Knowing Cauldron was okay didn’t make me less angry. “Where are we?”
“You really can’t tell?” he asked, slightly surprised.
“I can guess where we are, but I’d rather know the truth.”
“Where the best olive oil is produced—Tuscany.”
It was beautiful, but without Cauldron, I couldn’t appreciate it. “You better cut this damn thing off me.”
“You know I can’t do that.”
“Then I’ll do it myself.”
“Unless you want to lose your leg, I don’t recommend it.”
“What? Is there a bomb in there?”
He stared.
“You’re sick. You expect me to go to dinner parties with this thing on? What will people think?”
“I don’t care what people think.”
Clearly. “What’s your plan? To keep me like this until Cauldron finds you?”
“He won’t find me.”
“You’re a social guy. He’ll hear about one of your extravagant parties.”
“Then no more parties.”
“The wealthy circle is pretty small.”
“And I have those who are loyal to me.”
“You just have an answer for everything, don’t you?” I eyed the platter of appetizers on the table, which had remained untouched by both him and his guests. What a waste.
“Yes.” He pushed the platter closer to me, inviting me to indulge.
“I’ll just run for it. Find the nearest place and call for help.”
“Call whom, exactly?”
“Uh, the police.”
“You think there’re police out here? It’ll take at least forty minutes, and the longer you stay put, the easier it’ll be for me to get to you.”
“Then I’ll call Cauldron.”
“You memorized his number?”
The only numbers I knew by heart were my old family phone number and my old best friend’s. I couldn’t even guess the first digit of Cauldron’s number. “I don’t know the specifics right now, but this plan of yours isn’t sustainable for the long-term. You have a month. Maybe two. Then everything comes down around you.”
“This estate is owned by a corporation I founded in the United States. A corporation that runs a nationwide tow-truck service. No one besides me knows it belongs to me. The people who work for me don’t even know they work for me. So it’s literally untraceable.”
This was getting worse.
“I can do my business here. None of my employees know where I am. He’ll never figure it out.”
Fuck. Me. “Again, what is the point of all of it? You think we’re going to be locked away in lustful bliss? When will you get it through your head that it was just a job? You paid me a ton of money to fuck you how you wanted, and that’s what I did. It’s not real. Period.”
He stared at me with that calm and calculating gaze. “It felt real.”
“Because I’m good at what I do.”
“I don’t think anyone can fuck like that and not mean it.”
“Well, I didn’t. How many times do I have to say it?”
Wearing his brother’s look, he stared.
“What’s your plan, exactly?” I snapped. “The only way we’re gonna screw is if you force me. Are you going to force me?”
Grave was a bad man, but he wasn’t that kind of bad man. At least that was what I assumed. I hoped I wasn’t wrong.
“You wanted to come back to me—”
“Because Cauldron broke my heart. Not because I wanted to.”
“I was still your second choice. That’s gotta mean something.”
“It means I wanted to hurt Cauldron. That’s it. Now answer my damn question.”
The silence was filled with the sound of the fountain nearby. Birds were at the top of the wall, looking for a place to nest. Then there was silence that could only be attained in such a peaceful place. It was hard to believe that in the middle of all that was the tensest conversation of my life.
Cauldron would find me.
But he wouldn’t find me before the unspeakable happened.
Right now, I was on my own.
There wasn’t a lock on my bedroom door, but there was tons of furniture in the room. Before I went to bed, I barricaded the entryway with dressers and vanities. Thankfully, they were Italian-made, so they were hefty and heavy. It took a lot of sweat to move them across the room into position.
Then I raided the room for weapons. Weapons could be forged from anything, so I started my search in the bathroom. There was a toothbrush and toothpaste, along with other amenities. Nothing that could kill a grown man twice my size. I searched in the bedroom for something small and sharp, but the nightstands were empty except for books. Unless I gave him a gnarly paper cut, that wouldn’t get me far.
Three nights came and went, and as far as I could tell, he hadn’t tried to enter my bedroom. Maybe he wanted me to get settled in before he forced himself on top of me.
How sweet.
Every morning when I needed to eat, I had to move all the furniture back away from the door so I could leave, and when the maid entered and saw what I did, she looked utterly bewildered.