Oh God… I remember. He kidnapped me.
The bolt of mortification makes my legs move again. There’s nothing out here on the terrace so I rush back into the room and stop short when I see him leaning against the side of the room with the stone wall.
Dressed in full black, the sight of him, makes the air rush from my lungs and the icy tendrils of fear race over my body.
My lips part and my feet plant to the spot in fear. I’m too scared to move, too scared to breathe, too scared to exist right now.
I am scared of my father and the power he has. Right now, though… true fear assails me, and I realize what I feel for my father is nothing. Right now, I’m terrified of the man before me.
This man found out who I am, tricked me into believing he was something else, and now he has me.
Why? The answer is simple. My father.
I ran from one monster to the next, and it looks like this one is the worse of them all.
He pushes away from the wall and straightens up. Those eyes of his take me in coolly and calmly. Too cool, too calm. It makes my heart gallop, slamming against the wall of my chest as the fright paralyses me.
My lips part as if to say something, but I don’t know what to say first, or if I should say anything at all.
I know his face, he gave me a name, I’m here…. I know what those things mean. He’s going to kill me.
He takes a step forward and the sun catches his eyes making them so bright they look like vivid blue lights against his olive skin.
One more step and I feel myself step backward. Another step and I move two more steps backward, not knowing where I’m going, or what I’m doing.
“There’s nowhere to run Isabella,” he states.
“Where am I?” I breathe. My voice sounds hoarse and so shaky I barely recognize it as mine.
“On an island that very few know about,” he answers.
At first, I think that’s impossible but I right myself, my mind. This man is the same type as my father and if he says we’re on an island that very few know about, it’s true.
“Who are you?” I want to know who he really is. I want to know the power of my captor.
“My name is Tristan D’Agostino. That might not mean anything to you, but this will… my family is part of the Syndicate of the Brotherhood.”
He’s right about half of that. I’ve heard the name D’Agostino before and I know about the Syndicate. I know they are enemies to my father, who is the enemy to all.
I really am in big trouble and it’s my fault. I asked Sacha to let me out.
Sacha,my God … as I think of him now, I remember the consequences he could face. They’d all know by now I’m missing. He’ll know I was taken.
Even if the others think I escaped, he won’t think that. He’ll know I won’t have betrayed him in such a way. It will only be a matter of time before blame is cast his way if it hasn’t been already.
“Why did you take me?” The words tumble from my lips as foolishness, but I need to know what the position is. “I can’t be here. Please, send me back. My bodyguard will die if my father finds out I’m missing.”
“I’m glad you know that, so I don’t have to highlight the gravity of the situation to you. I need you to tell me where your father is,” he demands, and I could almost laugh.
It wouldn’t be a laugh of humor, oh no. It would be one of sarcasm.
I shake my head at him, and a tear runs down my cheek because it’s now I know I really am in trouble.
“I don’t know where he is,” I answer.
His eyes flare with rage. “Isabella, I’m not the kind of man to fuck with. Not even slightly. I hate games, and I hate wasting time with shit. You are his daughter; you’re supposed to know where the fuck your father is.”
“But I don’t. I don’t know. No one does.” That’s the truth and that is how my father has managed to walk like some type of god on earth for the last forty years.