The head of my security listened to his earpiece before he spoke to me. “They found Giovanni in the back seat of his car at the grocery store. His wrists were bound.”
I knew Siena wouldn’t hurt him, but I had to ask anyway. “Is he alright?”
“Perfectly fine,” he reported. “Unharmed.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. Giovanni was in my house every day, serving me and making my mansion a home. We didn’t have serious conversations, but I did care about him and not just because he was an excellent servant.
“He says Siena hid in the trunk of his car. When he was about to put the groceries in the back, she hopped out and forced him into the back seat.”
I shook my head, furious she’d orchestrated this whole thing. She’d fucked me the night before thinking it would be the last time. She waited until I was in Florence before she made her move, thinking an eight-hour head start would be enough to get away from me.
Nothing would be enough to get away from me.
Bates turned to me, his eyes wide.
As irritated as I was, one thing was certain. She definitely had balls. She was smart enough to figure out that Giovanni was the only one who came and went without the scrutiny of security. He was also the only person with their own car. The only car in my garage that wasn’t expensive was his piece of shit Volkswagen, so it was easy to figure out which was his. She pulled it off overnight, leaving everything behind except a picture of our baby. “Anything else?”
“Giovanni said she left with her brother. He picked her up in a black SUV then drove away.”
Now I knew what they had discussed when he’d come over for lunch. She couldn’t talk to him over the phone because I was tapping her phone. As livid as I was, I was also impressed. She pulled all this together right under my nose.
And betrayed me again.
“I have men looking through camera feeds in the general area to figure out where they went and what direction they headed,” he reported. “When I have a lead, I’ll let you know.”
“Don’t bother.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket and pulled up the tracking app on the screen. “I can find her in two seconds.”
“Tracking her phone?” Bates asked.
“No. She’s too smart for that.” When the screen opened, I saw the little red dot on the main road above Milan. They just reached the border of France. “I put a tracking device in her ankle one of the first nights she was here. Put a pregnancy-safe sedative in her drink, and she was out for a long time. Never noticed.”
My brother nodded in approval. “Like that bitch could outsmart you.”
I watched the little red dot move away, slowly approaching the border of Italy. She probably thought she’d accomplished her goal, that she would start over somewhere else in Europe. Or maybe she would move even farther away, to America or Canada. But little did she know, there was nowhere she could go where I wouldn’t find her.
Bates rubbed his hands together greedily. “Let’s hunt her down. Or we could wait until morning. Let her think she’s safe a little longer.”
I stared at the red dot for another moment before I closed the app. “No.”
“Then when are we going to make our move?” Bates asked.
I shrugged. “If she wants to get away from me so bad, let her. Let her see what life is like without me.” Let her see what it’s like to be alone, to not have me to protect her anymore. She had her brother, but he was nothing compared to me. With a growing child in her belly, every day would get more difficult. She would miss her luxurious life here, knowing nothing could ever harm her or our baby. She probably ran away because she was afraid of me, but I knew she also needed me. I knew she would miss me, that she would think about me every day as our son grew inside her. Then she would wonder if she’d made a mistake, if the life she’d chosen was really better than the one I could have given her.
Bates stood with a confused expression on his face. “You aren’t going to punish her? You aren’t going to go after your kid?”
“Living without me is punishment enough. As for the kid, I’ll keep my eyes on him. My men will watch out for his well-being. But no, I’ll let her live with her decision. And watch her suffer for it.”
19
Siena
After we crossed into France, we headed into the countryside. It was the middle of the night, and once we entered the small town of Les Estables, we went farther into the country until we reached a village that seemed so remote no one would ever find us there.