I chuckle. "What do you think? I may have murdered my husband, who I only married a few days ago, after he kidnapped me, by the way," I squeeze my fingers together, "so no, I am not okay."
I stare forward, into the wind that slaps my face. My eyes sting and a pressure knocks at the backs of my eyes. Shit, I’ve made a complete mess of this. Not only had I fallen for my kidnapper, aka my husband, but now I can’t stop thinking that it was a mistake I managed to escape from him. What the hell am I going to do about this? I turn to Luca, "I need to call my sister as soon as possible."
"I am afraid that may not be a good idea."
"What do you mean?"
"It means if you call her, you’ll only be putting her in danger."
"What danger?"
"As you said, he’s going to come after you. No doubt about it… Unless…" He raises a shoulder, "Unless he didn’t make it out of the water."
"He made it out of the water," I snap. "He is alive, dammit."
"Either way, it’s best we lay low until we know for sure."
"Shit," I squeeze my eyes shut, "I’m so screwed if he’s alive."
"And if he’s dead—"
"No," I open my eyes and turn to him, "don’t you dare say that."
He blows out a breath, "As you wish. My saying it or not is not going to change the reality though."
"I am aware," I mutter, as I scan the shoreline that’s coming up. "Where are we going, by the way?"
"To a safe house in Bagheria."
"Bagheria?" I turn to him, "Where’s that?"
"It’s the town to the east of Palermo."
"Shouldn’t we, maybe, try to move further away from Palermo? I assume he is well known in town and must have contacts around the city. Besides, doesn’t he know about all of your safe houses?"
“Not this one.” He shoots me a sideways glance, "You’re no pushover, are you?"
Only when it comes to him.Oh, Michael, what have I done? If you don’t make it out alive I… I’ll never forgive myself. My chest hurts and I rub at the space above my left breast.
"You okay?"
I shake my head. "Not really," I mutter. A trembling seizes me and I wrap my arms around myself. If he were here, he’d fold those massive arms around me, he’d pull me into his chest, tuck my head under his chin, and rub my back… Right before turning me over his knee and spanking me for what I did.
Luca shrugs off his coat, and hands it over to me. I glance at it and shake my head. It feels wrong. I shouldn’t be wearing another man’s jacket. If Michael saw it, he’d kill Luca… Or maybe not. Luca is his brother, after all. Although, after this incident… Yeah, not sure how Michael will treat Luca after this… And shit, why are my thoughts back on him?
"Take it." Luca, places it around my shoulders, "You don’t want to catch a cold. Michael would never forgive me if anything happened to you."
He stiffens as if realizing what he’s just said. "Not that you’d want to have anything to do with him, now that you’ve escaped him."
Right. I stare at the shore as Luca continues to steer the boat. Half an hour later we reach a jetty that juts out from the approaching beach. As soon as we draw up next to the wooden platform, he cuts the engine again. Then walks around to the far end of the boat—the end from where I’d raised the oar and brought it down onhisforehead.
Shit. Unable to process my feelings, with tears welling up in my eyes, I press my face into my palms and feel my body convulse. What the hell have I done? How the hell am I going to live with myself if something happened to him? My heart feels like Michael used his dagger to cut it into pieces and now part of it is missing, and he has it. My belly twists itself up in knots. I gasp for breath as I allow the tears to flow down my cheeks… Until the sobs finally subside. The boat jerks, and I glance up to find Luca’s tethered the boat to the jetty. He’s watching me with a look of sympathy on his face.
He bends over, holds out his hand, "We need to move fast, Karma, before one of his guys finds us."
Right. I take his hand and he helps me onto the jetty.
Two hours later, we draw up in front of his safe house on the outskirts of Bagheria. Someone had been waiting for Luca with a car at the jetty.