by Ava Danielle
“He’s going to propose to her,” I tell Daniel as we walk hand in hand to the beach.
“Where’d you get that idea?”
“He told me earlier.”
“Oh wow. I didn’t see that coming.”
“Neither did I. I think it’s too early,” I say as we sit down in the sand and watch the waves roll in.
“Why?”
“Because they just met,” I lay my head on his shoulder letting the cool breeze from the ocean wave my hair.
“Doesn’t mean they don’t love each other enough to marry,” he has a seriousness in his voice.
I turn my head and look into his eyes.
“Do you think you and I are married material?”
“I think we are whatever we choose to be,” he tries to place a kiss on my lips but I pull back.
“I’m not ready, Daniel,” I whisper.
“And I’m not proposing, so don’t worry,” he kisses the tip of my nose.
“I do love you though,” I reassure him.
“I love you too, baby,” he leans in again and we kiss like we’ve never kissed before. Unfortunately our kiss was broken by the tone of my cell phone ringing.
I answer, “Hello,” and drop the phone after I hear the voice.
If I toss the phone in the water, it will take all my problems away right? They’ll float and be nonexistent. I won’t have to keep worrying and fearing for my life, I won’t have my past catching up to me at every turn. If I toss it in the water and hide under a shell, I will be fine. If I toss it in the water, maybe it’ll kill him like it will kill my phone. Maybe, then, I can put it all behind me.
Daniel takes the phone out of my hands and sees my distress. Without saying a word, he just holds the phone and waits for another call. I’m assuming he’s going to answer it.
“Why?” I ask.
“I don’t know babe, I don’t know. He’s trying to get to you,” he holds me tight.
“Clearly it’s working.”
“I’ll call home tomorrow and see what’s going on,” he tries to comfort me.
He’s in jail. He should be in jail. But how did Ryan get the chance to call me? And who did he get my number from? So many questions are running through my head. I don’t know how to handle all of this.
“I’m ready to go home.” I stand up and Daniel is right behind me.
We head back to the bar and I try to say my goodbye to Katherine, but she’s too focused on Francesco.
“You think we could grab a taxi and just leave the bikes here?” I ask Daniel as we leave the bar.
“Of course. Let me pull out the phone and call them.”
– ### –
Once we get back to the apartment, we make ourselves comfortable on the couch.
“I’m so glad I have you,” I lay my head on his lap as we try to watch some television.
“I’ll always be here for you, babe. I know it’s not easy right now, I know it’s never been easy for us, but we’ll get through this like we do everything else.”
“I’m still trying to figure out why he called.”
“To get in your head,” he says.
“Well he did a good job. Now I’d like to know who gave him my number. When I got back to Italy, I got a new phone and told no one about it. Babe, not even my parents have that number. I wanted to stay away. I wanted to start fresh with you. I wanted us to matter and not have the past sneaking in.”
“I know, and tomorrow morning I’ll get on the phone and figure it out. I promise.”
“I know,” I snuggle into him.
“You’re so beautiful, you know that?” he kisses my forehead.
“You’re pretty handsome yourself. We need to shop for some clothes for you.”
“What? Where’d that come from?”
“My mouth,” I giggle.
“I know that smartass, what’s wrong with the clothes I’m wearing?”
“Nothing’s wrong with them, you need some new stuff,” I reassure him.
“You’re something else. Now let’s do something else with your mouth,” he leans in and tries to kiss me.
“What do you suggest?” I say, struggling to pull back.
“What do you think I’m suggesting?” he leans in and tries to kiss me again.
“I don’t know, you have to be more specific,” I pull back again.
“I’d love to run my tongue across your tongue, taste your lips against mine, and take your breath away. I want to make you moan into my mouth when our tongues touch. I want to kiss you so hard you will never be able to get that taste out of your mouth.”
And with those words, he has me. He has me forever. We kiss until we’re both breathless. We’re kissing so much we both want more. We both want to give each other exactly what we need.
