stood back to watch.
The doctor declared that the bump on her head wasn’t serious, but a few days’ rest would do her good.
‘She’ll get everything she wants here,’ Damiano said. ‘I’d like you to come again tomorrow.’
‘Certainly. I brought some painkillers with me, and she should take some now. Then rest and good food is what she needs.’
‘She will be all right, won’t she?’ Pietro asked anxiously. ‘She isn’t going to die?’
‘Definitely not,’ the doctor said kindly. ‘She just needs to take it easy.’
Pietro gave a brief smile but his air was still one of anxiety. Sally reached for him.
‘I’m stronger than I look,’ she assured him. ‘Don’t worry about me.’
His reply was to throw himself into her arms.
‘Steady, don’t shake her,’ Damiano protested.
‘It’s all right,’ she hastened to say. ‘He isn’t hurting me.’
Nora brought in some water, which Sally used to take the painkillers. Then the men departed while Nora tucked her under the duvet. Whether it was the pills or the shock of the evening’s events, Sally began to feel drowsy, and soon the world drifted away.
She awoke to find Damiano sitting by the bed, watching her.
‘How are you feeling?’ he asked.
‘Better. My head isn’t hurting. I’m sorry to give you so much trouble.’
‘Don’t talk nonsense,’ he said, speaking with a gentleness that contrasted with his words. ‘You are no trouble.’ He indicated some bags on the floor. ‘Your things have arrived, so you can unpack soon.’
‘My bill—’
‘I told you not to worry about that. You were attacked in my hotel. That’s my responsibility and the least I can do is wipe out your bill, and Charlie’s. Don’t mention it again.’
‘But that man—Wilton—what happened to him?’
‘He escaped, which may be a good thing. Otherwise the police would have become involved and you’d have found it distressing. The hotel security staff will find him.’
‘But how will they know what he looks like?’
‘They’ll know his appearance from the camera outside the front door that records the face of every visitor,’ Damiano said. ‘They’ll track him down and persuade him not to trouble you again.’
She didn’t ask what ‘persuade him’ meant. This man would have his own methods of persuasion that would probably make her shudder. She found that she could no longer fight off the horror. Tremors afflicted her, and she clenched her fists, struggling to stay calm.
‘Come here,’ Damiano said.
The next moment his arms were around her, enfolding her in warmth and comfort.
‘It’s all right,’ he murmured. ‘Hold onto me. I’m going to look after you.’
She believed him. The feeling of safety seemed to envelop her, warming her heart and her flesh in a way she had never known before. She clung to him, letting her head rest on his shoulder, wishing it could stay there for ever.
For several minutes neither of them moved. Then he lowered her gently onto the pillow.
‘I want to understand everything,’ he said. ‘Getting rid of that lout was just the start. What else do you need me to do?’
She hesitated, glad to feel his strength and support, but uncertain whether she should tell him any more about Charlie.
‘You’ve done enough—’ she began.
‘That’s for me to say,’ he replied in a voice that was quiet but brooked no argument. ‘I want to know what lies behind this, and you’re going to tell me.’
She sighed.
‘I know I’m safe, but Charlie isn’t. Wilton was after him, and I don’t think he’ll give up.’
‘I promise you, he will when I’ve finished with him,’ Damiano said.
‘Where is Charlie now?’
‘Safely settled in the room next to you. Tell me about him. Once before you implied that he’s irresponsible, even for his age.’
‘He doesn’t mean any harm, but he’s young and he doesn’t think things through. He gambles a lot, and loses.’
‘And guess who has to pay up to get him out of trouble,’ Damiano said wryly.
‘I suppose I shouldn’t, but I find it so hard to refuse him.’
‘Even though you must know you’re not doing him any favours in the long term. He’s never going to learn better as long as he gets away with it.’
‘I know,’ she said wretchedly, ‘but there’s no one to protect him, and that’s my fault.’
‘I don’t believe that. Stop putting yourself down.’
‘Seven years ago I was knocked down in the road. My parents set out to drive to the hospital. A lorry crashed into their car and they both died.’
‘And you blame yourself for that?’ he demanded. ‘Surely it wasn’t your fault that you were injured?’
‘No, but if it hadn’t been for me they wouldn’t have been on the road and an eleven-year-old boy wouldn’t have been left an orphan. Since then I’ve been the only family he has.’
‘How old were you at the time?’
‘Twenty-one.’
‘Just twenty-one, and your life was taken away from you.’
‘No—no, not really. People expect to make sacrifices for the ones they love.’
‘But they don’t expect to live in a prison. Isn’t that your life? Behind bars, with Charlie’s needs holding the key?’
It was true. She’d never faced it before, but Damiano saw everything.
‘But you’re the same,’ she said. ‘You build your life around Pietro’s needs.’
‘A father expects to do that for his son. But a sister is entitled to a life of her own. One day he’ll have grown up enough to go his own way, and you’ll be left stranded in a desert. No husband, no lover, no children.’
‘But I have my career. I’ll always have that. When he finally leaves me I won’t be in that desert.’
‘You will if your career is all you have.’
‘But
