VITTORIO'S RUNAWAY BRIDE (The Vittorio Series) (26 page)

“After that, I will make love to you until you are too exhausted to move,” Logan’s voice came through the intercom, loud and clear.

Shelby
did
scream then.
 
She screamed out of anger and frustration, screamed because her husband was betraying her with a woman who was holding her captive in her own house.
 
She screamed until her lungs burned and her throat was raw and the hot tears scalded her pale cheeks.
 
When she finally stopped, her head fell forward in defeat.
 
She was tired, so incredibly tired she couldn’t have moved even if she’d been able to.
 
Shelby fought it for as long as she could
,
but exhaustion overtook her and eventually she dozed off.

She moved in and out of hazy dreams and nightmares, sometimes aware of where she was when she woke, and sometimes not.
 
She dreamed of Logan and the way he’d looked at her after he discovered she was pregnant, and she dreamt of passionate kisses and warm caresses and love making that had sometimes lasted until dawn.
 

The nightmares came sporadically, always with Alicia’s image intertwined, laughing at her, taunting her as she led Logan to the bedroom and stretched out on the bed.
 
As soon as she reached for him, the nightmare abruptly ended and Shelby would wake up with tears in her eyes and her insides shaking.

How long it went on, she wasn’t sure
,
but the knotted muscles in her neck told her it had to have been quite some time.
 
She was rotating her neck to try and work out some of the kinks when there was a soft click and the door eked open.
 
If she’d been fully awake, she might have had the presence of mind to scream so Logan could hear her, but Alicia was already through the door and had closed it firmly behind her before Shelby could even open her mouth.

“I brought water and something to eat,” Alicia said pleasantly as she drew up another chair and sat down in front of her.

“That’s my robe,” Shelby croaked, her voice so hoarse she could barely speak.

“I just finished showering and didn’t want to put my clothes back on.
 
Drink,” she ordered, holding the bottled water to Shelby’s lips.

She gulped the water down greedily until nearly half of it was gone.
 
“Why the sudden burst of compassion?”

Alicia plucked a piece of pineapple from the small bowl of fruit she’d brought with her and popped it into Shelby’s mouth.
 
“I don’t want you physically harmed,” she said with a shrug.

“Just mentally beaten?”

Alicia smiled and brought a ripe strawberry to Shelby’s lips.
 
“Eat it,” she said harshly, then smiled again when Shelby obeyed.
 
“Yes, as a matter of fact I do want you beaten down mentally.
 
Having you here, knowing you’re listening to everything that’s going on in your bedroom has added a delicious excitement to my plan to extract revenge from both of you.
 
Oh, I know Logan loves you regardless of his attempt to make me think otherwise, but that just makes it so much sweeter.”

Shelby swallowed down the strawberry.
 
“Do you mean all those things you said about wanting to be with him was just more lies?”

“Of course,” she laughed, thrusting another piece of fruit into Shelby’s mouth.
 
“I told you, all I want is one night with him.
 
One night with you listening to the sounds of us making wild, passionate love in your bed and I
will
have killed two birds with one stone.
 
I’ll have conquered Logan and gotten him to have sex with me, and I
will
have destroyed your marriage in the process.”

“Maybe not,” Shelby said with a defiant lift of her chin.
 
“How do you know we won’t salvage our marriage once you’ve gone?”

Alicia gave her another sip of water before replying.
 
“You won’t, and I’ll tell you why.
 
You love him so much you’ll want to forgive him, but you won’t be able to.
 
Every time he reaches for you, the pain of knowing he’s been with me will stand between you.
 
You
will
imagine your husband kissing me, running his hands over my body, and you’ll wonder…is he comparing the two of us?
 
And Logan, the poor man…he
will
never be able to forgive himself for being so weak or for hurting you.
 
The guilt will eat him alive
,
and eventually you’ll both stop trying to pretend you’ve moved past it and the marriage will be over.”

Shelby shook her head.
 
“And you’ll go on with your life without feeling an ounce of remorse for what you’ve done.”

“Guilt is a wasted emotion.
 
I’ll join Richard in whatever country he happens to be in right now and find a new game to play.
 
Oh
,
don’t get me wrong, I imagine one night with Logan will leave me wanting more
,
but I am much stronger than he is
. 
I’ll be able to resist the temptation to stick around for a full blown affair.”

“You’re a vile, evil person,” Shelby spit out.
 
“Logan and I
will
get past this horrible night because our love for each other can’t be broken by you or anyone else.”

