my skin breaking out in goose bumps.
“Anywhere. I just needed to get away.”
“From Luca?”
The question stings. The answer punishes me even more. Both leave me speechless.
“I heard he went out tonight,” he continues. “Were Hunter and Sarah’s arrival the issue or Luca’s departure?”
“It doesn’t matter.” I turn to him, scowling, letting him know this is the end of the discussion. “Can we leave now?”
“Whatever you say.” He opens the door and holds out an open palm. “Give me the keys.”
I hand them over. “Will the car be okay?”
“Hunter can take care of it.” He yanks the door wider. “Let’s go.”
He leads the way to the Porsche, sliding into the low seat while I hustle fast to get into the safety of the new vehicle.
He pulls from the curb in silence, the murmur of his radio too low to stifle my apprehension as he drives. I know I can handle any punishment he might dish out. Luther was a far more menacing man. But I no longer have the determination I did when I was a slave. The will to fight doesn’t embolden me.
“In between now and Luca’s house, you need to explain.” He shoots me a glance. “I suggest you start soon.”
“There’s nothing to say. I felt like taking a drive, so I did.”
“I don’t appreciate secrets.” His threatening tone grates on my nerves, annoying the hell out of me as the adrenaline flushes from my system to leave me drained.
“Me either. And I guess Luca feels the same.” I give him a faux smile. “That’s why he told me you already brought Tobias to Portland and how you plan to keep him from me.”
He doesn’t react, not physically. There’s not even a twinge of guilt in his features. He doesn’t care that he’s hiding that little boy. “Yes, he returned to live with my sister.”
I despise the ease with which he torments me, the same way his father always did. “How is he?”
“Good. Resilient. You’ll be able to see him once I know you’re stable.”
I huff out a laugh and turn my attention to the bright Portland skyline. “Stable? What does that even mean?”
“It means when you’re functioning like a normal person and not running away for no reason.”
“I had reasons.”
“Then tell them to me. I didn’t get you out of Greece for the hell of it. I want you to live a good life, Penny.”
Lies. All lies.
I don’t know the real reason he arranged my rescue, but it certainly wasn’t out of kindness.
“This will be the last time I ask,” he snarls. “Why did I get a call from Hunter telling me you’d run away?”
I press my lips tight, keeping the truth from him just like he’s keeping Tobias from me. But my frustration builds, demanding to be heard. “Because Luca left me to have sex with a stranger.”
The awkward silence returns. The seconds tick by in agonizing lethargy. I don’t know if he thinks I’m naive or childish. I’m not even sure if he’s annoyed I caused this mess over something so trivial. All he does is continue to drive, the side of his mouth curving upward in a condescending smirk.
“Do you enjoy my suffering?” I whisper. “If so, it only confirms you’re exactly like your father.”
His fingers squeak against the leather as they tighten on the wheel, his knuckles turning white. “I’m nothing like my father. And it’s not your suffering I enjoy. It’s the karma.”
“Whose karma?”
“Your brother’s.” He glances at me. “For a long while, the thought of Decker with my sister was a very sore spot for me. It still is most days.”
“I don’t understand.”
He huffs out a laugh and returns his attention to the road. “All the resentment I harbored toward my sister’s feelings for your brother, all that rage and animosity, is now something he will have to deal with between you and Luca.”
“It’s not like that. Luca doesn’t have feelings for me.”
That huff of laughter returns, intensified. “I assure you he has enough to get himself in trouble.”
“I disagree. And I think I’d know better, seeing as though I’ve lived with him for weeks.”
But I hadn’t known. It was Sarah who’d pointed out Luca’s desperation to get away from me.
He shrugs. “Maybe you’re right.”
He doesn’t say another word. There are no placations for my dying heart or offers of support.
I turn away, staring out the window as we pass things I recognize from my escape—the corner store, the house with the red mailbox, then finally, the pretty pink roses from the