She’d been so happy. She swallowed against the ache in her throat. With her baby. Her home. The man she loved. So completely happy.
But it had all been an illusion. Vin baiting his trap.
She had to get out of here.
Scarlett’s heart pounded as she stood alone in the darkness in front of the palazzo. Down the street, she saw a taxi coming her direction. She could flag it down. She could rush to the villa, grab Nico and disappear. She knew how. She’d done it before.
Her heart pounded as she watched the taxi draw closer. The thought of leaving Vin, even now, and also separating him from the baby he loved, filled her with anguish.
She tried to steel herself. She told herself she had no choice. She raised her hand to flag down the taxi.
Freedom. For her entire childhood, freedom had been her rallying cry. She had to follow her dream—
Scarlett remembered the look on her father’s face the day she turned eighteen and told him she’d given up her dreams of college and ever settling down. With tears in his eyes, he told her that after all their years on the run, he was turning himself in.
“What about freedom?” she’d cried.
“We were never free,” he’d said quietly. “Not once. I made a horrible mistake, Scarlett. I was a coward. Running away all these years, I ruined your life, and your mother’s. But no more. You will be free now.” He’d taken a deep breath. “I’m doing this so you’ll be free.”
“Signorina?”
The taxi driver was looking at her impatiently through his open window.
Scarlett stared at him. Then, lowering her arm, she slowly shook her head. Numbly, she watched the taxi drive off.
She’d run from Vin before. If she ran now, kidnapping her innocent baby from his father, starting life as a fugitive, she wouldn’t be following a dream of freedom. Not when her only idea of real freedom was to have family, stability and a real home.
“Scarlett!”
Her shoulders tightened at Vin’s angry voice behind her. With a deep breath, she turned to face him.
He stopped in front of her as gentle snowflakes flurried softly to the sidewalk in the dark, cold night. “There’s no point in running away,” he said quietly. “The postnuptial agreement gives total control of our baby’s future to me. And since I know you’ll never be parted from him—” he reached out to caress her cheek “—that gives me total control over you.”
For a second, she shook with fear, with regret, with rage. Then she remembered the one thing she still had.
Love.
With a deep breath, she lifted her chin, looking straight into his eyes.
“I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying right here.”
Vin looked surprised. Then he caught himself and glared at her. “Good—”
“But I’m not going to let you push me around.” She put her hand over his. “I love you, Vin. And you love me. That was the whole reason for this, wasn’t it?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You’re afraid to love me.”
He dropped his hand with a snort. “Afraid.”
“Yes, afraid. So you tried to create a wall between us.” She stepped closer, until she could see the white of her breath mingle with his in the faint light. She could see the snowflakes that had fallen in his dark hair and eyelashes. “But I’m not going to let you do it. We love each other. We belong together.”
“You signed it. There’s nothing you can do now.”
“You’re wrong.” Reaching up, she gently caressed his rough cheek and whispered, “I can call your bluff.”
His eyes widened, and he staggered back.
“You won’t hurt me,” she said. “You can’t. Because you love me. And I love you.”
“Stop saying that—” he said hoarsely. He clenched his hands at his sides, then turned on his heel, stalking back into the palazzo, leaving Scarlett standing alone on the sidewalk on the dark, quiet street.
She turned her face toward the snowflakes, relishing the feel of them, soft and cold, against her overheated skin.
She had to be right. She had to be.
If she was wrong...
Scarlett heard heavy footsteps behind her. Had Vin already returned to tell her he’d changed his mind about the postnuptial agreement? Filled with hope, she turned.