She sat up straight as a warm glow began to spread from her chest outward.
 
They would survive this, just as they
had
survived the months of separation, and she
would
help him see that guilt really was a wasted emotion.
 
He’d been played, just as she had
,
and together they could repair whatever damage this charade of Alicia’s caused.
 
This baby growing inside of her would have both a mother and a father and they
would
love it as fiercely as they loved each other.

Alicia leaned forward, her face contorting into an ugly mask of contempt.
 
“We shall see how long those convictions hold
out
once Logan returns tonight and slips into bed with me.”

Shelby pressed her lips together, careful to keep her own face expressionless.
 
Logan was gone?
 
Her heart leapt to her throat.
 
Was he out looking for her?
 
Had he figured out what Alicia was up to?
 
If so, then he must know Alicia couldn’t have taken her too far away, given the small amount of time that had passed between her departure from the Penthouse and the time he’d gotten home.
 
The veil of pain began to lift and suddenly Shelby saw everything with perfect clarity.
 

“He must not be as enamored of you as you’d like to believe,” Shelby smirked.

“Just because he had a business meeting he couldn’t get out of?
 
Apparently you weren’t listening very closely or you would have heard the concern in his voice when he told me to rest up while he was gone.”

“You do look a bit…haggard,” she said agreeably.

Alicia stood up.
 
“I don’t blame you for wanting to lash out at me; after all
,
I’ll be sleeping with your husband in a few hours.”
 
Her lips twisted into a cruel smile.
 
“Maybe sleeping wasn’t the right word to use for what we’ll be doing.
 
This is going to be the longest night of my life…but then I imagine you were thinking the same thing about yourself.”

Shelby didn’t say a word.
 
She just sat there, stone faced and mutinously silent until Alicia finally turned around with a huff and stomped out of the room.
 
Only then did she allow herself to smile.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                           
***

Logan checked his watch for the tenth time in as many minutes.
 
Even knowing how vital it was to remain patient, every second that ticked by grated on his already frayed nerves.
 
He’d been on an emotional rollercoaster ever since
leaving
the house earlier that evening
,
so it wasn’t surprising that the light tap on his window nearly sent him over the edge.
 
Logan climbed out of his car, his expression grim as he shook hands with the man before him.

“You’re sure she’s still inside?”

Logan nodded.
 
“I found her car about a quarter of a mile down the road when I left the house.
 
I stayed there until Simon arrived to keep an eye on it.”
 

“My men are in position so it won’t be long now.”
 
He handed Logan a square device that fit neatly in the palm of his hand.
 
“It’s an electronic pager,” he explained.
 
“When you’re ready for us, just press the button in the middle.
 
It’s set to vibrate so you don’t have to worry that she’ll hear it beep if one of us happens to be close by.”

“It will alert all of you at the same time?”

“Everyone is on the same frequency so, yes, it
will
be simultaneous.”

Logan pocketed the pager.
 
“I am ready.”

“You’re sure about this, Logan?
 
My men can have every room in the house searched in less than fifteen minutes…”

“No,” he said firmly, “I cannot take the chance that Alicia is roaming around and might see one of them.
 
We will stick to the plan.
 
My brothers will follow me in and wait until she is…distracted before they begin searching for Shelby.”

“And if Shelby’s not in the house?”

Logan wouldn’t even consider the possibility he was wrong.
 
“She is in there.
 
Just have your men ready to catch Alicia if she tries to get away.”
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                          
***

Shelby had been staring at the panel on the wall for so long her vision was beginning to blur.
 
The only noise she’d heard in the past few hours was the muffled sound of Alicia mumbling in her sleep now and then.
 
She had no way of knowing what time it was or how long she’d been strapped to the chair but her muscles ached from remaining immobile for so long and she was so tired she could barely keep her eyes open.
 

Battling fatigue wasn’t the only problem.
 
She’d been in dire need of the bathroom facilities for quite some time now and it hadn’t helped that she was so thirsty all she could think of was gulping down a gallon of ice water.
 
She also worried about what the stress on her body was doing to her baby.
 
To keep her mind off the terrifying idea that she could lose the child growing inside of her, Shelby tried to envision how she
was going
to decorate the nursery.
 

She’d gotten as far as choosing the color scheme and was thinking about the murals she
would
like to paint on the walls when she heard the soft rustling of someone moving around in the bedroom filter through the intercom speaker.
 
She held her breath, straining her ears and had almost convinced herself she’d only been imagining it when Alicia’s groggy voice confirmed Logan had finally come home.