The Obsession and the Fury by Nancy Barone Wythe Read Free Book Online Page A

taking pictures for his travel novel. It was almost ready and he was proud. This was his best ever. And it was because of Rea. She had shown him the real Sicily, and unveiled to him the mysteries of her people. He was at peace here, and he knew he didn’t want to leave. Not without Rea anyway.
    He chuckled to himself at the thought of Rea’s superstitions. It would take time to show her the absurdity of her fears. But he was going to help her get over them. He hated the thought of her being trapped by something so unreal.
    As he climbed down just before noon, he was seized by a strange feeling. The streets were quiet, the shutters closed, and no one was in sight. Where had the children playing in the streets gone? Where was the laundry that normally cluttered the tiny streets?
    Only a few stragglers remained, eying him piously, and then his heart leapt into his mouth as his legs began to quicken their pace, his breath short as if he had run miles and miles.
    Rea!
    He reached the piazza in one breath, but it seemed to take him forever to cross the wide expanse of burning white stone. He came to a skid against the shutters of the shop that were closed, though the door was ajar. Alex held his breath, and stepped inside, his heart beating erratically.
    It was total chaos. There was not one item in its place and several stalls had been turned over, jars and fruit splattered onto the floor. Rea had laid a selection of pretty ceramic baubles on a table in the corner that afternoon. They were smashed to pieces.
    “Rea!” he called as he dashed up the stairs to find Margherita in tears.
    “Oh, Signor Ford!”
    Alex grabbed the young girl and shook her! “Where is she?”
    “He came! He pulled her down the stairs by her hair! She was kicking and screaming!”
    “Who?”
    “Calogero the Girgentian bandit!”
    Her previous man! Alex paled. “Where did he take her?”
    The girl shook her head helplessly. “I don’t know!”
    A hand on his shoulder made Alex whirl in fury. He almost knocked Don Raffaele over.
    “Where is she?” he demanded.
    “What does it matter? You should have never gotten embroiled with a woman of her ilk. You are a war hero.”
    “Father, what are you talking about? He’s dragged her out of the palazzo! I have to find them!”
    “They must have gone to the house on the hill. Or maybe he took her back to Girgenti.”
    “ We have to stop them! Call the Girgenti Carabinieri!”
    “The Carabinieri? They can’t stop him from taking her. He’s her husband.”
    Alex staggered back, stunned. Rea, married ?
    “ Not in church, no, God forbid,” the priest said haughtily, “but he claimed her before all of us here, which is just as well because no one will have her. She should be thankful he still wants her. Where are you going? He’ll shoot you down! Mr. Ford! He has a lupara ! ”

CHAPTER NINE

    Alex tore up the hill to Rea’s home, his heart ready to explode. He pounded on her door, ready to take the bastard down.
    “Rea! Open up! It’s Alex!”
    The silence seemed to last forever and he pressed his ear against the door when he heard her feeble voice cry, “Go away, Alex.”
    “Rea let me in!”
    “No…”
    “Sweetheart, please!”
    “I can’t, I’m locked inside.”
    Alex grabbed the door and shook it fiercely. “Stand back! I’m going to kick it down!”
    “No, Alex, please! He’ll kill you!”
    Not if he didn’t kill him first! He whirled around and spotted the pile of logs Rea used for her fires. He grabbed one and rammed it like a cannon against the iron bolt again and again. It didn’t budge. From inside he could hear whimpering.
    “He’ll be back soon!”
    Alex shouldered the door several times without success, then pounded the hinges until the wood split and the door moved.
    Sweat trickling down his face, he kicked the door open and it landed flat on the floor in a cloud of dust, momentarily blinding him.
    The shack was dark but her pale figure glowed on the cot and he