Chapter Sixteen
It took Luna almost an hour to realize that they were not heading back to the apartment in Florence. For most of the hour, she huddled in the passenger seat as Tucker drove. She kept trying to think of things that she wanted to say, ways that she could explain what had happened and what she had meant by leaving the flat, but every time she tried, all that happened was that it sounded worse and worse in her mind.
Tucker drove the sleek black car with the same ruthless skill that he always had, but there was something tremendously controlled about him in that moment. He drove like a man on his way to a war or an execution, and it only took Luna a short time before she realized that he wasn't looking at her.
She took a deep breath. One thing that she knew very well was that nothing was going to get better if she didn't talk about it.
"I wasn't leaving you..."
"I don't care," he bit out. "I don't care what your reasoning was. I don't care why you made the decision that you did, and I sure as hell don't care what kind of excuses you found yourself needing to make."
She reared back, stung, looking at him with a bloom of hurt in her heart.
"You don't care?"
"Not even a little," he bit out. "Believe me when I say that I had a great deal of time to think about all of this when I was en route from Paris. I thought of it from the moment I was told, in the air and on the drive to that godforsaken little hotel where you ended up. I have had a great deal of time to think about things, and you are very lucky when I say that I do not give a damn about any explanations that you could make."
She must have made some kind of sound because he glanced at her.
"You really think that I wouldn't have tracked the credit card I gave you?" he asked pityingly. "Or that perhaps a visit to a clinic that was not run by Dr. Schmitt wouldn't tip me off?"
That explained that, at least, she thought, and she tried again.
"Please, Tucker, you have to listen to me," she said, fighting the urge to clasp her hands together girlishly. "I wasn't... I wasn't leaving you, I just wanted to get away from it all for a little bit."
"From the penthouse flat where you live in absolute luxury," he commented bitterly. "From the bargain that you willingly made, and the one where you have been enjoying the effects ever since you came to Italy."
Luna frowned.
"What are you saying, Tucker?' she asked, but she had an idea that she already knew.
"I am saying that you decided you wanted out of your end of the bargain," he thundered. "Or maybe you decided you could get a better deal out of me if you were out of reach."
Luna paled, goggling at what he thought her capable of.
"Tucker... no, I... I would never do those things."
"Shut up." This time his words were deadly quiet, and that more than anything brought her to a standstill.
The fiery and shouting Tucker she could have fought with, shouted at him until he saw reason. This one... this one she couldn't touch at all.
It was dark by the time she ventured to ask him where they were.
"Excuse me," she said, aware that she sounded like a polite young schoolgirl getting her teacher's attention. "Where are we going, please?"
When he glared at her, she lifted her chin at him. Luna knew that she was trembling, but she refused to back down. The day that she started backing down to Tucker, she thought, was the start of something dark that she could not control at all.
"I have a right to know," she insisted, and she saw some sanity return to his dark gaze.
"We're going to Otros Amana," he said, the words rolling easily off of his tongue. "There's a house there that I bought years ago. Tomorrow, Dr. Schmitt will be flying in, and he will stay there with you for the duration of your pregnancy."
She blinked in confusion.
"And you?"
"And I will be getting on with my life," he snapped. "I will be going back to New York in the morning, and I will send you the money that you are owed, never fear about that. After that, you will deliver to me my child, and God willing, we will never speak again."
"No!" Luna cried out, his words feeling like a hot brand over her heart. "No, you can't mean that!"
"Oh, but I do," he said silkily. "I do mean that, and that is all I want from you from now on, Luna. Now be quiet before I decide that you are not even owed as much as I have stated."
Luna might have fought on. Her arms had wrapped instinctively around her belly, and she could feel her own temper start to rise. Was there no place in his heart or his mind for explanations? She knew how bad things looked.
However, there was something both sad and dangerous in his eyes, and she knew that triggering that explosive combination might be quite the most foolish thing that she had ever done.
Before she could find a way to make him see what had truly happened, they pulled up to a small manor situated in the middle of the gorgeous Italian countryside. Why had she ever feared that Tucker would leave her in some kind of dark hovel? Otros Amana was a beautiful place, the setting sun giving it an almost golden glow. There was a young couple standing on the front steps, the woman, who seemed to be just a few years older than Luna, was herself obviously pregnant.
