Chapter 2 - The Scar Beneath the Coat
For several seconds, Lorenzo said nothing.
The storm screamed around them.
Finally, he stepped backward.
“My father is dead.”
“I know.”
“He died eleven years ago.”
“I know.”
“Then explain what you just said.”
Amelia wrapped the parka tightly around herself.
“Not here.”
“You ran fourteen days to tell me not here?”
“I didn't run so I could tell you anything.”
She looked toward the alley entrance.
“I ran because someone knows I survived.”
Lorenzo's expression changed.
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
A vehicle turned onto the street.
Amelia flinched.
Lorenzo noticed.
“Come with me.”
“No.”
“Amelia.”
“I am not getting into your car.”
“You think I'm the danger?”
“I don't know what you are anymore.”
That landed harder than he expected.
Lorenzo removed his coat and held it toward her.
She stared at it.
“I'm already wearing one.”
“Yours is torn.”
“You tore it.”
His jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
A pause.
“I'm sorry.”
Amelia looked genuinely surprised.
Lorenzo rarely apologized.
She finally took the coat.
Marco appeared at the alley entrance.
“Everything okay?”
Lorenzo looked at Amelia.
“No.”
Then he turned to Marco.
“Get us somewhere private.”
---
An hour later, Amelia sat near the fireplace inside a rented mountain house.
Lorenzo placed coffee on the table.
“Start talking.”
She didn't touch it.
“My father didn't work for you originally.”
“He worked for my father.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Amelia stared into the fire.
“When I was seventeen, I found documents in Dad's office.”
“What documents?”
“Shipping manifests.”
Lorenzo sat opposite her.
“From where?”
“Calumet warehouses.”
His expression sharpened.
Those warehouses had once belonged to his father, Vittorio Bianchi.
Amelia continued.
“The numbers didn't match. Trucks listed as carrying construction equipment were being rerouted.”
“Rerouted where?”
“I didn't understand then.”
“And now?”
“Now I know they were carrying stolen pharmaceuticals.”
Lorenzo frowned.
“My father didn't traffic pharmaceuticals.”
“That's what you were told.”
“By whom?”
“Your uncle.”
Lorenzo became still.
“Dominic?”
Amelia nodded.
She reached beneath her sweater and pulled out a thin chain.
A tiny brass key hung from it.
“My father discovered Vittorio was investigating the missing shipments.”
Lorenzo leaned forward.
“My father was investigating his own organization?”
“Because someone inside it was stealing from him.”
“Dominic.”
“I think so.”
Lorenzo stared at the fire.
His father had died in what everyone believed was a heart attack.
Three months later, Dominic had helped Lorenzo assume control.
“What does this have to do with your scar?”
Amelia's voice dropped.
“I was at the warehouse the night your father confronted someone.”
“Who?”
“I couldn't see his face.”
She swallowed.
“I heard shouting. Then someone found me hiding.”
Lorenzo waited.
“Your father pulled me out.”
Amelia touched her shoulder.
“There was an accident during the struggle. Broken metal. I was hurt.”
“And my father?”
“He got me out.”
Lorenzo stared at her.
“You said my father gave you the scar.”
“No.”
Amelia finally looked directly at him.
“I said the scar happened because of your father.”
“That isn't the same thing.”
“No.”
“Then why let me think—”
“Because you wouldn't stop shouting.”
Lorenzo exhaled sharply.
Fair.
“What happened afterward?”
“Your father took me to someone he trusted. He told me never to mention what I'd seen.”
“Why?”
“He said the man responsible would kill me.”
Lorenzo's voice became quiet.
“What man?”
“I never knew.”
“Then why run before our wedding?”
Amelia looked at him.
“Because someone sent me a photograph.”
“What photograph?”
“Me. Seventeen years old. Outside that warehouse.”
Lorenzo's face hardened.
“With a message?”
She nodded.
“What did it say?”
Amelia closed her eyes.
“Marry Lorenzo Bianchi, and he'll learn what his father really was.”
Lorenzo stood.
“Where is it?”
“I destroyed it.”
“Why?”
“Because I thought they were threatening you.”
“Amelia, I don't need protecting.”
“Yes, you do.”
He stared at her.
She continued.
“Because your father's death wasn't natural.”
The room went silent.
Marco looked up from across the room.
Lorenzo slowly turned toward Amelia.
“What did you say?”
“Vittorio knew someone was stealing from him.”
Amelia's voice shook.
“And three days after he saved me, he died.”
Lorenzo walked to the window.
His father's funeral flashed through his memory.
Dominic standing beside the coffin.
Dominic telling him to be strong.
Dominic becoming his closest adviser.
“Why didn't your father tell me?”
“Because he was terrified.”
“Of Dominic?”
“I don't know.”
Lorenzo turned.
“Where is your father now?”
Amelia looked down.
“That is why I bought antibiotics.”
Lorenzo understood.
“He's here.”
She nodded.
“Where?”
“I won't tell you.”
“Amelia—”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
She didn't retreat this time.
“You hunted me because your pride was wounded,” she said. “You didn't come because you were worried about me.”
Lorenzo couldn't deny it.
“I thought you betrayed me.”
“And now?”
His eyes moved toward her scar.
“Now I think I've been angry at the wrong person.”
A phone vibrated.
Marco checked it.
His face changed.
“Lorenzo.”
“What?”
Marco turned the screen around.
A security camera showed three black SUVs approaching the house.
Lorenzo looked at Amelia.
“Did anyone follow you?”
“No.”
“Then they followed me.”
Marco reached beneath his jacket.
“Dominic's men.”
Amelia went pale.
Lorenzo stared through the window as headlights appeared through the snow.
Fourteen days ago, he had wanted revenge on his runaway bride.
Now someone else had come for her.
And Lorenzo finally understood the difference.
“Marco.”
“Yes?”
“Get Amelia out.”
She stood.
“What about you?”
Lorenzo looked at her.
“They came looking for my bride.”
His voice became ice.
May you like
“They're going to find me instead.”
---
