“I’m fine, Mariana.” I move closer to her. “Do you know where my husband is?”
She shrugs. “I think he went out, but I can’t be sure. It’s such a big house.”
I nod. “Okay, thanks.” I turn to walk away.
“Do you need me to fix you some lunch?” she asks.
I glance back at her over my shoulder, smiling softly. “No, don’t worry. I’m not that hungry, anyway. I may just snack on some chips.”
A flash of concern enters her eyes. “You’re not eating enough, Eliza. I’m worried about you.”
My brow furrows. “I have been eating.”
“Not as much as normal. You’ve lost some weight.”
I run a hand down my stomach, wondering if she’s right. Adik forcing me down the aisle and then murdering my papá diminished my appetite, but I’d hardly thought about it.
“Okay, you can make me lunch.” I glance at my watch. “Half an hour?”
She nods. “Okay, I’ll make fajitas. You love those.”
My stomach rumbles so loud at the suggestion that Mariana laughs. “It sounds like your stomach agrees.”
“It does indeed,” I say, heat spreading up my neck and face. “I’ll see you in the kitchen in half an hour?”
Mariana nods. “Sure.”
I walk away toward the study, hoping that Mariana is right. It’s hard to think of it as Adrik’s study, when it’s always been my papá’s. The place where I first set eyes on the man that would turn our entire world upside down.
I try the door, but it’s locked. “Fuck.” I remember Papá kept a spare key in the vase on the console in the corridor, so I open the lid and find it still there.
Adrik may be the new king in this castle, but he doesn’t know where any of the secret keys are stashed. I slide the key into the door and sigh when the lock clicks open, proving he hasn’t changed them as I feared he might have. Adrik strikes me as the cautious type, but he obviously believed no one else had a key.
My heart pounds in my ears as I glance down the corridor in each direction to ensure no one is around to catch me before pushing the door open.
Once inside the office, I rest my back against the shut door and try to catch my breath. Nothing has changed except for the unbelievably organized desk, which used to be stacked with heaps of paperwork. Now it’s organized and ordered. My stomach churns as the image of Papá sat behind the desk while he told me I was to marry Adrik comes to the forefront of my mind.
He seemed so pleased with himself, as if he was making the perfect match. It’s hard to believe a man who I’d always seen as smart and powerful was duped so easily by Adrik. A man who is barely older than me, but acts like the king of the city. As if it were his right to sit where my papá once did.
I shake my head and focus on why I broke into his office in the first place, sitting down in Papá’s chair and lifting the receiver off the phone. The dial tone sounds and I key in Lila’s mobile number, since it’s a Saturday and she should be able to pick up.
It rings three times before she picks up. There’s a moment’s pause before she says timidly, “Hello?”
Tears spring to my eyes at the sound of her voice. “Lila.”
“Eliza!” She sounds frantic on the other end of the phone. “Oh my God, are you okay?”
“Not really,” I murmur, pain clawing at the edges of my throat. The intensity of emotions I feel hearing a familiar voice is overwhelming. “Are you at the academy?”
“Yes, but I was in Chicago a couple of weeks ago for Papá’s funeral.”
A sob rises in my chest. “I would have been there if…” I trail off, unable to speak past the mix of grief, regret and sheer pain. “I’m in hell, Lila.”
“I know. When Enzo came to get me and told me what happened, I thought it was a sick joke.” She pauses a moment and I can hear her tapping her fingers on the other end. “We’ve tried ringing and texting your cell phone, but I assume he took it from you?”
“Yes,” I croak.
“Does he let you leave the house?”