He turns around, shuts off the shower and hurries after me.
Luca is silent, but he’s right on my heel.“Show me which room is mine,” I say.
His brow furrows, and he leads me back intohis bedroom.“It’s not safe for you to sleep alone.”
I don’t argue.He’s probably right.The last thing I want is one of his men to kill me in my sleep.“Fine,” I say with a grumble and make my way to his bed.I pull back the bedsheets, but he’s out in the hallway.
I want to ask him what the hell he’s doing when he brings our bags back into the bedroom and closes the door quietly, locking it.
“No shenanigans,” I say and point at the mattress.
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he mutters.“I’m sure we can manage to share a bed like adults.”
I glare at him, unsure what he’s saying.Is he insinuating that I started this whole debacle?I may have found the little boy, but that doesn’t excuse what happened.His father kidnapped a child.
I can’t just let that go.
Even if it kills me, I can’t let him hold a child hostage.I’m just not sure how to let the boy escape when there is surveillance throughout the entire mansion and my own life is in imminent danger.
Unless he’s already dead.
Momentarily, I hold my breath, waiting as Luca climbs beneath the covers, his body nestled beside me.He’s lying on his side, his arm on his pillow, staring at me.
I’m trembling.
Just thinking about all of it is overwhelming.
Luca pulls me against him, wrapping his arms around me.He’s warm against my cool skin.I shiver and tremble, and he tries to ground me.
“Do you think the boy is dead?”I whisper, praying no one can hear us, but I have to ask.I need to know.
It’s impossible that Luca didn’t hear the gunshot while we were in the bathroom.
He shakes his head no.“It’s unlikely they killed the child.That’s not how my father operates,” he says with a sad sigh.His hand reaches up, and he brushes my cheek with the back of his thumb.
“How do you know that?”
Luca pauses, considering my question.“I grew up here.He’s brought hostages in before.”
“Children?”I ask.
“Not that I recall, but I wasn’t exactly involved in his operations.We shouldn’t talk about it here.The walls have ears,” he reminds me.He presses a soft kiss to my cheek.“Try not to worry.”
He can’t be serious.How can I not worry?
Tomorrow, I’ll sneak out and go to the police.They’ll have to help, especially when I tell them about the boy.
Luca keeps me close, his arm around my hip the entire night.I find it difficult to fall back to sleep, but I won’t get out of bed.I’m too afraid to wander through the house, even to use the bathroom.It’s too dangerous without Luca at my side.He’s the only thing stopping his father from killing me.
Sometime between worry and dawn, I slip in and out of sleep.It’s not quite peaceful, but I get a few hours of slumber.
When I awaken, Luca is still lying beside me in bed, but he’s awake, watching me.
“You’re really pretty when you sleep,” he says and pulls me closer, his arm around my hip.
I gently pry his arm away from my body, and while I miss the warmth and his close contact, we can’t pretend that everything horrible last night didn’t happen.
“What are we going to do about school, our classes?”I ask.If Dante is intending for us to stay in his home until we’re married, that’s going to be problematic unless we’re getting hitched within the next few days.
