I might be able to protect myself in a small space or escape if I’m tied to a chair, but I’m not like them. Not yet. If I disobey, I’ll only be a liability, and Kane getting hurt is enough.
“Be careful,” I tell him.
The tension in his face drains away a fraction, and he nods, going back to his call. Ignoring the temptation to eavesdrop—mostly because I know that he’ll know—I hurry to my room and shut the door behind me. I feel slightly unnerved now that I’m completely alone and so far from the front room that I won’t be able to hear if something’s happening.
I grab the phone James gave me, then hurry to the little window seat and pull back the curtains enough to see the courtyard. There’s nothing around for miles. The autumn afternoon sun is a low, yellow burn over the tops of the trees, and without feeling it, I know there’s a chill in the air.
It’s too peaceful.
Straining my ears, I try to listen for anything, but there’s just continued silence.
Then my phone starts to buzz.
I jump half a foot, then stare at the screen, but there’s no number on it. It continues to ring, though, so eventually, I steel myself and answer as I sink down to the bench.
“Hello?”
“You’re alive. I thought it was another dead end.”
Leo. My heart hammers in my ears as I gather my wits.
“How the hell did you manage to get this number?”
He laughs. “We have our ways. I don’t know what the fuck the Walshes told you, but we’re not as backwoods as they want everyone to believe. Just because they have some blind freak—”
“Don’t,” I snap, all the pain of my past now seeping into my words like caustic venom. “Don’t you fucking talk about him like that.”
Leo’s quiet for a long moment. “They really fucked you up, didn’t they?”
I laugh, shaking my head as I pinch the bridge of my nose. “No.Guidofucked me up. You and Marco spending all those years toying with me and then locking me up fucked me up. The fact that I was going to be auctioned off to some old fucking pervert for my virginity—”
“Is that what Walsh wants you to believe?” Leo interrupts.
For only a split second, doubt seeps in. And then I remember the lies. The pain. The death of my mother and the fact that Guido only wanted me as a pawn. “Kane was the first person who ever bothered to tell me the truth.”
Leo lets out a quiet breath. “So you know. We got a hit that someone had accessed your father’s medical files and—”
“He’s not my father,” I spit.
“He’s the man who raised you. Trust me when I say you should be glad our father never claimed you. He’s…” Leo trails off, and he sounds almost broken. I tell myself not to fall for it. After all, Leo is the product of that life—of that family. Only he was educated, embraced, empowered. He was given choices, unlike me.
“I know what he wanted with me,” I say after a moment when I have control. “Kane at least offered me a choice.”
“Did he?” Leo challenges. “A choice between what, Alice? Doing what he wants you to do or dying?”
I open my mouth, then close it again. If I say yes, then it’s a lie. But if I say no, that doesn’t feel like much of the truth either. There’s no real answer here because Kane never did tell me what he’d do with me if I said no.
“You know, just because you’re on first names with him doesn’t mean he’s going to protect you, Alice. He’s a monster.” Leo lets out a frustrated groan. “He tried to destroy your father.”
I don’t bother to correct him this time because he’s right. I just don’t care. Not after everything I was put through. “Guido did unspeakable things to these men too.”
“So did Kane tell you that he single-handedly orchestrated the death of your mom and sister?” Leo shoots back.
I freeze. My entire body goes numb, and I want to scream at him and tell him that can’t possibly be the truth—but I’m not sure I believe it. Kane wanted Guido Romano to feel immeasurable amounts of pain, and Isabelle was most definitely his child.
I hate that I have no trouble believing Kane’s capable of murdering her, innocent as she was.
“You know I’m telling the truth, Alice. You might not want to admit it because you’re getting off playing with those psychopaths, but deep down, you know I’m right.”