Chapter 7

Soraya

I brought Dario home that evening. The house was too quiet, and the back of my neck prickled.

Tiziano sat on the sofa in the great room, legs crossed, his eyes locked on me like a gun sight.

"Where have you been?"

I didn't meet his eyes. "Dario had a fever. I took him to the hospital."

He laughed, low and furious. "Is this estate short on doctors? And even if it were, Dario is Rosalinda's son. Who gave you the right to take him anywhere? I thought you'd finally stopped fighting her. But you still can't let those kids go." He leaned forward. "I've told you. We'll have more. Children of our own."

Eight years of fear and grief broke loose at once.

"I don't want any more children!"

His pupils narrowed. "What did you just say?"

The first words were out. The rest came easier. I lifted my chin and looked straight at him.

"I said I'm done. No more carrying your kids for nine months just to hand them off to Rosalinda. I'm a human being, Tiziano. Not a breeding machine for your bloodline."

His eyes went completely cold. He rose to his feet, and his shadow fell over me.

Just like that, I was back at Villa Serena. The night I tried to run. The guards standing over me exactly like this, the iron bar coming down on my legs.

I screamed, dropped to the floor, and covered my head with my arms.

"Don't hit me! Please don't touch me! It hurts!"

His face darkened. Then, horribly, he laughed.

"So that's what you think of me? That I'd hit you? Fine, Soraya. Have it your way." He raised his voice. "Bruno! Take my wife downstairs. Teach her how to speak to me."

Bruno stepped forward in silence, hooked me under the arms, and dragged me down the stairs straight to the old ice room. He shoved me inside.

The frigid air hit me like a physical blow. Within seconds, my skin went numb and my teeth chattered violently. They used to lock me in a room just like this at Villa Serena for hours. The trauma of a freezing, cramped space still paralyzed me.

"Please!" I begged, my voice shaking. "I'm sorry! I'll say whatever he wants. Just let me out!"

Bruno didn't answer. Every so often he cracked the door just long enough for me to gulp a breath of warmer air. Then he shut me back in the dark.

Again. And again.

The cold drained me bit by bit. My thoughts started to slur.

Through the haze, I heard Bruno on the phone.

"Don, she's in bad shape. Should I stop?"

Tiziano's voice came through, still hot with rage. "Keep going. Rosalinda's right. She needs to learn."

"Yes, Don."

The door slammed shut again.

The cold and the dark started making pictures. My mother, young and smiling, her arms full of jasmine. Me as a girl, chasing Tiziano across the garden. Dario's face twisted with hate. My parents, covered in blood, asking why I was still sleeping beside the man who'd destroyed us.

I screamed without a sound. Then I stopped fighting altogether.

When I came to, it was the middle of the night.

My lips were cracked. "Water..."

A glass touched my mouth. I turned my head and saw Tiziano.

He was holding me against his chest, tipping the water in slowly, carefully.

"Soraya, I'm sorry." His voice was rough. "I lost my temper. How could you think I see you as nothing but a way to have children?"

Isn't that what I am?

I didn't have the strength to say it. My breathing was shallow. Whatever he saw in my face made his jaw tighten.

He bent and pressed a kiss to my eyelids.

"Give me some time. I'll make it up to you. When the kids are older, I'll tell them the truth. We'll be a family, all of us, together. Okay?"

No.

I only said it in my head.

My travel documents would be ready in a few days. Then I'd be out of this hell for good.

For the next few days, I stayed in my room and let my body heal. For once, nobody came for me.

Until Rosalinda slammed my door open, grabbed me by the collar, and hauled me off the bed.

"Soraya Basile! What did I ever do to you that you'd try to ruin me like this?"