Chapter 18
Isabella
I was waiting for any news from Leo. It had been two days since the night of the charity ball and after he left, things had gone just as he’d predicted.
Adam started to come to within the next hour, and I had been waiting for him to wake up. When he sat up in bed, pressing his temples with his thumbs, I told him that he’d passed out in the middle of sex. He seemed embarrassed by it, and he didn’t want to stick around for long.
He stumbled out of the room and I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard him walking away with his bodyguard. Soon after, I went back to the party, told papa I had a headache, and he ordered his chauffeur to take me back to the house.
Today, while Sofia played in her room, I hung around downstairs, looking out longingly at the garden. Papa had left early in the morning on business and I knew I’d have the whole day to myself. Just when I thought of calling that number Leo had left me, I saw him standing at the wall surrounding the garden.
I rushed out to him, and he jumped over the wall. He could see from the smile on my face that it was all clear. Papa and his goons were nowhere in sight.
He pulled me into his arms and we kissed.
“Where is Sofia? How are you?” he asked, as I pressed my face to his chest, relieved to see him again.
“She’s upstairs in her room, we are fine. Nobody’s suspected anything. How is the chip working?” I asked him. Leo slowly pulled himself away from me and when I looked at him now, I saw that there was a wide smile on his face.
“We tracked him, we found them,” he said.
“Found the people they’re holding?” I asked and Leo nodded.
“Gino and I are planning an attack on the holding cell soon, in a few days. It seems like Adam Wright hasn’t suspected a thing,” Leo said and we walked slowly towards the house. Neither of us could stop smiling. The risk had been worth every moment. We were one step closer to bringing down papa and his trafficking operation.
“And it’s all because of you, Isabella, because you’ve been so brave,” he said and clutched my hands tightly in his. As we stared at each other, I could sense myself melting away. Every stolen moment I spent with him was precious. I didn’t want it to end.
“Do we have time today?” I asked and Leo looked confused.
“Time for what?”
“Time to go to the beach. We could take Sofia along. Papa won’t be home all day. He won’t know I’m missing,” I told him and a wide smile was spreading on Leo’s face.
“There is nothing I would like to do more,” he replied.
***
Jacob Rii’s Park was an hour away from the house, and Leo drove us there in his rented car. Sofia had sat in the back, trying to sing along with the songs on the radio. She had recognized Leo, but she wasn’t scared of him. It was Leo who seemed to be afraid of Sofia. I could see that he didn’t know how to behave around a child.
This was the first time that Leo and I were actually spending some time alone together, away from all the madness of our real world. It was crazy to think that it had taken four years and all these hardships to actually get here.
When we got to the beach, Sofia ran ahead of us, her small feet sinking in the sand. I’d brought a beach towel with us and packed a few sandwiches in a picnic basket.
We found a secluded spot on the beach, where we laid out our wares. Sofia started building a sandcastle near us. Leo and I were holding hands as we sat on the towel, watching her.
“We don’t get to do things like this often. Papa doesn’t approve of us spending much time outdoors by ourselves,” I said. I was looking at Sofia, at how much she was enjoying herself and my heart was filling with pride.
Leo reached for my face, tucking a stray strand of dark hair behind my ears.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t find you sooner, beautiful. I should have been here, watched her grow, taken you away from your papa,” I heard him say. I met his eyes and smiled, then shook my head. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes.
“You’re here now, you’re going to save us now. That is all that matters,” I said to him. Leo leaned towards me and we kissed softly. Sofia saw us and she came running towards us.
“Mama, what are you doing?” she asked, staring at me with her wide dark eyes. She had never seen me kissing someone before, nobody but her. There was no display of affection in our house, especially not around her grandfather.
“I’m just happy, baby, happy with Leo,” I said and stretched a hand out towards her. I could see Leo watching her curiously, like she was an alien creature. The way the two of them looked at each other made me giggle.
Sofia crawled up in my lap and I sat there hugging her, the cool sea breeze was in our hair. Leo stared at us, like he was still in shock at the fact that he was actually a father.
“Baby, can you make me a promise?” I spoke to her again and Sofia looked up at me curiously.
“Promise me that you won’t say anything about the beach to granddad. Nothing about Leo,” I told her. Sofia thought for a second and then nodded her head.
