“I want nothing from you,” Gianna says not unkindly. “I am simply trying to understand what my son sees in you.”
My mind goes blank for a second. “H-he doesn’t seeanythingin me,” I argue, feeling my face heat. “I’m just leverage. A pawn in his revenge plot against my father.”
“Is that what you think?” Gianna asks, and there’s a knowingness in her tone that makes me uncomfortable. “That you are just leverage?”
“That’s what I am,” I insist, trying to grasp control of this conversation. How am I floundering? “He said so himself. I’m here because my father killed his brother.”
“Yes, that is what he told you,” Gianna agrees. “But Leonardo has always been very good at lying to himself. It is one of his more frustrating qualities.”
I stare at her, trying to figure out what she’s implying. “I don’t—what do you mean?”
“Tell me, Emma,” Gianna says, switching positions and changing the subject so abruptly it makes my head spin, “what do you know of my youngest son? Of Gabriel?”
The shift throws me off balance. What exactly does she want me to say? “I know that my father killed him,” I say slowly, wincing as I see Gianna’s face spasm with pain. “I know it was wrong and terrible and I’m sorry?—”
“Do not apologize for your father’s actions,” Gianna interrupts sharply, the sorrow immediately gone. “You did not pull the trigger. You were not even there. Connor Brennan’s crimes are his own to bear, not yours.”
“But I’m paying for them anyway,” I point out in frustration, gesturing around at the library that’s beautiful but still a prison. “I’m here because of what he did.”
“Are you?” Gianna’s expression is unreadable. “Or are you here because Leonardo cannot figure out what else to do with you?”
This woman fucking confounds me. “I—what?” That makes no sense. Has she lost her mind? “He’s keeping me here to make my fathersuffer,” I remind her. “That’s the whole point.”
“Thatwasthe point,” Gianna corrects. “Two weeks ago when he took you. But now?” She tilts her head, studying me. “Now I think the situation has become more complicated than my son anticipated.”
My heart is beating too fast, my mind racing to keep up with whatever game Gianna is playing. “I still don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“Do you know why I came here today?” Gianna asks instead of answering.
“To…yell at your son for kidnapping me?” I guess. “To tell him he’s being reckless and stupid?”
“Bah. I already did that,” Gianna says with a dismissive wave. “On the phone, very loudly, until my ears were ringing. No, I came here to see you. To understand what kind of woman could make my Leonardo forget himself so completely.”
“He hasn’t forgotten himself,” I argue, even though I’m not sure why I’m defending him. “He’s executing a revenge plot. That’s very much remembering himself and what he wants.”
“Is it?” Gianna’s eyes are sharp, boring into mine. “Tell me, Emma, in the weeks you have been here, has my son hurt you?”
I scowl at her and gesture to myself. “He kidnapped me?—”
“Besides the kidnapping itself,” Gianna interrupts impatiently. “Has he struck you? Threatened you with violence? Denied you food or comfort?”
“No,” I admit reluctantly, thinking about how Leo forced me to eat at the beginning and how he tried to provide me withsomeentertainment while I was locked in my room. “But?—”
“Has he treated you with cruelty? Made you suffer beyond the suffering of being separated from your family?”
“No, but that’s not?—”
“Has he,” Gianna continues, her voice taking on a strange intensity, “perhaps been kind to you? When you were frightened or upset? Perhaps helped you when you were in distress?”
My mind immediately goes to the panic attack, about Leo’s hand holding mine, his thumb moving in soothing circles.
How gentle he was, how patient.
My face flushes hot.
“How did you know about that?” My voice is barely above a whisper.
“I am his mother,” Gianna says, like that explains everything. “I know my son. I know when he is acting like the man I raised him to be, and when he is acting like the monster this life tries to make him.” She leans forward slightly. “So I ask you again, Emma Brennan—what do you think of my Leo?”