Page 6 of Captive in His Castle
“Niccolo showed me the message he received from your sister. You hacked her phone.” Ignoring her outrage, he patted his backside. “But those pictures are safe and sound with me.”
“Give me my phone, and I’ll prove it’s a lie.”
He gave a sad shake of his head. “Do I look like I’m brainless? If I give you your phone, you will use it to call someone.”
“It works by facial recognition. Put it to my face, and it will unlock. You can look through the stored photos and see that those pictures you mentioned don’t exist, not in my phone.”
“But that would prove nothing. I would have to take it on trust that you don’t have them safely stored elsewhere.”
She threw her hands in the air. “Then I can’t win!”
He gave another wink. “See, I knew you would get there in the end.”
“And when willyouget there?” she demanded. “I’ve not travelled all this way to destroy Niccolo – I only want to talk to him, and it’s imperative I do sobeforethe wedding. If I could have reached out to him in any other way, then I would have done, but it’s been impossible for me to get his phone number or even a private email address for him.”
There was such a ring of truth resonating in Callie’s voice that Dante eyed her speculatively. “What is so important that you need to speak to him so badly?”
Her unusual, pretty face pinched in on itself. “That is none of your business.”
“Your antics have made it my business.”
“Call him. Set up a meeting for me with him, anywhere he likes.”
“And have him abandon his pre-wedding celebrations? Impossible.”
“Nothing is impossible.”
“Human flight without assistance is impossible.”
She gave him another shot of her death stare.
Dante laughed. This was far, far more enjoyable than he’d envisaged. He’d prepared himself for tears and histrionics and emotional manipulation, not fire and brimstone. Those large eyes were practically shooting flames at him. “I’m afraid arranging a meeting between the two of youisimpossible. Meeting at the hotel or anywhere close to it is too dangerous, and the logistics for anything further afield will cause questions to be asked. Niccolo can’t just disappear from his own pre-wedding celebrations. Anything you have to say to him will have to wait until after the wedding… If you can get close enough to talk to him.”
“After the wedding will be too late!” She took a visible deep breath and, in a slightly calmer tone, added, “A video call. Surely you can facilitate that?”
He shook his head.
“A telephone call then?” She was starting to sound desperate.
“How about this – you tell me what is so important, and if I agree with your assessment that he needs to know, then I will personally pass it on to Niccolo myself.”
The large eyes held his for a long moment before she blinked and her shoulders sagged. “I can’t do that. This is something I have to tell Niccolo and only Niccolo.”
Dante shrugged. Whatever Callie’s reasons, whatever shebelieved to be so important, Niccolo knowing about it wouldn’t make the blindest bit of difference. The wedding had to go ahead; it was as simple as that. Niccolo’s entire future depended on it. “Seeing as you refuse to confide your reasons with me, I suggest you accept your situation. Acceptance will make the short time you are my guest pass much more smoothly.”
Her chin lifted straight back up. “Your captive, don’t you mean?”
“It is your prerogative to call yourself whatever you wish, just as it is mine to call you my honoured guest.”
More fire and fury were thrown at him before her lips tightened into a white line and she turned her head away to scowl out of the window.
Now that the adrenaline that had seen Callie fight back against the bastard who’d kidnapped her had abated, all she felt was drained. And heartsick.
Georgia’s betrayal had been absolute. She would never have dreamed her capable of such lies.
If only Georgia’s twin-sense, as they’d always called it, hadn’t told her something was up and made her return home instead of carrying on to her workplace, Callie would have found Niccolo Martinelli before her sister had known she’d left the country.
More irony, she thought bitterly. Since Georgia’s affair with Niccolo, her twin had pulled away from her. It didn’t matter how hard Callie tried to reach her, Georgia kept shutting her out, refusing to confide in her, systematically breaking the bond that had been between them since they’d shared their mother’s womb. That the bond was still strong enough forGeorgia’s twin-sense to be alive and kicking when Callie least wanted it…
