A cold sweat dripped into my eyes, and I swiped it away with the back of my hand. I wanted to run back up the stairs and burn this entire house to the fucking ground, but I forced myself to stand there.
Then I stayed for another few minutes. I didn't move. Screams rang in my ears, mostly my own. And my skin crawled with the memory of hands all over my body, stripping off my clothes. Touching me. Touching me everywhere…
I closed my eyes again and rode it out. Only when the screams faded and there was silence again did I allow myself to go back upstairs and down the second hallway.
My gaze landed on Gino's office door. If there was anything in this house that would lead me to his whereabouts, that's where I would find it. I tested the handle and found it locked. Taking a step back, I kicked in the door, the wood splintering around the lock with a satisfying sound, then immediately flattened my back against the wall.
Pistol at the ready, I bent down to make myself a smaller target and stuck my head around the frame, quickly scanning the room. Assured no one was in there, I straightened and stepped inside, looking around with mild curiosity. His heavy wooden desk sat front and center, buried under notebooks and loose sheets of paper. Gino had never trusted technology as long as I'd known him. He was old school. And if he'd made a leap into the future recently and gotten a computer or a laptop, it wasn't here. A built-in bookshelf lined the wall to my left, and a large fireplace took up the wall to my right, flanked by ugly paintings of Jesus on one side and the Virgin Mary on the other. Rosary beads and an old Bible laid on the mantel.
Was this where he prayed for his soul after he raped his daughter?
Crossing to the desk, I holstered my gun, picked up a notebook, and started flipping through the pages. It appeared to be a log of all the business transactions he took care of for Luca. Setting it to the side, I rifled through the stack of papers and found a collection of bizarre notes. Mostly what appeared to be drunken ramblings to his dead wife.
A corner of a piece of paper stuck out from the middle of another pile. The word "Perdonami"—forgive me—was written in a dark scrawl across the top. I pulled it out and scanned the rest of the letter, feeling absolutely nothing as I read the mental breakdown of a man who utterly deserved it. It was a suicide note dated the night I took Luna from here. Whose forgiveness was he asking for? Luna's? Or God's? It certainly wasn't mine.
I crumbled the note into a ball and threw it on the floor, then continued searching, but I found nothing to indicate where Gino might be hiding out. Gathering up the notebooks, I stuffed them into the duffel bag to take back to Luca.
Picking up my bag, I glanced around one last time, clenching my fists in frustration. Luna was out there somewhere, scared and alone. And it was all because of me.
Because I was a fool.
She'd convinced me to let her out of the cell. That she wouldn't leave. I thought she'd understood I only wanted to keep her safe. I thought I could trust her.
I thought…I thought…
Something cracked inside my chest, the pain so intense I fell back against the wall and slowly slid down to land hard on the cold tile floor. The duffel slipped from my grip and fell to the floor beside me.
I thought she wanted to stay with me.
Was I that stupid? So desperate for human connection that I believed Luna cared for me? Was it all just an act? If so, she was a very good actress, and she'd made a complete and utter fool out of me.
I rested my elbows on my knees and dropped my head into my hands. My actions had caused her pain and confusion. I'd seen it on her face and in her eyes. And it was why she hadn't trusted me enough to come to me. To let me help her. And now my carelessness may have put her directly in harm's way.
My chest tightened until I could barely draw a breath. If anything happened to her out there, if Gino hurt her again, I would never forgive myself.
I slammed my fist into my forehead. What the fuck was happening to me? This beautiful, maddening, confusing woman made me feel weak. Helpless.
And yet…more of a man than I ever have in my life.
Taking a deep breath, I lifted my head, finally admitting to myself there was nothing I could do right now. I had no idea where to fucking start looking for her. Yet, I wasn't giving up. Luna needed me, and I would move heaven and earth to find her.
Because I needed her even more.
CHAPTER3
Luna
Earlier That Day
Iclutched my phone way too tight as I stared at the cryptic message from my little brother.
How many other secrets have you kept from me, Luna?
The text was so cold,so unlike Logan. He never called me Luna. He always called me Luni. Always. My heartbeat pounded in my ears as I read it again and again, trying to make sense of it, but knowing there was only one scenario that would have him sending me a text like this.
Logan found out something. But what? And how? There were a lot of things I'd kept from my brother. Mostly for his own protection, and some just because he didn't need to know. All of which would only cause him pain, or, at the very least, change the way he looked at me.
And I think that was what I was most afraid of.
