One.Just one.
One escape attempt and my outside privileges were promptly revoked. The sound of drilling and jarring metal coming from all corners of the house were a dampening on my spirit. A quick glance to the window on my left and the offending items had my face screwing up in abhorrence.
Well, now you’ve done it.
If I considered myself a prisoner before, I was now officially a caged animal. The bars on every window made sure I knew it.
What’s worse is Ettore sent over his brother to deal with it. And if I had to look at his smug smirk one more time… My teeth gritted so hard that my jaw ached. When Daniele went around to each window and gave it a solid wrench, checking its strength, a stabbing pain behind my eye told me I was on the verge of a migraine.
Look, had my it been the best idea for an escape?
Some would have called it inventive.
I, unfortunately, was not one of those people.
Let’s be honest, once I was in the crawlspace, I basically had an immediate panic attack. I was not great in teeny spaces. To make matters worse, I got turned around and, mortifyingly enough, couldn’t find my way back out. It took a moment of extended consideration, but eventually I had to call out for help. Like a kitten being rescued, Marco – who was three times my size, mind you – was sent in after me and seeing his angry face crawl towards me had me backing up.
His growled, “Stop moving,” was enough to paralyze anybody.
My cheeks flamed and my throat swelled with embarrassment. Even more so when he positioned us so that I was on my knees in front of him and he guided me back to the manhole with a splayed hand on my butt, pushing me along, because my legs had turned to jelly and refused to work.
The moment I saw light gleaming through the small rectangular hole, I rushed towards it and when I looked up, out of it, there stood Ivan, glaring down at me. I could feel the thick coat of grime and dust all over my body. It itched and a small cough escaped me as he reached out. I took his hand and he pulled me up and out. Marco followed close behind, and then I was sandwiched by two very mad goons who looked at me like I was the bane of their existence.
Same.
Ivan put a finger to his earpiece. “We got her.”
Marco’s eyes lowered as he listened to the instructions being relayed through the feed, nodding. “Yeah. I wouldn’t worry about that. She’s not going anywhere.”
But I couldn’t concentrate on anything other than who was on the other end of the earpiece. “Is that him?” I leaned into Marco and he leant away from me as I all but yelled into his ear, “We need to talk.”
“No, she isn’t hurt.” Marco looked me up and down, his lip curled. “Just covered in dirt.”
“God,” I blew out, maddened, running both hands down my face in frustration. The laugh that left me was pure delirium and even though I looked Marco in the eyes, I was sure it was clear who my message was for. “I get it. You’re pissed. But I can’t change what happened. I am your wife and you are being a really shitty husband, Tor. I’m not asking for much here. What is it going to take?”
I stood there, panting wildly, looking into Marco’s eyes, my own pleading for an inch.
Marco remained unmoved, but after a short while, he reached for his earpiece. He removed it and my heart stuttered when he held it out to me. I took it with trembling hands, slowly placed it to my ear and then he spoke. “Every time I’m satisfied things are going well, you go and do something that puts us back at square one.” The sound of his rich timbre had me breaking out in goosebumps all over. “What do you want, Vittoria?”
What did I want?
I wanted out. Out of this pretty, glorified cell.
My lips quivered and my voice cracked pathetically as I accused pitifully, “You abandoned me.”
“And you broke my heart,” he clapped back and my stomach ached with how freely he admitted such a thing. “So, I guess we’re even.”
My face crumpled, I dipped my chin and my shoulders shook gently as tears fell from my eyes. I was convinced then. We were never going to get passed this. I spoke through a torrent of tears. “You should have killed me.”
My heart broke to pieces with his agreement. “You’re right. I should have.”
I nodded to myself. I sniffled then let out a hushed, “It’s not too late.”
Ettore did not speak for a heartbeat, but when he did, I could hear his resentment. “How easy that would be for you. You would leave me to agonize with your memory while you move on from this life. No. If I have to suffer through this existence, so will you.” What he said next was stone cold and laced with fury. “In this family, we bleed together.”
Those last words resonated with me deeply, but while Ettore meant them in a way that spoke of family love and loyalty, I heard them as a threat. And I thought of my sister.
In our family, we didn’t bleed together, but when Vincenza bled, she did not hesitate to put a blade to my flesh and drain me just the same. I felt awful – truly awful – that this time away from her had been pleasant in some ways.