While Daniel starts to take my shirt off, we continue to kiss, when suddenly, I hear the sound of the mandolin. That sound connects us more than I ever admitted. That sound makes me fall in love even more.
“I love you so fucking much,” he whispers as he pulls my bra off with his teeth.
I just sigh and moan. Go figure. The fucking phone interrupts us again. I try to ignore it as much as I can, but Daniel stopped midway and started probing for the phone.
“Don’t worry about it,” I huff.
But he’s already answered it and in rage mode. I’ve never seen that look on his face, not this close to me, and I’m afraid of what he might say or do next. There’s more anger in his eyes than I’ve ever seen. Hell, there’s more anger than I’ve even seen in Ryan’s eyes. Pure fury boils through him. I see it in his fiery eyes and tense face.
I’ve never seen Daniel that angry. I’ve never seen him yell at the phone like he’s doing right now and I honestly hope to never see him like this again.
“What do you mean from someone we know? Stop talking in codes Ryan. Where the fuck did you get this number from? Who gave it to you? No I don’t care. If you ever call back, I’ll make sure you stay in prison forever. Fuck you. Your tactics aren’t working asshole. You ever call her that again I’ll fucking end you!”
He hung up the phone and threw it across the room.
“Son of a bitch,” he screams.
I’m afraid to ask him anything.
“So apparently someone we know, not you know, not I know, but we know, gave him the number.”
“Who do we know?
“I have no fucking clue,” he hisses.
“Don’t yell at me,” I hiss back.
“I’m not trying to. Your boss, your friends, the neighbors, the landlord, so many people,” he counts off with his fingers.
“I don’t think my boss would involve himself with any of this,” I say, defensively.
“I’m not saying he would, but I’m counting people,” he argues.
“Mr. Luciando? I think that one’s funny,” I giggle. “The man can barely speak to us,” I shake my head.
“I know. He can’t be it.”
Confused we stand in the kitchen making some coffee trying to come up with any solution as to who could’ve given Ryan my number. Who would have? Why he’s wasting his time calling and tormenting me makes no sense.
“We need to note this shit for your lawyer,” Daniel says as he pours the water into the coffee machine.
“I know, he’s going to have a field day with this one,” I reach to the cabinet to pull out two mugs.
“Maybe Sabrina or Katherine?” he stands with his back to the counter scratching my back.
“I don’t think so, why would they do that?” I take his hand and he pulls me into him.
“I don’t know. Why would anyone do this?” he kisses my forehead.
“What do we do now?” I ask him, as we both notice the coffee is finished.
“How about we go out tomorrow and just enjoy our time and try to think about something other than what Ryan said,” he says, filling our cups with coffee.
“What do you have in mind?”
“Shopping.�
�
“Shopping Daniel?”
“Yep, shopping. You said I needed new clothes, so let’s go,” he takes a sip of his coffee as he hands me my cup.
– ### –
“Okay, let’s do this.”
“I’m ready,” I stand by the door with the keys in my hand waiting on Daniel to finish.
“What took you so long, babe?” I ask once he finally made it out of bedroom.
“I was finishing up on the phone, sorry.”
“Anything I need to know?” I’m curious.
“No leads yet, but I’m working on it honey,” he kisses my lips as we leave for the day to have a little bit of fun.
– ### –
Clearing your mind and trying to distract yourself is a wonderful idea. If only those questions wouldn’t keep coming about. I’m trying really hard to enjoy myself. I’m trying hard to get my mind off everything. And it’s starting to work when I see Daniel coming out of the fitting room of the local boutique. He’s wearing this strange Hawaiian looking shirt and Bermuda shorts. He looks ridiculous, but funny. Hell, hilarious.
“What on God’s earth are you wearing?” I can’t stop from laughing.
“What are you talking about? I like this.” I walk around the store and find a salmon, button up shirt and on the other rack a sexy pair of white shorts to match perfectly. I hand it over to him.
