Then Came You (The Gamblers #1)(86)

His full-lipped mouth curved downward as he surveyed the wet darkness. The rain had quickly dissipated into a cool mist. “Come piove,” he remarked sullenly. “Always the rain, always the gray sky. I loathe this England!”

“Why don’t you leave?” Lily asked, staring at him without blinking.

Giuseppe shrugged moodily. “The choice is not mine. I stay because they want me ’ere.” He shrugged. “È così.”

“That’s how it is,” Lily translated softly. “Who are ‘they,’ Giuseppe? Do ‘they’ have something to do with Nicole and this extortion?”

He looked annoyed, as if he had said more than he should have. “Give the money to me.”

“I won’t do this anymore,” Lily said stiffly, her white face framed by the hood of her dark cloak, her eyes bright with strain. “I can’t, Giuseppe. I’ve done everything you’ve asked. I came to London when you told me to. I’ve given you everything I have, without one shred of proof that Nicole is alive. The only thing you’ve ever given me is the little dress she was wearing when you took her.”

“You doubt I still ’ave Nicoletta?” Giuseppe asked silkily.

“Yes, I doubt it.” Lily swallowed painfully. “I think she may be dead.”

“You ’ave my word she is not.”

“Well.” Lily gave a contemptuous laugh. “Forgive me if I don’t find your word all that reliable.”

“You are wrong to say this to me, cara,” Giuseppe said with an insufferably smug expression. “Some’ow I t’ink to myself tonight, I should bring with me proof that Nicoletta is safe. I do not wish you to doubt me. I t’ink maybe I show you somet’ing, that make you believe my word.” He glanced back over his shoulder, toward the twisted maze of alleys.

Puzzled, Lily followed his gaze. He called out something in Italian, using a dialect so obscure that even she, with all her fluency in the language, couldn’t follow it. Gradually a dark, shrouded shape appeared several yards away, seeming to materialize from nothing. Lily stared at the strange apparition, her lips parting in wonder.

“È lei,” Giuseppe said complacently. “What do you ’ave to say now, cara?”

Lily’s body quaked as she realized the distant figure was a man, holding up a small, doll-like form. His hands were hooked underneath the child’s arms. He raised her a little higher, and the little girl’s black hair glowed like polished onyx against the lavender-gray sky. “No,” Lily croaked, her heart pounding in a frantic drumbeat.

The child stared at Giuseppe and called out in a tiny, questioning voice. “Papà? Siete voi, Papà?”

It was her daughter. It was Nicole. Lily dropped her satchel and staggered forward. Giuseppe caught her hard against him, clamping his hand over her mouth to smother her agonized scream. She fought wildly, flailing against his restraining arm, her eyes flooding. Whimpering behind his hand, she blinked to clear the tears that blurred her vision. Giuseppe’s voice was a quiet hiss in her ear. “Sì, that is Nicoletta, our baby. È molto carina, yes? Such a pretty child.”

At Giuseppe’s nod, the man disappeared with the child, melting into the darkness. Giuseppe waited for half a minute before releasing Lily, until all chance of following her daughter through the convoluted streets and alleys was gone. His arms withdrew from around her.

Lily relaxed slowly, still crying. “My God,” she sobbed, wrapping her arms around her middle, her shoulders hunched like an old woman’s.

“I tell you I ’ave her,” Giuseppe said, picking up the satchel of money, lifting the flap to view the contents. He sighed in satisfaction.

“Sh-she spoke in Italian,” Lily gulped, staring at the place where her daughter had been.

“She speak in English too.”

“Are there other Italians where you’re keeping her?” she asked unevenly. “Is that why she still knows the language?”

He regarded her with a gleaming black stare. “You make me angry if you try again to look for ’er.”

“Giuseppe, we could make an arrangement, you and I. There must be an amount that would satisfy you enough to…” Lily’s voice wavered dangerously. She fought to keep it under control. “To give her back to me. You know this can’t go on forever. You s-seem to care about Nicole. In your heart you must know she would be better off with me. That man who held her…is he a partner of yours? Are there more like him? You wouldn’t have come here alone from Italy, without some cadre or group to associate with. I think…” She reached out a beseeching hand to him. “I think you’re involved in some underworld gang, or conspiracy, whatever you wish to call it. That’s the only conclusion that makes sense. The money I’ve given you…they’ve taken a great deal of it, haven’t they? If anything I’ve heard about these gangs is true, then you’re in a dangerous situation, Giuseppe, and you can’t wish to expose Nicole to harm—”

“You see for yourself that I ’ave kept ’er safe,” Giuseppe exclaimed sharply.

“Yes. But for how long? How safe are you, Giuseppe? Perhaps you should consider making an arrangement with me, for your own sake as well as hers.” Her hatred of him was thick in her throat, nearly choking her, but she managed to keep it from showing. Seeing the interest in his eyes, she continued quietly. “We could agree on an amount that would satisfy your needs. The three of us would be better off—you, me, and most importantly our daughter. Please, Giuseppe.” The word was bitter on her tongue, but she repeated it softly. “Please.”