Hours pass.Long, torturous hours that have me questioning my sanity.
Did Maximus really call? And if he did, was he able to hear my message?
Eventually I grow tired of mentally berating myself for my indecision, and my thoughts take a more treacherous route. Maximus might not remember the time I met him as a young girl, and that makes my proof of life null and void. He could’ve heard me and dismissed it as nothing more than the raving of a lunatic. Everyone, including Maximus, believed I was insane, and that could’ve been the evidence he needed to see it as fact.
Sunshine girl,ragazza solare.
A ghost of a smile tugs at my lips, and I suppress it. Maximus called me that, and I always wondered why. Did he say that because of the yellow dress I wore? Or was there something deeper he saw in me that I couldn’t? The nickname was an endearment, and no one except my mother had ever given me one. Maybe that’s the reason I cherished it all these years.
Well, that and because Maximus gave me hope. I wanted to marry him, since he wasn’t like any of the criminals my father dealt with. When Maximus looked at me, I never felt the need to run to my mother for protection. The only feelings I got around him were safety and happiness.
I wish that were still the case.
“Come on,” the brutish man says to the thinner one. Then he gets to his feet. “The boss says the negotiations are complete.”
“The ones with Silvestri?”
At the mention of Maximus, I open my eyes. There’s no need to pretend to be asleep, since it’s apparent I’m about to be transported somewhere.
The larger man shrugs. “It didn’t sound like he was willing to negotiate for her.”
A part of me dies.
This stranger is only confirming what I already know, but it doesn’t make the excruciating pain lessen. If my hands were free, I’d press them to my chest to stop the invisible bleeding of my heart.
“So the other one, then?”
“Yeah, he paid the ransom without complaint. Now it’s time to deliver her to him.”
Panic seizes me as a slew of questions fill my mind, and terror grips my insides.
If Maximus isn’t coming for me, then who is?
Maximus
Several hours earlier…
It takesthe entire drive to the meetup location for me to get Emilia’s haunted expression out of my head.
I’m right in what I said, and the resignation, as well as acceptance, was in her gaze. She knows it as much as I did that I can never love her the way she wants.
The way she deserves.
I’ve done a lot of fucked-up things in my life, and guilt never surfaced, because my actions were always justified. My brothers and I never hurt the innocent and never sought out retribution from those who didn’t deserve it. But Emilia? I broke every code of honor I had with her for the sake of my revenge. And what happened on the love lock bridge could’ve been the pinnacle of my mistreatment of her. So I did what any other asshole husband would do.
I promised myself I’d make it up to her.
Although I’m not exactly sure how, I have an idea that could mend some of the hurt I’ve caused. Not all, but I don’t know if that’s even possible.
My men, Dante and Leone, flank me as we arrive at the edge of the Seine River. The area is deserted except for a couple of pedestrians making their way to warmth and shelter. It’s cold, and the way the wind hits the water makes it all the more chilling. However, it’s public and therefore relatively safe. I’d rather be cold temporarily than forever in death.
I heard Charles Fontaine had a flair for the dramatic, and this meeting doesn’t do much to persuade me otherwise. Not with the way he walks up to me, arms open wide as if we are family.
“Silvestri, welcome.”
“Fontaine,” I say with a nod. “Thank you for meeting me.”
The Frenchman waves a hand. “Of course,mon ami. How do you like my city? She is glorious, no?”
