His arm slashes the air. “Don’t lie to me. We have people arriving at the hotel now, ready to intercept and bring her in.”
My stomach plummets, and my eyes close. Fuck. “Rowan, you can’t. Please, I’m begging you not to.”
He ignores that, and a sob locks in my throat.
“Who was it then? Who are you working for and what are they after?”
“Let me go, and I’ll give you everything you’re after. I swear I will. Please. It’s the only way to save everyone.”
I get a wry smirk. “That’s not how it works, sweetheart. You’re not going anywhere other than to prison after we interrogate you.”
I don’t care about prison. He can threaten me all he wants, but I’ve lived in one my entire life. “Don’t intercept her. Please. Please, please, don’t. If you do, a young girl will die. Follow her all you want, but please don’t confront her.”
With any luck, she left before their guards got there, but I don’t know for sure, and I can’t check my phone since it’s in my backpack.
He stares me down, then, after an interminable minute, gives a short nod. The guy pulls out his phone and texts someone, and I breathe a little easier, but not much.
“Tell me how you know about Marie.”
I fall back on the bed, my hands beneath me, and I twist my wrists while I look up at the stone ceiling. “What’s the deal for me with this?”
“Pardon?” He laughs the word. “I’m sorry, you think you getsomething out of this? You know about the woman who took my sister. That’s treason, Marcella. Punishable by death.”
I sit back up and meet his gaze head-on. “She’s thirteen. Has no birth certificate. No national identification number. No last name. Same as me.”
He blinks at me. “Same as you?”
“Rowan, I will tell you everything because I want you to know it. Because holding onto these secrets isn’t going to help or save anyone. Not even Jaqueline. But she’s only thirteen.” A tear hits my cheek that I can’t wipe away. “She has a good heart, and she will die tonight if we don’t stop it.”
“Who is she?”
“My half-sister.”
He pauses for a moment. “What are you asking for?”
I look up at the ceiling, willing the tears back. I blow out a heavy breath, then say, “If by some miracle she doesn’t die, if she’s able to be rescued, get her real paperwork, find her a good home where she’s loved, and educate her. That’s all I want.”
“You’re not asking for anything for yourself?”
My lips twist into a rueful smile. “I think it’s pretty obvious my life isn’t going very far from here. It likely never was.”
He looks like he’s about to break in two. “It didn’t have to be like this. You could have come to me. You could have said something. I would have helped you and her.”
“You wouldn’t have once you found out who we belong to.”
He rises and cups my face to wipe my tears, standing over me. “Who do you belong to?”
“Signoria Batorini.”
He stiffens.
“That’s the woman you saw me meeting with today. Samil was my half-brother. Jaqueline’s half-brother. We share the same father. Signoria Batorini is my stepmother.”
His hands drop from my face, and he steps back like he’sbeen struck, and any love and softness I saw in him a moment ago are gone. Just like that. As I knew it would be.
“You broke into the wedding…”
“For intel. Not to harm anyone. Signoria and Antonia?—”
