Then came the threat Marco was fully expecting to hear. “If you do not come home with us you will be cut off. Your father will no longer support you in this ridiculous thing you’re doing.” It wasn’t surprising, but still cut another slit in his heart. Marco wondered how much his mother was involved in these decisions. Surely she knew, and yet she hadn’t even warned him his uncle was on his way. That really hurt. He loved his parents, he truly did. They were his parents, how could he hate them? But he found at that moment he really didn’t like them.
Paolo cast a worried glance at him but Marco shook his head and his brother remained silent. Marco had opened a bank account here in the United States and had been steadily depositing his winnings into it while he used his father’s money for their living expenses. He’d hated being so circumspect, but was now glad he had been. After three years here he had nearly one and a half million dollars in the bank. He’d been lucky and had started winning events within a few months of joining the tour.
Despite his recent setbacks, he had a natural knack for bull riding and was grateful both he and his brother would be able to live indefinitely on his earnings. He made a note to ask Paolo what he was doing with his winnings. They were much smaller than Marco’s, but he should have something to show for his more limited time here and smaller successes.
They reached their rental car and Marco turned to Nico. “As I said, you can come back to the hotel if you’d like a comfortable place to make arrangements to go back to Italia. But if you think you are going to convince me to come back with you, you are not welcome.”
Nico’s face flushed and Marco opened the car door. “You cannot do this, Marco. You will be left with nothing.”
Marco smirked. “Not quite. I have a bank account here in the States where I have deposited my winnings. I set it up so no one but me could get access to it. There’s enough in there to support both myself and Paolo for a long while, so you can tell padre his threat didn’t work. I’d like to say it was nice to see you, but I don’t lie.” He climbed into the car.
Nico’s face was bright red with anger and shock. No doubt they hadn’t counted on Marco protecting himself in that manner. But they really shouldn’t have been surprised. He learned at the knee of the best at protecting himself—his father. Adriana looked resigned and yet relieved, and Marco figured she’d never wanted to come here in the first place. Much like him, she had surely been pressured by her family. Maybe he should feel sorry for her, but since he suspected she had been cheating on him during their time together and knew she had hidden her current relationship he found it impossible to.
Paolo had piled into the passenger’s seat and Marco started the car. Luckily he could pull forward out of the parking space and put the car in gear. He wouldn’t have relished trying to back out of the spot with his uncle lurking at the rear of the car. Nico slammed his hand down on the back of the car, shouting in Italian, but Marco ignored him. Despite appearances, turning his back on his family wasn’t easy. But it was the only thing to do if he ever wanted a chance at true happiness.
As he left Nico swearing in the arena’s parking lot and headed for the hotel, his thoughts drifted back to Natalie. He was worried about her. Conner and Jessica would no doubt take good care of her, but he felt responsible for how it must’ve hurt her to see Adriana. Adriana meant nothing to him. How could he convince Natalie of that?
A thought occurred to him that left him feeling lightheaded and the car swerved briefly onto the shoulder as his overworked brain tried to assimilate it. He was in love with Natalie. It was crazy. They’d only known each other a short time, but he wanted her. He wanted her to want him, maybe even forever.
Paolo grabbed the handle on the roof of the car. “Marco?”
“I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?” Out of the corner of his eye he saw Paolo glance over, his eyebrows knitted in worry.
“Yes, I am sure. Don’t worry. I was telling the truth when I said I had a bank account here that the family cannot touch. Paolo, we will be fine. As of the last time I was able to get into the account from my laptop, which was about a week ago, there was a little more than one and a half million dollars and that amount is growing every day as it gains more interest.”
“Over a million dollars?” Paolo’s voice cracked and Marco would’ve smiled if he hadn’t just left his uncle spitting mad and essentially cut both him and Paolo off from his family.
“Yes. Where are your winnings, by the way?”
“I’ve been sending them back to la nostra madre. I think I may never see that money again, yes?”
“Probably not.” Marco both loved and hated his brother’s more trusting nature. He very much hated that it wouldn’t surprise him to see his family withhold Paolo’s own money from him out of spite or to pressure Marco into doing their bidding.
He rubbed the bridge of his nose to assuage the headache that had begun to pound behind his eyes as he’d pled with Natalie earlier and was only getting worse now. Reaching into his pocket, he withdrew his cell phone and handed it to Paolo. “Call Conner. I can’t stand not knowing if they found Natalie. If they didn’t I am going to go out and look for her myself, even if it means I miss the next competition.”
“I will come with you.”
Marco looked at his brother. “You don’t have to. I know you’re trying to earn points.”
Paolo’s expression made it clear he thought his brother had lost his mind. “You are my family, quite possibly my only family now. I will not desert you. If you go after Natalie, so will I.”
Marco reached out and briefly squeezed his brother’s shoulder. He hadn’t meant to make Paolo collateral damage in this ridiculous feud between himself and his father, but he supposed his brother had made his own decision about his future when he’d followed Marco to America.
Paolo scrolled through Marco’s contacts and hit the button for Conner. Then he put the phone on speaker and set it in the cup holder between them.
“Hello?”
“Conner? It’s Marco.”
