Page 21 of Dark Masquerade
Tandy got a little choked, but hid it with her usual bravado. “Don’t get all mushy. I’ll be back before Christmas.”
“Too long,” Elli grumbled, but waved her goodbye at the gate and headed to the taxi stand.
She caught a cab back into the city and went straight to work. It was still early, six-thirty a.m., and the office was empty as Elli sat down and flicked on her computer. She filled the coffee pot as she waiting for her ancient laptop to boot up, then wondered if she should grab some pastries for breakfast. She patted her flat belly—she could do with gaining a couple of pounds, she thought. She had lost weight lately, mostly due to the Olympic sex she’d been having.
She decided to go down to the nearest bakery, a couple of streets away. Venice was just coming to life in the dark January morning, but there were few people around. The bakery was just opening, and Elli bought a couple of breakfast rolls and some pastries for her colleagues when they got into the office.
She was almost back, walking down the short street that led to the magazine’s back entrance, when it happened. Suddenly, she felt someone slam into her from behind, knocking her flat against a stone wall. Elli cracked her head hard against the stone—the feeling was disturbingly familiar—but couldn’t scream before her attacker knocked her to the ground and landed a vicious kick to her stomach. Elli tried to curl up in a ball, pain ripping through her, too shocked to cry out or fight back, but her attacker straddled her, his face obscured by a black mask, and reached into his pocket for a knife.
Oh, god, no …
“Please, don’t.”
As he raised the blade to drive it into her, there was a shout. Elli heard footsteps running towards them. Her attacker took off, and Elli struggled into a sitting position on the ice-cold ground. Two young men helped her up, peering worriedly at her. “Are you okay, signorina?”
She nodded, shell-shocked, and touched her forehead, but there was no blood.Thank god.
“Tomas, you take her to the hospital while I get the polizzia,” the taller of the two men said, starting down the street already.
Elli’s hand shot out and grabbed him by the back of the sweater. “No!”
He stopped and both men looked at her, confused and concerned. “I’m fine,” she assured them. “My office is right here. I’ll go in and … get help there.”
With her rescuers staring unhappily after her, she walked slowly to her office and went in. It was still empty and she went to the little bathroom to clean her face of dirt. There was a small bump that she knew would bruise badly, but otherwise, aching stomach muscles apart, she was unhurt. But he had been about to kill her …or had he? Something was bugging her about the whole attack—more than just the fact that her life had been threatened. The thing was …it just didn’t seem like whoever it was had his heart in it. Even though the men had interrupted them, he would still have had time to stick the blade into her and then run. So what the hell? Not to mention,why?
She poured herself some coffee and sat at her desk, opening her emails. Working methodically, gradually distracting herself from the earlier fear, she opened another message without looking at the sender and suddenly there were photographs of her, taken that morning as she walked to the bakery.
Elli stared at the shots, gritting her teeth as she scrolled through the extensive footage of her small excursion. But it was the last photograph that made her gasp. It wasn’t a photograph of her; it was a beautiful, dark-haired woman in a pristine white wedding dress—pristine except for the blood spattered across it and the knife wounds in the bodice of the dress.
Yvetta.
“Oh my god.” Elli was trembling. Suddenly it all became clearer to her. This wasn’t about her or Indio—it was aboutAldo. Someone was threatening to kill her to torturehim.She grabbed her cell phone and called him, knowing it was after midnight in New York. She texted him,Aldo, baby, we have to talk. Please call me back when you can.
She’d barely hung up the phone when Aldo called her back, and after she quickly explained, his answer was definitive. “I’m coming back to you, Elliana. Do not even think to argue. No business trip is worth more than your safety. Umberto will pick you up from work and take you back to your apartment.” His tone softened then, likely knowing she didn’t respond well to orders. “Please, Elli, for me, pack your stuff. I want you safe in our home for as long as this psychopath is at large.”
Elli hated the idea of being cooped up in an ivory tower, but she had to admit she was frightened. “Okay. Okay, Aldo, just until it’s over.”
Umberto, Aldo’s sweet driver, gave her a grin as she walked outside the office to meet him. “Good afternoon, Miss Moretti.”
“Call me Elli, won’t you?” She got into the front with him, obviously something he wasn’t used to. She grinned at him. “Umberto, I’m just a normal girl. Unless Aldo is with me, count on me riding up front with you.”
She chatted with him as normally as she could, trying to distract herself from what was happening—circumstances forcing her to live with a man when she knew in her heart she wasn’t ready.
She packed two suitcases, not wanting to have to keep coming back here, and Umberto took them down to the car for her. Elli looked around her apartment, wondering with sadness when she’d be back. She went to the window to look out over the Lagoon at twilight, seeing the lights of the city come on. A movement caught her eye below on the street and she froze. He was looking up at her, half hidden in shadow, and as she met his gaze, he moved back into the darkness and was gone. But she knew that gaze. It haunted her nightmares, and often, also her days.
Her heart thumping painfully against her ribs, Elli dashed down the stairs and out onto the street, ignoring Umberto’s shocked face as she blitzed past him. Running down the alleyway to the street behind her home, she searched and searched, her hysteria bubbling higher and higher with each corner she turned without an answer. Finally, when it was clear there was no one to be found, she screamed out over the dark waters of the lagoon.
“Indio!” All her hurt, her rage, and her love was in that scream, and as she ran out of oxygen, she felt a hand on her back. Jumping away in sudden terror, she realized it was Umberto, looking at her with confused compassion. Leaning back into him, she began to sob as he guided her toward the car.
On the drive back to Aldo’s house, Elli managed to pull herself back together and looked sheepishly at Umberto. “You must think I’m a mad woman, Umberto.”
He shook his head. “It is not my business, Ms. Moretti.”
“Elli.”
“Elli, it is not for me to judge anyone else.”
“You’re very kind …could I ask you to not mention my little freak out to Aldo?”
