Page 29 of Accepting His Name (The Sartoris 1)

The mansion was miles behind her, and she didn’t know she had started crying again until she sniffed. “How in the world can I love him when he was so controlling? He doesn’t deserve my love!”

She scrubbed an arm over her eyes to keep the road clear. Her cell phone rang again. This time it was Ezio, and she tensed. Her bodyguard had no doubt told him, and he was probably ticked off even more than he was that morning.

So what! He’s just mad I left him before he could throw me out.

Her foot eased off the gas, and she slowed to a crawl. Traffic wasn’t that heavy, but a few cars honked at her and pealed around her slow progress. She pulled to the shoulder of the road and stopped, forehead on the steering wheel.

If Ezio was going to give up on them, wouldn’t he have told her to leave that morning? If he wasn’t, what was the alternative? That he’d try to force her off the pill? She thought about it. Was Ezio that extreme? The truth was she didn’t know. He had never once tried to manipulate her into marrying him or tried to fool her. He’d set his terms and sweetened the deal, but then he let her decide what she would do.

Shakarri knew Ezio was so thorough as to know all about her before he ever approached her. While he knew so much, she knew nothing. She had demanded he prove his wealth, and boy had he. The whirlwind three-week courtship, if one wanted to call it that, was phenomenal, and she had said yes to his proposal. The problem was her feet hadn’t touched the ground the entire time. Now that they had, she was so scared, and she hated it. She felt like her life wasn’t her own to conduct. Developing feelings for Ezio made it worse, so she ran away from everything.

“I can’t go back,” she told the empty car. “I won’t.”

The phone rang again. This time she turned it off and started the car again. Since she wasn’t too far from home, she took a chance and withdrew money from the bank. Then she took a different route than the one she was on, choosing at random. For hours, she drove and drove. When the gas was low, she filled it up again and continued on.

The sun dipped below the horizon as she pulled into the parking lot of a family styled restaurant. Old beach music blared overhead, but Shakarri tried her best to block it out. She ordered food and sat down alone to eat. At various tables, families laughed together. Their happiness made Shakarri feel even more isolated. How had she come to prefer taking her meals with the Sartoris in such a short period? Half the time, they spoke in Italian or spoke so rapidly she had no idea what they were talking about. Yet, they made the effort to include her in the conversation and tried to teach her various words.

Get a grip, Sha. You’d think you were already preggo with all this emotion.

She finished her food and dumped her tray then headed outside. In the time it had taken her to eat, the sky had opened up, and the rain poured. Shakarri sighed and raised a hand over her head as she ran for the car. Her mood plummeted as she started the car. She was soaking wet. Fate seemed to be out to get her, to punish her for lying to Ezio and leaving him.

Exhaustion hit her on a long stretch of road. “Just a few more miles, and I’ll stop,” she mumbled, and her chin dipped to her chest. She smacked her cheek. “You are not falling asleep behind the wheel, ma’am, and getting yourself killed! Not with this rain and slippery streets, that’s for sure.”

At last, she found a motel and stopped. Rain pounded the rooftop of her car, and the only open parking spot was far enough she would be soaked to the bone again by the time she reached shelter.

“Gotta love consistent bad luck,” she grumbled.

After a mad dash, she made it into the motel office, paid for a room, and stripped off the wet clothing when she got into it. Her suitcase was still in the trunk, but she didn’t care. Sleep was calling, and she would answer.

When she was curled beneath the covers with a towel wrapped around her head, Shakarri pulled her phone out. She stared at it a long time. No, she wouldn’t turn it on. Tomorrow, she would phone Nay and let her know she was okay. That’s all.

Sleep claimed Shakarri, and she drifted off.

Chapter 10

Shakarri looked up at the man, trying to make sense of his face. Her blurred vision wasn’t helping the matter, but neither was the fact that she couldn’t think straight. “W-who?” she murmured. Pain erupted in her head, and she felt like she would throw up. She tried to raise her hand to her head, but it refused to obey.

“Don’t worry, my dear,” the man said with a creepy grin. “I’ll take good care of you.”

He rested a hand on her shoulder, and she tried to knock it off. Well, she willed herself to knock it off, but again her body wouldn’t respond. What was wrong with her? Did he give her poison? Was this her fate if she left Ezio from now on—bad guys coming after her?”

“D-don’t touch…” Her voice faded out although she hadn’t meant for it to.

His grin broadened, and that’s when she noticed two teeth missing at the side. Sweat rolled down leathery skin, and a small whiff of his armpits made her stomach turn. She was glad the scent seemed to be muted, or she might throw up.

“You called me,” he assured her.

She tried to get her thinking straight but failed. “I…don’t…know…you.”

He straightened and thumped his fists on narrow hips. She had the thought that if she was feeling like herself she could take him. He couldn’t weigh more than one thirty at the most. “Aw now, you’re going to hurt my feelings.” He burst out laughing. “I was minding my own business when you starting crying out. These walls are paper-thin. I saw you arrive alone, cute thing like you. I knew you needed my help, so I let myself in.”

“You…picked…the lock.”

He winked as if she’d just complimented him. “Don’t you worry. We’ll see about you after I have a look around, huh?”

“No.” She tried to get up and managed a couple inches then fell back. The man found her phone on the bed beside her and powered it up. He started poking through it while scanning the room at the same time.

“Where’s your stuff? In your car?”

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