Treasured Dreams (13 page)

As her thoughts tumbled to Nonna, she deliberately shut down her temper. She'd do whatever Nox said, if it meant saving her grandmother.

When Nox opened the car boot though, she nearly crumbled to the ground. Waves of fear coursed through her veins, driving bile to her throat.

‘Get in.' Nox trained the gun at her chest.

Stomach acid bubbled to her tongue. She swallowed it down. ‘No!'

‘Get in the fucking car or your brother is dead.'

If he yelled at her, screamed his ugly head off, she would've accepted his lunacy. But it was the calmness with which he spoke that drove a gut-wrenching realisation through her. He'd planned this for a long time.

She swallowed back bile and revulsion as she took a step forward and leant on the edge of the boot.

Nox snatched her crutches out from under her and whipped the gun across her temple.

She tumbled forward. The coarse carpet sandpapered her cheek. She blinked back fuzziness. Then everything went black.

Chapter Thirteen

Nox believed it was divine intervention that placed Rosalina and Archer at the gate of the marina when he drove that way this morning. For three days, he'd stocked up on food and supplies and searched the marina for even a glimpse of Archer and his oversized yacht without any success. Today though, it was like finding them was meant to be.

It was a further miracle when Rosalina climbed into the black car without Archer at her side. Last time he'd kidnapped Rosalina it had been a spontaneous reaction. This time, however, everything was planning out to perfection.

He had intended to kidnap only Rosalina. But now, with her brother tied up in the back seat, he realised his good fortune. Torturing him and making her watch was the prefect scenario.

As he munched away on the pastries he'd stolen off the kitchen bench before he'd dragged Filippo to the car, Rosalina began screaming in the boot. But travelling at the speed they were along the autobahn gave little chance that her cries would be heard. Nox raised the music volume and attempted to sing along as he headed towards Livorno.

His luck had definitely changed, because not only was there no queues at the two toll booths, but every traffic light they approached was green. The trip through Livorno was quick and uneventful, and soon they were on the Stada Statale One, heading towards his new home.

Nox wound down the window, and as he enjoyed the ocean breezes and processed a plan to get Rosalina and the still unconscious Filippo out of the back seat, Rosalina resumed her kicking and screaming in the boot. Her screams were music to his ears. It also meant she'd be physically exhausted by the time they arrived.
Perfect
.

He turned into the tree-lined road, drove right up alongside the front steps, pulled to a stop and jumped out. Choosing to work with Filippo before he woke up from the sedative, Nox tugged the man from the back seat. With his hands under Filippo's armpits, he dragged him from the car and allowed his feet to fall to the ground. The man was heavy, and Nox hadn't realised how weak he'd become. He had to stop a few times up the front stairs, and he was gasping for breath by the time he released Filippo to open the front doors.

He shoved his hands under the man's armpits again and pulled him over the threshold. One of Filippo's shoes fell off at the door, revealing a brown sock with a hole large enough for his big toe to poke through. As Nox continued all the way down the corridor and into the dormitory, Filippo's heels dragged two jagged lines through the rubble. Once in the room, Nox dropped Filippo to the floor, checked his captive's pockets, and removed a phone and a wallet.

Now for Rosalina. Nox had the gun drawn and the crutches ready as he raised up the boot. She lunged at him but Nox simply stepped back and watched as she grappled to avoid sprawling to the ground.

‘You bastard. What'd you do to Filippo?'

‘Get out and I'll show you.'

She glared at him with steely blue eyes, and her chest heaved with one angry breath after another. It seemed that the plastered leg wasn't a deterrent at all. The gun in his hand was the only barrier to an all-out attack. It was a long, anxious moment before her shoulders sagged. She raised her skirt and curled one long, tanned leg over the edge of the car and found her footing on the ground. Then she leant forward and lifted her broken leg out of the boot.

‘Give me the crutches.'

He handed them forward and eased in behind her. ‘Up the stairs.'

Rosalina walked slowly. Too slowly, and she was looking around too much. ‘Hurry up, bitch.' He thumped the gun into the back of her head.

She flinched. ‘Shit! I'm going as fast as I can.'

