Moments later, the door shut behind him, leaving her alone in near darkness, with only the light from a princess night light beside the bed to illuminate the room. Getting as comfortable as she could with her arms captured in the restraints, she closed her eyes. Sleep would no doubt elude her, given the circumstances, but she needed to at least try.
She was out in less than five minutes.
* * *
Benny was waiting,a silent sentry, on the other side of the door when Emilio stepped out of the bedroom.
“It sounds like you have your hands full with this one.”
“Indeed. She dropped something, a needle of some kind, in my bedroom. Run it down to the shop and see if Inigo can’t tell us what she tried to stab me with.”
Other than a slight widening of his eyes, Benny gave no reaction to the request. “Anything else?”
“Be on alert. There’s something Miss Vitali isn’t telling me, and I’m not letting her out of my sight until I figure out what it is.”
Chapter Four
“Amara. Wake up,piccolina.”
Whimpering at the interruption to her sleep, Amara rolled away from the voice. But her eyes flew open when her arms pulled against the restraints.
Emilio was crouched beside the bed, watching her with a smug expression she couldn’t wait to wipe off his face. “Good morning, sleepyhead.”
She wanted to snarl at him, but she managed to force a smile. “Good morning.”
“I have some breakfast for you. If I let you out of the restraints, are you going to be a good girl for Daddy?”
There was that same little twist of desire low in her belly she’d felt the night before. Maybe she’d hit her head and this was all some really fucked-up dream, because there was no way she actually enjoyed hearing him call himselfDaddy.But, dream or not, she knew she needed to play along. “Yes, Daddy.”
“Good girl.” As soon as the cuffs were off, he was rubbing her wrists, soothing the slight ache the restraints left behind. She hardened her heart against his display of kindness. The man had basically kidnapped her and beat her into playing his sick Daddy games.
The fact that she’d tried to kill him first didn’t factor into her outrage.
“Do you need to potty,piccolina?”
Little one.The affectionate term was so at odds with the treatment she’d received, and yet it seemed perfectly natural coming from him. “Yes, please.”