“This is what you’ll try on now.” I cross my arms.
“Why? I really like this outfit,” he smiles.
“Daniel. Now!”
He smiles and struts back into the fitting room. I continue to walk around the boutique to find more clothes. I find the women’s section and browse through some of their stunning dresses. Turning around the corner, I hear Katherine’s voice, she’s talking to someone. As I ease over to her, to say hi to my friend, I overhear something I wish I didn’t. It doesn’t make any sense.
“Love you, too, Ryan.” she says as I tap her on the shoulder.
Katherine jumps at my touch and drops the phone to the floor. As she leans down to pick it up, she never once takes her eyes off me.
“Who were you on the phone with?” I ask her shocked.
“My brother. What you doing here Sophia? I love this boutique, it’s so quaint isn’t it.”
“I didn’t know you had a brother.” I remark, not showing any emotion.
“Yeah, I don’t talk about him much, we don’t really get along,” she tries to walk away.
“Oh I see. Where does he live?”
“Geez, Sophia, what’s with all the questions?” she heads to the register to pay for a shirt she’s carrying.
“Babe, where are you?” I hear Daniel screaming from the other end of the boutique.
“Looks like you’re in the middle of something, give me a call later, we need to get together. Francesco has some new drinks on the menu. See you Sophia.” With that, she flees the store.
“Where have you been?” Daniel asks as he checks himself out in the mirror.
“It was Katherine,” I say to him.
“What was?”
“That gave Ryan my number.” He looks at me, stunned.
“Where are you getting this?”
“She said ‘love you, too, Ryan,’ when she hung up her phone.” I mumble.
“Wait. Did you just see Katherine? Did she tell you that?”
“Not in so many words. She was trying to change the subject when I asked her who Ryan is. She said it was her brother. But what are the odds that she has a brother named Ryan?”
“We will check into that when we get back. I promise. Let me go change.” He places a soft kiss on my lips before disappearing into the fitting room.
I roam back and forth, no longer in shopping mood. This can’t be right. Katherine doesn’t know much about what happened. We’re friends, but we’re not that close. I gave her a sob story as to why it took forever for Daniel and me to have a real relationship, and she bought it. That’s because she seemed naïve, or doesn’t really care. She’s my party girl. She wouldn’t care what our lives are other than partying. I can’t believe she has a brother named Ryan and the Ryan I know suddenly calls me from prison the day before I learn of her “brother.” None of this makes sense, and I need to find out the truth. This is stupid. All of this is stupid. I don’t know what to think anymore.
“You ready?” Daniel asks, bringing me back to reality.
“Let’s go.” I grab his hand as we leave the store.
This trip was supposed to be a fun distraction. Instead it turned into a ton more questions. I hope Daniel still has enough connections back home to get some answers. Not knowing scares me. I don’t trust Ryan. I never have. Even with him behind bars, I don’t feel safe. I don’t even feel safe in the country I so desperately ran away to, to be safe. I don’t know whether I should run again or stay and face my fears.
– ### –
Once we get back to the apartment, Daniel is on the phone for most of the afternoon. I sit on the couch trying to unwind by watching television and eating gelato. I want to so desperately believe this isn’t all connected. In the back of my mind, I have a feeling it is, and that worries me. All this time Katherine was my friend. Was she really my friend?
“You won’t believe this,” Daniel comes around the corner and shows me a piece of paper with all sorts of information and I’m dumbfounded.
Google search is the best thing in the world. You can look anything up and find article after article. You can look people up and be surprised what you find. You should look up people you’ve just met, not so much to spy, but to figure them out or know their past. That way, when they tell you something, you’ll know if it’s a lie or if they are sincere. I should’ve done that with every one new I met here. I should’ve done that with my employer, my friends, and my landlord. But, I didn’t. In fact, I pretended that with coming here, everything would be great. I figured coming here, across the world from Seattle, everything in my previous life would disappear. I had hoped that anything to do with Ryan would fade into oblivion. But, it was the opposite. My past sought me out, and found me, on the other side of the globe.
