Eva stares at me, her gaze uncertain.
“Marianne’s is just down the road. Adrian is very familiar with her restaurant, as you know. He could just as easily have guessed that you would send me there and he could be there waiting.”
Her theory sends my heart thumping against my ribs because she’s right. It’s just the kind of plan that Adrian would make. He’d target Eva to get to me.
Eva can see my hesitation and pounces on it.
“Just come with me,” she pleads. “We’ll leave here together while they search the property. Please.”
Eva never begs and to see her do it now completely does me in.
I nod curtly and she quickly climbs over the center console, allowing me to sit in the driver’s seat. I rev the engine and we are barreling down the road within a minute. As I drive, I call the head of my security.
“Oliver, Chessarae has been breached.”
I quickly explain what we found and that Adrian must be on property.
“I’m taking Eva to a secure location until Chessarae has been searched. Don’t call the police. As Damien explained to you, we’re handling this situation ourselves. You know what to do if you find Adrian.”
Oliver assures me that everything will be taken care of and we hang up.
Eva stares at me from the passenger seat.
“What is he supposed to do with him?”
I stare at the road, concentrating very hard on the blurs of the trees as we race past them.
“Nothing you want to know about,” I finally answer.
She doesn’t say anything, but continues to stare at me. I ignore it for a minute or two, but finally have to address it.
“What?” I ask. “You feel badly for Adrian?”
She shakes her head.
“Of course not. I just didn’t expect you to acquiesce so easily back at the house. I’m happy you did, but I’m surprised that you agreed to leave with me.”
I shrug. “I didn’t want to. But I’ve dragged you into a bad situation. The least I can do is honor your wishes. You had an excellent point- Adrian is probably counting on me to send you away alone. And he might very well be waiting for you. He’ll use you against me if he can.”
I feel oddly detached from life right now, as the trees and the road and my life at Chessarae blur behind me. I’m not worried or afraid or even angry that Adrian has chased me from my home. I’m numb and I’m tired. The one and only emotion I have is a worry for Eva.
“The only thing that matters is keeping you safe,” I continue. “If I must personally carry you off to safety, I’ll do it. I’ll have to trust Oliver to manage Chessarae.”
“Where are we going?” Eva changes the subject, turning to stare out the window. “This isn’t the way to the airport.”
“No,” I agree. “It’s not. Adrian could just as easily be waiting for us there. Or at the ferry. We’re going someplace else, someplace that no one would guess we would go.”
Eva doesn’t even ask where. She simply settles into her seat and leans her head against my shoulder. She doesn’t complain, she doesn’t whine. She simply waits to see where I’m taking her. Her trust in me is implicit. It’s a knowledge that guts me because I’m quite sure I don’t deserve it.
Ten minutes later, I pull into the isolated driveway of Fort St. Elmo. The abandoned stone walls fold in around us, providing an air of mystery and a haunting feeling of solitude.
Eva glances up at me. “Um. Is it wise to come someplace so isolated?”
“How do we know what’s wise anymore?” I answer tiredly. “We’re in a situation where we can’t enlist the help of the polizia. We can’t involve anyone we know because we don’t want to endanger them. The only thing we can do tonight is to try and keep ourselves safe. When Adrian isn’t expecting us to leave the island, we’ll leave. Or we’ll return to Chessarae with more security. Either way, we can’t do either or those things tonight. So we’ll come here. I’m an investor in the campaign to refurbish the fort as a tourist venue. Even if someone discovers us here, they won’t question our presence. There are a few quarters finished. We’ll stay in one.”
I pull the car into a stone tunnel where we glide out of sight, down a passageway that is truly meant for pedestrians. The Jaguar doesn’t hesitate, however, it just rolls over the uneven cobblestones like it was made for it.
I pull into a darkened area in front of the finished living quarters. From here, we can see tips of the granaries and the bastions in the distance, but there’s a feeling of security here. We’re surrounded by solid stone in a place that was built to withstand attack. If we’re not safe here, I can’t imagine where we would be.
