A Dark Sicilian Secret(49)

“That may be, but we will not call them. I will not call them.”

“Then I will.” He glanced at her. “I have their number, Jill. Home and cellular.”

She turned her face away from him, jaw set. He didn’t know. He didn’t understand. “Don’t do it, Vitt. It’s not a good idea. You have to trust me on this one.”

“Like you trust me?” he retorted.

She stiffened, her spine rigid.

“Your parents are important,” he added. “They’re not just your parents, but they’re Joseph’s grandparents and they should be part of his life.”

“But I don’t want them in Joe’s life! He’s not safe with them in his life. Leave them in Florida. It’s where they belong.”

“How can you be so bitter?”

“Because you don’t know what my father put us through!”

“What did he put you through?”

“Hell.” Then she smiled bitterly to hide the hot lance of pain. It had been hell, too. Her childhood had been so happy that she hadn’t even been prepared for the terrible things that happened when she turned twelve. Couldn’t have imagined that she’d be ripped from that idyllic, sheltered childhood and thrust into a world of constant fear. To know that your father was a hated and hunted man…to live believing your family was in constant danger…to go to bed every night thinking it might be your last…

“Your teeth are chattering,” Vitt said.

They were, too, but that’s because she was freezing. “I’m cold.”

“It’s eighty-four degrees out.”

“So?”

“You’re not cold. You’re afraid.”

“Why would I be afraid?”

Vitt abruptly pulled over to the side of the road and shifted into Park. Unbuckling his seat belt he turned all the way in his seat, his body angled forward to face her. “You’re afraid because if I call your parents, it will reveal all your secrets and all your lies—”

“I have no secrets!”

His jaw flexed. His nostrils flared. He looked as if he was barely keeping his temper in check. “You have one hour to make that call, or I will.”

Vittorio shifted into Drive and steered the Lancia Aurelia back onto the highway.

Jillian sat with her hands clenched in her lap. For a moment she felt nothing. Not even panic. And then slowly her head filled with noise, a buzzing sound that became a roar.

He’d found something out. Something important. Otherwise why would he want to call her parents personally? Why would he be so determined to speak to them, introduce himself, meet them personally?

Instinct and self-preservation told her that this wasn’t a courtesy call. This phone call had nothing to do with playing the gracious bridegroom. He was cementing his power.

He was ensuring security.

He was going after the truth. And he was going after the truth because he didn’t trust her.

Smart man, she thought, swallowing around the lump in her throat.

Blinking back hot tears, she stared blindly out the car onto the fields dotted with stone walls as they drove the rest of the distance in agonizing silence.

Pulling up before the castle, Vittorio shifted into Park even as Jillian was throwing open the car door and jumping out. “You’re down to forty minutes, Jill. You have forty minutes to decide what you want to do. I’ll be in the library waiting for you.”

“I’ve nothing to tell you!”

“That’s a shame. Because you have so much to lose.”

Jillian turned and ran up the steps into the house, and didn’t stop running until she’d reached the nursery where Joe was sleeping.

Maria put a finger to her lips when Jillian burst into the room. The shades were down, darkening the room and Jillian nodded as she continued to the crib. She had to see Joe, had to see him as only then could she believe everything would be okay.

Jillian stared down at him, taking in his flushed cheeks and his rosy lips. He’d never looked more angelic. “Did he have a good day?” she whispered to Maria.

“Yes. He played and played and he ate a lot and we also went for walks.”

Jillian’s chest squeezed. She longed to reach out and touch him but she didn’t dare wake him. Instead she smiled at Maria and went to her room, where she changed from her navy striped top and slacks into a simple white linen dress. She ran a comb through her hair and then turned away from the mirror. Don’t be scared, she told herself, heading for the stairs.