Page 44 of Dark Masquerade
“Well,” she said, flicking through the passport, “This passport is about halfway through its life, so any trips that Aldo took—as Aldo— within the last year should be in here. Indio, about a month into mine and Aldo’s relationship, he said he was going to New York for a meeting for a few days. I didn’t think anything of it, but during that time, I was attacked and threatened by a stalker.”
Indio sat up, alarmed, but she waved him down. “I wasn’t seriously hurt, don’t worry. But I spoke to Aldo via Skype one night, and my friend Tandy—I’ve told you about her, right?—she was staying with me and made a comment about where Aldo was speaking from.”
Elli recalled the confusion on Tandy’s pretty face …
“Something struck me. He’s a solid-gold billionaire, right?”
Elli half smiled, half frowned at her friend. “So?”
“Well, it’s just, if I had his money, I would be staying in the penthouse suite. From what I saw, that wasn’t the penthouse of The Four Seasons.”
Elli told Indio exactly what Tandy had said and waved Aldo’s passport. “There’s no customs stamp for the time he said he was in New York. I don’t think he left the country. I think he was watching me and that he attacked me to make me feel vulnerable.”
Indio nodded slowly. “You’re probably right …what with the cameras in your home and his sick games …Jesus, Elli, there’s no way I’m letting you go back to that man.”
She took a deep breath in and nodded. “Yes, there’s no way. But we still don’t want him to flip out, so when I go back to Italy, I’ll say I need some space and that I think we need to be apart for a while. Rather than pull off the band-aid, I’ll ease him into it, so he doesn’t get suspicious. I don’t underestimate his capacity to hurt the people I love if I upset his equilibrium.”
“I don’t want you to be at risk,” Indio said with real emotion. “If anything happened to you.”
Elli went to him and perched on his knees. “Indio, your proposal last night …I got on the internet this morning. We can get married here, but we need to be resident for thirty days for it to be legal.”
His arms tightened around her. “Damn. I wanted to be your husband right now.”
She chuckled. “And I wanted to be your wife. We should go somewhere, in Paris, that’s totally cliché and have our own little ceremony. Then, as soon as we get back to Italy, I’m yours, baby.”
Indio kissed her. “That sounds like a plan. In the meantime, let’s go find what we can on Constanza.”
***
They flew into Uganda the next day and, much to Indio’s amusement, Elli wore a short blonde wig. She posed in it, and Indio shook his head. “You’re not a blonde, baby.”
She stuck out her tongue at him. “But you like my disguise, right?”
The fun was soon over when they began to see the conditions that the local people had to live in and Elli was moved to tears. Decades of civil war had torn the country apart. She visited some of the aid camps set up by Aldo’s organization, and on the surface, they seemed to be places of hope.
It was Indio who found someone willing to talk to them. They met late at night at the rundown hotel where Indio and Elli were staying.
The man, David, was a Ugandan-born medic who had resigned from Aldo’s organization the previous year.
“I was fooled for a few years. I didn’t think to look below the surface and took everything Constanza said at face value. He comes here often, and it took a while to realize that after his visits—every time—there would be a child or two or three who went missing. All girls.”
Elli felt sick at the implication. “So, he’s not selling guns?”
David shook his head. “Eventually, it got back to me. The kids that went missing were being sold to the sex trade.”
Elli gave a sob, and Indio rubbed her back, his own face drawn. “How the fuck is he getting away with this?”
“Russian contacts and unlimited money to hush things up. People have died here …I’m sure my life too is now forfeit, which is why I have nothing left to lose by talking to you.”
Elli grabbed his hand. “We will protect you, David.”
He smiled sadly. “Do not promise that, lovely lady. This world is rough and corrupt. Even the people hired to protect a person can turn at the promise of money.”
“Why don’t you leave?”
“Because this is my country and they are my people. I may not be able to stop Constanza, but I can do something about the flow of children into his grip. My colleagues and I, we offer free medical treatment with the little money we have to buy supplies.”
Elli looked at Indio, who nodded. “David, I can help …we can help. We can open clinics and get you supplies.”
