Page 29 of Tainted Ties

“Thank you for not giving up on me.”

Unable to speak a moment longer, I hung up.

Enzo was as much of a victim as me. The only difference was, he was manipulated by our father while I was abused.

* * *

“Mrs. Mancini, you must come down for dinner,” Gianna said through the door. “Your husband has made it clear that locking yourself in your room for another day will not be tolerated.”

My palms pressed against the door harder, even though it was locked. “Tell him to rot in hell.”

The last few days had gone by painfully slow, though it was my fault. I refused to leave my room. I wanted to avoid Roman at all costs, but it seemed that he was done with my act of silence.

“Either you come out willingly or forcefully. Choose wisely, Mrs. Mancini.”

The sounds of her steps drew farther away from the door, causing me to release a frustrated groan. I would rather go with some type of willingness than be forced.

My hand was around the doorknob when the sound of my phone rang through the air. I reached into my pocket, pulling it out.

A wide smile spread across my face as I answered it. “You have no idea how badly I’ve missed you.”

Irina’s chuckle was a sweet caress to my ears. “I would have called sooner if my partner hadn’t left me alone to deal with our clients.”

Okay, I deserved that.“I’m sorry.”

“I don’t want an apology, Aurora. I want you to tell me the truth and don’t eventryto lie because I know you better than you know yourself.”

The chance of Irina coming to Italy was very high if I didn’t explain everything and that was not an option.

“Don’t freak out, okay?” I waited for her to respond, but the silence was deafening. Screwing my eyes shut, I blurted out, “I’m married.”

The screaming erupted immediately, and I had to remove the phone from my ear to avoid developing a hearing disability. When her voice was at a safer volume, I brought it to my ear again.

“I don’t know which is worse, that you didn’t tell me you were getting married or that in our last conversation, you said you were in a bad situation. Is this thebadsituation, Rora?” she asked, panting from speed talking.

“Yes?” I squeaked out.

“That’s it. I’m closing down business until further notice and coming.”

My mind scrambled to come up with anything that would deter her from coming here. “You can’t do that. Our clients need us.Oneof us,” I corrected.

“Tell me how this happened. Now,” she scolded in that tone of voice that told me she was two seconds away from strangling me through the phone.

“I’m married tohim.” I didn’t need to say Roman’s name for her to understand. “I don’t have much time to tell you the details, but my father conspired against me and for lack of better words, sold me to his enemy in exchange for his wealth.”

“I don’t know what to say.” For a few moments, she was silent before she spoke again. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner? We’re attorneys! I could’ve gotten you out of this.”

The bubble of laughter shook my chest, knowing she would say something like that. “You’re choosing to be oblivious, Rina. We both know death would be knocking at our door if we acted.”

“I need to see you with my own two eyes, and I don’t care if I need to commit my own illegal acts to do so.”

The determination in her voice was set in stone. “That’s fine,” I lied. I wasn’t allowed to leave the premises and I doubted I was allowed to have visitors. “Wait until I tell you to, okay?”

Her silence showed me that she had not understood my request.“Okay?”I repeated more sternly.

“Yes, okay,fine, whatever you say,” she said exasperatedly, clearly unsatisfied.

“Good. I’ll call you when I can.”

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