“We haven’t found her yet.”
Marco swore in Italian, but quickly gathered himself together. “She has little money, she couldn’t have gone far.”
“We were going to try the bus station. We already looked around the arena itself and the area right near it.”
“Okay. Paolo and I will go out searching as well. We can find out where the cheaper motels are and stop at each one.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Conner answered. “Hang on, I’m getting a call.” Marco waited for a moment, his heart thumping in his chest, until Conner came back on the line. “Marco?”
“Yes, I am here.”
“That was Brady. He and Leah are going to drive around the area near the arena again in case she’s on foot and Jess and I missed her somehow. And Leah is going to take Brady’s phone and call some of the other guys. I’m sure they’ll help too. We’ll find her, man.”
* * * * *
Natalie’s feet were killing her by the time she arrived at the hotel. It was only about a half mile away, but she’d been so upset she’d been booking along and quickly found cowboy boots were not a good idea when trying to walk long distances. Stealing into the lobby, she glanced around. No sign of anybody she knew. Blowing out a loud breath, she streaked across it while still trying to be inconspicuous before taking the elevator to the room she’d been sharing with Marco. Hopefully she could get her meager possessions into her suitcase and be out of the room quickly.
After throwing her luggage on the bed, she went to the bathroom and haphazardly gathered up her toiletries before tossing them into the suitcase on her way to the closet. Grabbing her other jacket off the hanger, she threw it in the general direction of the suitcase while she took stock of everything else.
She remembered she had a bag of dirty clothes she’d intended to take to the Laundromat. Where were they? Spinning, she looked all over the bedroom and then realized the bag was still in Marco’s car. Nat
alie swore, but hoped she could get the stuff back from Marco. She wasn’t planning to leave town—she didn’t have enough money to get far and now that this thing with Marco was over she needed to concentrate on learning as much as she could about bull riding. For now, though, where the hell would she go?
With luck, one of the other riders would agree to give her a ride to the next few events. After that she had no idea how she was going to get back to her car, or if she did manage that how she would pay for the repairs. She doubted she could count on Marco if they weren’t together. With a quick swipe at the tears starting to fall, she forced herself to focus.
Natalie checked her purse next. Her wallet and a few other essentials were in the main area and the envelope with her remaining cash was stowed in an inner zippered pocket. Straightening, she took a deep breath. She could do this. She’d been prepared to do it on her own from the beginning and just because she’d let Marco take care of things lately didn’t mean she was helpless. Hopeless, maybe, but not helpless.
With another angry swipe over her cheeks, she sniffled. She would not allow herself the luxury of tears. Later, in her crappy motel room, she could feel sorry for herself. Not now. Closing her suitcase, she then hefted it off the bed and moved out of the room as quickly as possible. So far she’d been lucky and Marco hadn’t come back, but she was sure her luck was running out.
Natalie pushed the button for the elevator and hopped from foot to foot while she waited. When her boot rubbed over a sore spot, she swore. She’d forgotten to change into her sneakers. Since she had no clue where she was going from here it made sense to stop now and put on more sensible shoes.
Glancing up at the display, she saw the elevator was still several floors down so she dropped her suitcase on the floor and wrenched it open, grabbing her sneakers and then putting her boots inside. She had just finished tying her second shoe when the elevator dinged, scaring the hell out of her. Great, now she was jumping every time she heard a stray noise.
Natalie got down to the lobby and out of the hotel without incident and then chewed the inside of her cheek as she decided where to go now. The last thing she wanted to do was see Marco. He’d probably try to sweet-talk her into getting back together or he’d be with that woman. Natalie didn’t want to deal with either possibility. Her emotional reserves were spent and her nerves were frayed.
What she needed now was a place to sit down, think and figure out a plan. Natalie looked around, spying one of those large truck stops not too far away with a restaurant attached. Perfect.
Looking both ways, she dashed across the street and hightailed it to the truck stop. The hostess at the restaurant sat her in a booth toward the back and she ordered coffee and a grilled cheese sandwich. She hadn’t eaten since this morning, which felt like a hundred years ago, and she was starving. The headache pounding in the back of her head was probably at least partially due to hunger. Natalie hoped so since she didn’t have any drugs with her capable of even touching a migraine.
The food arrived quickly and Natalie demolished the entire meal in record time. She’d sat on the inside of the booth facing away from the door and had placed her suitcase on the opposite side to keep it out of the waitresses’ way. With her table cleared, she put her head in her hands and sighed. How could she have been so stupid? Engaged to be married? No matter what Marco said, there was obviously some sort of history between him and this woman. He’d seemed quite familiar with her when she and his uncle had first shown up; more familiar than a man who’d casually dated a woman for a few months would be. And besides, it’s not as if it could have been an arranged marriage. He must’ve known about it. Who did that kind of thing in this day and age?
With another sigh she opened her purse. As surreptitiously as possible, she counted her remaining cash. She had just over five hundred dollars. If she lived very frugally she could make it through the next couple of events, but that would put her in Boise, Idaho, or Billings, Montana. Either was far from her car in Texas. Natalie hoped to hell her money would hold out at least until she could complete her tryout for the female tour. She’d hate to have to get a job and wait for the next tryout period.
