29

It was logical, he was playing with my feelings; he was testing me, but he had the end assured. He was forcing me to kill him if that was what he wanted, however, that was not the case.

I only hoped to use him, to take advantage of what he felt for me, and the game took an unexpected turn.

The cold gun, now warm from his hands, began to tremble between my fingers. I was unable to think about hurting him, because I felt he was taking a piece of myself away from me; his dark eyes, watching me, sublime and vulnerable.

He knew what I felt, he could see it in my eyes.

"You're never going to let me go, are you?" I whispered just for the two of us.

"You are not a prisoner, Evie, nor an expensive object. I am fully aware of the life you have outside of Italy, the one you want so badly to return to, but your life to me is more important than the infatuation you feel, for not learning to be patient," he objected, still in the same position, "I'm not going to keep you here.

"I am tired of waiting, Dante.

"I know, but you have to understand. I just ran the greatest danger of my life to look for you in every corner there is in Italy and probably half of my enemies already know of your existence, which puts me at a disadvantage, but I didn't care for you, so...," he took the gun out of my hands and threw it away from us, "Realize that what I feel is beyond my world, and I checked.

"What thing?

"Even if it's not the same, my life now matters more to you than yours," he gently kissed the knuckles of my hand and I felt my lower belly tingle; my body reacted to him on its own.

"That doesn't matter.

"Sure it does, because I'll make it worth your while to have your eyes shine like that for me," he said, as he wrapped his arms around me and I fell into the emptiness of his kisses; an inevitable, but dangerous attraction, "Let's go back to the villa, shall we?

"What? No," I pulled back and he took a deep breath, unable to believe my behavior, "I'm not going back there, ever. The only way you'll get me out of here, is to take me back to my country.

"Evie," he called to me, as I walked away towards the suite room, which was partitioned off from the living room; it was amazing how people with money could have accommodations of that kind, "Okay, I'll try to send you back to the States, but come back with me, please.

I stopped. Was he imploring me?

I watched him out of the corner of my eye to make sure he wasn't with a con man, "I'm fine here, alone.

"No," I rolled my eyes, unable to believe how stubborn Dante Di Marco could be if I didn't do what he wanted.

"You'll have to get me out of here dead," I objected seriously and he sighed stressfully.

He growled and moved closer to me, to the point that my entire side of my body felt his and totally invaded my living space; he put a hand on my chin and forced me to look at him.

"If I leave you here, you're not getting out of this building, because your only way out is death," he pointed to the balcony of the suite and my stomach contracted, "No matter where you are, or where you go, you're mine, Evie," he said, before giving me a chaste kiss on the lips that left me clouded, wanting more, "I'll be back with news soon, and I'll give you a cell phone.

I nodded, not mentioning the cell phone I already had. I didn't want to make him angry.

"Okay, I'll be back in the evening, I have business to attend to that I postponed for you," he pulled away from me and let me continue on my way to the room; as soon as I set foot inside, he spoke again, "But first I'm going to find out who helped you escape," I opened my eyes in surprise and heard a door burst open; when I heard Nina's voice, I immediately ran to them.

"Dante, no!" I stopped dead in my tracks as I saw a gun fly out of the bathroom.

"I know what level you're at and I'm surprised, but you were wrong in your plan. Against me you can't, and you won't," Dante said, as he had Nina pinned to the bathroom wall, her back to him; blood was coming out of her mouth, from the blow, "I grew up in the fucking war.

"Let her go, Dante, what's wrong with you?" I tugged on his arm, trying to get him off me.

"I'll make sure if you stay alone and I'll take the guns," he pulled away from Nina, grabbing the aforementioned from the ground, where they fell both times.

My heart was racing, and I watched him storm out of the penthouse.

"I want 24-hour surveillance on this hotel. And no one, did you hear right? No one is to enter this suite without my permission," Dante ordered as he walked out, "And contact Rossi, we will deliver his daughter to him.

"Yes, sir.

Silently, I watched as the intense and eerie atmosphere that occurred dissipated.

As I realized, I remembered that Nina had been wounded by Dante, but she was already washing her face and had a small tape on her lip.

"Are you okay, Nina? He's out of his mind, he attacked you, I'm so sorry, I never imagined he would do something like that," I apologized, embarrassed.

"It's not the first time, but remember I told you? Dante Di Marco is not a talker, unless it was business. And it was partly my fault, I attacked him thinking he was coming to kill me," she said, as she left the bathroom in search of her things, "I expected worse.

"Something worse?" my eyes widened.

"Yeah, you know, Di Marco's reputation is to make entries that could give you five seconds of suffering before you die," she commented matter-of-factly, "But you, you did pretty good for a first time. You're still compassionate, which in this world, is a weakness.

"It's pretty clear I want no part of it," I plopped down on the couch, exhausted. My head was throbbing inside.

"Yeah, well...," she was interrupted by the ringing of her cell phone and I only heard the inaudible voice of a man on the other end; she didn't speak, when they had already hung up on the other end of the line.

"Who was that?

"My father. He's already sent his guards for me. I guess I'm going to have a father-daughter talk about how I'm going to settle his argument with Dante Di Marco, if not with my life," she walked away toward the door and I followed her worriedly.

"What, are you going to go?

"I won't wait for him to come after me, but to kill me.

"I can go with you, I can....

"No one can know about you, remember, my father has visitors and besides, it's my problem. I'll be fine, I'll try to get in touch soon," she said goodbye and gave me a short hug, before disappearing out the door.

It was clear that I had condemned the only woman I trusted.