In the distance, a door creaks, rousing me from a dreamlike sleep. The perimeter of the room lights up, softly, and the light directly overhead is dimmed.
I listen carefully as the footsteps approach.One set.This is reassuring. Not that one guard can’t do a lot of damage, but not the same kind that two or more could do.
Like something out of a movie, Antonio appears from a dark aisle, flanked with wooden barrels.
He positions a metal chair a few feet from me and straddles it. His expression is unreadable—at least to me.
The ancient cave is eerily quiet, as though the spirits have melted into the stone walls, to await news of my fate.
Antonio observes me intently but doesn’t say a word for several moments, and I don’t dare say anything either.
“What do you have to say for yourself?” he finally asks.
While his voice is neither warm nor forgiving, the hatred seems to have lessened. Or perhaps a bit of sleep, as little and disturbed as it was, has given me a renewed sense of strength.
I can’t just give up. I have to appeal to his sense of humanity—for Isabel and Valentina.And for me.
Be humble, Daniela. Above all, be humble and contrite.
“I’m done,” I croak.“You won. I’ll marry you, and we’ll live in Porto.”
“You’ll marry me? This must be my lucky day.” He’s sarcastic, but not caustic. “I always win, Daniela. Always. I thought you would have learned that by now.”
“I’m sorry I ran.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I made a mistake.”
“Just one?”
“I wanted to be with Isabel and Valentina. They’ll have a hard time surviving without me until Valentina is old enough to work.”
“Youwantedto be with them? I don’t believe it’s a thing of the past. You’re never going back to the US.”
I feel a lump forming in my throat. “I wanted to be with my family—what’s left of it. That’s a normal thing. I won’t run again. But you’re right. I’ll never stop missing them.”
“Your maid and her daughter are not your family.”
I need to make him understand that they are family—it’s true.
“They are my family, Antonio. In the same way Cristiano and Lucas are yours. If either of them were in trouble, you would risk everything to help them.”
“I would never take the kind of risk you took today.”
“I don’t believe you,” I say softly, and respectfully. “They’re like your brothers. Not all family is blood.”
Antonio’s phone buzzes, and he gets up and disappears down the aisle he came up before. The door opens and closes seconds later. One set of footsteps approaches.
I hope it’s him returning. My best chance for survival is with him. No one else can make that decision.
When he comes back, he’s holding a small plate with a mug and some tea biscuits. He places it on his chair and unchains my wrists, briskly rubbing his palms over my arms and shoulders. I soak in the warmth of his hands—the humanity I so desperately need right now.
Before he sits down, he hands me the cup of tea and the biscuits.
I’m overwhelmed by the small kindness.Maybe he’s not going to kill me.I start to cry. I’m leaking from my eyes and my nose, and no amount of sniffing can stop it from dripping off my face and onto my shirt.
He gets up and comes back, holding a wet facecloth and a clean T-shirt. He hands me the warm cloth. The heat feels so good against my face.