Chapter 74: Chapter 74

◇ KEL ◇

"How'd you even get out?"

"Broke the window with the curtain rod."

"I'm guessing that's what caused these?" Niccolo glanced down at the pinkish scratches on my pale feet and legs.

I could barely move to give confirming nods.  It was true. My escape plan injured me further. But to get out of that basement alive, I did what I had to do.

The sound of gunshots from a distance had been my trigger.  That instant, I knew a rescue party had finally come to my aid.  Plain old instinct told me so.

To rescue me from the Tomassinis' beachfront lair, Miles, Niccolo, and about a dozen of the Falcos' men reached the island using a yacht, the one we were traveling in now.

"They've got guards everywhere. How'd you get past them?" Niccolo muttered with furrowed brows as he focused on me.  With gentle pats, he wiped the drying blood off my skin with a clean, warm and damp cloth.

"I was in...  It was a room in the basement." If I hadn't broken the really old bedpost with a few kicks, and if one of Leandro's guards didn't take a bathroom break, I would still be stuck in that creepy room.  My improvised prison.  I might still be trapped in that hellhole that grade-A psycho had locked me in.

"You're a tough one, Kel." Niccolo's forehead creased amid his concentration.

I sat still to let the remark sink in.  I couldn't even respond to the compliment.  Did I hang tough? Sure.  But did I leave that place with a sound mind?  Dignity intact?  Not really.

Still on his knees,  Niccolo checked my other wounds. Then he stared at my foot injuries.  Dust and dirt darkened the pinkish stains on my paleness.  It took a moment to assess and confirm which parts actually had wounds that weren't just skin-deep.

How many injuries did that psycho cause?  Damn that bastard.

My eyes stayed shut as I tried to shake off the appalling thought of seeing that monster again.  I prayed otherwise, queasy, lightheaded, numb...

Was it the shock? The lack of sleep? Or did I lose a lot of blood?

"Ow!" I squeezed my left thigh.  My leg stang like someone poured acid onto an open wound.  Darn it.  I would be limping for a while.  Although I had worked in a hospital before, I just wasn't used to injuries, especially this many on my body.

Niccolo unintentionally put pressure on the biggest wound on my leg.  To make me feel a tad less awful, I pushed away the antiseptic bottle in his grip.

"Sorry." Niccolo's frown deepened after  he paused what he was doing.

It wasn't his job to take care of me, but at least he was trying to help me feel...somewhat normal again.  Scared. Pained. But thankfully still alive.

I could have died by the hands of that paranoid shithead Enzo had for a brother.  Only because Leandro suspected I was a Russian spy sent by someone from his long list of narco enemies.

What the heck?  I even remembered Leandro showing me recent, candid photos of Niccolo's uncle.  Did he hate the man?  Were they longtime rivals in the business?

Was Niccolo telling me the absolute truth about the Tomassinis?  How true and accurate were the accusations he told me about Leandro's involvement with the mobs?  Did Leandro really have immediate plans to operate and lead an international drug and prostitution ring with the help of the Falcos?

Why would that psycho even believe I was sent by Niccolo's uncle to spy on him and the Tomassini family? All that crazy shit going on in his head...it couldn't be normal.

"That stings," I mumbled.  Niccolo put another damp cloth on the abrasions on my skin.  Pinkish bruises on my wrists and the slightly bloody cuts on my legs reminded me of the senseless night of terror I'd just gone through.

The bastard had also thrown me on the ground and onto the wall.  It wouldn't be a surprise if I was having a concussion right now.  Hunched over on the small bed, I glanced around the bedroom in the Falcos' yacht. I kept the tears in and tried to clear up my negative thoughts.  Niccolo didn't need to see me crying in frustration and despair.

"You didn't tell me why they said you went missing."

"Not really," Nicco muttered in response.  A crooked grin wrinkled his full, shapely lips while he continued to clean my injuries.  "I just like being by myself."

Well, it sounded true. He was the loner type, I noticed. Always on his phone and computer.  Not so long ago, he developed software for a living, if I recalled correctly.  I didn't really know much about his background, and we weren't really friends.  But now I felt like I could trust him with my life.

Odd, but...I'd always thought he seemed like a good, intelligent, friendly guy.  Quite mysterious like Miles, but, still nice.  When I was still living in Brichese with Miles, he didn't say much about Niccolo or their short-lived relationship.  Every time I asked, he always said he and Niccolo weren't really a couple then.  I also recalled they had a huge falling out before Miles stopped seeing Niccolo.

"But...your parents reported you missing," I said while trying not to frown. "They thought you got kidnapped or something."

"Don't worry about that." Nicco sighed and kept staring at the abrasions and the fairly bloody cotton cloth he used.  "Shit. You need to be in a hospital." He shook his shaved head and continued cleaning the dirt off my skin.  His careful strokes and dabs somehow soothed my anxiety.

My present condition wasn't the one giving me anxieties, though. More like, I was worried of what Miles could be thinking of right now. What he was planning to do...  If he was going to do anything brash again, or what...

In his current emotional state, he shouldn't be making any major decisions.  He was not the authorities. Although I doubted the Tomassinis were the slightest bit scared of the police, it still shouldn't be Miles' responsibility to seek justice for what that privileged sadistic monster did to me.

Killing for me? It just didn't sit well in my logic.  I was going to save lives. Someday, it would be my lifelong career.  Miles shouldn't take his anger out on someone who wronged me just because he could. Karma  would be enough.

"These could get infected. Rest in bed." Niccolo smudged more brownish antiseptic onto a small cotton ball and went on with his task.  "I'll tell the captain to increase speed."

"Okay," I mumbled while watching him closely.

His frown emphasized his full lips and creased his thick brows more. The dark skin under his eyes told me he needed sleep, too, but he still looked as handsome as I remembered.

When I saw him in Belgrade, I was just so relieved that nothing bad happened to him. That he was still very much alive and breathing.  There were some small scars on his knuckles, on his face and palms, but, I didn't dare ask where he got them from.  I had a feeling Nicco wouldn't say much to satisfy my curiosity.

To avoid me, Miles probably told Niccolo to sort me out, but only after painstakingly documenting the extent of Leandro's twisted masterpiece.

Yep—Miles had taken videos and photos of all my injuries.  Niccolo had told me to narrate what happened in the video.  As traumatized as I was, I was able to go into details as much as possible. It surprised me as well that I didn't break down and helplessly curl into a fetal position on the floor.

"Is he still mad?" I carefully moved to the middle of the bed. The Falcos' yacht was too big I barely felt the tides. Our early morning sail had been smooth so far.

"Mad?" Niccolo sighed after a mild scoff.  "Mad would be understating it."

Oh drats.  I knew it.  Miles wasn't feeling any calmer.

"Nap if you want to."

"Please tell him not to do anything stupid." I glanced to the door. Miles could still be too infuriated to talk to me.

What was he doing right now? He must be talking to the captain and the security staff.  Did he call up his father to talk to Mr. Falco about what happened?  Or was he already fixing up a kill order for the Tomassini brothers?

I just didn't know anymore. He'd changed.  A lot.

Miles was not the same guy I'd met two years ago.  In my eyes, he was no longer the mild-mannered, fun and peace-loving Miles Falco I used to know so well.  Something in him had changed drastically and I wasn't quite prepared for the possible outcomes. Not yet.

"Nicco, just calm him down. Please."

"Relax. He won't do anything stupid," Niccolo replied with a faint shake of his head. He eyed the door now, his rather mellow tone almost sounding certain.  "He's too busy thinking of you."

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