As we get out of the car, Eva looks around. “What exactly is this place?”
I help her into the building, through a heavy wooden door. “The knights of Malta built this fort in the sixteenth century. It sits on twenty-eight acres and has withstood the forces of time… even with no refurbishment whatsoever. They’re planning to fix it for tourist reasons.”
“Adrian doesn’t know you’re investing in this?” Eva glances at me as we walk down an ancient corridor. With each step, the new lights come on, sensing our motion.
“No, he doesn’t. This is a new project for me. I just signed on a month ago. I hadn’t even mentioned it to you.”
She nods, satisfied by this and I lead her into an office with an attached bedroom. The lights come on and we look around.
“This is where the foreman of the project will live,” I tell her. “The project will take a couple of years to finish, so the project manager needs to stay onsite. I promise you that we’ll be safe here tonight.”
“I’m not worried,” Eva tells me solemnly. I stop and raise an eyebrow.
“Why not?”
“Because I’m with you. Although, I do wish we’d thought to bring Grendel.”
Me too. Knowing that he was here, patrolling these dark halls would be a welcome comfort.
“We’ll be fine,” I assure her.
The foreman’s quarters are sparse because he hasn’t taken residence yet, but there’s a bed with linens, a kitchenette that looks like it has been recently stocked with water and non-perishables, and a desk with writing supplies.
“What shall we do to kill the time?” Eva asks as she settles into a chair at the small table. “I see some wine on the counter.”
“Well, you know Valetta. We wouldn’t be caught dead without wine,” I joke weakly as I stride across the room to get it. “There aren’t any glasses though.”
Eva shrugs. “We’ll share the bottle. We can pretend we’re hobos.”
I chuckle at the thought, then open the bottle and hand it to her. She sniffs at it.
“A very good year,” she announces, waving it around. I raise my eyebrow again.
“Oh?”
She nods seriously. “Yes. Last year. The year I met you.”
A lump forms in my throat but I ignore it. I should argue that meeting me might’ve ruined her life, but I don’t. Eva takes a gulp, hands me the bottle and I take a swig as well.
“What are we going to do, Luca?” she murmurs, grabbing my fingers from across the table. “We need to make a plan. We can’t live in fear any longer. We can see now that even Chessarae isn’t impenetrable. We have to be proactive. We can travel to the States and get you in a clinic… we’ll figure out the poisons in your bloodstream and get you de-toxed from them… we’ll—“
“No.”
My voice sounds cold and harsh in the quiet little room and Eva’s head snaps up, her hair very red in the darkness.
“No?” She sounds stricken.
I shake my head as I stare at her, as I soak in her beauty. Even here, in this dimly lit room and ravaged by the effects of stress and little-to-no sleep, she’s stunning. Her skin is luminescent, her eyes wide and clear. A decision forms itself in my gut, a hard and painful decision. I speak the words before I can talk myself out of it.
“Eva, you have such pr
omise. You’re so bright and ambitious, so full of hope and optimism. You will go on to do great things, amazing things. But you won’t be able to do those with me. You can’t be tied to me any longer. I’m releasing you now—and you have to go. Tomorrow, at first light, I’ll take you to the airport and send you home. You have to go. You must.”
Each word carves itself from my throat like a scalpel, the pain of each one etching into my flesh as though I’m cutting them with a blade. Eva is frozen, horrified. Silent.
Her pink mouth opens in a perfect O and she shakes her head back and forth, unable to even reply.
“No,” she finally manages, her voice caught in her throat. “No. I’m not leaving and you don’t mean it. Luca, you are my home. I already told you that. I don’t want to be anywhere where you are not. Come to the States with me. We’ll be safe there. We’ll live happily and we’ll be together. That’s all that matters.”
I wish I could listen to her, to believe that what she says is true, but I know that it isn’t possible. For me, living happily ever after will never be a possibility.
I stare at her, meeting her gaze unflinchingly.
