Out of Bondage

by Jamila Jasper

  * * *

  Eve would have otherwise agreed with Edoardo but something within her had snapped. Edoardo’s peace loving approach to things no longer had its previous appeal.

  * * *

  “Normally I would agree with you,” Eve started, “But I’m afraid that I can’t now.”

  * * *

  Edoardo pushed his chair back away from the table in surprise.

  * * *

  “Ay. What has happened to you Eve?”

  * * *

  “Nothing. I just feel… that we need a swifter approach.”

  * * *

  “She might have a point,” Nico grumbled.

  * * *

  “You too?” Edoardo asked.

  * * *

  Nico nodded. He realized that Edoardo hadn’t expected them to agree on how to handle business. Nico wondered what that said about their marriage. Maybe I need to stick by her side more. He pondered.

  * * *

  Seeing that neither of them would budge, Edoardo tried a different approach.

  * * *

  “So then what would you two suggest?”

  * * *

  “Our contacts are useless,” Nico replied.

  * * *

  “Wait, can I say something?” Eve interjected shyly.

  * * *

  “Of course,” Edoardo assured her.

  * * *

  “We need to think about this from the big picture. We’re thinking about running away now but what about the big picture, the whole event. Somehow, Luca found us. But how did he do that? It was a top secret wedding, the invitations and RSVPs were all encrypted and all the guests were warned about the secrecy. We had security measures in place but he got through with guns. Isn’t that alarming?”

  * * *

  Edoardo shrugged, “He must have broken in somehow.”

  * * *

  Eve didn’t want to accept that answer. Something that her husband and his half brother had been missing from this equation is that none of this made sense. It was impossible for Luca to be alive, far less find him. And it was impossible that he was somehow smarter than a team of four of them. He perceived himself as being a genius, but Eve knew that was just a narcissistic projection, dangerously far from the truth.

  * * *

  If he had been such a genius, it wouldn’t have taken him years to carry out this plan.

  * * *

  “This just doesn’t ring true to me,” Eve added.

  * * *

  “What are you saying?” Nico wrinkled his nose.

  * * *

  Eve sighed, “I’m saying he had help.”

  * * *

  “Impossible!” Edoardo interjected.

  * * *

  “It’s the one obvious answer and it’s the answer we’ve refused to accept. Someone at our wedding told Luca where to find us, plain and simple.”

  * * *

  “No one we invited would have betrayed us like that,” Nico assured her.

  * * *

  Eve shrugged, “That’s what I want to think too. But we’re ignoring all the evidence that points to betrayal just because we want the world to be a sunny place.”

  * * *

  “But who could have done such a thing?” Edoardo threw back at her.

  * * *

  “Maybe they didn’t know what they were doing?” Eve shrugged.

  * * *

  Nico shook his head, “This is where things aren’t plausible. That isn’t the sort of information you would give away unwittingly. You’d have to know that someone was trying to find it.”

  * * *

  “We need to start thinking of the unthinkable. Or we won’t get anywhere, that’s all I’m saying.”

  * * *

  Edoardo pursed his lips and sat back. He wondered why they hadn't taken Eve’s position on these matters much before. When presented with a situation, she saw things in a way no one else did.

  * * *

  Perhaps she recognizes what danger we’re in more than anyone. Edoardo wondered.

  * * *

  The thought made him chilly.

  * * *

  “She may have a point,” Edoardo replied after a long silence.

  * * *

  Nico still didn’t seem moved.

  * * *

  “This isn’t an accusation we can make Eve. We were surrounded by our closest family and friends. There wasn’t a single person who wasn’t traumatized by what my brother did. Betrayal? No. I can’t imagine such a thing.”

  * * *

  “We should at least give it some consideration.”

  * * *

  “I have an idea,” Eves said.

  * * *

  This time, Edoardo was more open to listening to her.

  * * *

  “What are you thinking?”

  * * *

  Eve knew she might have a hard time selling this idea, especially to her husband. Nico could get protective and he’d never let her experience danger if he could help it. He’d always acted swiftly to protect his woman.

  * * *

  “We send an email letter response to everyone who attended the wedding. In that email we apologize for everything, send condolences and then we casually leak my next location.”

  * * *

  “Go on,” Edoardo encouraged her before his half-brother could shut the whole idea down.

