Kidnapping His Bride

Praising all of his brothers, his sister, how badly she wanted to be a good sister and daughter-in-law to everyone. How she wanted to provide him with plenty of babies and stay at home to take care of them. Wherever he went, she would go, she told him in a singsong voice.

She even tore down Cat with a string of vicious, angry words. How much better of a wife she would be compared to her sister. How undeserving Cat was, to have such a good and handsome husband handed to her when she’d done nothing to deserve it. How hard Annalisa had worked her entire life to be the good daughter, the good employee, the good potential wife.

Finally, finally, she was being recognized for her achievements, she told him proudly. As if someone had given her a blue ribbon and she’d won him as the prize.

Years of resentment had built up inside this woman that no one seemed to know about. Anger and frustration had festered inside her, bubbling up until it resulted in this crazed lashing out against her sister, who’d never done anything but admire and love her all this time.

He could almost—if he forgot what she’d done to Cat—feel sorry for Annalisa.

“I’m taking a shortcut,” he finally said, turning right onto the road that led to the facility. Uneasiness crept over him at what he was about to do. She acted relatively in control at the moment but who knew what this revelation might do to Annalisa? She could totally lose it.

Or she could end up cooperative. He hadn’t a clue how she might react.

“Wait a minute.” Her voice was quiet and she turned to look at him, her expression wary. “I’ve been here before. I’ve been on this road.”

Considering the road led to the facility and nothing else, this surprised him. “Really? Where were you headed?”

She remained silent for a moment, turning away from him to stare out the window once more. The facility’s sprawling building loomed in the near distance as they came to the end of the road, a giant circular drive with a cascading fountain in the center before them.

“Oh my God.” Her voice was shaky, and she turned to look at him, her lips trembling as if she might burst into tears. “You spoke to my father, didn’t you? Does he know what I’ve done? Am I in trouble? Is that why you’re bringing me back here?”

Well. He hadn’t expected this. “You’ve been here before?”

She nodded furiously, her dark hair falling into her face, her eyes wide and full of panic. “A long time ago. When I was supposed to be at university. Father lied. He put me here instead. I needed to get well and stop doing all of the bad things.”

Hell. This had gone from bad to worse in a split second.

“I promised him I would be good. That I wouldn’t be bad anymore, so they let me come home and go to work. I was happy. I had a place to go that gave me purpose every day. But then my father left. He hasn’t been around much and I…I slipped.” She put her hands over her face and promptly burst into tears. “I’m sorry. I’ll be a good girl, I promise. Just don’t make me go back there.”

He said nothing as he pulled onto the circle drive and headed to the front entrance. Annalisa sobbed into her hands, the sound pitiful but grating. What a sad situation. Her father had kept her mental illness a secret. Though the mother had to know as well. Most likely this was why she behaved so strangely earlier. She knew what her daughter was capable of.

And did absolutely nothing to stop it.

Rafe put the car in park and shut off the engine at the check-in entrance. Matteo’s vehicle was parked in the lot, he’d noticed it when he pulled in, but his brother stood just outside the entrance, his expression grim, his hands shoved in his jeans’ pockets. Seeing the car, Matteo headed over and Rafe rolled down his window.

“Cat’s mother called her on the way here and Cat admitted to her what we were doing,” Matteo said quietly. “Annalisa’s been here before.”

“I know,” Rafe said just as softly. “She just confessed.”

“Cat’s inside now, talking with someone from the staff. Her mother just called into the care facility to speak with Annalisa’s old doctor. They’re prepared to talk to her and hopefully convince Annalisa that she needs to check in.” Matteo shook his head in seeming disbelief. “Cat’s in a total state of shock. She never knew about her sister being here before.”

“A family secret that appears some of the family didn’t know about,” Rafe said. Irritation ran through him. He hated family secrets. He’d witnessed the destruction first hand when it came out that his sister had a different father than the rest of them. The revelation had nearly destroyed her and had also sent all of them reeling.

But a secret revealed could also help a family heal and eventually grow stronger. Considering the weak links in the Campioni family, Carlo Campioni being the worst, Rafe could only hope they recover from this. It would take a long time, but the possibility was undoubtedly there.