Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTOGRAPH
Ivy woke in darkness.
Her wrists were tied.
Her head throbbed.
She smelled gasoline.
For several seconds, she didn't remember where she was.
Then memory returned.
The window.
The hand over her mouth.
The van.
The pendant.
She had been taken before she could scream.
A light snapped on.
Ivy blinked.
A woman stood across the room.
Elegant.
Blonde.
Forty-something.
Ivy recognized her immediately.
“Mrs. Rossi?”
Carmine's aunt smiled.
“Hello, Ivy.”
Fear spread through Ivy's chest.
“You kidnapped me.”
“Don't be dramatic.”
“Why am I here?”
The woman pulled out a chair.
“Because you're going to tell me what Carmine knows.”
Ivy stared at her.
“I don't know anything.”
The woman smiled.
“You've always been a terrible liar.”
Ivy's stomach dropped.
“You knew my mother.”
“I knew her very well.”
“Did you kill her?”
The smile disappeared.
“No.”
“Then who did?”
The woman leaned forward.
“Your mother was about to expose the wrong people.”
“Who?”
“You're not ready.”
Ivy laughed bitterly.
“I'm tied to a chair in a basement. I think I'm ready.”
The woman studied her.
“Your mother believed Carmine's father was murdered because of a betrayal.”
“Wasn't he?”
“No.”
“Then what happened?”
“He discovered money was disappearing from the Rossi organization.”
Ivy stared.
“Money?”
“Millions.”
“Who stole it?”
The woman stood.
“Someone Carmine trusts.”
Ivy suddenly understood.
“Marco.”
The woman smiled.
“Marco is not the mastermind.”
A chill moved through Ivy.
“Then who?”
The door opened.
Marco entered.
Ivy recoiled.
He looked at her.
“I told you not to talk.”
“You attacked me.”
“I warned you.”
“You almost killed me.”
Marco's expression hardened.
“You weren't supposed to survive the first attack.”
Ivy stared at him.
“What?”
Marco looked at the woman.
“She knows too much.”
The woman waved him off.
“Leave us.”
Marco hesitated.
Then left.
Ivy looked at the woman.
“Why am I alive?”
“Because Carmine cares about you.”
Ivy's face flushed.
“No.”
“Oh, please.”
The woman smiled.
“Carmine has never looked at a woman the way he looks at you.”
Ivy shook her head.
“He barely knows me.”
“That's exactly why it's dangerous.”
The woman walked toward the door.
“Your existence has changed him.”
She stopped.
“And people who profit from Carmine's cruelty don't want that.”
Ivy stared.
“Who?”
The woman opened the door.
Before leaving, she said:
“Ask Carmine who benefited most when his father died.”
The door slammed.
Ivy's breathing became shallow.
She thought about Carmine.
The way he had stopped when she flinched.
The way he had said, I won't touch you.
The way his voice had changed when she told him about Marco.
May you like
She didn't know whether she could trust him.
But for the first time, she desperately wanted to.