  * * *

  “I go back to Italy and I lie in wait. When Luca comes, you ambush him.”

  * * *

  “So you’re saying we set a trap?” Edoardo confirmed.

  * * *

  Eve nodded and looked to Nico for approval she knew she wouldn’t receive.

  * * *

  “Absolutely not,” Nico said, folding his arms and taking a strong stance.

  * * *

  “Nico please, you know it would work.”

  * * *

  “And that’s exactly what I’m worried about,” Nico grumbled, “The last thing I want is to lead my brother directly to you. He’s dangerous, Eve.”

  * * *

  “We’d be right there, ready to swoop in if anything goes wrong,” Edoardo offered in defense of Eve’s plan.

  * * *

  Nico seemed hesitant and his response indicated his unwillingness to budge, “I can’t put my wife in danger. Not after what I’ve been through and not after what’s happened to Matteo. My first order of business is to protect my family.”

  * * *

  Eve approached Nico and held her husband’s hands. She needed to convince him to give her a shot at this. She didn’t care about the short term danger if it meant rooting out Nico’s crazy brother.

  * * *

  “Just let me send out the email and then I’ll head to Italy. We need to all trust in each other and that includes me trusting that you wouldn’t send me into danger alone.”

  * * *

  “You two have to promise you know what you’re doing here,” Nico said.

  * * *

  “I will protect her,” Edoardo reassured him.

  * * *

  “And I won’t do anything stupid.”

  * * *

  Nico sighed. He knew that he was up against a force that he couldn’t control. He was better off just ensuring they went through this foolhardy plan as efficiently as possible.

  * * *

  That night with Matteo gone, Eve felt an emptiness in her heart that she hadn’t anticipated. Martina had called and she’d heard her son’s voice but it still felt wrong for him to be so many miles away from her. Eve felt a pit in her stomach as she questioned what she was about to do. Was this a good idea or was she merely fooling herself into thinking that she could be in control in a situation like this?

  * * *

  To avoid detection, they were driving into Italy the next day. Officer Colombo was supposed to help them out. For the trap to be set, Edoardo and Nico could be nowhere near Eve. She had to arrive in Italy pretending that she’d come alone. They hir
ed a taxi to bring her to the house she’d mentioned in her email to the wedding guest list. In a day or two, they’d find out who had betrayed them and this would all be over once and for all.

  * * *

  Eve tried to look forward to being at peace with her husband and being reunited with her son. Despite the pit in her stomach, she knew that going through with this would be the fastest way to bring her family together.

  * * *

  The next day, the drive back to Italy was mostly quiet. Eve barely spoke. When Edoardo and Nico spoke to each other, they spoke mostly in hushed Italian. Eve couldn’t understand what they were saying but it sounded intense without being heated.

  * * *

  Arriving in Italy, Eve said goodbye to her husband and Edoardo. She got into a cab and waved goodbye. The last thing she saw were Nico’s blue eyes — filled with fear and pride at how courageous she’d been. He knew Eve was just a Boston girl at heart. She knew how to keep herself safe from the terrors of the world, but it wasn’t like her to just jump into danger. Nico knew she’d done it for him. She’d done it to end the repeated horror of his past that never seemed to stop haunting him.

  * * *

  When she arrived at the location, Eve could tell she was being watched. The officers were subtle enough, but she saw straight through Colombo’s disguise. Life in the United States meant Eve could spot a cop a mile away with her eyes closed. She entered the small house where she had announced she’d be having her retreat. Eve slipped into the front door.

  * * *

  She would have expected to feel fear entering a situation like this. She was sure that Luca would be following soon. Someone was informing on them, she knew it in her gut. While Eve couldn’t figure out who could possibly be motivated to do such a thing, someone must have revealed something. It was the only conclusion that made sense given all the evidence.

  * * *

  The hours alone in the house were agitated. Eve fluttered around and tried to avoid contact with Nico and Edoardo just as she’d promised. She needed to seem alone, completely alone. Still, every noise, every creak in the floorboard was starting to drive Eve mad. The longer she stayed in the house alone, the longer she perceived even the most minute things as threatening.

  * * *

  Eve sat down upstairs with a book she’d brought along for the trip. It was hard for Eve to become immersed in the pages of the paperback romance novel when her life was far from a fairytale. Perhaps she’d have her happily ever after, but not until all this mafia drama was finished.

