“You think something’s wrong with Massi?”
“I’m not sure. It could be Massi. Your parents. I’m just not sure.”
I’ve felt extremely uneasy ever since we got here, and when I met Ignazio, there was something very off about him.
It was the way he looked at me. It made me uncomfortable.
We venture down a few hallways, but they’re empty. When we come to an intersection, I say, “You go that way, and I’ll go this way.”
“You want me to leave you on your own? You really think Massi would be okay with that?” Gui says.
“I think we need to be more concerned about Massi at this moment.”
He glances down both hallways and says, “Fine, but if you don’t find him down the hall, then meet right back here. I don’t need Massi cutting my head off if something happens to you because I didn’t have eyes on you for a minute.”
I roll my eyes. “I’ll be fine, but yes, I’ll come right back here as soon as I check the rooms down there.”
Gui nods, then heads down his hallway while I walk down mine. I check each room, but they’re all empty.
When I get near the end of it, I hear voices, and when I peek around the corner, I see the back of Ignazio, Massi’s parents, and another woman.
I seem to be at the back of the building, and they’re heading to a door that leads outside.
I’m about to step out and make myself known so I can see if any of them have seen Massi, but then the woman I don’t know speaks.
“Why didn’t you have the driver meet us at the front?” she says.
I stop dead in my tracks, still hidden behind the wall for the most part. Nothing but my head bobbing around the corner.
That voice.
“The ball is busy. I didn’t want Rosa to have to deal with all of the guests while she’s feeling ill.”
Rosa’s sick?
“Text me when you’re heading home, then?” the woman says, and my heart skips a beat.
I know that voice.
But it’s impossible.
“I’ll make sure to do that,tesoro mio.”
“Andreas, could you walk Rosa out to the car, please? I’ll be there in just a moment,” the familiar woman says.
Andreas seems to peer over her head to get the okay from Ignazio.
Something is not right here.
When she turns around, my eyes widen, my heart drops to the deepest depths of my stomach, and I open my mouth to let out a gasp at the woman standing before me. But just when I’m about to, a hand clasps around my mouth and a strong arm slides around my stomach, yanking me back into what feels like a brick wall.
“Shhhh,mia moglie. You can’t make a sound.”
I want to scream. I want to cry out. I want to stomp on Massi’s foot with the sharp heel of my stiletto so he’ll let go of me, but I seem to be frozen on the spot.
“We have to get out of herequietly.Please, Liana. You cannot make a sound when I remove my hand from your mouth, and you have to leave with me.”
I don’t answer him. My shallow breaths come sparingly while my pulse seems to weaken. My vision blurs, the room spins, and all I hear is the faint whispers of someone saying, “Liana, Liana!” then I’m falling into a sea of darkness.
