“That’s good.” Ma sighs. “I don’t know why you kids have made your relationships so complicated.”
“Nothing’s complicated anymore. Zo and Avi are set. Leo and Lyn will be fine too.” I lean back into the couch.
“And you?” Pa asks.
“What about me? I’m happily single.” I say, aiming for nonchalant.
“You sure?” His voice carries a thread of suspicion.
“Of course, Pa. Or do you think I’d keep loving someone who kept me captive for just eleven days? It was only eleven days, and he didn’t give me any luxury during that time. I did maid’s work, wore their clothes, slept in a dog’s bed. Besides, now that I know he’s a cold-blooded killer, I’ve let go of all delusions. He isn’t capable of love, and I finally understand that.” I deliver my rehearsed speech with absolute certainty.
They both study me for a moment, then nod.
“That’s good.” Ma says, smiling. “We were so worried you’d hold on and end up hurt.”
I shake my head. “I’m not holding onto anything. I don’t even like him, to be honest. It feels ridiculous to even think I once declared my love for that monster.”
Salvario
She’s at a new location now—Stefan Bennett’s estate, set in the middle of vast farmland. I had planned to reach her at Matleon’s house, but now I have to start over. Hack the security system of estate.
I start working the moment she arrives. Through the virus on her phone, I get into the estate’s network. I activate data output from her phone’s screen, microphone, and camera tomonitor her while the malware makes its way into the main network.
The phone is locked. Screen and camera return nothing but black. I turn up the audio and lean back in my chair.
She’s telling them about Matleon and his wife. I don’t care about the gossip, her voice is what I need. Her sweet voice.
For the past three months, I’ve lived on her voice. On seeing her face through her phone’s camera. I don’t think I would have survived this long—would have kept my sanity—without it.
Alessio has tightened security so much that it takes ten times the effort and planning just for a glimpse of her in person. That’s not a problem for me. I have all the time and resources. I will break through.
She finishes a long explanation about her brother, careful to add a line that will ease her grandparents’ worries.
In the past three months, listening to her talk with everyone in that family, I’ve picked up many of her habits. One of them is this: she always makes sure everyone around her is happy. She goes to great lengths for it—lying, manipulating, whatever it takes. Comfort comes naturally to her. She can make anyone feel at ease, even with their own doubts.
She talks all day, every day. But in these three months, she hasn’t spoken my name even once.
I rub the space between my brows. The familiar weight presses down on me.
I’m afraid.
I thought I was only afraid of losing her. But now I know, I’m also afraid of her stopping loving me.
She started an NGO in Naples. She wants to help the people I destroyed. That’s the only time she mentions anything connected to me, when she talks about that NGO and her plans for it.
“And you?” Her grandfather asks.
“What about me? I’m happily single.”
The carefree tone wraps around my chest and squeezes.
She’s lying to them.
“You sure?” Stefan asks.
“Of course, Pa. Or do you think I’d keep loving someone who kept me captive for just eleven days? It was only eleven days, and he didn’t give me any luxury during that time. I did maid’s work, wore their clothes, slept in a dog’s bed. Besides, now that I know he’s a cold-blooded killer, I’ve let go of all delusions. He isn’t capable of love, and I finally understand that.”
I stare at the curtained window of my San Diego hotel room. Everything inside me goes still. Her words settle slowly, forcing my breath to lodge in my throat. My heart forgets to beat.
