Page 99 of The Don's Secret Heir

She throws me into the passenger side and Sonny’s already in the back, buckled up in his seat, looking terrified.

I want to reach out to him but my arms don’t work.

“It’s going to be okay,” I say quietly. “Dario will come.”

He nods quickly, glancing up as Beth opens the driver’s side door.

“Are we ready for our trip?” she asks brightly—too brightly.

Sonny nods and I smile.

“I hope we’re going somewhere on the water.”

“Wherever you want, Liana,” she says with a too-wide smile, and I could kick myself.

Dario was right about Beth. She’s dangerous. And I don’t know what she’s going to do to me.

I don’t know how to get out of this.

All I can hope is that he’s checking his phone.

“You’ll like the place we go first. It’s been a while since we’ve been there.”

“It’s somewhere I know?” I ask hopefully. Maybe it’ll be somewhere Dario knows, too.

“You’ll see,” she says happily, and I lean against the back of the car seat as she drives away.

We drive for a long time. Too long. We’re getting further and further away from the city.

When we pull up, I recognize the place immediately.

It’s one of her father’s houses, where he built us a playhouse in the nearby tree. He’d hooked up electricity to it, made sure we had all our favorite princess movies.

“Remember this? Our summer home?”

My legs are starting to work again. I’m starting to feel more present, and I couldn’t be more grateful.

But as I stand up, I realize I’m still weak, leaning against Beth.

I fight her, this time, but I’m as weak as a kitten and she just bats me away.

“Calm down, Liana,” she says firmly. “It won’t do if you keep fighting me. Things will get worse. You don’t want things to get worse, do you?”

“Of course not,” I mumble, but I still need help walking toward the playhouse.

There’s no getting out of this, not with whatever she injected me with.

Dario. Please.

28

DARIO

I dream about Liana, about her screaming at me, screaming that she hates me, and I wake with a start.

It’s only been three hours since I laid down. Rocco’s still passed out in one of my guest rooms, and Giovanni disappeared after he dropped me off.

My phone buzzes in my pocket and I pick it up.