I clear my throat. “Guys? How angry is Eli going to be with me when we get back to Velvet House?”
Doc turns to look at me. “Huh?”
My face heats. I sound like a thirteen-year-old looking for reassurance. “Um, Mr. Morelli? Is he angry?”
“Not at you,” Bobby says, finding my gaze in the rearview mirror. “Parker’s taking most of his attention right now.”
“And a certain scarred gargoyle on fuckloads of morphine,” Doc adds.
My heart sinks. “It wasn’t Adriano’s fault I escaped. I broke out of my room and made him take me to see Zia. And he didn’t know we’d be attacked.”
“He should have.” Doc’s voice is harsh. “We knew Parker was monitoring the hospital. The idiot knew how risky it was.”
“But I seduced him and—”
“No offense to your porn star rack, Tesorina but members of Velvet House are supposed to be able to withstand a pair of tits. Adri fucked us over, got you kidnapped, and almost died in the process.”
I know I should focus on what he’s saying but I stopped listening after that single word.Tesorina. The Italian word for sweetheart. I never thought he’d call me that again. I can’t help it, I smile at Doc. For a second he holds my gaze before he turns back around, muttering under his breath.
I look in the mirror and see Bobby is wearing a grim smile. Is he jealous? Angry? Annoyed?
“Adriano helped me,” I say loudly. “I promised him my virginity. Why are you mad at him? You should only be angry at me.”
“We are angry at you,” Doc snarls. “We’re angry at both of you.”
“But—”
Doc bangs a fist into his car door. “Okay, Tits. Let’s say your little cunt is so powerful it could turn a thirty-four-year-old mercenary’s head.DidAdriano help you? Or did he let everything go to shit? Because if we hadn’t been able to track you, there’s every chance you’d be married, knocked up and on a plane to Thailand right now.”
I flinch. “I’m sorry. I never thought Mr. Parker would find me. I was stupid.”
“Enough!” Bobby says. “We’re not discussing this anymore. Doc, shut up. January, think about what you’re gonna say when you see Eli because he’s the one you’ll need to explain yourself to.”
The next hour crawls by. Doc and Bobby talk in hushed voices as I say a mental rosary for Zia Teresa and try to come up with what to say to Eli. The only thing I can think of is begging for his forgiveness and promising not to run away again, but if I know anything about Eli Morelli, I won’t be able to change his mind. If he wants to punish me then I’ll be thrown back into the basement cage and punished.
Eventually we turn off the highway and I watch the landscape become lush and almost unbearably pretty.
“Are we at Velvet House?” I ask, my stomach falling.
“Almost,” Bobby says.
Another three songs pass before Bobby turns down a laneway and stops the car at a huge wrought iron gate. He rolls down the window and talks into a black security box. There’s a crackle and the gate swings open. We speed along a smooth, curved driveway lined with oak trees. The lawns are emerald green and beyond them is a dark, tangled forest. I peer through the trees and spot a deer. It twitches its white and brown ears and sadness washes over me. Zia Teresa will never see this deer. This deer will never know Zia Teresa, never understand they once shared a world. It just doesn’t seem fair.
Nothing is fair, bella. And I do not care about that stinking animal.
I smile as I wrap my arms across my chest, hugging myself.I love you, Zia.
And I love you, bella.
“The house is coming up, Tits.”
I glance through the windshield and see a huge beautiful mansion. “That’s Velvet House?”
Doc grins like a boy showing off his toy truck. “Sure is.”
It’s the first time I’ve seen him smile properly since he burst into Dreams and started beating Archie. It transforms him from a movie star villain to a stupidly handsome jerk. I turn away, staring up at Velvet House.
“Shit,” Bobby mutters. “He’s waiting for us.”
