Till Death do us Together

Chapter 11

That night I would have slept like I were carried away to another dimension, especially with the layers of bedding and endless pillows...but I didn't.

It wasn't easy to forget everything that had happened, from my wedding being cancelled to my ex-fiancè throwing me into a mental institution...

A place where the workers taunted me and the other girls spread rumours that ate me alive, and the cherry on top of it all was the throbbing in my stomach.

All of it was too much to handle.

I'd been hit by a bus and wished I had my Papà to comfort me, or my brothers and sister to make me smile. But I had no-one.

———

The next morning I awoke to a view so breathtaking, that everything I'd thought last night was thrown out the window. I sat up in bed, mouth wide open as I took in the mountains. Layers and layers of trees covered the hills, in the deepest green.

I swore I could also see a glimpse of blue, but maybe I was dreaming about it.

A knock on the door sounded and I called for whoever it was to come in, all to see a maid carrying a huge tray of food, and I thought to myself.

Maybe I would like it here after all.

I ate breakfast in bed, offered some to the maid who was around 50 and went by the name Camilla, and then I got washed up.

This place was a palace, and though I'd only be staying here for a few days I didn't mind being the Queen. I wandered around the hallways, which were endlessly long and glistening with shades of off-white, golds and creams.

It was when I reached the kitchen did I look outside onto the backyard and gasped. I hurried out, throwing myself against the railings on the other side of the backyard which overlooked the ocean.

I was right. I did see blue.

"You like it here?" Camilla the maid asked as she steeped the concrete outside.

"Like it? I love it!!!"

I was sure my smile was beaming at this point, and then someone walked outside to ruin the mood.

Clad in a tight white dress shirt and black pants stood Leonardo. "Don't love it too much. You're not staying here long."

My smile dropped. I clenched my teeth together, an unfamiliar tension forming between us as I contemplated what I'd say to him.

I would have spoken, but I remembered that he found me annoying so I remained silent. Camilla darted her eyes between us and when Leo glanced sideways at her she lowered her face and quickly left.

"I don't even want to stay here." I lied as I crossed my arms. "I'm being held hostage and you won't tell me why, so do whatever it is you do and pay for another jet to take me back to Rome, si?"

I walked off with such confidence, knowing that I got on his nerves with the way his breathing had picked up and I came to yet another decision.

Breaking Leonardo's facade would be easy. At first I thought I could sweet talk myself into it but now I was starting to see that with a man like him I needed to fight fire with fire. So that was what I did.