CHAPTER TWENTY
The next day Melina packs her stuff with Serena's help. She was too tired to pack last night, so she moved it to today. She doesn’t have many clothes as everything she has was given to her by Linda. That’s why Melina could move packing to today.
“Do you really have to go?” Serena asks, wiggling Melina’s arm as they stand in her room.
“Unfortunately, I don’t have a say in whether I stay or not,” Melina says, patting Serena’s hand on her arm. Melina is sad she will be parting with Serena. They’ve become good friends over the last few weeks. She would miss her, and the fact that she doesn’t know when she will see her again makes the whole situation even worse.
“I really hope you come back soon.”
“I can’t say the same, but I hope to see you again.”
Melina has no intention of fleeing while they are in Chicago. She loves her life and doesn’t want to be on the receiving end of Thomas’ wrath if she runs away again. Melina wishes he’d realize she can’t help him find James and finally let her go. Knowing it’s ridiculous to believe such a thing could ever happen, but she’s still alive after stealing money from him. How many people in this world can say that?
“Please promise you’ll call me.”
“I promise you that if I regain my freedom in Chicago and get a phone, I’ll call you.”
“That’s good. I am going to miss you.” Serena wraps her arms around her
“I’ll miss you, too,” Melina says as she hugs her back.
Serena helps her in finishing her packing before taking her bags downstairs. She hugs Linda goodbye before leaving the maid’s quarters to meet Leo. Collecting her bag from her, they walk together to the mafia house. Leo leaves her in the living room and enters the house to tell Thomas she’s ready to leave.
Looking out the window, Melina sees the sun setting. The sky displaces orange hues as the sun disappears between the clouds. It is beautiful. They will be traveling at night. She enjoys traveling at night. A sad smile appears on her face as she recalls all her best trips were with Thomas and all her bad ones were with James. She hated traveling with James because it meant he'd finished stealing someone's money by using her. She despised it every time. She has no idea how, out of all the men she has met while married to James, Thomas is the one she fell for. She wonders if it’s because he’s different from the other billionaires she’s met.
Melina recalls their first visit to Sicily vividly. It was her first time traveling with Thomas. She met his family, and it was also the first time she told him she loved him and meant it. She said it back the same day he told her even though she hadn’t felt that way yet. Melina did it to speed things between them. She recalls her pulse racing as realization hit her that she truly loves him deep in her heart as she said it that day. Melina would never have believed it if someone had told her that her love for him would lead her here.
“Melina,” Thomas says, snapping her out of her reverie. He walks into the living room and stands in front of her. “Stand,” he tells her.
“Is it time to go?” she asks, getting up from the couch.
“In a minute” Thomas says as his hands move toward Melina’s face. She backs away a little, seeing his hands coming toward her face. “I’m not going to hurt you,” he calmly says, taking her face in his palms. The warmth from his hands seeps into her skin, and she melts against him.
“Is there something wrong?” Melina asks, looking up at him.
"You did a poor job." "I should have taken care of you myself." Melina notices his eyes scrutinizing every bruise and cut on her face from the day before.
“It’s fine; it will heal on its own."
“Yeah, it will, but I’ll still have a doctor look at it when we land in Chicago,” he says, taking his hands away from her face. A silent cry escapes her lips, missing the warmth from his palms against her cheeks. “All right, let’s go!” He takes her hand in his and leads her out of the house to the car waiting to take them to the airport.
They arrive after half an hour later. As they climb the stairway of the private plane, Melina’s mind drifts back to the last time she traveled with Thomas. He agreed to meet James during the trip. Thomas conducted a background check on her, which at the time seemed normal given he’s a billionaire. It’s something they do all the time. If only she knew it was because he’s a mafia member.
Thomas knew she was married to James. She lied they were separated and in the process of getting a divorce. Of course, he asked her why she was helping her future ex-husband get back on his feet, and her response was simple and clear. She may no longer love the man, but she once did and felt compelled to help him. Thomas believed her, and it’s obvious where that got her today. She wished he had been as petty about investing in the company as he had been the night he met James.
The night James and Thomas met, Thomas made it clear to James that he was now the one banging Melina. She won’t even put it past him for giving James the money to make him feel less of a man by collecting it from the man his wife is banging.
Melina did try to stop James as she was in love with Thomas at the time, but her words fell on deaf ears. She also thought of telling Thomas the truth, but she was afraid he would abandon her.
Thinking about it all, she realizes that the day the guys met had to be the same day James decided to betray her. He accused her of being in love with Thomas, which she denied. James continued to brutally beat her. Melina suspects he must have seen the love in her eyes while she was around Thomas and knew she would betray him for Thomas.