Page 51 of Until He Confesses

“Hello, is this Miss Jacks?” The man asked and I was surprised.

“Yes, who is this please?” I asked.

“I’m Matthias Lorenzo,” he said. “Mr. Marsh sent me over to your inn with a car. I’m outside the Venus Inn right now.”

I stopped just as the elevators reached the ground floor and didn’t know what to say.

“Um... okay,” I said as I got out before the doors closed.

“I’m sorry but I didn’t ask for a car.”

“He said you might need to sort out some issues today so I’m available to you all day.”

“Oh,” I said, “Um sure, thank you. I need to do some things here first but I’ll be out soon.”

“Take your time,” he said. “Just call me when you’re ready.”

“Okay,” I said and headed over to the reception. It turned out they had a computer that I could use and so I got to work with all the boring admin reports I had to send about the cards I had lost but soon enough I was done.

I didn’t have an iPad and didn’t bother bringing my own laptop because I was certain if it was with me then I was going to become lazy and refuse to leave the hotel. Now it was quite an inconvenience not having a laptop and I had to admonish myself to at least get myself a tablet the moment I got back. I recalled there was a driver waiting for me and even when I wanted to have breakfast, I got concerned about having him wait so I headed out.

“I don’t think I’ll need to go anywhere like I thought I would,” I said, hoping this would be enough to get rid of him.

“The owners have given me directions to the police station and since it’s within walking distance, I think I’d like to do that and take the chance to see the city.”

He looked at me through the tinted windows of the sleek town car and then he nodded. Relieved, I turned around to walk back into the hotel to get ready.

Just as I prepared to leave the hotel for good, I received another call on my phone. This time it was from someone that I wholeheartedly knew.

It would be inappropriate and downright rude of me to not pick up yet doing so made me nervous which was not a good sign at all.

“Hello?” I greeted.

“Hey,” he replied. “Matthias says you’re dismissing him?”

“Yeah,” I replied. “Thank you so much for sending him but I think I can make the trip on foot. Walking around the city is the best way to enjoy it though there are steps everywhere.”

He went silent briefly before he spoke again.

“I just sailed into Positano,” he said. “He’ll bring you over so you can have breakfast with me.”

I didn’t like his tone at all but it was so easy to be tempted. There was also the fact that I didn’t have any money and kind of had to be solely dependent on him until I resolved my problems.

I sighed and gave in. He had gotten his way finally. The entire world had conspired against me and as I grudgingly accepted the ride, I reminded myself it was my own fault that my wallet had been stolen. If he wasn’t here with me, I would truly have been in deep shit so if anything, I was supposed to be thanking him. It all made sense to me yet I couldn’t help but think I had played right into his hands.

I stared out of the window from the passenger seat in the back as we drove on the main road in the city. If all had gone according to plan, I would have been trekking and trudging up the endless stairs in the narrow alleyways but the breathtaking views of the sea and the fusion of pastel-colored houses stacked vertically on the side of a cliff would have made it all worth it.

There was later on or the next day, I consoled myself, as long as he didn’t suddenly decide to leave the city for some emergency.

Soon enough we arrived at the Marina di Praia, and it was only when the chauffeur looked at me through the mirror that I realized Lucas hadn’t been joking when he’d said he’d sailed there.

My brain had skipped processing the word as it was so foreign to my ears because who sailed anywhere?

I soon found out as I got out of the car and was led toward the waiting yacht.

It was massive, incomparably bigger than the others around it and the ones I had seen both in magazines and in real life. There were other smaller boats all around taking people on day tours around the cities on the Amalfi coast but this one stood out. It was a sight to behold itself as people took pictures of it. I would have taken a picture myself, but I still was too disoriented by all that was happening.

I was welcomed aboard by one of his stewards and he gestured for me to go around the boat. I assumed he was leading me to Lucas, so I took the instructions wondering why he didn’t just come with me and then I saw Lucas leaning against the railing and looking out at the sea.