by Evie Adams
I didn't want to, but I was starving. I ate ravenously.
“See,” he said. “I can be very nice. I can treat you like a guest, or I can send you back to your room without heat or food. I'm not without kindness, but how kind I am depends on how kind you are.”
I ate and said nothing but I knew what he was getting at.
“I could set you up in the nice room. You'll still have a guard, but for your protection, not a jail keeper. All I ask is you consider the marriage alliance. It makes sense for the both of us. For both our families. It'll be a political alliance. And over time you will be free to live your own life. But not at first. At first you will be my dutiful wife. That is not negotiable. But in time, you can do what you like, within reason. You'll have to help me get control over your family, but I don't think that will be too hard.”
I spoke as I ate. “We've been a family longer than you have. We've been in Harlem longer than your family has been in this country. I don't see any way my father would go for this.”
“Your father will. He wants to see you married and with someone to take over for him. He wants to see stability in his family and this gives him that. But you do have to agree or at least appear to agree.”
“Not easy when I’m being tortured.”
“Tortured? That’s not what this is. This is encouragement. You don’t want to see torture. We really don't need you very much at all. But if you would act like you enjoy yourself, maybe you will. I'm not a monster. But I can be one.”
“What do you mean?”
“Pictures of us on social media as a start. To calm Ezrah's fears over you. Let him see us happy and enjoying life and he'll warm to the idea. You have him wrapped around your finger in everything else, I'm sure it'll be the same in this.”
Not likely. He's old school. I said nothing.
“In fact we've already started. You sleeping, you eating, lounging around in that robe. You're already having a wonderful time here as far as anyone knows.”
It was a smart plan. Even if I said no, they could get pictures of me, just like they had been doing. They could even photo shop me happy and enjoying myself. But there were limits. If I agreed, maybe there was a chance I could send my own private messages through it. Something only me and Ezrah knew. A signal.
“I'll need some clothes then.”
“Of course. Anything you want.”
“Purple. Get me anything and everything purple.”
“I like purple. Done.”
“Anything else?” I asked. I didn't want to be in the same room with him any longer than I had to be.
“Do you really think you can turn Luca's head? He doesn't care much for women, and he's my most loyal man. You won't get any help there.”
“I don't expect any. I'm on my own, I know that.”
“You know he killed a girl right? A girl who was interested in me when we were younger?”
“I heard rumors,” I answered.
“He has these jealous fits, I keep him because he's loyal and because he's family, but don't think he wouldn't kill you in one of his rages. He would.”
I didn't answer that I didn't believe him. That maybe I didn't trust Luca, but he had done more to deserve my trust than Elio.
“Of course I saw something between you two. I'm not an idiot. But if anything were to happen how do you think I'd treat him? If I thought I had to be jealous I could easily have something happen to him. Some accident. Some terrible misfortune. Remember that.”
I was moved to the luxurious room with the soft bed and warm robe. And I had so much purple clothes delivered that I thought I might throw up.
But I hoped the purple would be a signal to Ezrah and anybody else who actually knew me. They would know whatever pictures and text they saw was a lie. Not something I did on my own. Something I did because I feared for my life. I wasn't sure purple could communicate all of that, but I hoped it would.
I dressed in one of the more modest purple dresses. Purple was my chains and I know that was silly but it would remind me that I was playing a part. Not that being around Elio I could forget.
I hadn't seen Luca around for days. I thought about him a lot. His face haunted my dreams. My skin exploded when I remembered his arms around me and that tenderness that can’t be faked. I looked for him but he wasn’t here.
If he had been here I'm not sure what he could have done. He was no help to me despite his promises. He promised to protect me and had not. I couldn't trust him.
Aside from the purple, life was comfortable, but lonely. I had no friends only the guard outside. Elio kept inviting me to dinner and on the boat and outside into the pool. But I never went with him. I didn't want to give them the chance to get more pictures of us together. I knew he could anyways but I didn't want to make it easy for him.
After three or four days of this, there was word that there would be a big party the next day. I watched caterers and event people set up tents and tables all over the lawn. If I hadn't been alone for so many days maybe I would've stayed in my room. But I couldn't watch a party from my room after so many days alone.
That night I dressed up in purple and accepted Elio's invitation. I had to walk out to the party on his arm, but that price was worth it.
I walked out on Elio's arm, and everything looked like a normal rich person's cocktail party. We walked and shook hands with guests in pastel linen suits. Waiters brought drinks to us in their tuxedoes. I felt almost normal.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw someone staring at us.
Staring at me.
It was Luca. He was furious.
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CHAPTER 19 - LUCA
When I saw her I didn't recognize her. She seemed to glide down the stairs, not walk like the rest of us. She had elegance and grace, no longer the dirty faced angry woman that I had known. She was changed.
I was only here because I was ordered to be here. Just like I had been ordered to go away on that job. That stupid, dangerous job I never should have been on. We lost one man and I was lucky to come back in one piece.
