Page 47 of Ruined By Protection (Feretti Syndicate #5)

Hazel

I feel the exact moment Matteo's body goes rigid, infusing its tension into mine like butter melting into toast. I lift my tear-streaked face from his chest, following his gaze into the guest room. The scream dies in my throat before it can escape my lips.

A woman is tied to a chair in the center of the room.

Red hair cascades around her shoulders, tangled and wild.

Her wrists are bound to the armrests with zip ties that have cut into her skin, leaving angry red welts.

Duct tape covers her mouth, but her huge round eyes speak volumes.

She writhes against her restraints when she sees us, desperate muffled sounds escaping from deep in her airways.

"Oh my God," I gasp.

Matteo sets me down carefully and he moves stealthily toward her, pulling a knife from his boot while checking three-sixty for a trap. I follow behind him, horrified at discovering another of Elliott’s victims.

"It's okay, you can trust us," I tell her as I reach to pull back the edge of the tape. "We're going to help you."

The woman’s mascara has run down her cheeks in black rivers, her eyes red and swollen from crying. Nevertheless the moment I’m close enough to examine her features I recognize her instantly.

“She’s the redhead from the photo,” I murmur to Matteo.

“Vanessa,” he snarls.

Why is the woman who tried to tear Matteo and I apart with a fake image hog-tied in Elliott’s mansion?

I peel the tape off as gently as I can, wincing as she flinches.

The moment her mouth is free, she gasps for oxygen. "Please," she begs, her voice cracking and hoarse. "Please help me. I'm so sorry. I didn't know—I didn't know what he was going to do."

"What the fuck is going on?" Matteo demands as he cuts the zip ties binding her wrists. "What are you doing here?"

Vanessa's body shudders as she gingerly fingers her freed wrists. "Elliott," she chokes out between sobs. "I've been working with Elliott."

My mind struggles to connect the dots of what she’s saying—this woman I thought was Matteo's lover, is now partnered with Elliott?

“You mean like a secretary?” I ask, completely naive but not wanting to delve deeper into the facts yet.

Vanessa cackles lightly and throws me a withering glance.

"Working with Elliott how? And what do you mean you didn't know what he was going to do?" Matteo demands sternly, making it clear he’s not going to fall for any of her wiles. “Goddamnit, talk Vanessa.”

Vanessa goes back to her vulnerable stance, swiping her cheeks and peeking up at him.

"I saw him—Noah—at Evelyn’s bookshop. I recognized him as your sidekick from the casino.

I'd been trying to get your attention for months after you ended things.

" She looks at Matteo with desperate eyes.

"I thought if I could get close to your people. .."

"So you stalked Evelyn?" I ask, disgust rising in my throat.

She nods, is that real shame coloring her face?

"I started hanging around her bookstore, pretending I love reading, ugh.

I just wanted to find a way back to you.

" Her eyes flick to Matteo again. "Then one day I overheard Evelyn on the phone, telling someone her cousin from Texas was coming—you.

" She looks at me again. "She said you needed to escape your husband. "

My blood runs cold. "And then you told Elliott where I was."

"Not right away," she whispers. "I came to the cafe every day, listening. I overheard Evelyn and Lucrezia joking about how strange Matteo was acting. That this new woman staying at the mansion had caused a huge change in his demeanor."

Matteo's jaw tightens, a muscle jumping beneath his skin. “And then you plotted your revenge.”

"I admit I was livid," Vanessa tells me. "I wanted to hurt you so I found you on Evelyn's Facebook and sent you that photo of us together. From there I looked up your husband and contacted him saying I knew where his wife was."

“Why on earth would you…?” my question peters out. I’ve learned recently that there’s just no understanding the lengths some people will go to.

Vanessa's shoulders heave with emotion, real or pretend I still can’t tell.

"When he got to New York, on the hunt for his precious wife, I didn't tell him anything about where you were living,” she says, like she did me a huge favor.

“He was stupid enough to storm the Ferettis and get himself killed.

I just wanted him to come and take you away from Matteo. "

My stomach twists as I listen to her desperate attempts to justify herself. I remember the horror at Evelyn's bookshop, the destruction Elliott left behind.

"You never showed up at that book cafe and he got really mad." Vanessa looks at me with pleading eyes. "I spent some time with him, thinking I could calm him out of his mad obsession."

I suddenly clue in to what she’s telling me. “You mean you slept with him,” I say dully.

Matteo's hand settles on the small of my back, a silent anchor as my world tilts, but truly I have no emotion left for any of this. Other than justice.

"He wanted to have some fun," Vanessa says, brightly at first then turning bitter. "Well, I figured it was fair enough for me to fuck your man since you fucked mine."

The room spins around me. Elliott had been with this woman while hunting me and begging me to come back to him. How many other times throughout our marriage had he played this duplicitous game while raging at me for so much as looking blandly at some man?

And this woman had assisted him willingly, eagerly, all because of some twisted obsession for Matteo.

"You helped a man terrorize his wife because you couldn't accept rejection?" I say mostly to myself rather than quizzing her.

"I didn't know he was going to hurt you," she insists. "I thought he wanted to talk to you, to fix things, and then you’d go back with him and leave me with Matteo."

“Never would have happened,” Matteo growls at my side.

"Fix things." I mutter, and then laugh with deep irony. “Fix things with an abusive bastard who’s been hitting me and gaslighting me and threatening to hurt my family since the day we got married."