Tucker pulled up to the front of the manor, and Luna turned to him. Her heart burned as if she had dropped it into a roaring fire, and she knew that she had to make him see, had to make him realize that this was all wrong.
"Don't do this to us," she whispered, her voice broken. "Please, Tucker. Don't. Don't."
For a moment, Luna thought that she had reached him. There was a flicker of comprehension and sympathy, even doubt in his amber eyes, but soon enough that fury took its place again.
"There's no us, Luna," he said. "And soon enough, I am never going to set eyes on your lying face again."
The absolute cruelty of his words struck her to the heart, and she froze as if she was made of stone. She was completely unprepared when Tucker walked around the car and opened the door. When she didn't move immediately, he took her by the arm and dragged her out. She cried out a little in surprise, but there was no pain to his grasp. He simply moved so quickly and was so strong that one moment she was sitting and staring in his car, and the next she was standing in the driveway. The couple came down to meet them, and Luna watched them both with a disinterest born of a breaking heart.
"This is Joseph and Isabella," Tucker said curtly. "They look after the property, and they have agreed to look after you too. Tomorrow, you'll be meeting with Dr. Schmitt. If you have any sense of self-preservation at all, you won't try to run again. You have something that belongs to me, and I do not tolerate thieves.”
"I am not a thief," she shouted, startling everyone there. Isabella, who had been reaching for her, pulled back with fear, protecting her belly with one hand. "Why the hell won't you see it? Why won't you listen to me?"
Tucker laughed bitterly.
"I have heard many, many women protest their innocence after they have been caught in the act. I have to commend you, though, you are the first one who has had to protest that she was not leaving me, rather than protesting that she had her hand in the till. Give it up, Luna. Whatever game you are playing with me, I am not interested. You're stuck now, and be grateful that the bargain is still on."
"I wish it wasn't," she shouted. "Then you would have to deal with me like a woman and the soon-to-be mother of your child rather than... than some piece of property that wasn't turning out exactly as you had hoped. I wish we could just fight it out and then you would see..."
"You are embarrassing yourself," Tucker said coldly. "We are through, and you are lucky you are getting a fat check at the end of this and not a lawsuit suing you for breach of contract. Oh, I nearly forgot. Here."
For a moment, Luna had no idea what he was doing, and then she thought that she might be driven to her knees with pain. He was casually stripping the bracelet she had made for him all those weeks ago on the plane from his wrist. She tried to push it away, but he placed it in her hand and curled her fingers over it. He was so strong that there was no way to resist him.
"There," he said grimly. "I don't want it anymore."
Abruptly, as if he had struck her, all of the fight went out of her. She held onto the bracelet numbly, and she watched as he got back into the car. The last rays of the setting sun caught on its black mirror finish, and then he was gone.
Luna was vaguely aware of the female caretaker, Isabella, putting her arm around her shoulders.
"It will be all right," Isabella said soothingly. "It will be all right, you will see."
Luna wanted to ask her what she was basing that opinion on, but somehow her throat had closed up, and all she could do was sob.
***
Somewhere between Otros Amana and Florence, Tucker realized that he was pushing his car up to 90 miles an hour. For one single mad moment, he wanted to push it even further, even harder, but then sanity prevailed, and he pulled over.
It was full dark now, and the roads were utterly empty. Eventually he would rejoin the hustle and bustle of Florence, but right now, the desolate roadside suited him far better.
Ever since Luna's departure had been reported to him, he had driven himself hard. There had only been two goals. He had to find Luna, and he had to put her somewhere where she would not be able to run away again.
Now that both of those goals were accomplished, however, he had to deal with the reality of what had happened.
Tucker tried to tell himself that this was no different from any number of betrayals and disappointments he had had with women over the years, but his heart shouted against the lie.
This was no normal woman, and this was no normal betrayal. Luna had held everything that he had offered her in her hands, and casually, she had dropped it on the ground, walking away.
The pain ripped through him, and he could feel a burning agony in his throat.
"No, he said, as if he could deny the reality of the world simply by speaking it. "No, no, no, no..."
Then when saying it wasn't enough, he shouted it, and in some tiny dim corner of his mind where things still made sense, he wondered when he would be able to stop.