I pretend that I don’t love him the same now as I did years ago.
Now, I need to pretend that I don’t see right through Gio and this entire charade. “Okay. It might be nice to stay another night. Can I call them and make sure someone takes care of my cat?” I ask.
“Of course, of course.” Gio nods. “You have the phone; make whatever calls you need.”
“Thanks.” Nausea sends bile up the back of my throat, but I take a bite of the strawberries and cream sitting in front of me. “So, where are we? It’s beautiful here, but I didn’t recognize anything out of the window in my room.”
“You said it yourself earlier,” he replies with a smile. “Paradise.” Gio stands. “I fear I have some business to tend to. Mattheus, come. My love, can you show our daughter back to her room and help her get settled?”
“Of course,” Felicity replies with a smile. She stands as well, then lightly kisses Gio as he passes.
As soon as he and Mattheus are out of the room, she reaches out a hand. “Come, Emmaline. I’ll walk you back.”
I hesitate. Will they lock the door again? Will I be trapped in this place forever? Or will they truly let me go as soon as the plane can land safely?
“Honey, you’re safe with me, okay?” she says softly, then takes my hand and gently tugs me to my feet. As soon as I’m standing, she releases me and heads for the door. “I imagine this is all a shock for you,” she continues as we move down the hall. “Finding out you were adopted, then coming here.”
“I knew I was adopted all along. My parents were always honest with me. So the kidnapping was pretty much the only shock.”
“Kidnapping?”
I inwardly wince. “I wasn’t supposed to say anything.”
“You can be completely open with me,” she says softly.
She doesn’t seem broken. Not in the way they explained. Is that because I’m here? Or was it yet another lie to get me to do what they wanted?
“Mattheus drugged me in my house and brought me here without my consent.”
She mutters something under her breath, and her cheeks flush pink with anger. “Come. We’re going to take a walk.” Instead of going back into the room, she leads me out the back door and into a dimly lit rose garden. The moon is large overhead, and its silvery glow lights our path as we walk among the flowers. “Keep your voice low as we speak, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Do not allow your expression to betray what it is we’re speaking of.”
“Okay,” I say again, this time forcing a smile that mimics her own.
“You were never supposed to come here.”
I stop moving, shock at her words settling over me. “What did you say?”
“Come, you must keep walking.” She smiles when she faces me and loops an arm through mine, then forces me to keep moving. “You mustn’t look like something’s wrong, Emmaline. He has eyes everywhere. Smile, darling.”
I do, but it makes me feel sick.
“Now, what you need to know is that it isn’t safe for you here. You need to go home.”
“I want to go home.”
“He is going to try to keep you here, but if we play our cards right, we can get you out safely. You’ll have to move though. Now that he knows where you are?—”
“Wait, hang on a second. What’s happening? Mattheus says he brought me here because you were suffering.”
“Darling, I’ve been suffering since the moment I uttered my vows. But I never wanted you to suffer the same fate as me.”
We reach a bench at the back of the garden, overlooking the ocean as it kisses the shoreline. Felicity sits, so I follow suit, remaining quiet while she thinks through whatever it is she plans on saying.
All the while, my stomach is a pit of knots.
