Julian doesn’t look well. He looks even more disheveled than last time I saw him, and there’s an unnatural light in his eyes.
“Closer,” he murmurs.
But I’m notthatstupid. “No fucking way.”
He rolls his eyes. “Fine. But you need to keep this to yourself, Teddy MacCallum.” He waits for me to nod, and then says, “Alessandro’s mother.”
“What about her?”
“Did she show up to the funeral?”
I give a shrug. “I don’t know. I wasn’t there.”
He looks me up and down. “She’s the one you want to look at.”
“WhoisAlessandro’s mother?” I ask. “None of the sources I’ve ever seen could agree on her name before she was married. And I thought she was dead.”
“That’s what Ciro liked people to believe. Anyway, if it’s not her, look into Ciro’s most recent lover, Lina Lamond. Ciro was planning to give her a generous settlement when he broke up with her, but she might not have seen it that way. And she’d certainly know how to get close to him without being seen.”
I catalogue the rapid-fire information he’s sending my way, frowning a little as I take it in. “Anyone else?”
He smiles. “If Sandro wants more information, he’ll have to come down here himself.”
“I don’t think he’ll do that.”
Julian looks me head to toe. “I’m sure you can find a way to convince him. Perhaps you already have?”
I wrap my arms around myself, willing the cold away. “Tell me how to access the recordings so I can wipe them.”
Leaning casually against the bars, looking at his nails, Julian says, “You know, I don’t think I will.”
I take a step forward, panic rising up. “You have to. If Alessandro sees I’ve been down here talking to you—”
“He’ll what? Not shove his cock so deep in your ass next time?”
My hands ball up where they’re pressed under my arms, and the cold seems to recede as anger warms me. I take another step forward. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Julian just laughs, turning away from me. “Off you go, Teddy MacCallum. Go and persuade your lover to set me free, and then I’ll wipe the recordings myself.”
I feel nauseous with fear now, as well as from the stink of the cells. “Youpromised.”
Julian casts a glance over his shoulder. “Yes, I did. And now you’ve learned something about me, Teddy MacCallum.”
“But—” I take one more step forward, and that’s my undoing.
I’ve never seen a man move as fast as Julian does. He springs back to the bars, grabbing my throat with one hand and the tie of my robe with the other. I fumble with his wrist as he yanks me right up against the bars.
I’m completely at his mercy as he tips my head to one side. And then he leans insniffsme, a long inhalation though his nose, up the side of my neck. For a horrible moment I think he might kiss me—or tear out my jugular.
His fingers tighten around my throat. I can’t breathe.
“I can smell him all over you,” he hisses.
I finally manage to get a hand through the bars and hit out at him, a soft, ineffective slap at his face that he dodges easily. But at least it’s loosened the hand around my neck, and I heave in air as I pull away.
But I’ve forgotten about his other hand, the one holding me firm by the tie of the robe. I feel it slacken, feel the robe come loose around me, and I wriggle away, turn to run—
Something comes down over my head, and I’m slammed back against the bars, with my back to Julian now, my throat burning as he begins to slowly strangle me with the corded tie of my robe. I reach back, trying to gouge at his eyes, try to pull the cord away, try to scratch at his hands, but he is inexorable.
