1
Natalie
The cold was the first thing I registered. Icy fingers sliding over my skin. Pulling me forward. Drawing me into a darkness that would consume my soul for all eternity if I let it.
I jerked upright. Gasping, I struggling to breathe, struggled to see. But all around me, there was darkness. Darkness and that sinking feeling I was lost for good.
A cold sweat broke out across my skin when I realized I wasn’t alone. A shadowy figure stood still as stone beside me. Staring down at me like a silent wraith.
My pulse roared in my ears. I quickly scanned the small dark room as much as I could without turning my head, searching for a way to escape. But I couldn’t see anyone else. The room was so dark, I couldn’t even see the door.
My hands shook. My body trembled. I didn’t know where I was. Didn’t remember anything but being alone in the main house on Marco and Felicity’s estate in Tuscany. Luc had left me earlier in the day to meet with his father to discuss the status of our marriage with the leaders of his House. Felicity had gone at dusk to take Dante, Luc’s youngest brother, to safety. And late in the evening, Marco had finally left the estate in an effort to help Luc.
Pain throbbed inside my skull. I racked my mind, trying to remember. Why had Marco needed to help Luc?
It hit me like a swift punch to the gut.
Their House... The leaders of House Salvatici, one of the five remaining Houses in an ancient Entente I’d recently learned ruled the world from the shadows, had called a gathering. The leaders had sanctioned our marriage, but they weren’t happy Luc, the heir to the Italian Salvatici Dynasty, had broken one of their sacred rules by marrying me, a commoner and an American to boot, without permission. Marco had left me alone at the estate to see what he could do for Luc. Because he’d feared the leaders were planning to somehow...
Oh God...
He’d feared the leaders were going to punish Luc.
I swallowed hard as the memories rushed back. I’d gone upstairs to wait for Luc to return to me. The balcony doors had been open. I’d crossed the dark room to close them. Turned. And...
My pulse raced as the memory flashed behind my eyes.
Four hooded figures in black, wearing stark white bauta masks, had stepped out of the shadows of my room. Had moved toward me.
Slowly, I looked up at the shadowed figure still standing quietly beside my bed, wondering if this was one of them.
The one who’d thrown a black sack over my head? The one who’d injected some drug into my arm that had made me pass out? The one who’d abducted me and brought me here?
My throat closed all over again. I didn’t know where here was. I didn’t know what they planned to do with me. And Luc...
Terror wrapped icy arms around my chest and squeezed like a boa constrictor when I thought of my Luc and what they could have already done to him.
Very carefully, I placed my hands at my sides and scooted back. Springs squeaked beneath me, and I realized I was on some kind of mattress. But I didn’t take my eyes off the figure standing still and silent at my side. And I didn’t open my mouth, too afraid of what would happen if I made a sound.
“There, there, now, dear,” the figure finally said in a clipped Italian accent. “You’re perfectly safe. There’s nothing to be frightened of.”
I froze because the voice was female, not male as I’d expected, and it was familiar in a way it shouldn’t be, especially in this place.
I squinted but still couldn’t make out anything more than a dark shape. But I knew that voice. I’d heard it in Tuscany, the first time Luc had brought me to Italy almost two months ago. “M-Mrs. Salvatici?”
“Yes, dear. It’s me.”
Fabric rustled, then the springs in the mattress squeaked as she sat on the side of the bed.
I squinted harder, only to realize... I was right. This close, I could make out the whites of Luc’s mother’s eyes and the shape of her beside me. I also picked up the familiar scent of roses I remembered from my short visit to the Salvatici estate all those weeks ago.
“As soon as I heard what had happened,” Francesca Salvatici said, “I rushed right over.”
Her hand covered mine on the mattress, but it wasn’t warm as I expected. It was cold. Cold and clammy. As cold as the fingers of death that had tried to draw me into the darkness before.
“Now, there’s nothing to be frightened of, but you really do need to learn to be more docile. We’ve wasted precious time because you were so combative.”
I was having trouble following her, but I wasn’t sure if that was because I was still fuzzy from whatever drugs the men in black robes had given me, or if I was dreaming this entire conversation.
“Wh-what’s going on?” My voice shook even though I tried like hell to keep it steady. “Where’s Luc?”
“Do not worry your simple little head about Luciano. He is anxiously awaiting your arrival.” She squeezed my hand in a way that was anything but reassuring. “That’s why I’m here. To take you to him, of course.”
She was placating me. But I ignored her condescending words because the chill to her voice put me on instant alert.
This woman wasn’t the innocent little wife she made herself out to be. I sensed she knew everything that happened in the Salvatici House. Knew and supported it.
“What did you do to him?”
She had the audacity to gasp. “Why, I did nothing to my son. What kind of mother do you think I am?” Her cold fingers released mine, and she pushed to her feet. “Regardless of your distrust where this family is concerned, it has become obvious to Antonio and myself that Luciano cares for you greatly. As such, we decided it was past time we welcomed you into the family properly.”
She nodded toward something at the foot of the bed. “Seeing as how you are not dressed appropriately, I brought you something to wear. I’ll step out while you change, then I’ll be back to take you to Luciano.”
Her heels clicked across the floor. Seconds later, she knocked against something solid. Hinges creaked, then a heavy door pushed inward, flooding the room with light that blinded me.
I lifted a hand to block the glare and tried to see past the opening. Luc’s mother, dressed in a fitted skirt and trim jacket, stepped out into the hallway and spoke in a low voice with another person I couldn’t quite make out. Seconds later, a light flipped on in the room, burning my retinas. I dropped my eyelids just as the heavy steel clanked shut.
It took several minutes for the spots to clear from my vision, and when they did I realized I was in some kind of cell.
The walls and floor were cement. There were no windows, no furnishings beside a wrought iron bedframe and a dingy old mattress. And there was a drain in the middle of the floor that sent all kinds of horrible images through my mind.
I swallowed back the nausea and looked away from that drain, telling myself not to hyperventilate. But I had no concept of time. I didn’t know how long I’d been out or even what country I was in anymore. And as much as I wanted to believe Luc’s mother was telling the truth and that Luc was somewhere close waiting for me, I knew not to trust her. Not after she’d stood back and let the leaders of her House beat and imprison her youngest son, Dante. Not after I’d learned she hadn’t stopped those same leaders from murdering Dante’s pregnant wife.