With Malice by Eileen Cook

Author:Eileen Cook [Cook, Eileen]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

I’d told Anna I needed to be alone. I knew she wanted to know what had happened in the meeting, but I wasn’t ready to talk about it. As soon as she was gone, I went into the bathroom and washed my hands over and over, trying to get the ink stains off my fingers. I couldn’t get rid of all of it; there was still a faded gray tint on my skin. Great, now I was Lady Macbeth. Out, damned spot. I sat on my hands so I couldn’t see them. I stared at the clock and tried to do the math for the time change, but I couldn’t figure it out. Screw it.

I dialed the number I’d memorized. It rang forever before a sleepy voice picked up.

“Pronto.”

“Nico?” I asked. He was silent. “Um, I’m trying to reach a Nico Landini. Is this him?”

“Jill? Is this you?” Nico sounded awake now.

I nodded and realized he couldn’t see me. “Yes,” I whispered. His voice was warm and thick, like poured honey. It seemed to echo in my chest, but I couldn’t tell if I found it familiar or if I only wanted something to be.

“Are you still in the hospital, bella?”

“I’m in the rehab center. I was in a car accident,” I whispered.

Nico was silent for a beat. “Yes, I know.”

“I met with the Italian police today. They say Simone was stabbed,” I said. My fingers dug into the blanket as if I could pull each of the fibers apart.

“Are you all right?” Nico asked. “Should we be talking?”

“I have to ask you something. They’re implying we slept together. Did we?” I held my breath. He was quiet, and I wished I could see his expression. I didn’t want to ask if he was still there.

“You don’t remember?”

“If I remembered, do you think I’d be asking?” I snapped.

“Yes, bella, we were lovers,” Nico said softly.

Black dots appeared in the corner of my vision. What the detective had said was true. I’d lost my virginity and I hadn’t even known.

“Oh,” I said in a small voice.

Nico sighed. “Oh, bella. I had heard you did not remember, but I didn’t know you had forgotten all. I wish I could see your lovely face. To hold you. To make this better.”

I ignored this and barreled on. “I need you to fill me in on what happened. If we were together, if we had this big passionate affair, then you owe me that,” I said. Maybe if he kept talking, it would shake something free. “I need you to tell me if I talked to you about Simone.” The list of questions I had for him started to pile up in my throat. A traffic jam of words.

Nico’s voice hardened. “I have had to speak to the police. They are wanting to know my role in all of this. I have had to get a lawyer. I must take care of myself. I think it is not good for either of us to speak.”

I’d wanted to feel some rush of affection for this guy, but I felt nothing.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.