greeted by a maid, who dips her head and offers us wine. Danny takes a glass and hands it to me, and I accept on a smile of thanks. The entrance hall is stark white, a chessboard of black and white tiles under my feet. It seems cold and empty. The only furniture seems to be the loitering suited men. Danny nods to them in hello, placing a hand on my back. “Let me show you to the terrace.” He leads me through a den that opens into a dining room, where an impressive table is set for three. Then we step out some doors to a large, well-kept garden with a pond.
I peek over the edge and see giant goldfish smoothly zigzagging through the water. “They’re some big fish.”
“In a little pond,” Danny muses. “Or is it little fish in a big pond?”
I nudge him on a light laugh and wander down to a swinging chair, sitting on the cocoon of wicker and swaying gently. “It’s nice here.”
“I’ll go find the old fool.” He drops a kiss on my nose before wandering back toward the house, and I relax back in the swing, rocking myself gently as I sip my wine and listen to crickets and croaking frogs. The peace and calm within me is bordering overwhelming, and for a moment I let my mind wander to Nox. Where he is; what he’s doing? They’re not questions I can answer, but I can be sure of one thing: he’ll be dead soon. Or is he already?
“Rose,” Danny calls, and I glance up to see him at a set of doors in the distance, gesturing for me to come. I push myself up and head his way, a few butterflies lapping my tummy. Has he introduced a woman to his family before? I smile to myself, knowing the answer.
When I reach him, he encases my head in his hands and directs it down so I’m staring at his shoes. He pushes his lips to the top of my head. “I love you,” he says into my hair, reinforcing his words with a borderline uncomfortable pressure on my temples. He kisses me again, breathing through it. “Rose, this is Uncle Ernie.” Danny releases his hold and turns me as I lift my eyes from the floor, my mouth stretching into a friendly smile, ready to say hello. I make it halfway up a broad chest and see an empty Scotch glass wrapped in old, wrinkled, fat fingers. I frown when my blood turns to ice, an odd feeling of unease rippling through me. I try to shake it off. I can’t. And when I look up and find his face, I realize why.
The ground disappears from beneath my feet.
My heart tumbles and rolls in my chest.
I step back into Danny on an irrepressible snag of breath, my heartbeat going from zero to sixty in one, overpowering and painful thump.
“Rose?” Danny’s arm slips around my waist and presses my back to his front, his torso absorbing my quivers.
“I’m sorry.” I shake my head mildly, yelling at myself to pull it together. “Too much wine too quickly,” I mumble mindlessly, staring at the face that’s haunted my dreams for years. I jolt once again, trying to pass it off as a wobble. Danny’s uncle smiles. It’s oozing malice. He recognizes me. In fact, he doesn’t seem at all surprised to see me. I swallow down the bile in my throat repeatedly.
He ripped my baby from my arms. He callously gave me away when I was of no use to him anymore. I’ve been in living hell for the past ten years because of this debauched heathen.
My gut twists.
My head bangs.
My eyes sting.
Danny’s family?
“Rose,” Ernie chirps, extending his arms out to me. He captures me in his hold and hugs me to his chest, suffocating me. “Breathe one word and they’re dead,” he whispers in my ear. “My nephew and your son.”
Panic immobilizes me, my brain spasms. Releasing me from his depraved clutches, he regards me carefully. “You must be pretty special for my nephew to bring you here.”
I can only blink, stunned into silence.
“She is,” Danny confirms, reclaiming me and slipping his hand onto the small of my back. “Which is why I wanted you to meet her.”
“It’s a pleasure, Rose.” Ernie smiles, this time less wickedly. “Come, let’s eat.” He motions us to the dining room, and I glance up as I’m guided by Danny’s palm. Breathe a word and they’re dead.