“Eva, you know it isn’t possible, not without endangering you. Adrian is insane. He’ll follow me to the ends of the earth to cause me pain and misery. The easiest way for him to do so is to target you. I know him. I know him better than anyone, and I know that’s what he’ll do. I’ll never endanger you in such a way. I should’ve been less selfish and made this decision before… but I couldn’t bear the thought. But now that he’s breached Chessarae… what if… instead of a cat, it had been you in that mausoleum? I can’t take that chance. We were lucky once. We can’t tempt fate again.”
Eva stands up and flutters around the room, nervously pacing.
“I can’t let you make this decision unilaterally, Luca,” she protests. “If I’m in so much danger, the decision should be mine. And I choose you. I will always choose you.”
She looks at me in such desperation that my heart wants to voluntarily stop beating at the pain in her eyes. But it only serves to steel my determination. I must stop causing her pain. It’s the only thing that is still in my control.
“That’s why I’m taking the decision away from you, my love,” I tell her softly. “Even now, you are in danger. Not from Adrian, but because you are isolated with me. What if I have an episode tonight… here, far from my safe room? You would be vulnerable. I could hurt you. And for that, I’d never forgive myself. We both know what the answer must be. You know it and I know it.”
Eva reaches for me, her fingers cold and shaking.
“No.”
“Yes.”
She collapses into my lap, molding herself to me, pulling my face to hers.
“Luca, I mean it when I say that you are my life. I can’t imagine living without you and I don’t want to. You are my home. I’d face hell with you. I’d walk through it and fight against it… as long as you are with me. Nothing else matters. Only you. And me. Together. I haven’t stayed with you through all of this only to leave you now.”
She beseeches me with wet eyes, pulling my lips to hers. Hers are trembling and soft and the very idea of being away from her kills me. But the idea of keeping her in danger is equally painful.
I hold her close, allowing her to cry against my chest as I stroke her back.
“Don’t cry,” I murmur into her hair. “We’ll sort this out. Let’s not talk of it any longer tonight. Go to sleep and I’ll hold you. You need the rest.”
She clutches my shirt in her fingers, as though she’s afraid I’ll leave her while she sleeps.
“I’m here,” I tell her firmly. “I promise. I won’t leave you. Sleep now. Before you know it, it will be tomorrow and we’ll decide what to do.”
“There is no deciding,” she insists, her voice muffled against my chest. “I know what we’ll do. We’ll fight through this together, like we always do.”
I stay silent, but I tighten my hold on her.
Can we? Can we continue on as we are? Constantly looking over our shoulder, constantly worried that Adrian will breach our home?
I don’t know that I can.
Even after Eva finally falls asleep, I stay alert, watching the door. I’ll never allow him to hurt her.
Whatever it takes to keep her safe, I’ll do it.
Without question.
Chapter Five
Eva
When I wake, I find Luca still holding me. His body is tense and he is alert, although his eyes are tired.
“You didn’t sleep,” I observe. He brushes the hair from my face with a slender hand but doesn’t admit that I’m right.
“Oliver called while you were sleeping,” he says instead. “There’s no sign of Adrian. We can go home.”
“How did he get in?” I ask as I pull away and stretch. Luca shakes his head.
“It looks like the fence might’ve been climbed at the front. How he got in without being noticed is beyond me. But we’re installing more cameras and Oliver is hiring five more guards. It’s all we can do. You and I must decide if we’ll stay… or if we’ll go.”
“We?” I can hear the hope in my own voice. “You can see that we need to stay together?”
Luca’s gaze is dark and stormy and fathomless.
“I can see that I can’t bear to let you go. But I will keep you safe, Eva. We’ll settle on a plan once we get back to Chessarae. Damien is there waiting for us. As you know, he’s been hunting for Adrian. He came because I wasn’t sure how long I’d need to stay away with you, and now he’ll stay to help us decide what to do.”
