“Ow, my head…”

I woke up with the worst headache I remember. How much did I drink last night…? I thought I had it under control. That last aperol must have been strong!

I opened my eyes, and rapidly forgot everything about the headache and the aperols.

I wasn’t at Giulianna’s house.

Where the hell was I? This was not my room, this definitively wasn’t my room! Did Luciano took advantage of me while I was drunk?

Calming myself was harder than ever. I needed to think, I needed to remember.

I was in an enormous bed, in what seemed like a hotel room. I was practically naked – only wearing my bra and panties -, and alone. Except from my headache, I seemed to be fine. There was a window to the right, and light was pouring from it. So it was already morning? Giulianna must be so worried!

To the left there was a door, surely a bathroom… and the light was on. So whoever it was who had me here, was close.

I needed something to defend myself. What could I find in the room? I saw a luggage in a corner, an in the pedestal table, two masks. I recognized the first one: the plague doctor’s mask of the asshole. So it was him who had taken advantage of me? The other one was a golden mask that seemed familiar. I had seen it last night, didn’t I? Yes, I had seen the asshole yesterday, wearing that mask… we had a fight… and then… what happened?

The door of the bathroom opened. I still didn’t have nothing to defend myself, and so the best I could came up with was covering myself with the blanket, which I knew was a very futile thing to do.

For the first time, I saw him without his mask. I recognized his broad shoulders, his short brown hair. It was damp, so he probably had been in the shower. And his face was as handsome as I had expected: a strong jaw, tan skin and olive deep eyes that were looking right into me. He seemed to be around his thirties, and now that he was wearing just a t-shirt, I could noticed he was actually quite muscular.

If I had to defend myself against him, I would lose fast.

“Good morning” he said guardedly.

“What am I doing here? What did you do to me?” I asked him with distrust.

He sighed.

“What do you remember about last night?” he said.

I appreciated that he didn’t move closer. I made an effort to remember.

“We were fighting.” I said. “Then… I think the alcohol affected me? Did you take me here because you were angry?” I said defensively.

He sighed exasperated.

“That’s not… do you remember you were in the bridge? That you weren’t feeling good?”

Now that he said it, I did. I was on the bridge, shouting to him, and then I was suddenly so dizzy… then I fell…

“I fell…” I said.

“You fell into the river.” He completed.

“What?! But… how?” I grabbed my head. I did remember water…

“Can I come closer? I… think you need a long explanation.” He said.

“Ok, but not too close.” I said, still defensively. I was still feeling very vulnerable without my clothes.

He came closer and sit on the edge of the bed, looking at my eyes and not my poorly covered body, for which I was grateful.

“Let me start from the beginning. I was at the same pub that you were…”

“Were you following me?” I interrupted him.

“Of course not! It was a coincidence. I actually…” he stopped talking and looked to the side. Oh, so he was avoiding me. “Let me finish my story. I was there, and saw a man putting what seemed like a drug into a glass of aperol. He wanted to take advantage of someone. So I followed him intended to stop that from happening. That’s why I threw the glass away from the hand of the miss who had it, that was you. But you had already drank from the glass, didn’t you?”

I remembered now. How he had confronted Luciano first, and how surprised he had seemed when he found out the girl was me. Then I remembered our fight, and how he had insisted that I should hear him. That I should take a seat.

“You saved me.” I said, astonished.

He nodded.

“I brought you here after you fell into the river. You were wet, so I took you clothes out. That is all what happened.”

I took a moment to let this all sink down. I had almost been raped, and I had almost drown, all in one night.

“I sent your clothes to the laundry, they should arrive soon.” He said. He doubted for a second. “Maybe you want to take a shower in the meantime? Venice’s rivers aren’t exactly known for their clean waters.”

I had noticed the same, the rivers didn’t seem to be very clean. And I had fallen there?

And he had jumped there to save me?! I had to thank him!

“Why did you not appear?” But somehow, the words that came out of my mouth were these.

He looked down.

“I don’t want to hurt you. It is dangerous to be with me” He said.

“You didn’t seemed worried about that before” I said crossing my arms.

“The situation changed.”

I looked into his eyes, and for a second, our eyes met. He was hiding something, I could see it in his eyes.

“You like me.” I stated.

“It is dangerous to be with me” he repeated. We both noticed that he didn’t denied it.

“Let me decide if I want to take the risk. When you didn’t appear, you hurt me too.”

He smiled sadly.

“Trust me, it could get so much worse.”

“Let me be the one to take the decisions.” I insisted.

“You should take that shower.” He answered vaguely, and stood up and went to his luggage. “I will leave you some clothes for you to dress up in the meantime, until your clothes are back from the laundry. And you should be hungry too, I will ask for some breakfast.”

He left some clothes in the bed, and was heading to the third door of the room – the exit, I assumed -, when I exclaimed:

“Wait!”

He looked at my curiously.

“Katherine.”

“I’m sorry?”

“My name is Katherine. Call me Kat.”

He doubted for a second.

“I guess you will find out sooner or later, even if I say nothing. I am Antonio. Nice to meet you, Kat.”