  * * *

  As Eve tried to stomach her way through one of the sex scenes that would have usually excited her, she heard a car outside. Her stomach dropped. Without looking out the window, she knew who it was.

  * * *

  She peered out the window and saw the black car pulling close to the house. Eve’s eyes widened. It had to be Luca. She pulled out her phone and starting dialing the number for Officer Colombo that she was only supposed to use in this exact moment.

  * * *

  He picked up after one ring.

  * * *

  “That’s him. Black SUV.”

  * * *

  Eve hung up and waited, watching from the window. She saw Officer Colombo get out and approach the car. Then, five more cops emerged from places that Eve hadn’t expected. With weapons drawn, they pulled a man out of the front seat of the SUV. Eve breathed a sigh of relief.

  * * *

  It was Luca. The cops had him. Eve pressed her hand against the glass and kept her eyes glued to the scene below so she wouldn’t miss what was happening. Officer Colombo cuffed Luca, and the other officers checked him for further weapons. This was really happening; this would soon all be over.

  * * *

  Rosario Colombo turned Luca around and his eyes gazed upwards towards the house. Eve tried to conceal herself behind the window’s curtain, but it was still like Luca could see right through her. She felt a lump forming in her throat. Luca’s face broke out into a broad smile and Eve could see that he was laughing.

  * * *

  And he kept laughing until Officer Colombo pushed him into the backseat of the undercover cop car. Eve tried to catch her breath, relieved that her plan had worked and that Luca was behind bars. She picked up her phone again and called Nico.

  * * *

  He picked up after a single ring.

  * * *

  “Eve! Are you okay?”

  * * *

  “Yes, yes,” She assured him, “I’m okay.”

  * * *

  “What’s happening?”

  * * *

  “They got him Nico. I think they got him. We’ll have to wait for Rosario to get to the station, but this may be over.”

  * * *

  “We’ll be over there soon.”

  * * *

  “Hurry, this house still gives me the creeps,” Eve said.

  * * *

  She hung up and breathed another sigh of relief. She allowed herself to even crack a smile. Before long, she’d be back in the United States cradling her son in her arms and starting the next chapter of her marriage.

  4

  Guns And Roses

  The house continued to scare Eve. Nico and Edoardo seemed to be taking forever to arrive. There wasn’t much that Eve could do while she waited for them. They weren’t far off but any minute that she was in the house alone felt terrifying. The one thing that comforted Eve was the fact that Luca was behind bars. She’d watched him get into the car with Rosario Colombo, the boyish Italian police officer that had helped them out of the mess they’d gotten into.

  * * *

  And there might not be retribution, but at least there would be justice. There would be justice for the lives lost — if such a thing existed. Eve could unwind knowing that the person who had ruined her wedding would finally be behind bars.

  * * *

  Eve got another call from Nico while she waited.

  * * *

  “Yes?”

  * * *

  “Are you alright?”

  * * *

  “Yes.”

  * * *

  “Edoardo and I are going to take a slight detour.”

  * * *

  “A detour? Why?”

  * * *

  “We need to plan our next move and check in with one of his contacts to ensure it’s safe to leave the country.”

  * * *

  “Okay.”

  * * *

  Nico assured her, “These are just the final parts of the plan. I promise we won’t leave you in that creepy house much longer.

  * * *

  “Thanks. I just want to find out when we can get out of here so I can see Matteo again.”

  * * *

  Nico was silent for a moment.

  * * *

  “I know,” He said finally, “I miss him too. Listen Eve, I’ve got to go.”

  * * *

  “Love you.”

  * * *

  “Love you too.”

  * * *

  He hung up and Eve was left to the house’s silence while she waited for her husband to take this detour. Eve had started to work up the courage to explore the house. It was huge, furnished and seemed like it was built for a family of four. Eve shuddered as she went from room to room. She hadn’t noticed before but each room seemed to be getting colder and colder.

  * * *

  Eve chalked it up to her own nerves. She wanted to get out of this place so badly, that she was imagining a chill following her through the house. The house had this air of mystery and looked both lived in and abandoned. Eve wandered upstairs to the bedrooms again. All three of the bedrooms were immaculately styled with white, navy and a cool grey color. Each bedroom had a massive trunk in it — one of those old school trunks you saw in Harry Potter or in old WWII era films.