Page 43 of Happily Ever After
While she is a woman?Is this guy for real?
But I have no time to be outraged. When Niccolo turns back to me, his expression is unreadable.
My stomach churns, and my chest tightens uncomfortably.
"Is that it?" he asks, pointing to the papers we found yesterday.
"Yes, that's all there was in the box."
"And you found it in the cave, right?"
Any confusion about which hidden treasure Niccolo is after lifts with that question. I hadn't mentioned the cave so far, but he clearly knows about it.
"Yes. In a small metal box with an eight-digit code."
Niccolo is pacing the small space of the walk-in closet. His jolly demeanor from earlier is gone, and he's pulling at his neck impatiently.
"Was there anything else in that box? Those papers are not what I really need."
"What do you mean, they're not what you need? There wasn't anything else," I insist.
And then it occurs to me what he's here for.
I drop my gaze to the floor, not wanting to give myself away.
No! He can't have it.
Niccolo's eyes are on me, studying me—I can feel their intensity burning into my skin.
He stops in front of me, placing his index finger beneath my chin and lifting it. It forces me to look at him.
"What else was in that box?" he asks again, his tone carrying a clear warning not to mess with him.
My pulse jumps at his touch and the threat in his voice. My stomach lurches, bile rising in my throat.
I swallow it down. I doubt this man would react well to me vomiting all over him.
Unable to push the words past my lips, I stay quiet.
Niccolo's face lights up again. Holy crap, he's mercurial.
"Ah, you do know what I'm talking about. Where is it?"
He really is after Tiero's necklace, isn't he? But why?
"What do you want with it?" I ask before I can think better of it, and with that confirming that the necklace is in my possession.
"Where is it, Ella?" he asks again, not answering my question.
If my hands weren't tied, I'd probably try to clutch the pendant. It's an instinctive reaction, and my hands twitch.
Niccolo doesn't miss it.
He smirks.
His gaze travels over my body and comes to rest on my neck where the leather band of Tiero's necklace is visible above my shirt.
Niccolo presses into me, and goosebumps race over my skin. They're not the kind Ade elicits, but ones of fear.
