Page 93 of Deception

“Only because some of my papers went missing. You think I wouldn’t notice?”

“Enough,” Alessandro circles the desk, squatting down to look me in the eye, disgust all over his face. “So, Isabella Rossi. If I go digging, what will I find? What agency do you work for?”

“I-I don’t. I came here on my own.” Stupid. I should tell him there’s cops looking for me. But I don’t have the willpower to lie, or to stand up to him when he’s like this.

His eyes are empty. Inhuman.

“You came here to do what, then?”

“To find out what happened to my brother,” I choke out.

“Ah. Rossi. So you’re his sister.” He stands, glaring down on me. “Let me guess, you came here to take me down. To get revenge.”

“No. I mean…I came looking for answers. I didn’t expect?—”

“To take advantage of my generosity, my kindness? Bullshit.”

“I never meant for this?—”

“But you did. You have betrayal in your heart. Poison. I could smell it the minute you walked in. I should have listened to my instincts.”

I know he’s putting on a front, shutting off his emotions to hurt me, to spare himself.

“So you want answers about your brother? Well, you're gonna get some answers, but you're not going to like them. Or how you’re going to get them.”

He returns to his desk, sitting down, folding his hands.

“But I'm not going to give them to you yet. And you are coming with us back to New York so I can find out exactly who you are and what you know. Lock her up. We leave in a few hours.”

21

ALESSANDRO

“Do you have all your things?” The hollowness of my voice is not faked. It's not a show.

I feel empty inside.

Packing distracts me for a short while, shutting down the house. Carla offers me breakfast, but I have no appetite.

This betrayal is beyond anything that I am prepared to take. And I still have to see her the entire way home. So I put up a wall of hatred between us.

My heart can shrivel to dust for all I care now.

And she hasn’t said a word. The silence of the damned.

She hasn’t begged for her life, made excuses. Like she’s content to let me decide her fate. So much for that fighting spirit I fell in love with.

It was all a lie.

“I asked you a question. Do you have all of your things?”

“Yes, I do.” It's all she says, dragging her carry-on and her suitcase behind her.

“Adri?”

He cocks an eyebrow at my use of his nickname, but lets it slide. “I gave instructions to Carl and Vincenzo. He’ll drop off her rental. They won’t speak of any of this.”

“And the house?”

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