His shoulders were hunched, his back taut with tension. The dogs followed him with their eyes and whined.
‘Do you have any idea what you have done?’ he asked.
She began to weep. The dogs pricked up their ears and lay their heads in her lap, as if to comfort her.
‘A girl of just twenty,’ he said icily, ‘spent nearly a week in a torture cell!’ He swung round suddenly and glared at her. ‘Can you begin to imagine what that must have felt like?’
She shook her head, tears spilling down her cheeks.
‘The poor child was terrified, fearing she would be tortured, or killed at any moment.’
‘I’m sorry, I’m so sorry… forgive me,’ she begged. ‘I didn’t mean her any harm. I wasn’t thinking properly. I didn’t think anything bad would happen to her. I see now it was a terrible thing to do, so foolish.’
‘Foolish!’ He marched towards her, his fists raised.
She shrank into the sofa, fearing he would hit her. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said, ‘that was the wrong word. Not foolish – sinful, terrible, evil.’
He came to a halt, and sank down exhausted onto the sofa opposite her. The dogs lay back down, their heads resting on Isabella’s shoes.
‘Is she all right?’ Isabella asked tentatively.
‘What do you care?’ he snapped.
‘Please, Vicenzo,’ she pleaded.
‘Yes, she’s all right,’ he said impatiently. ‘She’s very strong, fortunately. But I had to go to Florence and speak up for her. They told me what you had said, so I’m glad you didn’t lie. I could never have forgiven that.’
Here, she thought, was a glimmer of hope; he spoke of forgiveness. She closed her eyes, as if praying.
‘I told them you were a madwoman – jealous of her for no reason. Fortunately, because you are an actress, they believed me. But she is now under suspicion – as is her father, as am I.’
‘You? Why you?’
‘Why do you think?’ He stood up again and leant against the mantlepiece, irritably kicking the brass fender with his naked foot. Suddenly he swung round to face her. ‘I have been accused of being a partisan. I will spend the rest of the war looking over my shoulder. I will never be safe again.’
Isabella began to sob.
‘I think you should go now,’ he said coldly. ‘I never want to see you again.’
‘No, no… I beg you – please don’t say that.’ She fell to her knees and crawled on all fours across the room to him, her hands grasping for him. ‘I’ll do anything, anything you ask. Just say you forgive me.’
‘How can I?’ he asked. Her fingers were wrapped round his naked ankle, but he shook himself free and walked back to the window. The dogs followed him.
‘I could be useful,’ she suggested. ‘This officer I met, he’s already helped me get someone out of Dachau.’
Vicenzo turned around and stared at her intently. ‘Why would he do that for you?’
‘I don’t know. He likes me, I suppose. But it’s not what you think – I’m not having an affair with him, honestly.’
‘I really don’t care who you have an affair with, but a German? Really, Isabella, how low can you go?’ He turned his back on her, and stared out at the garden.
‘I’m not having an affair, I promise. You know it’s you I love, Vicenzo, and only you. You must know that. I would never deliberately hurt you, never.’
‘How can I believe that after what you’ve done?’
‘You must believe me,’ she begged.
He paced the room, as if considering how to proceed.
‘I don’t know if I can ever trust you again,’ he said at last, ‘that’s the problem.’
‘Of course you can trust me… with your life. Let me prove it to you.’
‘Get up off the floor. You look pathetic.’ He walked towards her, and held his hand out to her, helping her up. He looked deeply into her eyes, and for a moment she sensed him weakening.
‘I love you,’ she whispered.
‘Don’t.’ He led her back to the sofa and she sat down, gazing up at him. ‘You really are like a child sometimes, Bella,’ he said gently. ‘You must learn to think before you act.’
She nodded eagerly, relieved at the use of her nickname.
‘Your connections with these Fascists might be useful, but I need to know whose side you are on.’
‘I’m on your side,’ she insisted.
‘You understand that I am opposed to everything they stand for?’
‘Yes,’ she said with conviction.
‘If you betray me again, it will almost certainly result in my death. Do you understand?’
‘I will never betray you…