"Where is home?" I ask, leaning against him because I'm not sure I can walk without support.
He's quiet for a moment, his arm solid around my waist. "Wherever you feel safe. Tell me where that is, and I'll take you there."
I think about the villa at Lake Maggiore. The room where I was kept. The training sessions that broke me down and rebuilt me into something harder. The man who orchestrated all of it now holding me like I'm precious instead of property.
"I don't know yet," I admit. "But not here."
"Not here," he agrees.
As we walk toward his car, leaving Matteo to handle cleanup, I catch my reflection in a dirty window. Blood-spattered gray dress. Wild hair. Bare feet because I kicked off my shoe to kill a man. The nail file still gripped in my hand like a talisman.
I look like I've been to war.
Maybe I have.
But I survived it.
The car engine starts, carrying us away from the warehouse and toward whatever comes next. I don't ask where we're going. Right now, it doesn't matter.
What matters is that I'm still breathing.
Still fighting.
Still alive.
Chapter 32: Renato
The drive back to the villa is too quiet.
Camilla sits beside me in the passenger seat, staring out at the Italian countryside as we wind through the mountains. She's been silent the entire drive, ever since we left the warehouse where Torretti bled out on concrete.
I keep glancing at her, looking for signs of trauma or psychological damage. Instead, she seems almost thoughtful. Like she's working through a complex equation in her head.
"There's something you need to know," I say, breaking the silence. "About what happened. About why Torretti had you."
She turns to look at me, waiting.
"Alessandro hired him. Your future father-in-law paid Torretti to make you disappear permanently. Either sold into trafficking or killed outright. He didn't care which."
I watch her face carefully, expecting shock or denial. Instead, something that looks almost like confirmation settles in her expression.
"How did you find out?" she asks quietly.
"He called me after Torretti took you. Offered to pay me off to stay quiet about your disappearance. Said it was better for everyone if you just vanished permanently."
"And what did you do?"
"I tracked him down. Matteo had a contact with a warehouse in Rome." I keep my eyes on the road, knowing this next part won't be easy to hear. "I tortured him until he told me where Torrettiwas holding you. Then I forced him to call Torretti and cancel the deal, arrange the delivery."
"And after?"
"After he made the call, I killed him. Two bullets to the chest."
The silence stretches between us. I expect anger, maybe horror. Instead, she nods slowly.
"That’s good."
"You're not upset?"
