Page 3 of Forbidden War (Forbidden 2)
KARINA
As I pace the room,I listen to Mercutio’s phone ring and ring, but he doesn’t pick up my call. Dammit.
It’s not like my cousin not to have his phone perpetually in his hand, but I don’t have time to worry about it right now. I have to finish packing to leave my husband, which would be a hell of a lot easier if the feeling of suffocation would go away. I feel like I can’t breathe.
My perfect love story was a lie all along.
I’m still trying to process the conversation I just overheard between Marco and his brother. Marco, my Romeo, my true love, is…my enemy. The villain. The deceiver. He’s never said that he loves me, but he made me feel as if he did, and that was enough for me to completely lose all my senses. I can’t believe I actually thought a man like him would want a broken shell of a woman like me for anything more than a chess piece. It’s a position I should be resigned to after a lifetime of being used by my own family, but with him…I thought things were different.
Stupid. I wanted my fairy tale ending so much, I dove into this relationship headfirst, let myself believe in the beautiful lie that my heart so desperately cried out for. My throat is tight, my eyes stinging with tears as I twist my wedding band off and leave it on the nightstand. Then I grab my paltry personal items—toiletries, underwear, the few essentials that my would-be sister-in-law Frankie picked up for me—and stuff them into my bag. Marco was supposed to take me shopping soon, so I could get clothes and books and toothpaste, all the little things I’d need to feel comfortable in my new home. Ha. He never intended for this place to be my sanctuary at all.
It’s just another prison with a guard that I happen to have fallen in love with.
He only pursued me because he thought I’d be valuable. He thought I could provide him with information about my family. And when he realized I couldn’t—when he realized I was a “dead end,” in his words—he married me anyway, just to get under my fiancé’s skin. I’ve never felt so worthless. So used. And to think I pledged myself to him, gave him my heart and my body and my future… Things between us can never be the same after this.
There’s nowhere for me and my husband to go but our separate ways.
How could I have fallen for it? God. Marco is clearly an expert at playing his hand to get what he wants. The way he charmed me at the party, chased me after the races, the whole midnight vineyard picnic. Sneaking me out at night to get matching tattoos. Of course I swooned, like the inexperienced fool I am, when all the doting and attention were nothing more than manipulations to serve his endgame. How could I be so naïve? Maybe I deserved this.
Swiping tears from my cheeks, I sit on the side of the bed and stare at the cell phone in my hand. Marco gave it to me last night, with his number saved to the contacts, so I’d have access to him in case of an emergency. There’s probably a tracker on it, but I can’t make myself care about that as I dial my cousin’s number again. I’m desperate. I have to get out of here.
Mercutio finally answers on the third ring. “Who is this?”
He sounds impatient and vaguely menacing, but I know it’s just his tough guy act.
“Merc, it’s me.” My voice trembles and I barely get the words out. He doesn’t seem to hear me or maybe understand what I’ve said, because he doesn’t respond. “Mercutio?”
He sighs with a curse. “Karina. Jesus. Do you realize what you’ve done?”
Squeezing my eyes shut, I grip the phone like it’s a lifeline. I can’t feed into the drama right now. For once, I’m only going to think about myself.
“You need to come get me,” I tell him. “Please. I have to leave right now.”
There’s another pause. What am I going to do if he won’t come?
His voice drops low as if he doesn’t want anyone to overhear. “I can’t just drop everything and rescue you. I mean, where are you even gonna go? You can’t come back here.”
He had bruises when I left, most likely from being punished for not doing a great enough job being my babysitter, which allowed me to fall for Marco in the first place. If my uncle beat him over that, I can only imagine what might happen if he finds out Merc helped me escape my two-day-old marriage.
“Maybe I can hide out at one of Uncle Sergio’s other properties, or—”
“No,” he interrupts. “Nowhere is safe. Your best option is to stay there.”
“I can’t! I’ll just…I’ll stay at a hotel or something for a couple days while I come up with a plan. I’ll think of something.”
“Do you even have any money?”
Fresh tears well up as I pathetically shake my head. “No. Can you lend me some? Enough for a couple nights? A cheap motel is fine—”
“Fuck. Karina, this is a hell of a mess.”
Until right now, I haven’t thought much about the chaos left in the wake of my disappearance just minutes before my wedding ceremony to Pietro, or all the trouble my forbidden marriage to a Bellanti would have caused afterward. My family probably lost their minds over it, especially since I’ve always been such an obedient good girl.
And Pietro himself—the man has a temper, and he’s used to getting what he wants. It doesn’t matter that he didn’t love me, or that he was only marrying me for the status and connections. I’m sure he’s furious that his shiny new toy was taken away from him. And by one of his top racing rivals, no less.
“I’m sorry to call you and put you in the middle of all this, Merc. I really am. But I have no one else,” I tell my cousin, my voice wobbling with emotion. “I have nobody.”
“Fuck.” He sniffs, then takes a hard breath. “Okay. Listen. I’ll be there soon, and I’ll bring a few bucks to get you through. But I’m dropping you off somewhere the hell away from here. You can’t go back to the family, you understand? And you have to figure out the rest on your own. If anyone finds out I helped you—”
“They won’t. I promise. Thank you. I owe you.”
Merc huffs out a sigh. “Where should I pick you up?”
I don’t know the Bellanti property that well, or where the security cameras are positioned. “I guess just pull up to the end of the main drive. I’ll meet you out by the road.”
“Sure. Be there in a few.”
The line disconnects. I mentally calculate how long it will take my cousin to get here, then quickly wash my face and slip into my shoes. After I zip up the small bag I packed, I head down the hall, moving as quietly as possible. I don’t see anyone on my way out the door.
Realizing that—unlike at my uncle’s house—I’m probably not actually under surveillance, I hoof it down the gravel driveway, feeling better as I round the curve that puts me out of view of the house. When I get past the massive ornate Bellanti gates and reach the main road, I drop my bag at my feet and try to catch my breath. I can’t believe this is the turn my life has taken. From bad to, well, bad. I guess it’s not worse.
Or maybe it is…because I actually thought my new husband cared about me as a person, and I’ve never thought that about anyone in my life before. What a sucker I am, actually being excited to finally have some semblance of a family. Frankie and Candi seem lovely, but I guess I’ll never know if we would have been friends. And the absolute ecstasy I felt in Marco’s arms?
My lower lip quivers. If only I could forget that with a snap of my fingers.
Waiting in the waning light soon has my nerves firing up again. What if Merc can’t get away, or someone overheard our conversation? What if he doesn’t come at all?
The crunch of tires on asphalt catches my attention as a nondescript black sedan rolls to a stop a few yards away. My heart lurches as I consider that it might not be Mercutio, but someone my uncle has sent.
Taking a step back, prepared to run if necessary, I let out a breath as my cousin opens the door and gets out. I let out a hysterical laugh.
“For a second I thought it might not be you,” I tell him.
His brow furrows. “You think I’d double-cross you?”
