Chapter 4

I stared at Monica, my eyes burning.

"Teresa is Luca's mother!" I bit out. "If anything happens to her, when Luca gets here, he will destroy you."

She drank in my rage like it was fine wine, smirking with lazy contempt. "You just admitted you're a fraud. Now she's Luca's mother?"

Monica crooked her finger at the vineyard manager. "Pull up the basement feed on the main screen."

The manager hit a button, and Teresa appeared on the monitor.

She was curled up behind the cellar's iron door, clawing at the metal with both hands.

Her fingernails were already split. Bloody streaks marked the door where she'd scratched.

Monica picked up her glass and took a sip. "Looks perfectly normal to me."

The moment the words left her mouth, Teresa lurched upright on the screen.

She stumbled and slammed her body into the door.

Once. Twice.

"Open the door!" I shouted, my voice cracking. "Her phobia will trigger an acute cardiac episode!"

Monica flicked her blond hair, watching me like a cat sizing up a mouse.

No more time. Teresa could die any second.

I didn't think twice. I bit down on the guard's hand.

He yelped and let go, and I lunged for the control console.

My fingers were one centimeter from the button.

Then all four guards tackled me from every direction, slamming me face-down on the floor.

My cheek was pressed into the ground, pinned under heavy hands. All I could see was Monica's red high heels walking slowly toward me.

The heel lifted, then came down hard on the back of my hand.

A scream tore out of me before I could stop it.

Monica's voice drifted down from above. "Quite the fighter, aren't you? Looks like you need a lesson."

She twisted the heel as she spoke, grinding it in. Needles of pain shot from my hand straight into my chest.

I clenched my jaw and swallowed every sound, every drop of blood.

I would not show weakness in front of my enemy.

After what felt like forever, Monica crouched down and grabbed my chin, forcing my head up.

She was holding a stun gun. Blue arcs of electricity crackled between the two prongs at the tip.

My body trembled beyond control.

Her fingers dug into my cheeks. I could only gasp out fragments.

"Let me go… please let Teresa out… please… she'll really die…"

Humiliation turned into hot tears streaming down my face.

The guests crowded in, forming a circle around us.

Someone spoke up hesitantly. "Donna, isn't this a bit much? A little lesson is enough."

Another chimed in. "Reasoning with scammers doesn't work. You have to show them who's in charge."

Monica's voice went ice-cold. "Anyone who speaks up for a fraud—I'll treat you as an accomplice."

The hall fell dead silent.

Then she pressed the stun gun against my shoulder, her lips twisting into something evil.

Blue light exploded.

Electricity ripped through my body. I convulsed, my back arching violently off the floor.

My teeth sank into my tongue. Blood trickled from the corner of my mouth.

She released the trigger.

I collapsed like a rag doll, every breath burning like broken glass.

She was about to press down again when the vineyard manager ran over.

"The old woman—she passed out… Should we let her out? We don't want a body on our hands…"

I turned to the screen.

Teresa was clutching her chest, curled up on the ground, completely still.

"Please…" I barely recognized my own raspy voice. "Please get Teresa out…"

Monica hesitated for a few seconds. Finally, she put the stun gun away.

"Enough of this circus. Drag the old woman out. You—" She looked down at me from her full height. "Take her and get out."

The guards let me go.

I didn't care about the pain tearing through my body. I crawled, scrambled, threw myself at the cellar entrance.

The iron door swung open. I gathered Teresa's unconscious body into my arms.

She was still breathing—faint, but there. If we got her to the hospital in time, it wasn't too late.

My fingers shook as I dialed Luca's number.

"Luca, Mom's in trouble. Send a car right now. She needs to go to the hospital."

His impatient voice came through the line.

"Your mom's been sick for a while. I'm at the docks handling something. Deal with it yourself."

"Luca, she's your—"

"I said I'm busy. I have to go."

The line went dead.

The dial tone hammered into me like bullets.

I froze. Teresa clutched against my chest, shaking with rage.

Then—screeching tires outside the vineyard.

Monica's eyes lit up. She gathered her skirt and ran out the door.

"Luca—you're finally here!"