Read with BonusRead with Bonus

Chapter IV

We drove in silence for a few kilometers to another runway. I looked out the window the whole way.

Behind and in front of us were the Martinellis' cars, each with dozens of bodyguards.

"Don't even think about it," the deep voice next to me said, making me flinch. When I dared to risk a quick glance next to me, I saw Dante engrossed in his cell phone.

Up until now, he hadn't even looked at me. The button of his jacket was open and my sunglasses were on the seat between us. The car stopped, but no one got out. The driver looked in the rearview mirror first at Dante and then at me, before he fixed his gaze on Dante again. We're not going to wait for the gentleman to finish, are we?

This could be fun. After he had finished with his cell phone, he opened the door and got out without saying a word. I followed him and followed him to the plane. I saw a seating area where none of the bodyguards had sat down yet and sat down. Dante sat down at the table with his father. He still didn't even look at me. Not that I was waiting for him, but it was strange by far.

I fastened my seat belt and looked out the window. If this is going to be my life, then maybe I'll accept a life on the run after all.

During the entire flight, no one said a word to me. Now and then I heard the security guards speaking in Italian, or Dante making a phone call. It's just a shame that my Italian was rusty and I could only follow the conversations bit by bit. OK, following was an exaggeration - I understood individual words.

My eyes slowly closed and I leaned back in my seat. The good thing about private jets was that you could actually sleep during a flight.

When I opened my eyes again, Dante was sitting in the seat opposite me and was looking at me.

He looked at me emotionlessly. His body language didn't tell me what he was thinking either.

Damn, why can't I judge this man? It was easy with his security guards, they were tense and followed my every move. They saw a possible escape coming and so they watched me. Idiots, how am I supposed to escape from a flying jet?

There was also a certain aversion in their faces, even though they tried to watch neutrally.

Dante's father, on the other hand, was harder to read, but not impossible. I saw his curious looks, which tried to assess me. At the same time, he positioned himself very authoritatively to demonstrate his power. I couldn't say whether he wanted to intimidate me or whether it was normal for him. Maybe he was waiting for me to make the first move. They can wait a long time for that. The good thing about being invisible to your family for years is that you can watch people for hours without acting too quickly. And that's exactly what I'm going to do.

The plane came to a stop and the doors opened. We were there. Already on the stairs, the warm Sicilian wind blew in my face. I was the first to get up because I could no longer bear the oppressive silence and the eyes on me.

When I got downstairs, I waited for Dante, who began to grin slightly when he saw me.

At first I didn't know what his problem was, until I noticed that I was waiting for his instructions like a dog.

I could slap myself for that.

I'd barely been in this family and I'd lost my backbone. But maybe it was because no one was talking to me. Not that I'd tried to have a conversation, but apart from his oh-so-nice greeting and the warning in the car, Dante hadn't said another word to me. Dante walked towards me with dangerously slow steps and put his sunglasses back on.

The whole game started again and we got into another convoy of SUVs. Luckily, the journey wasn't as long this time and after just 20 minutes I spotted a large property. We drove through the gates and stopped in front of a stone staircase that led to the entrance.

It looked different than our house in Moscow but was no less large and beautiful than ours.

Suddenly Dante grabbed me roughly by the elbow and led me up the stairs. I almost tripped over the first few steps if he hadn't held me so tightly. When we got to the top a maid was already opening the door for us.

When she saw Dante her eyes lit up and she smiled radiantly at him. Oh God, where had I ended up here?

I didn't have much time to think about it though, because Dante led me up another flight of stairs without paying any attention to the maid.

On the second floor he was still walking silently down a long hallway. I had trouble keeping up with him, even though my legs weren't exactly short.

I played along for a while, let's see where this leads.

He stopped in front of a door, opened it and pushed me in. I stumbled into the room and managed to stay upright. Suddenly Dante's voice rang out, "To your left is the bathroom, the other door is the dressing room, your things will be brought up shortly. You stay in this room and in two hours you will be picked up for dinner."

He was about to leave the room before he stopped and looked back at me. "Oh, and don't even think about running away, I would find you anywhere."

With these words he left the room and closed the door loudly. What was that?

Either he is silent or he is threatening me. Very good. I let myself fall onto the bed and looked up at the ceiling. This is going to be more exhausting than I had imagined.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

Previous Chapter
Next Chapter