Page 29 of Dangerous Deception

“Right.” I step over the body, but just as I move past Vito, he catches my arm.

“There’s one more thing.”

“What?” I snap. “What more could there possibly be?”

“I’ve seen that name before.”

“Where?”

“On Pascal’s bank transactions.”

12

ADELINA

My head is killing me.

In all my years of drinking, I’ve been fortunate enough never to get a hangover, but clearly, this is different. As consciousness slowly trickles back into my mind, the pain in my head pulsing in time to my heartbeat is the first thing I latch onto. It’s at the top of my head, spreading down to my forehead, and the thought of opening my eyes fills me with dread.

Can I just go back to sleep?

Surely, that will ease my pain if I just sleep it away. I swallow, and burning pain lances down my throat, highlighting the odd cotton sensation across the top of my tongue. Never mind sleep. I need water.

God, how did I ever make it home? Did I crash at Marie’s?

That makes sense. There’s no way I would have gone home to face Raffaele. As his face enters my mind, a strange sensation creeps across my chest like some kind of fuzzy static. It’s similar to wearing a scratchy sweater that pricks your skin every time you move more than half an inch.

That sensation gives way to a burst of cold and a rush of goosebumps sweep down my arms and legs. My fingers curl against my palm and I try to roll over, seeking out the blanket to cover myself up with so I can go back to sleep and forget the pain.

But I can’t.

Something closes over my wrists and tightens as I try to move my arms. My attempts to move send pain through my shoulders and the fog in my mind begins to clear.

I don’t remember making it home to Marie’s.

I don’t even remember leaving the club.

I try to move my arms again, then I twist my body to try and sit up, but the same kind of tension closes around my ankles and I can’t move my legs either. All of this occurs in just a few seconds and the alarm bells in my mind roar to life. My heart races, increasing the painful pressure in my skull, and I open my eyes.

A dirty white ceiling covered in dots of black mold and questionable yellow stains greets me. I blink, expecting to see the blue of Marie’s bedroom ceiling or even the fancy swirls of Raffaele’s.

Nope, still the dirty white.

My heart leaps up, and the fluttering sensation moves to the center of my chest as if my heart is about to beat right out of my mouth as I slowly take in my surroundings. There’s a single window near the bed I’m bound to, with dirty glass panes that are warped from age. A dirtied net curtain hangs in front of the window along with a singular ripped ash-blue curtain on the left side. A single yellow light bulb hangs from the middle of the ceiling, illuminating the peeling paint, barely hiding the crumbling walls.

I glance around, and a sudden bright white light forces me to close my eyes with a wince and a muted yelp. In the far corneris a bright stage light glaring at me. It’s so bright that looking near it is like staring directly into the sun, adding sharp pain to the dullness already coursing around my throbbing body. My cheek hurts, warm from the impact of a slap that jolts through my memory.

I swallow hard and force my eyes open.

My dress is gone. I’ve been stripped down to my underwear and tied spread-eagle on a mattress that stinks of something so sharp that my nose aches just from breathing it in. Beside the glaring light stand Jim and Geoff, and the night before comes rushing back to me in a painful explosion.

Marie and I were out drinking. We had kept it to cocktails but suddenly, the drinks hit so hard that I couldn’t stand. And Marie passed out after we drank the drinks those men bought us.

They drugged us. They must have.

I’d been careful, I thought.

Not careful enough.

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