As you know, he was a tall, powerful man. He would have succeeded in killing me if he hadn’t been so drunk.
“Somehow I held him off. The next night was when you came up to my room looking for me. Your loving comfort and kisses held me together. But I was afraid my father would be back. That’s why I couldn’t let you stay the whole night with me. I was afraid if he found us, I wouldn’t have the strength to protect you.”
She’d buried her face in her hands. “I understand now.”
“I’ll always be in hell because I couldn’t protect my mother.”
She lifted her head. “Thank heaven you got out of there alive. I remember the menacing look in your father’s eyes. No wonder you were running for your life.”
“The night after we were together, I made my getaway with Dimi’s help. But leaving you without telling you anything was the hardest thing I’d ever had to do in my life. My cousin had to take the brunt of everything, and I asked him keep me informed about you. He was frantic because he didn’t know where to look for you.”
“I was so hurt and angry at you, I didn’t even try to say goodbye to him. I’m so sorry now. He didn’t have any way of knowing where we’d gone.”
Without conscious thought Vincenzo wrapped her in his arms, and they clung while she sobbed. He wept in silence with her. After her tears subsided, she said, “Tell me what happened the night you left. I want to hear everything from the moment you left your room that night.”
A MIRACLE HAD HAPPENED, because Gemma wanted to keep talking. Vincenzo kissed her hair and forehead.
“Let’s go in the other room, where we can be comfortable.” He walked her trembling body to the love seat, where she sat down, then he pulled the chair closer to be face-to-face with her.
“After I got up and dressed, I snuck to Dimi’s tower room at two in the morning. We hugged and then I stole down the back staircase and through the old passage no longer used to reach the outside.”
“I remember it.”
“Knowing the guard wouldn’t be able to see me yet, I raced through the gardens to reach the forest on the estate property without problem. The family cemetery plot was a good spot to rest. Then I ran past the lake and stables to the farthest edge of the property and hid up high in a tree until another guard had passed around the perimeter and disappeared.”
“The dog didn’t give you away?”
“It wasn’t with him. That was another miracle. I stayed free of detection for twenty more minutes before climbing the fence. You should have seen me. I ran like hell down the hillside.”
A little laugh escaped. “I can just see you!”
“My destination was a farm, where I waited behind a truck for the sun to come up.”
“That must have been so scary.”
“Not as scary as worrying that I’d be spotted before I jumped the perimeter fence. When I saw more activity on the road, I started walking to the village.”
“Did anyone recognize you?”
“I put on a baseball cap and sunglasses.”
She smiled. “I would have loved to see that.”
“It did the trick. A half hour’s walk and I reached the bus stop that took me into central Milan, where I got off near the main train station. After buying a one-way ticket to Geneva, I boarded a second-class car and found a group of German backpackers to sit by.”
“Naturally you struck up a conversation with them. I know your royal tutors taught you four different languages, including German.”
“My education came in handy during that four-hour train ride to Switzerland.”
“Weren’t you worried someone would recognize you?”
“I was lucky and made it to Geneva without problem.”
“Thank heaven.”
“Around three in the afternoon, the train arrived in Geneva. I said goodbye to the other backpackers and took a taxi to the Credit Suisse bank in the town center. I’d planned every step with Dimi and only withdrew enough cash to fly to the States and get settled.”
“I often wondered about those secret meetings you had when Bianca and I weren’t included.”
“Now you know why. After showing the banker my passport and the letter from my grandfather verifying the origin of the funds in my account, I took a taxi to the airport.”
Her eyes lit up. “You really were free at last.”
“Except that you weren’t with me.”
“Let’s not talk about that. Tell me what happened next.”
“I bought a one-way ticket to New York. As it took off, I saw the jet-d’eau at the end of Lake Geneva and the Alps in the distance. You know I’d traveled through Europe before and had been to Switzerland on several vacations. But this time everything was different.”
Shadows marred her classic features. “I can’t imagine it.”
His body tautened. “That’s when I realized I had left you behind for good. You wouldn’t be able to come to me, nor I to go to you. My ache for you turned into excruciating pain.” Hot tears stung his eyes. “Gemma—I swear I didn’t know how I was going to be able to handle the separation.”
Hers filled with tears, too, revealing the degree of her pain.
“You and I had grown up together and lived through everything. I was tortured by the knowledge that until the situation within my own family changed, our separation would have to be permanent.”
“When I first heard you’d gone, I thought I was going to die.”
He reached for her hand, enclosing it in his. “I would have given anything to spare you that pain. There was no way to know how soon we’d ever be able to see each other again.”
She gave his hand a little squeeze before removing hers.
“You can’t imagine my panic. I feared you would hate me forever for my inexplicable cruelty in telling you nothing. There’d be no way you could forgive me. But I didn’t know how else to keep you safe from my father’s wrath. To my sorrow, you didn’t escape it entirely.”
“You know what hurts the most, Vincenzo? To realize our teenage love wasn’t strong enough in your mind to handle telling me the truth before you ever left Italy.”
“I thought I was protecting you.”
“I realize that now, but why did you lie to me again the other day about your reasons for leaving?”
“Again, I wanted to shield you
