Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 92071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
“Can I fix up my room? I’ll be sleeping here for a while longer, won't I?”
Sarah looked confused. “Fix up your room?”
“Yeah. With paint … maybe change up the furniture a bit. Get rid of that hideous ceiling fan or at least clean it?”
She considered my words and then frowned, and I could see that I must sound like an idiot to her. I didn’t know how to explain to her that the house had a strange effect on me. Perhaps it was from the old wood, but I constantly felt like I was surrounded by death and I couldn’t take it.
It was going to drive me over the edge.
“Please,” I said when I saw that her contemplation was taking longer. “Maybe I can give you a list of what I need and some money so you can buy it for me?”
She smiled. “Okay.”
I smiled back and went to sit on the veranda in the backyard. I wished I could reach out to Dante. I missed him terribly. I had thought I would forget him, but as the days passed the longing for him became more and more intense.
Those two nights in London replayed endlessly in my head.
Chapter 37
Dante
Icouldn’t get Zola out of my mind.
I couldn’t reach her, or see her, and night after night, I couldn’t push away the memory of her in my arms. I woke up in a heated sweat with the memory of her skin and its taste on my tongue and my heart racing out of control. She mattered to me, more than any woman probably ever had. So much more was at stake. It felt as though I had carelessly given up control of my family’s well-being to the government and it wasn’t something I could stomach. Yet there was nothing I could do.
My men had sent me long-range photos of her painting her bedroom. Given the sorry state of the house they had put her in, she must have taken it upon herself to handle it.
The program had always been known for its low budget, but the less-than-stellar effort got on my nerves. To start with they shouldn’t have moved her to a house in the middle of nowhere. It would have made far more sense to hide her in a high-rise where security could be monitored at all times and access could be easily restricted.
Where she was, and without my men guarding her, she was a sitting duck.
Ugo had always lived in a fortress-like home, and since the announcement of the trial, he hardly ever left his residence and had made the security around him even more impenetrable. We were two adversaries circling each other. Both could not survive this battle. It was either him or me.
One thing I knew for sure. While he was alive Zola would never be safe. I was certain, just like me, Ugo knew exactly where she was, but he was biding his time. He was one of the most patient men I knew. He never forgot an insult and he always got his revenge.
His preferred strategy was to wait in hiding and then strike with a single, fatal blow. One day, when she was least expecting it, he would attack and no matter how many detectives were guarding her, he would kill her.
Chapter 38
Zola
“Could you please order me another tin of the sunny yellow paint?”
Sarah put her ham sandwich down and smiled broadly. “Actually, how about we drive you over to the local store and you can get it yourself?”
I stared at her. “What?”
She shrugged. “It’s not far and it’s a small, family-owned business. We’ll be able to take you there and make sure nothing happens to you.”
I frowned at her, certain she was joking.
“I know you’re nervous but we have things under control. We have extra reinforcements and are ready in case anything goes wrong. It’ll be good to do a test run before your day in court.”
Put like that it didn’t seem as crazy as it had when I had first heard it. A drive out would do me good. After they finished their ham sandwiches I got into the back of the SUV with them.
We were about fifteen minutes into our trip when the nightmare started. Our vehicle was suddenly and violently slammed off the road. The car spun around as if in slow motion and I began to scream. Matthew and Sarah were shouting something in a panic.
Then the sounds of gunfire started.
My heart started racing. It was Ugo. Without a doubt, I knew it was Ugo. He had found me. Matthew and Sarah were pulling out their guns and radioing their colleagues. I stared at their panicked faces. How lazily confident they had been when they were eating their ham sandwiches and how horribly terrified their white faces were now.
I couldn’t believe what was happening. I felt as though I had been dunked underwater, the world around me turned into a haze of chaos and despair, but suddenly I was pulled right back out to the surface.