Page 14 of Saint Of Envy (Tangled Hearts, Sinful Hands #2)

VALENTINA

L uc getting pulled away unexpectedly for business isn’t ideal timing. I was really hoping that he’d be able to attend the doctor’s appointment with me. But the important thing is that I know he wanted to, and that eases some worries that I was having earlier.

Once the bodyguard arrives, Luc gives me a kiss on the top of my head and takes off to meet with Vincent.

“Would you like me to accompany you inside, Ms. Ricci?” the guard asks as we stand in front of the building.

The medical clinic is a fancy, private, three-level office that is likely the best money can buy in the city.

Luc meant it when he said that the baby and I would have everything that we need.

I glance at the glass front doors. The building has security and a check-in desk right at the entrance.

It looks safe and secure enough. I doubt that even a man like Leonardo Conti would try to attack a medical facility with pregnant women inside.

“I’ll be fine on my own,” I smile politely at the guard. “You can wait in the car, thank you.”

He nods and returns to the driver’s seat of the waiting vehicle parked right out in front of the entrance. I take a deep breath and step inside to check in.

The doctor is a kind older man with wise eyes and deep wrinkles on his forehead. He looks like he’s delivered a lot of babies throughout his career, and he has a comfortable bedside manner that puts me instantly at ease.

“Looks like everything is progressing nicely,” he says. “You should start seeing a little baby bump coming along soon, and you might have felt a bit more tired than usual. Any nausea or lightheadedness?”

“No,” I shake my head.

He looks over the medical history form that I filled out at the registration desk and nods silently a few times to himself. “You look like a very healthy young woman, so just keep yourself away from any major stress, stay hydrated, and this should be a nice, uneventful pregnancy.”

I can’t help but let out a little snort of sarcastic amusement at the thought of keeping things “low stress”. He looks up at me with a questioning expression, and I quickly brush off my reaction. “So, when will I be able to feel the baby move?”

“Not for a little while still,” he says, forgetting about my snort. “Unless you have a real athlete in there, it can take a few months.”

“Months?”

“Don’t worry,” he laughs good-naturedly as he pats the top of my shoulder. “I’m sure you’ll be feeling those pesky little kicks in no time. I’ll send in the nurse with your paperwork and a prenatal vitamin prescription, and then you’re free to go.”

“Thank you, Doctor.”

After he leaves, I get dressed and think about being a mother, and about Luciano being a father and my partner. I close my eyes for a second, place my hand over my stomach, and picture Luc standing at the altar. Maybe one day, that vision will come true.

But just as I’m about to open my eyes and leave the room, the door bursts open and the one person who I would never expect to see comes rushing inside.

“Dad?” I ask as my father runs into the room. “What are you doing here? How did you even get in here? How did you know I was here?”

“Valentina, you need to come with me right now!” he says in a hushed, panicked voice.

“What? Why?”

He grabs my arm and pulls me toward the door, but something doesn’t feel right.

“Dad, what’s going on?”

His voice is quiet, which means nothing since he never raises his voice. My father has always exerted a sort of quiet authority, even in times where overt aggression might be more warranted.

“You aren’t safe here, Valentina. You need to come with me now out the back door.”

In a moment of quick indecision, I go with my father.

I can already tell that in hindsight, I’ll regret this decision.

I should be listening to my instincts, which are screaming at me in my head, warning me that something isn’t right about all of this.

It doesn’t add up that my father is here, that he even knew where I was after not having reached out to me at all until now.

The guilt-ridden look in his eyes should have been my first clue not to follow him.

The nurse looks flustered and confused in the hallway as we race past her. But it isn’t until my father has his hand on the back door of the building that I start to really question what is going on. By that point, it’s already too late.

It’s as if it all happens at once, time stands still, and I can simultaneously picture the bodyguard waiting in his car out front, the nurse realizing that I left without checking out, and the display of moral weakness and internal desperation on my father’s part.

He pushes open the back door, and I see a black tinted car sitting there waiting.

“I’m sorry, Valentina,” my father instantly cries out. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t have a choice. I had to do it, or he said that he would kill you. Please forgive me. He left me no other choice.”

For a second, everything is a blur. I think that’s because I don’t want to see the back window of the car roll down and Leonardo sitting inside the car.

