Point of no return

Chapter 8

Luca decided to take her down to the beach. It was not private, and you had to leave the estate to get to it, but he thought she might like it.

He took her downstairs and went to the dining room. When they got there, he took a left, out through the double doors leading into the kitchen. There at the end were another set of double doors leading out onto a private garden.

He wanted her to like this house, he wanted her to like where they were going to live. At one point they could get their own place move away from his father if she liked. But as things stood with their current situation business-wise, they needed the gates and the security. And they needed to stick together.

As they kept going outside, he could hear Elizabeth's small intake of breath. The house was positioned on a big cliff, where from the back of it, all you saw was miles and miles of ocean. The view of the sea was framed by trees lining the property line.

His mother would have liked it. It was the first thing he thought of when he and his father visited the plot of land ten years ago. And he hoped Elizabeth would feel the same.

'How's your foot?'

She looked at him and said.

'It's a lot better.'

'I thought maybe you would like to go down to the beach?'

It was the first smile he'd seen her give him. It was small, and you had to really pay attention to her face to have been able to catch it, but he did.

Yet all she said was.

'Ok.'

'We are going to have to walk down that path over there, and leave the estate to get to it.'

She looked to where he was pointing and just nodded. So he started moving. As they walked a little further down the hill, it got a bit steep.

'Take my hand.'

'I don't need to, I'm ok.'

'Just take my hand Elizabeth, its steep here and your foot is still recovering.'

'Luca, I said I'm fine. Just lead the way, and I will follow you.'

He wished that was true. But he decided to just let her have her way. He didn't take her out of the house to start an argument five minutes in where he would be accused of yet again not letting her have any free will.

About thirty seconds after that, he heard her let out a small yelp, and when he looked back over his shoulder, Elizabeth was tumbling towards him. He managed to get both his arms out so he could catch her and even though it was a close call he caught her. She hit into him like a sack of potatoes.

They ended up at an angel, and he was holding her tightly, but the grip turned even tighter when he out of the corner of his eyes looked at the path where she would have fallen down if he wasn't with her. She could seriously have hurt herself. He'd never paid any real attention before walking down this path, but it was actually hazardous if you didn't know what you were doing and where to put your feet.

What the fuck had he been thinking?

'We're going back.'

It was instinctively the first thing that came to his mind. He wouldn't have her in any danger at all.

He heard Elizabeth cry out.

'No.'

'Elizabeth it's dangerous. You're not stable enough on your foot, and you don't know where to go.'