“Is Emma in there with you. When she disappeared, this was the first place I thought of. Did you come back for your daughter?”
“Leave my daughter out of this. I raised her on this farm to protect her and mafia men like you just had to come in here andruin it for me. So leave. Now.” She cocks the shotgun. “I will shoot.”
I can hear Leo’s footsteps as he walks away from the door. I watch him get back in his car and drive away. For some reason, I let out a sigh of relief. He’s alive.
Mother lowers the shotgun. “Good. That scared him away. But more mafia men will be coming for you now that your father knows of you. We need to leave.”
My heartrate spikes. “And go where?”
“Anywhere that your father and that man, Leo, can’t find us. There’s no time for packing. We have to leave.” She ushers me outside and around the house to where her car is parked.
“You never told me that you had a car,” I say. “Where did you keep it all those years?”
“Now is not the time to question me, Emma. Get in the car.”
I step away from her, not wanting to get in. “You lied to me about so many things.”
“But I was right about a lot. You left and were kidnapped by that man. I told you the world out there is dangerous. You just refused to listen and look what happened to you. Now, get in the car before I make you.”
I have no choice. No agency in my life. It’s utterly soul crushing.
Before I can move, Leo’s car comes racing back towards the house. I gasp when he gets out and runs at us with his gun raised. My mother left the shotgun in the house.
He points the gun at my mother. “Emma, get in my car. I am taking you back home.”
“To be locked in your cage again?” I spit out. “I don’t want that.”
His eyes rake over me and stop on my hands. “What happened to you? Your bleeding.”
“None of that concerns you,” Mother snaps, grabbing my arm and yanking me towards her car. “You will not stop me from taking my daughter away. She is mine. Not yours. Not my husband’s. No one but mine.”
“She’s my wife.” Leo’s words stop my mother in her tracks. “I claimed her as my own. Emma is coming back with me.”
“To be your prisoner. No. With me, she is safe.” She yanks me towards the car once again, making me cry out in pain. My ribs are on fire from where she kicked me. “Stop complaining, Emma.” She slaps me across the face. “Stop it.”
Leo’s eyes widen as a realization enters them. “Why did you do that?”
“To discipline my daughter. She needs it.”
“Is that why her hands are bleeding? Did you do that to her?”
“She needed to be punished for leaving. You don’t get to judge me for how I raise my daughter. Now, lower that gun and back away. I am taking my daughter where no one can get to her.”
“I will shoot you, Valentina, if you don’t let Emma go right this moment.”
She scoffs. “Just so you can kidnap her again? No.” She pulls me in front of her. “For some reason, you want my daughter. You won’t shoot her.”
“I need to use her against her father.”
I flinch. That’s all I am to Leo. That’s all I’ll ever be.
“I will not let you.” My mother walks us towards the house, keeping me right in front of her. Leo follows with his gun still raised.
We make it back inside and my mother grabs the shotgun, aiming it with one hand at Leo. But she’s unsteady, I notice. Her other hand is wrapped around my waist.
“I will not let you take my daughter,” she growls.
“Drop the gun,” Leo warns. “Drop it.”
