Is that what we are, enemies? I wouldn’t consider us friends or even acquaintances, but I’ve just met the woman, and I don’t have any issues with her. She isn’t the one keeping me here against my will.
“Thanks?” I’m not sure what she’s looking for, why she came up to speak with me and tell me about her family.
“I haven’t known Antonio for very long,” Nikki says as her gaze meets mine. “But if he brought you here, he’s protecting you.”
She’s crazy if she buys into the fact that Antonio is a hero. He’s a monster, ripping my children and me away from our home.
I refuse to give her any indication of what I’m feeling. I don’t trust her. “What makes you say that?” I ask.
“Men like Antonio, they don’t bring pretty ladies into their homes with their children, unless they’re saving their lives.”
“He snatched us at gunpoint. That doesn’t seem very chivalrous to me,” I say.
Did Antonio leave that tidbit out when explaining who I was and how I wound up under his roof?
She stands in front of me, a few feet away, giving me plenty of personal space. Nikki isn’t forceful or overbearing, which I appreciate.
“And Dante bought me at a marriage auction,” Nikki says. “I didn’t exactly see eye-to-eye with him. For the longest time, I thought of him as my captor.”
“Sounds like he is your captor to me,” I mutter.
“He’s not,” Nikki says, her gaze narrowing. “We might not be equals concerning the mafia. I certainly don’t run the mafia, and I wouldn’t want to, but he’s a good man. He treats me right, protects our son Luca, and is a wonderful father. It might be difficult to imagine the don of the family being a doting father, but he’s a good man. And I suspect if you let Antonio into your life, you’ll find he isn’t so different.”
“Antonio kidnapped us,” I snap.
Why does she think I’ll forgive and forget what he did?
“Besides, I’m not looking for a father for my twins and certainly not one who is the mafia boss,” I say.
There’s no reason to elaborate that he is their biological parent. If she hasn’t heard the rumors, I don’t want to give her any extra information.
Nikki offers a tight-lipped smile. She doesn’t argue with me. Instead, she heads for the door and gives a firm knock, indicating to the guard that she is done speaking with me.
“Think about what I said,” Nikki says, glancing back at me. “Consider what is best for your kids.”
“That’s what I’m doing.”
Doesn’t she realize all I want is to protect them from danger? How does that protect them by bringing them here, under Antonio’s roof, with dangerous men brandishing weapons?
The guard opens the door, and Nikki steps out into the hallway, shutting the door behind herself. I contemplate charging through the open door, pushing past her, and breaking out of the bedroom.
But how far would I get? My kids are downstairs, and the last thing I want is to put them in danger.
* * *
I sit alone in my bedroom. There’s no sign of the twins, and no one else comes to visit except the guard, to deliver a tray of food into my room for lunch.
“Where is Antonio?” I ask.
“He’s busy,” Mario says, not answering my question as he places the silver tray with food on a small table in the bedroom.
“I want to see him.”
“Eat your lunch,” Mario says. “I’ll be back to retrieve the tray in an hour.”
He shuts and locks the door. I’m alone with only my thoughts. Maybe I should be grateful that he’s keeping me in warm and comfortable quarters. I have a bed, a bathroom, and a separate room for my children.
My brother wouldn’t nearly be as generous to a hostage. They’d be thrown into a prison cell.