Vanessa's face slackens with shock, then she rushes in to correct me. "What? No, no, that can't be right. He doesn’t really hurt anyone. It’s just that he enjoys a little sado-maso game, who doesn’t now and then?

" She giggles and the way she flutters her eyes in Matteo’s direction fuels my rage like she tossed a red rag at a bull.

"I don’t." I cut her off. “I didn’t enjoy it for one second. And if you imagine that you being tied up in this dark room is just a little sado-maso game, you’re going to be in for a miserable and painful awakening all too soon.”

Vanessa’s eyes pop at my outburst but I can see they still harbor doubt. Because for sure Elliott has regaled her with stories of what a crazy bitch I am, prone to inventing wild stories and abusing him with my lies.

“Here, you want to see what you have in store?” I shout, losing whatever cool I’d managed to hang on to. I yank up my shirt and reveal the lingering bruises painted across my ribcage. “You tell me since you understand him so well - is this the caress of a loving husband just playing games ?”

Her eyes stretch wide then contract into a frown as she stares at the damage to my body.

Her gaze slides to Matteo as though seeking confirmation, or maybe vindication.

He turns his head from her stonily and steps closer to my side, resting his palm on my lower back to demonstrate his total support for me .

I realise in this moment how very much I’ve fallen in love with him.

But what she said a moment ago blooms in my mind. “Wait, what did you mean you didn’t know he was going to hurt me? ”

Matteo loses his cool as it hits him too. He drops to his knees and pushes his face right up into Vanessa’s cheek. She flinches with the proximity of his wild fury. “What did he plan to do to Hazel tonight?” He growls like a caged wild animal.

“I…He…Oh God.” She drops her face into her hands but Matteo is having none of it.

He pulls down on her wrists so she can’t hide. “Answer me Vanessa or the devil help me I’ll…”

“Matteo, don’t, please,” I say very quietly. I know he’s riled up because of me but I can’t bear to see another woman intimidated, not for any reason.

Vanessa lifts her head and looks at me with what I take to be genuine regret. “I honestly don’t know what he actually had in mind, he just said that your neck was as vulnerable as the others.”

“Others,” I murmur under my tongue. How many vulnerable necks had he put his hands around. “Others?” I shout, all the rage I thought I’d spent fountaining up again through my core.

Matteo powers his thighs to stand and immediately returns to my side. His unobtrusive but strong presence allows me to vent all my emotion on this vindictive woman. And I’m not done yet. Because Melissa deserves to have her say too.

"I don’t suppose you know, although you understand him so well, that the woman he was with before me?

He killed her. She was pregnant with his child.

He wrung her neck and buried her out there in the garden.

" My arm gestures wildly toward the window. “Or perhaps you were hoping for the same fate for me? And you’d have been there no doubt to comfort Matteo in his grief.”

Vanessa's face crumples, tears spilling down her cheeks although I’m still not convinced they aren’t the gift of the crocodile. "Oh my God. Oh my God, I'm so sorry. I didn't know. I swear I didn't know. And…. and…." her voice stalls and croaks out.

I glance at Matteo, pretty sure now that her emotions are real, and she recognizes that the horror she jumped into so eagerly is definitely no game.

Her eyes bat back and forth between us both. "I acted so stupidly," she continues, shaking her head. "For no reason. Over a man who didn't even want me." She looks up at Matteo, then back to me. "It makes sense now. And I’m kind of certain that it’s not you he would have strangled tonight, but me.”

Her eyes search mine but I don't answer. I don't need to. The truth hangs in the air between us, heavy and undeniable. If not for Matteo and Noah protecting us, at least one of us would definitely not be here right now.

Matteo

I watch Vanessa's face crumple as the reality of her situation sinks in. She knows now that she’s been a pawn in Montgomery's game, just like everyone else—although she walked into it willingly. The tears streaming down her face seem genuine but I don't have time for her regrets.

"Stay here," I tell her, my voice leaving no room for argument. "Don't move until I come back for you."

"I'm sorry," she whispers again, looking between Hazel and me. "I didn't know?—"

"I don't care what you knew," I cut her off. "You'll stay in this room. I'll deal with you later."

She nods, shoulders slumping in defeat.

I take Hazel's hand and her trembling fingers curl around mine. Her skin is chilled, her face pale with shock. She needs to get away from Vanessa, away from this mess.

"Come with me," I murmur, guiding her toward the door.

Hazel follows without resistance, her body moving mechanically beside mine. In the hallway, I check each door until I find another guest room—smaller than Vanessa’s but untouched by Montgomery's madness.

I lead her inside and close the door behind us, shutting out Vanessa's sobs and the chaos of everything that we’ve been through tonight - so far. For a moment we stand in silence, her hand still gripped in mine.

"Breathe," I whisper, turning to face her. Her eyes are distant, unfocused. "Hazel, look at me."

She blinks, struggling to center herself. I place my hands gently on her shoulders, careful not to startle her.

"We have to finish this," I tell her.

Her gaze finally focuses, some clarity returning to those beautiful hazel eyes. She takes a deep, shuddering breath. “I know.”

I brush a strand of hair from her face, my fingers lingering against her cheek. Even now, with everything one huge clusterfuck, I'm struck by how much I need her—not just want her, but need her as much as the oxygen I breathe.