It didn't help that my head was clouded by seeing Nina in pictures by the pool, wearing a bikini, drinking cocktails, eating on a balcony under the moonlight, all of them side by side with Elio.
The worst was her sleeping, bundled in blankets. The man behind the camera taking that picture twisted my stomach and made my blood boil.
Part of me was glad that she was happy and comfortable and Elio hadn’t harmed her. But a larger part of me was furious. I didn't blame her. I didn't blame Elio. It was exactly like he said, she had come around, had decided to do her duty. Do what was best for her family. But this anger with no one to blame, with no focus, this amorphous anger following me around like a loyal little dog was driving me crazy.
She was over me in a day maybe less. And all I had was this jealousy and anger that had no use and no purpose.
I met her eyes and expected a cool look, maybe a slight nod of recognition. But her face crumbled in surprise as she looked at me, surprise turned to torment. She looked away as she was introduced to somebody else and I studied her.
This was not the woman I knew at all. This wasn’t Nina Brown.
This woman was uneasy, scared, nervous. An actress playing a role. Even when she was scared with me there was that defiance under it. That was gone now.
None of this was her choice. She played her role out of fear. I wasn't sure if anybody else could see that in her but I knew her. This was not her.
That changed everything.
I was happy at first, but I didn't have time to feel bad about that. I had my promises to keep. My anger changed into a consuming urge to protect her. I was no longer unfocused and without purpose.
I tried to go talk to her privately but she was always surrounded by Elio and his men. They never left her side and she could never get away to be alone even though she tried a half-dozen times. I followed them, w
aiting for my chance. Maybe I was imagining all of this. Hoping it was true. I needed to talk to her and find out for sure.
Finally Elio was dragged away to talk business in private.
She was alone.
Her face changed again when I went up to her, she put on a cold, rigid face, not her own. “Luca,” she said coolly. “I thought you had left. What brought you back?”
You. Your face. This feeling in my heart. “Because I thought you might need my help. But from the pictures of you enjoying your new life, your new alliance, I wasn't sure.”
“Do they show me dressed in purple?” She asked desperately, her own face showing through briefly.
“What? I don't remember your clothes, only your face. It might have been purple. Why the hell would that matter?”
She debated how to answer me in a pause, weighed whether she could trust me in a moment. She looked up at me, her big brown eyes watery, “People who know me know I hate purple. Know that it would never be my choice.” She almost lost all control of herself I could tell by her eyes and her voice and whatever resistance I had crumbled. The urge to protect her was overwhelming. I wrapped my arms around her and held her against me as she cried.
“Stop,” she said and tore herself away. She put on her actress face again, “You shouldn’t hold me like that. Not ever. You shouldn’t even be talking to me. I don't want to see you again.”
Was she was playing a game with me? “You have to stop being crazy. What's wrong with you?”
Her face wavered, she seemed on the edge of crying again. “You have to trust me. You have to go away. Don’t come to see me again.” She turned to walk away, but I grabbed her hand and pulled her towards me.
I wanted to kiss her then slap her. But I knew she didn’t mean her words. Part of the act again. She couldn’t hide that from me, maybe everybody else in the world believed it, but not me. There wasn’t enough time for her to explain. I knew what I had to do. “I'll come for you tonight. I'll keep my promise and take you home. Tonight. Be ready for me.”
She leaned back but didn’t let go of my hand, she looked at me peacefully for far too long. She pulled herself towards me and leaned forward for a kiss, a chaste, innocent kiss. A sweet kiss. I didn’t want a sweet kiss. I pulled her closer and held her against me. I captured her mouth and pressed my tongue against her lips as they parted easily.
Then I let her go, before the point I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from being even more stupid. Before I risked both our lives.
I knocked on the library door.
There was no answer.
I pounded the base of my palm against it until one of Elio's men opened it. I pushed past him.
Elio sat at the long table with a couple of his men around him. “Luca, thank god.” He said and stood up to meet me. “I heard the job went badly I'm so glad you’re alright.”
“Are you?”
His face turned to shock, “Of course I am, what kind of a question is that?”
He was a good liar, practiced and expert. He believed every word he said and usually I believed them too. But not this time. “I should have never been sent on a job like that with amateurs.”
“I know Luca, but the state of the family is what it is. There aren't many men I can trust.”
“But you trust these idiots?” I waved my hand at the men around him.
“They're paid for. I can trust people whose loyalty I can buy. It's everyone else I worry about.”
“I won't ever move against you Elio, but I'm taking Nina back to her family. I made a promise to her and I'm keeping it. You trust these idiots around you but not me. This time you'll have to trust me. It's the right move if we want to avoid war. I'm doing it whether you like it or not.”
“You put a woman before your family?”
“This one yes. But this is for my family too. For your own good.”
“I knew this day would come Luca. I knew it and I kept you around anyways. I'm sentimental I guess. But family comes first.”
The man behind me threw me to the ground.
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CHAPTER 20 - NINA
I waited for him.