That decision made, she asked for a phone book and began to thumb through the motel listings, looking for one that wasn’t too far away. She came up with three likely candidates, but worried they’d have no vacancies with the bull riding competition in town. Luckily the restaurant had a pay phone by the restrooms and she hit pay dirt at the second place she’d called. It was a little more money than she’d wanted to spend, but beggars—literally—couldn’t be choosers. She debated calling Jessica but wasn’t sure the other woman would want to speak to her since she’d run out on Marco. He was probably livid by now.
Natalie paid for her food and stuffed her wallet back in her purse. Taking a furtive glance around, she began to cut through the parking lot in the direction of the motel. There were tractor-trailers scattered throughout the large parking lot and she made her way around them one by one. She’d just rounded the corner of a double eighteen-wheeler when her arm was yanked brutally.
“Ow! What the hell?”
A man wearing a ski mask grabbed her. “Your purse, bitch.”
She wrenched away from him and tried to turn to run, but was hampered by her luggage. Natalie didn’t want to just drop it. The suitcase had all her worldly possessions inside, including the only picture of her father that she’d kept.
“No, please,” she pleaded when the man knocked her suitcase out of her hand.
Then Natalie felt searing pan on the side of her head and realized the man must’ve hit her with something. Fighting to stay upright and conscious, she tried to pull her arm from the man’s bruising grip while holding on to her purse with her free arm.
“Don’t make me hurt you. I will, you little cunt,” the man threatened.
When she still didn’t give in he swung her around and she lost her balance, falling on the cold, hard concrete and barely managing not to hit the back of her head. She tried to roll, but he kicked her in the stomach.
Natalie saw stars as the pain roared straight into dizziness and nausea. Her arm went slack and the man was reaching down for her purse when she heard yelling. With a final kick to her head, the man grabbed her purse and ran, and the last of Natalie’s strength left her. An older man knelt down, but she had a hard time concentrating on what he was saying. Natalie felt something warm on her head and knew it was blood. Her ribs hurt and the small of her back where she’d taken most of the weight of falling felt scraped raw and bruised.
“Call 9-1-1,” the man barked to someone else, who immediately scurried away. “You’re okay,” he crooned as tears sprang to her eyes. “You’re okay, darlin’. Help is coming.”
Natalie tried to form words, but between the dizziness, nearly overwhelming nausea and the pain in her jaw, nothing came out but nonsense.
“Shhh, just rest now. An ambulance and the police are on their way.”
She tried to tell him she couldn’t go to the hospital because she had no insurance, but her voice came out scratchy and weak. Cursing herself about a thousand different ways, both for not being able to communicate and for being stupid enough to take a shortcut in the dark, she tried again.
“No ambulance,” she wheezed out, turning more onto her side in a vain attempt to find a place the man hadn’t assaulted.
“Honey, you’ve been beat up pretty bad. You need to be seen by a doctor.”
“No. No ambulance.” She coughed, and only through sheer force of will did she not vomit all over herself and him. “No insurance.”
Natalie heard a bevy of sirens as the cavalry arrived, but the noise just made her more dizzy. She closed her eyes.
“Sugar, open your eyes. You need to stay awake,” the man commanded. When her eyelids drifted open he said, “My name is Jed, what’s yours?”
“Nat.” It was what her father had called her and about all she could get out.
The paramedics rus
hed to her side and the man moved back, but remained where she could see him. Her eyes closed, but were pried open as the paramedic did his examination. “Can you tell us what happened, ma’am?”
“Mugged.” Was this man an idiot?
“Where does it hurt?” Natalie began to laugh at the ridiculous question, but pain coursed through her ribs and jaw and she winced. “Everywhere, I know. But if you can, try to tell me where he got you. I can see your head, what else?”
“Ribs.”
“Ribs?”
Natalie gave a slight nod. Her eyes were open for the time being but she had no idea if she’d be able to stay awake. She saw the two paramedics exchange a look and she started to panic.
Jed put a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Nat, try to calm down. These guys are going to help you.”
His tender manner and the care of the paramedics opened a door she’d slammed shut the moment she’d found out her father was dead. In that moment, she’d wanted to be dead too, and that didn’t seem like a bad option right now. The pain, the nausea—it all needed to go away. And then it did, and the world went black.
When Natalie forced her eyes open again, she was on a gurney being loaded into the ambulance.
“No!”
The paramedic glanced at her. “What’s wrong, ma’am?”
“No hospital.”
His expression turned wary. “Ma’am, you may have serious injuries.”
She tried to sit up and discovered she was strapped tightly to the gurney with a backboard between her and the gurney itself. Then she noticed the neck immobilizer. How long had she been out?
Natalie heard a commotion and looked around as best she could. Conner was striding over, talking a mile a minute on his cell phone. “I’m going with her,” he told the paramedic.
The man turned to her. “Do you know him?”
“Yes.” Behind Conner, Natalie noticed Jessica straining to see better. She wanted to tell her not to worry, that everything would be okay, but couldn’t find the reserves to.
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