“You don’t have to do this. I can call?—”
“No, Minnie.”
Sarah interrupts her quickly. “This needs to be done.”
Minnie sighs and turns, fixing me with a fierce glare. “One step out of line and I’m gunning you down.”
My mouth twitches. “I will behave; you have my word on that.”
“Your word means shit.”
She spits as she flounces off, and Sarah smiles. “She’s a good friend and is only this way out of concern for me.”
She turns to Alice, and her smile softens further.
“You were the only good thing in my life, Alice. I spent all my time with you, loving the bond I was forming with the daughter I had always wished for. I would have done anything for you, and yet life took a cruel turn.”
It’s obvious the memory isn’t a pleasant one as she whispers with great sadness, “You were sleeping after a fitful night, and I needed to pick up your meds from the pharmacy. I left you with the nanny rather than wake you and took my car into town, a short drive away. I parked and then went inside and picked up the meds and left without hanging around. I wanted to get back to you, and so as I traveled out of town, I didn’t waste any time and drove a little too fast.”
Her chest heaves as she continues.
“I took a corner, and it all happened so fast. The car veered into the rocks on the side of the road, and I hit them with force. My head hit the windscreen and knocked me out, and I woke up tied to a chair in a dimly lit warehouse.”
Her fingers rake through her hair as she revisits an old wound and whispers, “I had been kidnapped by the mafia and held for ransom. They told me that your father owed them a lot of money, and if he didn’t pay up, I would be sent home in pieces. Carved up like a Thanksgiving turkey, and then you would be next.”
Sarah’s tears trickle down her cheeks as she sobs, “They told me you wouldn’t be safe all the time he owed them, and the debt would never be paid no matter how much money he gave them. Enrico would have no choice but to pay the money, and then it all changed.”
“What happened?”
“He refused. He told them to kill me because I was of no further use to him and he would get their money another way. He already had a mistress, the daughter of a hotel billionaire, and he would soon be able to repay the debt. I was of no useto him now because my inheritance had been transferred to our daughter. No longer valuable and completely disposable, and he would welcome the intervention.”
Tears are falling down Alice’s face as the full force of her history hits hard.
Sarah continues. “When they told me, I was devastated. Not for him, I never wanted to see Enrico again, but you. It physically hurt that I couldn’t hold you again, and imagining you with that monster gave me more pain than I could stand. Then I was offered a lifeline from an unlikely source.”
“Who?”
This time I ask because I can kind of guess the answer already.
“A woman came to see me; slightly younger than me and so cold it froze my blood just looking at her.”
She shivers, “She told me everything. About Enrico’s betrayal and my circumstances. I pleaded with her and told her my family would pay the debt, and she sneered, telling me that they were in no position to help me unless I struck a deal with her.”
“What deal?”
I am riveted to her story because we have really hit the jackpot in finding her.
“The woman would help me and arrange for a new life, a new beginning and the gift of life, in return for walking away. To never contact anyone from my past, and if I did, they would kill you.”
Alice gasps in horror as Sarah openly weeps. “If I played along, I would stand a chance of reuniting with you one day because all that concerned them was taking over Enrico’s business. They needed you as a source of revenue, and when they took over the business, they would release you into my care. I had no other choice, Alice. I did it to keep you alive, and I have never regretted my decision.”
“I see.”
Alice slumps in her seat, her breathing fast, and I resist moving to her side, accepting my place is to act as a silent observer this time. It’s a lot to take in, and my heart thumps in agony for her because discovering that your life has been one huge business transaction can’t make for easy understanding.
CHAPTER 38
ALICE