I waited and waited and waited and waited some more. I stayed awake and tried to pack but there wasn't anything I wanted to take with me except Luca.
I waited and as the sun was rising, a new day with infinite possibilities, there was a knock. Perfect timing. My heart leapt as I opened the door and it quickly sank. “Elio?”
“Expecting someone else?” he asked as he walked by me into the room. He inspected my clothes and bed, “Nothing packed,” he said and turned back to me. “Luca is not coming for you. He came to me and confessed everything, I told you he was my most loyal man.”
“Where is he?”
“Gone. He left this morning in disgrace. Loyal to neither you or me it seems. I'm not sure what I'll do with him yet. But I guess that depends on you.”
“He left?”
“Staying was not an option. He couldn't trust himself around you.” He walked towards me and touched my face with his finger, his fingertip tracing the edge of my jaw, “I'm beginning to see why.”
I stepped away from him and his disgusting touch.
“I can't trust him anymore either of course. But that leaves room for me and you doesn't it? I know we haven't gotten off to a very good start, but our alliance is political. We don't need to love each other, only do what's best for both our families.”
Luca left me alone with this monster. The coward. But there was no time to mourn or hate. “So what now?” I asked him.
“Now we go for a boat ride. The day is clear, I hope to meet your father out, if you can play the part, if not, then we'll wait for that meeting. But I think you're ready to play your part right? Accepting this is what's best?”
“Yes.” I answered him and almost believed it.
“I'll let you get ready. Take your time.”
Abandoned and alone with a purple swimsuit, I had nothing but the hope to meet my family and see Elio pay.
Luca did what he had to do. Nothing more. That was all he could do. I felt sorry for him more than anything. He was weak and loyal and I hoped I would never see him again. I would have to rescue myself since no one else was going to do it.
When I was ready, I walked out to the boat. The sun didn't seem as bright or as happy as it did at dawn. It was me and Elio and two of his men on the boat.
The sound was calm and quiet, very few boats out, the water choppy and small 2-3 foot waves, the wind was biting and cold. We drove and I didn't see more than three boats the whole time.
I thought I noticed a little boat that seemed to follow us. It would come close than veer off out and circle back. I could barely make it out it was so far off, but I did recognize the purple running line across its hull. I wasn't certain it was Ezrah's boat, but it could be. That could was enough to take a chance. I would take a leap of faith on just that. Just the chance.
“Can I drive?” I asked Elio.
“Do you know how?” he asked skeptically.
“Of course.”
He mulled it over and agreed, “Drive towards the city. I have a surprise for you.”
He left me with one of his men and went down stairs with the other one. The man paid no attention to me but I paid attention to him. He had no idea what he was doing on a boat. He held the rail to steady himself instead of letting his legs compensate for the waves. His face was gray, almost greenish like he was going to be sick.
I steered the boat into the waves so they rocked the boat even more and his face turned green and he began to sweat as he held on tighter.
He looked ahead instead of focusing on something close to him, something that didn't move relative to him to trick his eyes and body into thinking he wasn't bouncing around. An old trick to stop motion sickness.
I steered the boat towards a red can and he said nothing, still gripping the b
oat and trying to settle his stomach. When he leaned against the railing to get sick over the side, I was ready. This was my chance. I slammed the throttle forward and headed towards the red can and the rocks underneath.
He turned back to me when I steered the boat off course but fell backwards when I punched the throttle, all he could do was hang on.
I would jump just before we hit the rocks, hopefully the boat would sink like a stone with everyone on it.
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CHAPTER 21 - LUCA
They had stopped asking questions hours ago, but continued beating me. I was tied to a chair and Elio appeared in front of me. “Can he even walk up stairs?” He asked his man.
“I can walk. I can kill you if you untie me.”
“Can isn't the same as will,” he answered smugly. “Then we'll have you walk upstairs and show you off to Nina before we kill you. That should destroy any more thoughts of you saving her, any more ideas of rebellion in her. She'll have no way out and when we kill her father that will be the end of it.”
Maybe I could pull him over with me on deck, Nina would like to see that. Maybe she would smile at me. I had enough strength left in me to pull him over but nothing after that.
“So that's it, you'll just kill me?”
“No, of course not. But your story ends here. That’s all you really need to know.”
“Just don't hurt Nina, that's all I want.”
His eyes narrowed to focus on me. “Maybe I'll take Nina in front of you before you go.”
I tried to jump up at him but he held me down with one hand. He was as strong as I was, a lot stronger now in my weakened condition but this murderous rage in me could over power him if I could get to him.
“If you had left David to do his thing we wouldn't be here. I expected David to rape her, maybe he would have killed her too, he was known to go too far sometimes. That's why I hired him. It wasn't an accident or a mistake. The mistake was having you show up to meet him. You screwed it all up by saving her. But you can’t save her anymore. This new plan is almost as good. She dies but not before I take her in front of you. Then you die too. And the story goes you raped her and killed her. You have a history of those things you know.”