“On a one to ten scale, how badly did they touch you? One: groped you, ten, had sex with you against your will.”
“Ten,” I didn’t look up.
“One person or more than one persons? How many time?”
“One. Once.”
“I’ll leave Jimena to care for you. I’ll return soon with an update. You have nothing to fear here. You will be well taken care of until someone arrives to bring you home. This door will be locked but there’s an intercom on the wall by the bathroom door that will summon someone up if you push it.”
Thank God.
“Thanks, um, did my brothers hire you?” I asked.
He shook his head, “No. We have some common ground so I’ve just stepped in to help.” He turned on his heel and left the room.
I looked at the lady in scrubs. She was rifling through a first aid bag she’d set on the bed beside me and then she began to gently put a new bandage around my forearm.
I spent 48 hours there before Zack picked me up and during that time, I had been seen by the doctor and a housekeeper who brought food and drinks and towels. Alessandro had come in just once more, the day after I’d arrived to ask if I needed anything and to tell me that I’d be leaving the following day.
He had brought in a phone and let me speak to Dare briefly. Very briefly. And then the day I was to go, a housekeeper took me to a dining room for a quick lunch with a pretty teenaged blonde girl named Holly. Two guards had been in the room the entire time, strangely standing sentry but not holding machine guns, just looking expressionless but watchful.
It was an odd lunch. I tried to ask her questions about who she was and how she’d come to be there but she dodged my questions. She didn’t seem afraid or anything like that but she avoided my questions about why she was there and what the place was. I’d been kept in a comfortable room with a terrace overlooking a lush garden, where I could get fresh air. I’d been fed good food and drink, the room had a television in it. And the doctor had been taking care of the hideous wounds on my arm. But I had no idea who Alessandro was or why I’d sat and had lunch with the pretty blonde girl.
Alessandro spoke to me about her afterwards, on our way to meet Zack.
“Did you have a nice lunch with Holly?”
“Yes, thank you. Thank you for the hospitality. I…appreciate it. She was nice.”
“Holly is the common ground,” Alessandro offered an explanation as he walked me through the halls of his mansion to his office.
“Holly is?”
He nodded, “I found out Holly has a connection to your family and later found out that you had been taken. I intervened in order to use you as a bargaining chip to ensure that your brothers do not attempt to take Holly from me.”
“From you?” I asked.
“She belongs to me. Her sister belongs to your brother. I don’t want him considering an attempt to take Holly from me. He wouldn’t succeed. It’s best for everyone that he knows that.”
I felt sick as I tried to absorb all of this.
“Please tell Dario that you met Holly, that she’s fine, and that I’d prefer not to make enemies with the Ferranos. If anyone tries to take her from me, we will become enemies.”
“Holly is a teenager. She…” I felt sick. I couldn’t continue the sentence.
“She’s mine,” he said, “I haven’t touched her yet. I won’t touch her until she’s old enough. But she is mine. Pass that message on.”
I nodded, “I’ll pass on the message.” I wanted to tell him off. I went into some sort of mother bear mode but I kept my mouth shut. I had to get out of here.
“This door.” He opened a door and waved so I could precede him.
I stepped into the room and saw Zack Jacobs, who I’d met a few times with my brothers, but who I only barely knew. He was giving me a careful smile, assessing my physical state.
“You okay?” He moved to me and put a hand on my shoulder.
“I will be when I get home to my family,” I answered softly.
“Let’s go,” He said and shook Alessandro’s hand, “I’ll pass on those messages and thanks again. I’ll call you.”