Page 59 of His Beautiful Revenge
“Don’t worry, we believe you. Ms. Reddy, this might be a delicate matter, but the doctor’s say there was no, um, evidence of sexual assault. Is that correct?”
Norah nodded and glanced at Giacomo. “No, Lucian did not try to force himself on me, this time, at least. It was strange. He actually thought that by being nice to me, he could get me to respond to him. I knew that my only chance was to play along with him. Thankfully it never got to the point where I had to make a choice to …go that far.” She drew in a deep breath and looked again at Giacomo. “But I would have done anything to get back to you.Anything.”
She studied him as he nodded. He didn’t look away or seem angry.
“I understand,mio caro.”
She didn’t know why it was important that she tell him that; after all, she hadn’t slept with Lucian—hadn’thadto, thank god. But she wanted him to know she would have done everything to get home to him alive. How much she would sacrifice for his love. Giacomo touched her cheek tenderly.
Det. Bean nodded, watching them. “Well, after you escaped, we think he tried to pursue you but gave up. The motel room where you were held was emptied, but we found a helluva lot of forensics. We’re alerting every field office in the country. We’ll find him.”
“What about Tara?”
“Obviously we’ll bring her in for questioning, but unless we can definitively tie her to your abduction, or Mrs. Price’s killing …”
“Lucian will testify against her,” Norah was convinced. “They aren’t on the best of terms and he’s such a coward. He’ll roll on her, I guarantee it.”
The detective nodded and, pushing his chair back, stood to leave. “I’ll update you as soon as we know everything. In the meantime, Mr. Conti, I see you have arranged security for Ms. Reddy and yourself? I think that’s a good idea. Until we have either Miss Hubert or Mr. Hargity in custody, I would consider staying somewhere neither of them knows of.”
Giacomo nodded and Norah thanked the detective. When they were alone, Giacomo sat on the side of her bed, careful not to jostle Norah. Her surgery had been a keyhole procedure to repair the spleen rather than remove it, but she was still in pain.
She clicked the morphine medication button now.
“Does it hurt very much,mio caro?”
She smiled at him. “Enough that it’s distracting me, and the only thing I want to think about is you.”
He smiled and kissed her. “I love you so much, Norah Reddy.”
She pressed her lips firmly to his. “And I you, Giacomo Conti.” She leaned her forehead against his. “I know they’re still out there, but something inside me says that we’re almost home clear, you know? That there’s nothing we cannot overcome as long as we love each other.”
“I agree. And to that end …the doctor’s say you’ll be recovering for a few weeks yet. So maybe it’s a good time to start planning our wedding. I need you to be my wife. I need to be your husband. It’s that simple.”
She grinned. “I’m with you. What were you thinking?”
Giacomo laughed. “Bella, I’m a guy. All I want is to shout out to the world that the most brilliant, beautiful woman in the world somehow wantsme. But, still, City Hall is also fine.”
She chuckled. “You know what I’d like? I’d like to get married in Italy, with Zulika, Orlando, Ferma, and your family. I want to meet your family, my love.”
Giacomo smiled delightedly. “Then that’s where we’ll do it. My family is spread all around the country, but I do own a house in the Tuscan hills. We could get married there if you’d like. Perhaps when you are released and are well enough to travel, we can go there for your recuperation.”
“That sounds heavenly.”
He moved so he could put his arms around her. “I promise, only good things from now on,Bella.”
Zulika waved goodbye to Ferma as the child skipped happily into school. She had offered to take the girl, as Orlando had been called to a meeting in the city. As she walked back toAnthology,she felt tired. Now that Norah was and safe thought she might be able to relax and sleep, but still she was haunted. In her bones, she felt exhausted. She had an appointment with her oncologist later in the week and her instinct was telling her that he would not have good news. How could he? She’d never been so dog-tired in her life and she was sure her cancer had worsened.
Fred greeted her with a smile when she got to work, and despite herself, Zulika felt better. Fred had been her rock and her comfort at work since everything had happened. “I honestly don’t know how we coped without you,” she told her young friend now.
Fred rolled her eyes. “Don’t give me that. You’ve been like family to me.”
Zulika smiled and went into the back room. Family. Strange how life worked out. To Zulika, her family was not the one she grew up in, but rather the one she had found later. Norah. Orlando and Ferma. Giacomo. Fred.
But maybe, just maybe, there would be a link back to her past. Her step-father had called her, distressed—well that was an understatement—devastatedover Lucian’s spiral into this desperate situation. Zulika had always had a distant but respectful relationship with Peter Hargity. She’d taken his name when her mother had married him, but after her death, the two of them rarely spoke, communicating mostly by Christmas card or email.
Peter had always treated her mother well, so Zulika should not have blamed him for Lucian’s behavior, but somehow she felt as if there had been something missing in the man’s relationship with his son, something that triggered Lucian’s obvious personality flaws.
So when he had called and asked to come and see her, she had –agreed—mostly because she wanted to get some answers. Her step-father knew nothing of her illness and she didn’t particularly want to inform him.