My father’s betrayal, coupled with the threats from Leonardo Conti endangering me and my unborn child, is something I can’t bring myself to acknowledge.

I simply can’t believe that he’s done this to me again.

I thought he would feel guilty for arranging my marriage to Leonardo in the first place and prioritizing his business survival over personal happiness.

Maybe he has regret over that, but it hasn’t stopped him from selling me out yet again.

I turn and attempt to run back inside the building, but it’s too late. The door is closed and locked. There’s no way past the waiting car and Leonardo’s armed men to get back to the front of the building. I’m trapped.

I wish that Luc were here, and that he hadn’t been called away. If he had been here, none of this would have happened.

“Get in the car, Valentina,” Leonardo calls from his seat in the back of the car. “Other side.”

He motions toward the back passenger door, and one of his men opens it for me.

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I hiss.

Leonardo’s face contorts into a mix of amusement and arrogant anger. “It’s sad and rather annoying how you still seem to think that you have a choice in any of this. Just because you flew the coop once, and ran off with that mutt of a consigliere, doesn’t mean that you don’t still belong to me.”

I look over at my father to see if there is any part of him that will help save me from this fate, but he’s already being walked off toward another car.

Likely, he can leave now that the deal is complete, and Leonardo has taken me back.

Even if Leonardo had threatened my life, my father should have been smart enough to know that Luc would have kept me safe.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Leonardo hisses at me through the open car window. “But we don’t have all day. That rent-a-cop bodyguard of yours out front will come looking for you soon, so I’m going to need you to get in the fucking car.”

When I don’t budge, he motions for one of his men to come and grab me.

I try my best to keep my arm protectively over my stomach without drawing attention to it, even though Leonardo is already well aware that I’m pregnant.

The man shoves me into the backseat right beside the man that I despise most in this world.

And as soon as I’m seated, and the car drives off, Leonardo smirks with a look of complete satisfaction.

“Where are we going?” I ask him.

“I’m going to put you somewhere safe and sound, somewhere that Luciano can’t find you.”

“And then what? Are you going to marry me again?” I scowl at him. “If you do, then I’ll run away just like I did the last time.”

“I haven’t quite decided what I’m going to do with you yet,” he says as he looks out the window, ignoring direct eye contact with me as if my betrayal still repulses him.

“I guess that depends on several factors. But for right now, I’m going to take you to one of my acquaintances’ businesses, where you will stay hidden away from prying eyes until I decide what to do about you. ”

“We’ll be at the Barone’s warehouse in ten minutes,” the driver says over his shoulder to Leonardo.

“Excellent.”

“Angelo Barone? That’s your new friend these days?” I taunt him. “You know Luc will come for me, don’t you? And he’s going to kill you if you harm me or our child.”

That garners his attention enough for Leonardo to look over at me and glance down at my hand resting on my stomach.

“Ah, yes, the baby. If you really are pregnant, I haven’t yet decided what to do about that either. First things first—your new living quarters.”

When we arrive at the Barone’s warehouse, it looks even more miserable than I’d expected. Not only is it dank and dark and practically abandoned, it’s also completely uninhabitable.

Leonardo gets out of the car and walks around to open my door. When I refuse to get out of the car, he reaches his hand in and pulls me out.

“See now, you had such a beautiful home before, Valentina. You had everything that any woman could ever want—wealth, comforts, baubles, the company of staff and servants, and even the pleasure of my company whenever I was in the mood for you,” he sneers.

“Now, you have this—an empty, uncomfortable warehouse where you will sit alone in a room guarded by my men until I decide to take you out. You should have been smarter before you ran from me in Italy. You could have had a pleasant life as a kept woman, and now you have fallen from my good graces.”

With that, he shoves me toward the door of the building, and two of his men walk me inside.

I try to get a look at my surroundings before I’m stuffed inside a room, but the light is dim, and everything looks gray and monotone.

As soon as the doors are closed, I hear Leonardo giving the guards their instructions outside.

“Feed her, make sure she doesn’t escape, and don’t let her do anything stupid like try to run or hurt herself. I’ll be back soon.”

A single tear falls down my cheek. I'm back inside a cage again, and this time—the cage doesn’t even have windows for me to look out of.