ALLY COULDN’T STOP SHAKING. She’d been so foolish to think she was free of those men. So foolish to think that paying back some of the money and promising the rest within a year would free her from them. From his obsession, in particular.
She held her hands firmly in her lap, to hide the telltale reaction, but she knew Luca saw it. He stood, watching everything, his eyes roaming from her to the police officers, as they laid out the claim.
It was indeed the loan shark, only he’d manipulated the circumstances to make it seem as though she’d actually stolen the money he’d loaned her. She’d taken the loan documents, such as they were, to the meeting with him in Vegas, and in her haste to leave, she’d abandoned the documents, too. She’d been so terrified, and not thinking clearly, so she had no way, now, to prove that the money had been offered willingly.
Her teeth began to chatter.
“Gentlemen,” Luca said, voice quiet but tone like steel. “Would you give us a moment?”
The younger of the police officers stood immediately.
“Have a coffee on the terrace,” Luca suggested, moving to the door and calling for the attention of someone—one of the many housekeepers who kept this place running, she supposed.
Ally felt as though she might pass out. The fear of those men in Vegas was back, washing over her, and yet the fact Luca was here was somehow her anchor, her port in this storm. Her safe space.
Alone in his office, he closed the door and stood almost with his back to it, arms crossed, looking at her for a long beat.
“Would you like to tell me what happened?”
She bit into her lower lip, wishing she could understand what he was thinking. There was no emotion in his voice, he’d slipped into a businesslike version of himself that somehow made her feel off balance. Tears stung at the back of her throat.
He cursed softly and moved towards her, just a few paces, then stopped, as though he needed some physical distance between them. It felt like a rejection. It hurt.
“Listen to me,cara.” The term of affection was like a warm breeze in the middle of winter. “I do not know what happened, but I know you have not done what you’ve been accused of.” A tear slid down her cheek. “You are safe here, with me. So start at the beginning, and we will work out what to do.”
It was everything she needed to hear. He was with her. Protecting her, just as he had been all along, albeit unknowingly.
And so the whole story tumbled out of her, starting with the procedure that had a chance of saving her father’s life, that was so very expensive, and her inability to secure a loan through normal means. “I trusted the man who set it up. I knew him through school.” She shook her head, angry with herself for how stupid she’d been. “I wasn’t thinking straight.”
“Of course you weren’t. You had the weight of the world on your shoulders, you were caring for your father, working two jobs. You were desperate.”
“Yes,” she sobbed. “But I should have known: when something appears too good to be true, it usually is.”
He was quiet, waiting for her to continue.
“At first, it seemed like a normal loan, but then I started getting demands for more money, people arriving at my house to ask for payment in person. It was… terrifying.”
He made a deep sound, urging her to continue. But this was hard to admit to him. Even though it was not her fault, she felt embarrassed. Ashamed. “One of them took a liking to me.” She shivered as she remembered his cruel eyes. “It turns out, it was his operation. He asked me to come to Vegas, to discuss the payment plan. I was so desperate to get them off my back, I thought it was a great idea.” Her laugh was hollow, feeble. “I thought they would be reasonable, and agree to the terms I’d proposed. I’d worked out how I could free myself of the debt over four years. I had a spreadsheet, for God’s sake,” she groaned.
“It sounds as though you were being fair. No fraud. Go on.”
She bit into her lip.
“When I got to the meeting, he explained that there had never been a term agreed, in the original loan agreement. He said the fine print allowed them to recall the debt at any time, and that he was doing so now.” Luca’s eyes narrowed, but Ally barely noticed. She was back in that room, the words clanging in her brain. “He said that if I became, you know, if I were to be with him, for a period of time, he’d wipe the debt clean. Otherwise, I’d be pursued, and probably end up in jail.”
Luca’s curse was muffled, as though he’d tried to catch it.
“That was the night we met,” she said, not able to look in his direction. “I still have no idea how we ended up married, but this marriage saved me. That money you gave me?—,”
“This is why you needed such a specific amount,” he interrupted her, talking more to himself, though. He stalkedacross the room, staring out at the view for a moment, back ramrod straight. She couldn’t think.
“You must think I’m so stupid, to have gotten into this position.”
He whirled around. “Stupid? Allegra, please, don’t.” A muscle jerked in his jaw. “What am I, if not completely deficient intellectually? You asked for eighty-five thousand dollars and I didn’t want to know why? I always knew there was something I didn’t fully comprehend, but I didn’t push. I didn’t ask.”
She closed her eyes on a wave of sadness, and worry. “The thing is, I do still owe them money. Technically, everything the police officer said is true. I left the country when he told me not to. I only paid back half of the amount when they demanded it all in full.”
“You should have told me this then.” His tone was sharp. A hint of betrayal hardened the words.
