I’m sure they aren’t that concerned. I sent them that message that I was okay and that they didn’t have to worry about paying Alessandro anything.
I grab a beautiful navy blue evening gown and turn towards the bedroom to put it with the rest of the things I’m packing.
But Alessandro lingering in the doorway makes me startle. He walked in so quietly I had no idea he was here.
“Don’t scare me like that.”
“Sorry.” He smirks.
He leans his head against the door frame. My heart flutters in my chest at his facial expression because I can tell—he has it bad for me. He’s not even trying to hide it anymore. And I don’t mean this in a bitchy way, but Alessandro lacks the social finesse to fake this. So, I trust his feelings are genuine even though I’ve been questioning every day if my family made me too naïve to function.
He pulls a cell phone out of his pocket, extending it to me. “Here. I didn’t want you without one for this trip, in case we get separated.”
I reach for it, dumbfounded that I’m being allowed to have it. How much I longed for a cellphone in the early days of our marriage.
“It has only my number and the chief stewardess of the boat.”
“Aren’t you worried that I’ll call my family?”
“Gio set something up with it so that those are the only two numbers you can call, along with emergency services.” He tilts his head. “Would you have called them if I had given you that freedom? You haven’t been bothering me to set up a FaceTime, so I figured you didn’t want to talk to them for some reason.”
Something about how he said that pisses me off—reminding me I still don’t have complete autonomy even though I’m not a prisoner.
“You’re right,” I hiss. “But it’s not okay for you to do shady things like that.”
“It’s not,” he concedes. “And I promise I won’t make a habit of doing this sort of thing in the future. But things are… delicate right now between me and your family. The last conversation we had didn’t end well.”
I take a breath.
Don’t snap. Don’t snap. Don’t snap.
I want to scream at him for exerting that level of control over me and reminding me that our relationship is still screwed up even though I feel like I’m living my life as a normal wife. But I’ve been really trying to work on my temper around him.
“Why don’t you want to talk to them?” he asks as I continue working on calming down.
I sigh, taking a final deep breath and composing myself.
“I know how they’d react to what our relationship has turned into, and I’m dreading that conversation. I just want to give it time.”
“Good.” He pulls me in close to his chest. “We’ll sort it out when we get back. Right now, I’m too distracted with work and thisupcoming vacation to think straight. And Elena pulled out of the trip and won’t give me a reason other than she doesn’t feel like it. So, I can’t stop thinking about that, either.”
That sucks. He told me he was beginning to feel back on track with her again, and I was looking forward to having her come on the trip. Elena keeps to herself, but we’ve hung out a couple of times while Alessandro worked.
He gives me a quick kiss on the lips and then gives me a smile that makes me melt. “I wish we could just go alone, just the two of us. But things aren’t stable enough for that.”
“I understand. I’m hoping we can sneak away… a lot.”
“Of course we can.” He winks.
Chapter 28
Sofia
Ican’tputintowords how cathartic it is to stare out into the sea in the middle of the night as the boat gently rocks beneath my feet after spending weeks in one building. Elio’s wife, Aurora, stands next to me with her dainty fingers wrapped around the railing. She’s quiet and I’ve barely cracked her shy exterior, but she’s around my age and looked like she could use someone to talk to—it’s not that the other wives were mean, but I can tell they’ve been friends for years and years and Aurora and I are new. And I get the fun background of being a hostage until… that’s suddenly no longer true.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” I ask to break the silence.
She shrugs. “Honestly, the vastness of it scares me. Especially at night.”
