My voice shook, giving away how very unsure I was of everything around me, including him.
The right corner of his mouth curled up into a smirk, his eyes sparkling in amusement. His eyebrows tilted down with his enjoyment and I was suddenly left feeling that I was out of my element with him.
“You threw my cousin out of a window,” he finally replied, his tone sharp and cutting.
I swallowed heavily.
I could see the resemblance in his features. This man was indeed related to Vincenzo. I had tried to run, and I’d been caught. Now it looked like I was about to pay for it. I wasn’t sure if I was about to be tortured or killed or whatever else this man had in store for me, but I really didn’t want to find out.
He didn’t seem particularly dangerous, but by sheer body mass, he was much bigger and clearly much stronger than me. I could fight him and try to run again, which ultimately would probably end up with him overpowering me and worsening whatever fate he had in store for me. Even if I did get past him, I wouldn’t know where to go and I’d never survive in the mountains. I’d never even tried to make a campfire.
My options seemed extraordinarily slim at the moment. The only thing I could think of was to try to explain myself and appeal to this man in hopes that he would believe me and grant me whatever mercy was in his power.
By the way he was staring at me, he held quite a bit of it. His shoulders drew back and he slowly rocked from side to side, waiting for me to say something.
I had to try to make him believe me.
“He wasn’t who you thought he was. He got really drunk and he had a gun. He tried to rip off my dress and shot off a few rounds. I was terrified that he was going to rape me. I was only defending myself. I didn’t mean to kill him. I was just trying to get away from him so that I could leave. He’s the one that shot through the window and couldn’t keep his balance anymore because he’d drunk so much whiskey. Honestly, I didn’t mean to kill him,” I explained. I pleaded my case to the best of my ability and the man just continued to stare at me, only it seemed that his amusement was growing stronger and stronger.
Then he did the unexpected.
He laughed at me.
Nothing about it was fake. In fact, his boisterous laugh bounced off the walls, seemingly louder than I expected and a soft sound of disbelief and desperation broke through my lips. When he was through, he looked back at me and chuckled.
“Don’t you worry, baby girl. Vincenzo had it coming for a long, long time,” he finally answered. “I just wish I had been there to see the whole thing. I would have helped you push him out the window myself.”
“What??
?? I whispered.
I hadn’t expected that response, not even in the slightest. My heart pounded faster, and I found myself even more anxious than before.
“I’ve watched the surveillance footage over a dozen times. I couldn’t control myself. If there was any way for that rotten Santaro to meet his maker, it would be in the most epic defenestration of his very own making,” he said lightly as he smirked back at me. “The look on his face when he tumbled out that window was priceless.”
I searched his face for any measure that he was upset, but I found nothing. There wasn’t a single trace of fury to be seen and it was incredibly unnerving. I’d killed his cousin and he should want me to pay for it. He should want me dead.
“You aren’t angry?” I pressed. I had to know.
“No, baby girl, not at all. Should I be?” he asked.
I didn’t know what to say to that. Instead, I just chewed my lip and stared back at him. He wasn’t even remotely angry that I killed his cousin. In fact, he seemed happy that I had done it, which was entirely too unsettling and if I was being honest with myself, it frightened me.
“Am I going to be arrested? Are you going to kill me?”
“No. You’re safe here with me,” he answered.
I wasn’t sure if I believed him. I needed to know more about him before I decided what I thought of him.
“Who are you?”
“My name is Matteo Giovanni Santaro, Ruler of the Kingdom of Santaro, King of the House of Savoy, Sovereign of the Alps, Lord of the Provinces of Italy, Commander of the Forze Armate Italiane and the Carabinieri, and the King of the Mountains,” he answered.
I just stared at him. He couldn’t be serious. Nothing that he was saying was making sense. There was no king of Italy. It was a democratic republic, similar to that of the United States, with executive, legislative, and judicial branches. There was a single head of a state, a president and it most certainly was not this man. Kings came from a time of old and what he was saying could not possibly be correct.
He couldn’t possibly lead the Italian armed forces and their military police either. Other men did that.
Maybe he was just another rich man with an ego complex. Maybe he had enough money to make his own rules here in the mountains in his very own castle.