I stared out the window, scanning the building left to right, top to bottom. Nothing. “I’m not sure.”
“This is where it all started. Where we found you.” He reached out and took my hand in his. “Or maybe it’s where you found me.”
For a single moment, I got lost in his eyes. I wanted to drown in them. Drown in him. It was so new to me, this feeling of not caring whether a man destroyed me. Ruined me. I would go down in flames willingly if it meant being burned by him.
He rubbed his fingers across his jaw then took a deep breath. He seemed nervous, and that made me nervous. But I remained silent, waiting, anticipating.
Finally, he relaxed back in his seat, fingers tapping on the steering wheel. “The night your mother died, there were four men.”
“Three.”
“No.” His eyes met mine. “There were four.”
I shook my head. “No, there were three men.”
“No, Doe.” His eyes pinned me to my seat. “There were four men that night. Four men came into your home to kill your mother.”
My heart slowly crept up my throat, my gut heavy and turned upside down. “There were three men. I saw four bodies that night, and one of them was my mother.” The memory burned my insides, pain and grief tightening around my lungs. “Four bodies. There were four bodies when that man carried me out of that house.”
Antonio looked away, out the front window, and nodded. “You’re right. There were four bodies.”
“Then how—” When he turned back to look at me, I narrowed my eyes. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying there were four men. But only three of those four men died along with your mother that night.
I held my breath. I couldn’t breathe. There was something clawing at my lungs, making it impossible to get air down my throat. Nothing he said made sense. I remembered that night like it was yesterday. Images of the dead bodies were still fresh in my head, and if I allowed it, my thoughts could easily travel back, make me relive every single second of it all. But I chose not to. I hadn’t allowed myself to go back there in so long. Getting raped and tortured wasn’t even as painful as reliving the memory of the worst night of my life.
I finally managed to take a deep breath and squared my gaze on Antonio. “I only remember three men.”
He nodded. “I know. But there were four. He let one of them go.”
“Who did?”
I noticed him squeeze the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white, the veins in his hands bulging from the pressure. “The man with the cross tattoo.” His words were coated with venom, the outline of his face turning to stone. “The fucker who saved you, only to send you to hell anyway.” He lifted his hand, balling his fist wanting to slam it against the steering wheel. But his jaw clenched, and he pulled back, visibly trying to calm down.
“Antonio, what’s going on? What are you saying?”
He pulled the keys out of the ignition and opened his car door. “Don’t get out until I open your door.”
I wanted to repeat my question, but he slammed his door shut before I was given the chance.
In the thirty seconds he took to talk to his men outside the car, scanning the area, and finally opening my door, my mind had managed to spin in a thousand different directions at once. Nothing about what he said made any sense, no matter how hard I tried to figure it out.
Four bodies. There were four bodies, and one belonged to my mother. But now…what the hell? Were there four men? Did my supposed angel let one of them go? Why?
“Get out.” Antonino’s voice was hard, demanding, and I obeyed immediately.
Within seconds, we were inside the warehouse, and the door behind us was closed with a thud and the click of a lock.
Before my eyes had time to adjust to the dark, Antonio grabbed my wrist and pushed me up against a wall, the cold spreading down my back. His hand hovered over my necklace, his wild spice cologne surrounding me, making me appreciate every breath.
“I have one more rule.”
“What rule?”
Slowly, my eyes started to adjust, his face becoming clearer. His eyes were pinned on me, dark and serious. “Outside of the bedroom, you do what you want. You do what feels right. Do not doubt your instincts.”
“That’s a broad rule that covers quite a lot.”