Page 12 of ‘I Do’ for Revenge

‘I know. And the last thing I want to do is get any of you into trouble, when you’re doing such amazing work.’

‘Work...what work?’ Vittorio asked.

Before Flora could answer, Maria said, ‘Who is this man? Can you trust him?’

‘With this information? Yes, I believe so...’

‘Okay, well, I’ll leave you to talk and then we can figure out where you’re going to go.’

Flora felt weary. ‘Okay, thanks, Maria.’

The other woman went back inside, shutting the gate securely again. Flora looked at Vittorio. His arms were folded. He wasn’t moving until he got answers.

First question. ‘What is this place? It’s not just a hostel, is it?’

Flora shook her head. ‘It’s a women’s aid centre, so I’m sure you can appreciate the need for sensitivity and discretion.’

‘What on earth are you doing in a women’s aid centre...?’ His brows snapped together. ‘Did someone do something? Did something happen?’

‘No, nothing like that. I ended up here...through somewhere else and they let me stay for a miminal fee. I worked for them to help out.’

‘You ended up here...?’

Flora swallowed. ‘Look, it’s really none of your concern. You should go.’

One thing Vito was very sure of was that he was going nowhere until he’d got to the bottom of why Flora was living in a women’s aid centre.

He said, ‘Who, or what, is Benji?’

Flora looked as if she was going to argue but then she said, ‘Okay, fine, wait here. I’ll be back.’

Vittorio leaned back against his car. It was quiet here. Residential. Nondescript. The perfect place for a women’s aid centre. He could appreciate that. Flora was gone for about ten minutes and Vito was just appreciating the fact that no one ever kept him waiting when she reappeared with a bundle of what looked like scraggy fur in her arms.

‘This is Benji. I found him in a skip a few weeks ago. He’s blind in one eye.’

It was a dog. A puppy. Of indeterminate breed. Beagle-ish. With white and grey and a bit of brown. One brown eye and the other one was cloudy. The dog was curled trustingly against Flora’s chest. Vittorio put out a hand to stroke him and the dog’s hair went up and he growled, which sounded a little comical coming from something so small.

Flora said unapologetically, ‘Sorry, he doesn’t like men much.’

Vito pulled back his hand. ‘Fair enough.’

He thought of what the woman had said. ‘You have to move out because of the dog?’

Flora nodded. ‘No animals allowed. They just don’t have the facilities but it’s heartbreaking because a lot of the kids who come here have had to leave pets at home. There isn’t space for a garden. They really need to move to a better facility but they can’t afford it.’

‘What are you going to do?’ Even as he asked the question, a plan started to formulate in Vito’s head.

Flora bit her lip and Vito wanted to go over and tug it loose, press his own mouth against hers. Slip his hand under all that hair and tug it so that her head fell back, giving him deeper access to her—

‘I’m not sure. Maybe Maria will know someone.’

‘You’re coming home with me.’

Flora looked at him. The colour drained from her face. ‘That’s preposterous.’

‘If we’d got married, you’d be living with me now.’

‘Well, that never happened because you stood me up, remember? And even if we had married, we’d be getting divorced now. Six months have passed.’