Once they were through the doors, Nox didn't care how slow she went. Now that he had her, he was planning on taking his time with her anyway.

‘Open that door on your left,' Nox said at the end of the hallway.

She obeyed and turned the handle. ‘Filippo!' She threw the crutches aside and launched at her brother. Nox shut the door, slid the new latch he'd bought into place, and returned the gun to his pocket as he strode back along the hallway. He climbed the stairs, traversed the hallway and aimed for the fourth door.

He eased up to the balcony and tingles curled up his spine as he looked down. Rosalina had Filippo's head in her lap. She wiped his cheek and her shuddering shoulders suggested she was crying.

Nox hadn't made a sound and yet Rosalina suddenly looked up at him as if she knew he'd be there. The look on her face took him back thirty years. This moment was decades in the making. He was the new Zenobi. Now he realised what Zenobi gained from his nightly ritual of staring down at the boys.
Power
.

Nox gripped the railing as he indulged in the thrill of domination coursing through his veins.

Chapter Fourteen

A prickle along Rosalina's spine made her look up. Above her, staring down from a curved concrete balcony, was Nox. He inclined his head, as if acknowledging an adversary. She forced herself to ignore the pounding in her chest as she took in his squared out jaw, his pockmarked cheeks, his grey-speckled chin stubble, and his beady eyes that were the colour of arctic ice. He looked triumphant. He looked calm.

His composure scared the breath out of her.

Nox slinked away from the edge and disappeared from view. She turned her attention back to Filippo. Her brother's breathing was steady, but his eyes flittered beneath his eyelids, riding out whatever torment trapped him there. A fine layer of sweat beaded his forehead, and she wiped it away with the fabric of her dress. Her back began to ache so she nudged forward and bent her leg so Filippo's neck was on her thigh.

She turned her attention to her surrounds. Three rows of beds stretched out before her. The ones closer to her were just skeletal frames, but she noticed some had mattresses and others were fully made with blankets and pillows. The beds were small, too small to be adult beds, and she wondered if this was once a boarding school, or a children's hospital. The windows caught her eye. She was certain they wouldn't be a way out—even so, she lowered Filippo's head to the concrete floor and used the crutches to climb to her feet.

She navigated her way through the beds and as she neared the windows she noticed most of the glass was missing. Glass shards struck out from the frame like shark's teeth. Black metal bars, an inch thick, ran from top to bottom. Whoever had slept in these beds weren't here voluntarily.

Beyond the window, as far as she could see was nothing but ocean. In the very distance, container ships followed each other along the horizon in a conga line. The nearest port from Signa was Livorno, and if she had to guess she'd say they were about half an hour's drive from the seaside port. Directly below the window was jagged cliff face in several shades of red. She heard the waves crashing into the rocks below. The building teetered right on the edge of the cliff.

A groan alerted her to Filippo waking. She lobbed to his side, eased to the floor, and once again lifted his head onto his lap. ‘Hey Filippo, I'm here. Rosa.'

He groaned again and raised his hand. She reached for it and cupped his hand in hers. His grip was a vice, his palm a fiery furnace. ‘It's okay. I'm with you.'

Little by little, Filippo regained consciousness, and finally he blinked up at her.

‘Hey there. Are you okay?'

He frowned and squeezed his eyes shut as if trying to change the vision.

‘Do you know what happened?'

He snapped his eyes open, then shook his head. ‘No.'

‘We've been kidnapped.'

‘What? By who?' He continued to blink, maybe trying to shake the fog from his brain.

‘Did you see or hear anything about that crazy priest I shot with the spear gun in the Greek Islands?'

His eyebrows drilled together. ‘The one you killed?'

‘I
thought
I'd killed him. He's kidnapped us.'

He reached up to his neck and winced. ‘What did he inject me with?'

‘I don't know. I'm just glad you're okay.'

Filippo tried to push up and Rosalina helped him to sit. ‘Where are we?'

‘I think we're in an old mental hospital or something, near Livorno.'

‘Where is he?'

‘I don't know. He stared down at us from up there for a while.' She pointed at the curved balcony that hovered above the room like a judge's bench. ‘But I haven't seen him since.'

