Page 148 of Love Without Control

I eyed the two agents who both had sour looks on their faces when she talked about the barbaric treatment.

“Do you remember seeing anyone else at the house?” Saunders asked.

“Um, I think maybe there was a guard outside, but it was dark and I was really tired, so I don’t remember much about him. I could hear people coming and going, and then the house felt empty, so I assumed the other women had been picked up.”

“Did someone come for you?”

And here we go. Kassie had counseled us to tell the truth as much as possible without incriminating ourselves.

Evie lifted her chin and skirted the truth. “I heard them say someone had bought me, but I escaped so I never saw him.”

Good girl, I told her with a squeeze of her hand.

“Do you know the name of the person who bought you?”

She swallowed and announced, “Luca Cappitani.”

You could have heard a pin drop in that room. Both agents stared at Evie like she’d grown a second head, and then Peters began typing furiously on his keyboard.

Saunders cleared his throat. “And was that name familiar to you, Evie?”

She nodded. “I knew he was some big Mafia asshole.”

That drew a smile from the man. “Can you tell me how you escaped?”

Evie scrunched her face. “I don’t remember everything. Like I said, I was hurting and sleep deprived. But when Felipe and Ethan were… distracted, I sneaked out.”If by distracted, you mean dead…

“Through a window?” Saunder prompted.

“No, through one of the doors when the guard came into the house and went into another room. Once I was free, I saw a man on the street and asked him for help.” She turned her head and smiled at me. “Dane saved me.”

“You didn’t think to call your family?”

Evie swiveled her head slowly back to the agent. “Funnily enough, the people who kidnapped me and planned to sell me didn’t provide me with a cell phone. I found it quite discourteous of them.”

Ahhh, there’s my Wildcat.

Saunders cleared his throat to cover what I was sure was a chuckle. “Good point.” He turned his attention to me. “Couldn’t you have let Evie use your phone?”

“It was seventeen years ago. Not everyone had a phone glued to their hand back then.” Again, sliding around the edges of the truth. I didn’t actually say Ididn’thave a cell phone, but he seemed to accept the non-answer.

“What happened next?”

I picked up that question. “Once Evie told me her story and who was involved, we decided to run. I was aware that Luca Cappitani had a reputation for being ruthless, and I felt Evie’s life was in danger.”

Saunders propped his elbow on the table and rested the side of his index finger against his lips. “Just like that.”

“Yes,” replied.

“You just up and left your life to go on the run with a woman you didn’t even know?”

Shrugging, I said, “I didn’t have any family to speak of and I was between jobs.” I met my wife’s eyes. “We had an instant connection. It wasn’t a hard decision.”

He leaned over to look at the laptop and clicked on the screen a couple times. “Your marriage certificate says you were married in January, but you didn’t even meet Evie until March when she went missing.”

Fuck. I hadn’t thought of that.

Kassie saved my ass with a dismissive hand wave. “Must have been a mistake at the county clerk’s office. You know how busy those places can get. Someone must have keyed in the wrong month. Happens all the time.” It was complete and utter bullshit, and we all knew it.

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