Between The Flames ⚜️Il Paradosso Book Two⚜️

Chapter two

When Jimmy was arrested, I was placed into a foster home. The couple couldn't have children of their own, or so that was the story Cameron had fed me countless times when she was half-drunk and needed someone to listen to her sob stories.

She'd offered me a home, three meals a day and a warm bed to sleep in. There was a field of daisies in her back yard, ending at the beginning of a forest, so dense that it was impossible to walk through after dark. Those woods would be the opening scene of every one of my nightmares to come.

I spent three years under her roof and never questioned the probability of being put there for a reason beyond my knowledge. Her husband was mostly away on business trips and Cameron used his absence for her midnight guest who visited frequently or the long drives to a strip club, where she danced the night away under the florescent lights.

The morning I found her drowning in a pool of blood, I ran to Emma's house, frantically pounding on their door and a blubbering mess. I was incapable of putting in words what I had seen and it took weeks of questioning to actually formulate a proper description of the horrific details.

The police report was swept under the rug and I never heard from them again. I never told them about the man in a mask who'd been waiting for me on the night of my prom. I never told anyone of the seven nights of lovemaking before that specific morning and how he'd vanished into thin air. I never found out who he was... until that evening at the police station when his voice gave away what I'd been searching for years.

I didn't want to believe what my mind was telling me-the same man who'd told me to run the night of my seventeenth birthday when I was drugged and woke up to an older man fondling me.

The gunshot. His indisputable anger for what he'd been forced to do. Again, nothing made sense. I never anticipated my salvation. I hid in the black Audi until sunrise when Cameron came to get me. She looked wild and distraught but hadn't uttered a word about what had transpired hours before.

We took her car home and went on with our lives as if nothing had happened.

After her brutal death I moved in with Emma's family, pushing the three years of mystery to the back of my brain and prepared to take on the rest of my life with no closure.

College was rough but I pushed through it with the help of the Francos and graduated with a degree in psychology. I was working my way through the nightmares that were still ever haunting while juggling multiple jobs and struggling to not starve-while drowning in tuition debt.

Three months after returning to New York from Italy, I received a call from the bank informing me that I was relieved from all credit.

Someone had paid it in total and eight-million were transferred to my account.

Bastard.

Unlocking the door to my five-hundred square-feet apartment, I jumped, tossing the paper bag with groceries when Dino leapt out in front of me.

"For fuck's sake, are you planning to give me a heart attack someday?"

His curly brown hair was wild as he bounced up and down, laughing at his moronic triumph.

"How is it possible that I get you every time, even though you know I live here?"

I rolled my eyes, ignoring him, and headed for the kitchen, placing the bag on the pearly white granite top before grabbing a bottle of coconut water from the refrigerator.

"You know, this wouldn't happen if we were at the penthouse in Madison instead of here on East Harlem Street," he prodded, hopping up on one of the wooden stools.

"There's nothing wrong with where we live. I don't want to be in that place."

Especially since Antonio owned the entire building, including the infamous flat I had spent the first week of my captivity.

"Besides, it's quite spacious here and we have a spectacular view of the city," I said while side-eyeing the bitter look he was giving me and smiled.

I knew it was plain torture for him to live in a place such as this crowded apartment, with two small bedrooms and only one bathroom. If he was so adamant on existing as my shadow, then he had no other choice but to man up to it.

"I didn't hear you leave this morning," he stated while poking his head into the brown bag, snatching the baby carrots out and handing them to me. "I almost thought you'd overslept, until I saw all twenty bolts you hammered on to the door were unlocked.

I narrowed my eyes at his insipid try at sarcasm as I ripped open the plastic, peeling the skin off the carrots before rinsing them under the sink.

"Eat more and talk less," I commanded, placing the plate of cut carrots in front of him. "The stress is wrinkling your forehead."

I heard him gasp as I trudged to my room, passing a modest living area that had a white reclining sofa and a love seat, which I had picked out from Macy's for under three-hundred bucks.

I stripped out of my work clothes and slipped into a pair of black shorts, pulling a light grey t-shirt over my head as I glanced out of the window at the world outside, lost in a sudden daze.

The night had fallen, taking over the city, filling the clear skies with golden specks that were millions of light years away and my mind drifted to the glistening waters of the Maggiore Lake.

Had it really been that easy for him?

It was as if he'd vanished into thin air or gotten swallowed up by the earth.

Or was it possible that he had simply... moved on?

Seven hundred ninety-eight days of celibacy, no text messages and not a single phone call. I was out of my element and the utter silence was screwing with my libido.

I released a heavy groan as I plopped onto the bed, the feeling of spiritual exhaustion guzzling the very last bit of energy that was left in me.

"What do you think about ordering some chick-fil-A tonight?" Dino's voice pulsated through the hall. "I'm in the mood for some sausage," he said, leaning against the door-frame.

"Sure you are," I muttered, flipping onto my stomach and rested my chin up to see him flashing me a deriding grin.

"You know, there's a solution to your frustration," he mocked while raising his thick eyebrows, "it's portable and very easy to use."

I swung a pillow at his head, missing him by an inch as he dodged it and let out a bellowing laugh.

"He's given you what you wanted, farfalla," he said, picking it up from the floor and throwing it right back at me, "he's respecting your resolution."

"Do you ever talk to him?" I questioned, focused on the glass lamp, its crystals jingling soundly as Dino ran his fingers through them before facing me again.

"It's possible."

My eyes squinted as he avoided my suspicious look and I pushed myself up so I was sitting across from him.

"Really, that's all you're going to give me? It's possible?"

"I'm going to order our takeout," he declared in the most unpretentious tone, getting up from the bed and disappearing into the hallway.

What was the point of having a right hand guy when you couldn't squeeze a single word out of him for two years? He was practically useless.

"Chick-fil-A is here!"

My body jerked to the piercing sound of Dino's voice and I glanced at my phone, realizing that I had dozed off for a solid twenty minutes.

Dragging my feet lazily across the grey carpet, I padded to the living room to find him sitting on my precious loveseat, obviously testing my very last nerve for the evening.

"Get out of my seat," I glowered. Crossing my arms against my chest, I watched him as he un-wrapped his burger. "And we don't eat in the living room."

"No and fuck off," he casually answered while taking a large bite out of it as I gawked in horror when he spoke again through a mouthful, "You're turning into a grumpy old cat, Adriana. Just fucking call him already and get it over with."

Enough.

Grabbing my purse off of the counter, I stomped out of the door, slamming it behind me.

"Where are you going?"

I ran down the flight of steps, dismissing his warning shout and flew out of the building, not having a clue as to where I was headed to.