Imarch into the bedroom and go straight to the walk-in closet. Niccolo is right behind me. No surprise there. I doubt he'll let me out of his sight for even a second.
"What we found is in the safe," I tell him, holding out my hands to him. "You'll have to undo my ties."
"Nah, I don't think so. You'll give me the combination," he says, lifting me off my feet and depositing me to the side. Then he studies the cupboard in front of us.
It looks like any closet with shelves. I never even knew the safe existed until Mateo told me about it and gave me the number sequence to unlock it.
The safe was empty when we opened it, and now it only holds our passports and a few things of Tiero's we found around the place and meant to give to Mateo.
"This will be faster if you tell me where the safe is," he says as his gaze keeps searching the space.
This time it's me smirking at him. "Something the mighty Niccolo Romero doesn't know?"
He grins back at me. "Now, now, Miss O'Neil. You're quite cheeky when you're not shaking with fear or blushing with embarrassment," he chuckles.
Of course, that comment is enough to make the color rise in my cheeks.Dammit.
"But back to the matter at hand. The safe?" he asks, dropping the humor from his voice.
I incline my head toward the shoe shelf. "There is a small button on the roof of the bottom cube that will make the shelf spin."
There really is no point in delaying the inevitable. And if I want to get married today, I need to get rid of this guy as quickly as possible.
Niccolo follows my directions, and within seconds, the shelf spins, revealing the safe on its back. Through gritted teeth, I call out the number and letter combination to my captor. Aiden and I had changed it to something we could remember on our first visit. Guess now we'll have to change it again.
Niccolo opens the door to the small safe, and the papers we found yesterday are in plain sight, sealed in a ziplock bag. He pulls them out and flicks through them.
He cocks his head to the side, his lips pursed.
Turning back to the safe, he rummages through the contents. He throws our passports to the side and then pulls out the ziplock bag with Tiero's belongings.
He holds it up to the light, chuckling. "You're very neat, aren't you?"
From him, it doesn't sound like a compliment.
He opens the bag and pulls out more papers and pictures. He flicks through them, but then his movements freeze. So does my breathing.
Is this what he came here for? So he wasn't after the papers we found in the cave?
I'm confused.
"What are these doing here?" he mutters more to himself, his brows drawn together, and I crane my neck to spot what has him so fascinated.
I spot the photos of the little boy with eyes so much like Tiero's. The pictures I found hidden in this very closet when I was cleaning it out on our first visit to this island.
We wanted to ask Mateo about them, but never got the chance. I still don't know who this kid is… or do I?
Niccolo's eyes lift to mine, and my breath catches. He doesn't look much like the small kid in the pictures, but those eyes…
"How did these get here?" he asks, and I'm not sure the question is directed at me, because how would I know?
"Is that you?" I ask instead, wanting an answer to the puzzle.
Niccolo shakes his head, placing the pictures into the ziplock bag with the papers we found yesterday.
"She wouldn't have." He says so quietly, I almost don't hear it. "It would have been a death sentence. And while she is a woman, she would not have been that stupid."
My eyes widen. Surely, I misheard that!