“Okay, mama, promise,” she replied. Even though she was just a child, she knew exactly the threat papa was to all of us.
***
“What’s your favorite color?” Sofia asked Leo, as the three of us walked along the edge of the beach. She was between us, holding our hands. I couldn’t believe how beautiful this day was, how quickly Leo and Sofia had bonded even though they didn’t know each other. I could see that even though Leo wasn’t confident in himself, he would make a great father.
“I like green,” Leo responded one by one to Sofia’s stream of enthusiastic questions. She squealed and jumped when she heard that.
“I love green too!” she replied and Leo laughed.
“What flavor ice cream?” she asked next.
“Mint,” Leo said and Sofia screamed again.
“Me too! And it’s green!” she was so excited to have found someone who had the same tastes as her. Soon enough, she slipped away from me and tugged Leo along. The two of them ran up to the water and I watched, with a wide smile on my face as Leo lifted her up and walked into the waves. Sofia was thrilled, she was having the best day. There was no papa to spoil the fun.
But we had to go back home soon. I wasn’t sure what time exactly papa would be returning, and we needed to stay on the safe side.
In the car, Sofia fell asleep in the backseat quickly and Leo drove us slowly back towards the house. We had spent a perfect three hours at the beach, and I knew it was going to be a day to remember for all of us.
Leo was thinking as he drove and I reached for him, lightly touching his arm. I could feel his biceps taught and firm under his t-shirt, and I felt a stir in the pit of my stomach. No matter how many times I had him, I still wanted more.
“Leo, what are you thinking?” I asked him in a whisper, so as not to wake up Sofia. He breathed deeply and glanced at me.
“I’m just thinking about how lucky I am to finally get to know my daughter, even though she doesn’t really know who I am,” he said.
I gulped and looked down at my lap.
“I want to tell her, soon,” I said and Leo reached for my hand and gave it a squeeze.
“Yes, after all this is over,” he said and we fell into silence again. The day was coming to an end too quickly, I didn’t want to let go of him yet.
“Have you given the future any thought? Our future?” I asked him and even I could hear the tremble in my own voice. I watched him gulp as he stared ahead.
“I haven’t, not really…because I didn’t know I was a father, I didn’t know if I would ever see you again. I was functioning on a one-track mind, just trying to find you first and think about everything else after that,” Leo explained and I nodded. It was selfish of me to think of a future right now, when Leo was trying to get us out of this alive and safe.
“But I want to think about it now, Isabella,” he added quickly and looked at me.
I gulped as I stared into his eyes.
“I want us to be together, and I want to be there while Sofia grows up. I didn’t think I could love somebody as much as I love her, and I only just met her,” Leo said and when he looked at me now, he was smiling. His smile made me feel better, it gave me the confidence to go on, to be patient and wait for him to fix everything.
“I would like that too. All my life, I’ve wanted to have a happy normal family and now that is what I want to give Sofia. I want her to experience what I missed,” I told Leo and we smiled at each other, hopeful for the future.
He parked the car a few blocks away from the house and I was careful not to wake Sofia when I picked her up in my arms out of the car. It was time for us to part ways again, I was itching to stay. I didn’t want to leave him. But I knew that we needed to act normal, to not raise any suspicions with papa…not until Leo and Gino had raided the holding cells and rescued the people who had been captured.
I was walking away from Leo, after we had lightly kissed but he rushed after me, gently pulling me back in his arms again.
“Isabella, I love you,” he said and kissed the tip of my nose. Sofia was sleeping in my arms between us.
“I love you too, Leo,” I told him and this time, he kissed me deeply on my lips. I tasted his mouth, the rushing eagerness of his tongue between my lips. But we couldn’t kiss for long…I had to get back.
I hurried away with Sofia, looking back at Leo to see him still standing there next to his car.
I walked back to an empty house. Thankfully, papa wasn’t back yet. I put Sofia into bed and tucked her in, I was sure that she wasn’t going to tell papa anything. Then I went out in the garden and sat on the swing. It was getting dark as I swung myself, thinking about the beautiful day we had at the beach.
It was my first taste of the possibility of a happy future, and I was desperate to experience it again. I had been foolish, these past four years, trusting papa and everything he told me. I wasn’t going to be happy, I would never be satisfied until I had Leo again. Until we could actually be a family.