Chapter 10.

NORA CARUSO. Nikolai had taken me out of the gala immediately after the confrontation and we had flown for a while on a private jet where the silence was louder than the engines. Now, we were winding through roads that hugged the side of a mountain, with a drop-off that revealed a deep, sapphire water. Lake Como. It was breathtaking, the kind of place people saved up their whole lives to visit for a week. Nikolai was on his phone, answering emails, completely indifferent to the paradise passing by his window. He had loosened his tie, the top button of his shirt undone, exposing the hollow of his throat. I looked away, my heart doing a traitorous little flip. The adrenaline from the gala, from the way he had crushed Simone’s hand, had faded but I was terrified of him. I reminded myself of that with every breath, he was violent and controlling. "We are here," Nikolai announced, sliding his phone into his pocket. The car turned through massive gates, crunching over white gravel. We stoppe