Page 37 of Forgive Me, Father

He growled, and my thighs clenched.I hated my body and the way it reacted to that man’s impatience.

* * *

The next day, I was finally allowed to order food again, and I tore into it like a starving animal.I didn’t care about manners; hunger made me ruthless.Mid-bite, a knock rattled the door.

I wiped my mouth, half-expecting Nico, but when I looked up, Alfonso filled the doorway, silent and unreadable.

“I have to leave on business for a couple of days.Nico is here if you need anything.”

“He’s not going with you?”

“No.What I have to do is for me alone,” he said, his tone final.Then he turned and walked away, leaving the faintest echo of his cologne in the air.

I watched the door close behind him, curiosity itching under my skin.Where was he going that didn’t require me?The contract had made it clear, I was supposed to accompany him everywhere.So, why was he leaving me behind now?Another clause, it seemed, he had no intention of following, at least not today.

At twelve, I watched him leave.He climbed into his Range Rover, and the driver took off, probably to the airport.One thing I knew for sure: that man looked great in his suits.

Nico knocked on my door later that night.I opened it, and he just stood there staring at me.“Do you like living like this, Camilla?”

“Fuck off, I mean it.”I closed the door in his face.

Asshole blaming me for his temper, typical male.

But I knew what my mother would’ve said if we were still speaking.She would’ve fought with me too for not listening to my husband.Not giving him what he required.It was the way of the Dons, but it was the one thing of the Dons that I’d always rebelled against.Philip had known how I felt, and I’d thought that I’d gotten a great deal with him.That he would treat me like his equal.Now it was something I had to fight for all over again.It was draining; Alfonso was draining.

Later that evening, a knock came at the door again.

I opened, and Nico stood inches from me.

“I’m leaving for Italy.I want you to come downstairs and meet Sebastian,” he said, all serious.

I raised a brow.“What, another glorified bodyguard?Because I don’t need a PowerPoint presentation on every man hired to follow me around, Nico.”

He exhaled slowly, clearly losing patience.“Please, Camilla.It was Alfonso’s orders.”

“Of course it was,” I muttered.I pushed out of the room and closed my door behind me.“Let’s get this over with.”

Nico trailed behind me, silent as ever, while I marched into the lounge and stopped dead.Great.Another mountain of muscle.

The man waiting for me was built like a tank, taller than Nico, broader in the shoulders, and looked like he bench-pressed trucks for fun.I had to tilt my head all the way back to meet his eyes.Ice-blue, sharp as broken glass, and staring at me like I was a toddler having a diva moment.

“This is Sebastian Acosta,” Nico announced.“You don’t go anywhere without him knowing.Do I make myself clear?”

“Crystal,” I snapped.“Anything else?Maybe a GPS implant you’d like to stick under my skin?”

He didn’t dignify that with a response.

“Didn’t think so.”I spun on my heel and went right back to my room.

Nico wasn’t anything like Alfonso, and thankfully, Sebastian knew how to give a girl some space.

I glanced over at the clock on my nightstand.Midnight.Happy fucking new year.

FIFTEEN

THE WHITE RABBIT

The low humof the engines buzzed in my skull, a constant reminder that I couldn’t outrun the storm brewing inside me, not even at 30,000 feet.