‘How long was I unconscious?'

‘A few hours, I guess. I don't know'

‘What do you know?' He spat the words out.

Now that Nox was alive, she wasn't sure what she knew anymore. ‘I'm sorry, Filippo. This is all my fault.'

Filippo used the bedframe at his side to pull himself up. Rosalina did the same with her crutches.

‘What does he want?'

‘I don't—' She stopped herself. ‘Last time he kidnapped me, he was after the Calimala treasure.'

‘He's kidnapped you before? Jesus, Rosalina, what're you messed up in?'

It was a good question. Treasure hunting was supposed to be exciting, not dangerous. ‘I don't know anymore.' She shrugged. ‘We found a clue to a seven-hundred-year-old missing treasure in a church and ever since then people have been trying to kill us to get it.'

Filippo squinted at her. ‘Did you find the treasure?'

‘Yes, but—'

‘Well where is it?'

‘It was stolen from us.'

‘So if he's already stolen it, what does he want now?'

‘No, Nox didn't steal it from us. Ignatius Montpellier did.'

Filippo's face scrunched up. ‘Who?'

If Filippo hadn't been following the stories in the news, then he must be the only person she knew who hadn't. Even her friends in Australia seemed to know everything about it. ‘Did you see the footage of the helicopter crashing into
Evangeline
?' Rosalina had seen the segment a dozen times over, and each time as she watched Archer fall from the helicopter and plunge into the black water, her breath trapped in her throat.

‘Yes, I saw that.'

‘Ignatius was the helicopter pilot.'

Filippo frowned. ‘So the treasure was in the helicopter when it crashed.'

‘No. It'd been loaded onto a boat. It's vanished and we don't know who took it.'

‘So Nox must know the treasure was stolen from you.'

She shrugged. ‘I have no idea what he knows.'

‘I know your boyfriend will exchange you for the treasure.' Nox's voice boomed down onto them.

‘There is no treasure. It was stolen from us.' She punched her clenched fist into her thigh.

‘Not all of it.'

She frowned at that comment. The monkey statue was the only piece not stolen. How could he know about that? Ginger? Not for the first time, her suspicions over the young Australian woman were aroused. But even as the thought flittered across her brain, she dismissed it as unfounded. It was so unlike Rosalina to be suspicious. This crazy treasure-hunting business had marred her trust, and it infuriated her that she doubted so easily. ‘Ignatius stole it all. It was on the news.'

‘Yes, but the Calimala treasure was divided into thirds. You only found one third.'

She blinked up at him. They'd already made this discovery, but how did Nox know? She decided to play ignorant. ‘What're you talking about?'

‘I'm talking about Archer looking for the other two thirds of the Calimala treasure. When he gives it to me, he can have you back.'

She gasped at his statement. ‘But that could take months. Years.'

‘Exactly. That's why you're here.'

That was never going to happen. Archer wouldn't do anything before he rescued Rosalina. It was up to her and Filippo to escape. But as she glanced around the room, it looked impossible. ‘Have you called Archer?'

‘No.' His eyes sharpened. ‘I need his number.'

‘I'm not giving you anything.'

‘What you don't realise is that I have all the time in the world. You see, as far as everyone is concerned, I died somewhere out in that ocean months ago.' He pointed out the giant arched windows. ‘Nobody is looking for me.' He turned on his heel and left.

‘Jesus,' Filippo snapped at her. ‘Why didn't you just give him the number?'

She had no idea. ‘I don't know.'

‘Of course you bloody well don't.' Filippo strode to the middle of the room. ‘Come back. We need food and water.'

Rosalina had a sudden brainwave. ‘Once he gives us food and water, I'll give him Archer's phone number.'

Filippo turned to her. ‘You could have said that to him before he took off. We'll starve.'

She put her hands on her hips, and it took all her restraint not to roll her eyes. ‘He's not going to let us starve. He needs us.'

‘So what … we just sit here and wait?'

‘No.' She lowered her voice and looked squarely in his eyes. ‘First, we see if we can find a way out, and then if that fails, we try to make things as comfortable as possible.'