“So, you’re saying that Katherine has been here spying on me since the beginning?”
“She was Ryan’s right hand, telling him anything and everything you were doing when you two were together partying,” Daniel sits down next to me on the couch while he explains some of the things on the note that I’m staring at.
“I was supposed to die,” I sigh.
“And everyone here that you know would’ve pretended to your family, you’re still alive.”
“Daniel, that means my entire life here, the last few years, is all a lie?”
“Something like that,” he tells me.
“What about Mr. Luciando? Do you think he has anything to do with this?”
“I don’t think, per se, he just happened to have an apartment available. He’s pretty oblivious to it all.” He starts to trail off, “Mr. Ellison hired you. Ryan found him and gave him a sob story about you coming to Italy and how he felt bad for you so he made sure he found the perfect family to hire you. Believe it or not, they are related.”
“How so?”
“Cousins of some sort, that’s the confusing part, because Katherine is Ryan’s stepsister and for some strange reason, she’s also somehow related to the Ellisons.”
“I’m so confused, Daniel.” I sob, tears rolling down my face.
“I know babe, I know. Ryan and Katherine are stepsiblings, but in a relationship. Ryan has been infatuated with you since High School.” He tries to put all the puzzle pieces together.
“I know all that, but what’s that have to do with Katherine?”
“Their relationship got serious, but you got in the way. So I think Katherine gave him an easy out.”
“None of this makes sense, Daniel. Why would she pretend to be my friend?”
“To keep tabs on you, so when Ryan came, he could have his way with you and fin
ish you off. Then she could finally be with him without you in the picture. Pretty much helping him get what he wanted, so she could keep him.”
“That’s absurd,” I start to get angry.
“Is it? Do you think he would’ve killed you had I not came in?”
“How do I know you’re not in on all this too?”
“We’re not going back to that babe, I love you and will do everything to protect you. I’m not the evil one here.” He makes that clear. Maybe I should give him the benefit of the doubt and believe him.
“You’re right. So why now? Why is he calling me?”
“To make sure Katherine is keeping an eye out on you maybe?”
“That’s just stupid. Is everyone out to get me or something?”
“I think so, Ryan seems to have them all wrapped around his finger. Maybe he’s blackmailing them.” Daniel gets up and starts to pace back and forth, “Whatever the reason, I think we need to get out of here,” he adds.
“Out of here, where? Italy? Sorrento?”
“Yeah.” He sits back down next to me and hugs me tight.
“You think I’m in danger here?”
“I honestly do. If she’s still pretending to be your friend and spending time actually telling Ryan about you, she may know people that’ll finish what he never could.”
“This sounds like a stupid Lifetime movie.” I try to lighten to situation.
“But it’s not Sophia, this is your life, our life.”
He’s right. Maybe we do need to leave, and not say a word to anyone. Because if anyone found out we were leaving, who knows what they might do.
“Where to?”
“Wherever you want,” he takes my hand, “I’m serious, baby. We do need to get out of here. Once she realizes you’ve figured it out, since you overheard her conversation, who knows what she’ll do.”
“I guess. Let’s pack.” I get up and head to the bedroom.
I remember the first day when I moved into this apartment. It was a mess. But it was quaint. When I added my own little flair, I could’ve sworn I was in my new haven. All I wanted was to have a quiet and easy life. I wanted to forget everything. Coming here, I had expected this to be a sanctuary. I wanted a calm life, I wanted love, a good job, and I got all that, but none of it was real. If I didn’t have Daniel here, if I hadn’t had Daniel here then, I might not even be around anymore. I have him to thank for my life. Everything I still have, I owe it to Daniel. I should be thankful instead of paranoid. After trusting so many people and being completely betrayed by them, I don’t know if trusting Daniel is such a good idea. I’m still willing to go with him, to get away from here. But I feel held back. And, there’s worry throughout me.