Page 80 of When She Unravels
“You couldn’t. And yes, I did help you, but there were others before, and I didn’t help them.”I murdered them because my husband told me to.“I was a coward up until the moment I met you.”
“Do you regret not helping them?”
“Every day.”
“How do you live with it? Some days I wake up and think there’s no point in getting out of bed. There’s no point in anything.”
I glance at the floor. “I used to have those thoughts too. It will take time, but eventually, they’ll disappear.”
Letting go of her hand, I scoop my knees to my chest. “I knew my husband and his men well, Martina. They’re professional killers. It didn’t matter what you did once they had you. There was nothing you could have done for your friend.”
She wraps her arms around her midsection. “I’m scared it will happen again. Something bad.”
“I get that. I’m not going to pretend any relationships are easy in this world. Most of my friends were related to me or they were sons and daughters of men who worked for my father. It made them more compatible for friendships.”
“Here, we’re on our own. It’s Dem and Ras and all of his hired guards. There aren’t any other big families on the island.” She sniffs. “It’s on purpose, so that—” Her mouth slams shut, and she shoots me a cautious look. She was about to say something she shouldn’t.
She’s vulnerable enough to probably tell me more if I press her, but my conscience holds me back. Instead, I give her a smile. “I can be your friend. Trust me, our friendship can hardly put me in a situation worse than the one I’m already in.”
She lets out a watery laugh. “I suppose that’s true.” Sighing, she looks out toward the water. “I should go back to my room. Dem told me I can’t spend more than thirty minutes here with you.”
I roll my eyes. “He wants me to die of boredom.”
“I won’t let that happen,” she says as she climbs off the bed. “In fact, I have an idea.”
“Hmm?”
She wraps her hand around the door handle and looks back at me. “I don’t want to get your hopes up. Let me talk to him first. I’ll be back tomorrow.”
CHAPTER24
VALENTINA
The following morning,Martina comes with a pile of clothing instead of her usual food. She hands it to me. “We’re going to spend the day by the pool,” she announces as an excited smile lights up her face.
In my shock, I manage to utter a single word. “How?”
“Dem agreed to let you out of your room with the condition that we’ll have two of his scariest guards keeping watch over us. Abbott is an ex-MMA fighter who bit an ear off his opponent, and Clyde kind of looks like that guy in Game of Thrones who played the Mountain.”
I place the clothes on the bed. “Haven’t seen it, but that name alone paints a clear picture.” Scary guards or not, the prospect of finally seeing something other than four cream-colored walls around me sounds like heaven. Not to mention it’s an opportunity for me to look for possible escape routes. The longer Damiano avoids me, the more I worry about my fate. Why hasn’t he come to see me in the past three days?
“I’ll wait outside while you change,” Martina says.
I dig through the bathing suits. They’re all bikinis that look too small for me. I decide to pair a black bottom with a neon-green triangle top that covers a bit more than the other two options. There’s no mirror for me to check my reflection, but I suspect it all looks a bit vulgar. With a sigh, I remove the old bandages from my wrists, tie a thin white cover-up around my waist, and walk up to the door. “Ready.”
Martina takes a peek at me and gives me an encouraging smile. “You look great.”
Tugging my top in place, I shoot a glare at the two guards standing just outside the door. They really are enormous, like two flesh-covered grizzly bears with scowls to match.
“Not getting into your bathing trunks?” I ask them.
Quickly, their expressions grow even more grim. The one with the shaved head addresses Martina. “Why is she wearing that?”
Martina purses her lips and adjusts her posture. “We’re going to the pool.”
It appears the guards weren’t informed of that detail.
“That’s not what Señor De Rossi approved,” one of them says.