My heart leaps as I hear the resignation in his voice. He listened to me. Despite our situation, it buoys me. The sheer knowledge that he isn’t giving up fills me with hope.
The ride to Chessarae is quiet and when we arrive, we find Damien in Luca’s study, waiting for us.
Damien stands up and like always, I am slightly shocked at how much they look alike. Tall and lithe, dark and handsome. They could pass as twins, and they look very like their mother, with their dark eyes and hair. Damien’s eyes are serious now as he kisses both of my cheeks and examines me.
“You are both fine?” he asks anxiously, looking from Luca back to me. Luca nods as he takes Damien’s glass of scotch and downs it in a gulp. I sigh as I glance at the clock. It’s barely 9am.
“We’re fine,” I tell him. “Shaken up, but unhurt. How did this happen? Where do you think he is? You see now that he’s alive, right? Luca was right all along.”
Damien nods, turning to stare out the balcony at the sea. “I see that Luca was right. I’m sorry I doubted you, brother.”
Luca shakes his head. “I would’ve doubted you, if it were me. I don’t know how he survived the sea that night. All I know is that he did. What matters now is what we’ll do about it.”
“Well, I’m here to help,” Damien announces, staring at both of us. “Three heads are better than two. Christoph can pick up our slack at work, while we’re dealing with this.”
Luca shakes his head. “No. I can’t allow that. It’s already too much that Eva is involved. I can’t have you in danger, too. Go back to London. I think perhaps Eva and I will go someone else, as well. Just for now. Until we can find Adrian and put an end to this.”
Damien is already shaking his head, his hand on Luca’s arm. “No. The Minaldis don’t run, Luca. We aren’t going to let him chase us from our home. We’ll face him now and finish this.”
Luca stares at him, then at me. “I want nothing more. I just can’t risk Eva. I could send her away alone, but I’m worried he’d follow her. He knows that to hurt her would cause me the most pain. I’ve got to keep her with me.”
Damien nods thoughtfully. “No harm will come to Eva. Between the two of us, we’ll protect her. I promise you.”
I stand at the veranda doors and stare out at the property as they discuss weapons and strategy and protecting me. I feel as though I’m in a different time and place
, a time in ancient history when matters had to be taken into one’s own hands.
Being born and raised in the West, with all the modern conveniences of the United States, it’s hard to believe that this situation is even possible. But at the same time, sequestered behind Chessarae’s stone walls, it’s just as easy to pretend that I live in that ancient time, back when knights still protected Malta and there was no polizia to turn to.
“Eva.”
Luca’s voice brings me back to the present and I turn, facing him and his brother. They stare at me with identical dark eyes.
“You can’t leave the house alone,” Luca continues. “You’ll have to walk with a guard, or with Damien or me. Until Adrian is dealt with, none of us can ever be alone.”
I nod.
Luca watches me. “If you choose to stay with me, I’m afraid you’ll have to put your plans to open a practice in town on hold for now,” he says hesitantly. “I don’t like it, but it won’t be safe for you to travel to and fro right now.”
I nod instantly. “There is no if I stay with you,” I tell him firmly. “I’m here and I’m not going anywhere.”
I see the brief flash of satisfaction on his face before he hides it.
“Very well,” he says finally. “We’ve got a plan.”
We do. We have a plan to stay and hold our ground, to try and draw Adrian out, to take back our lives. A plan that will hopefully save us all.
But as I’m escorted to our bedroom so that I can take a shower, the reality of it hits me…the reality that I’m now confined to these grounds and can never have a moment alone.
Chessarae might be our home, but it’s also our prison.
********
Chessarae might be a prison, but it’s a beautiful one. I have to give it that.
I stare out from my tiny table on the balcony of my bedroom, out at the tossing sea to where the horizon just grazes the water. From further in the house, the haunting melody of the piano drifts down the halls and envelops me, calming me.
I close my eyes, letting the music surround me. With my eyes closed, I can pretend that everything is well, that my life is normal.
Just for a moment.
The Minaldi Legacy Page 24
