s just Dominic. He won’t hurt me.

Outside, the bright summer’s light has turned to dusk. I was out stone cold for hours.

“I think the jet lag must have gotten to me.” And everything else. I’m amazed I managed to fall asleep at all. My pulse skips a beat as I recall the earlier sounds I heard. “What time is it?”

“It’s already past seven.” Dominic takes two steps into the bedroom. His gaze jumps from my face to my bare legs and to where the flip-flops Portia gave me have slipped from my feet onto the covers. “I would have checked in with you sooner, but things came up.”

I hasten to pull my skirts down to be decent as they’ve rucked up in sleep, exposing more than I’d ever want to a man, never mind a man who thinks he could be my brother.

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