Free Saving Simona (Alone In The World Trilogy) by Rebekah Blackmore

Fletcher. You may be better, but you still don’t want to tire yourself out. I’ll return later with some supper for you.”
    Gia smiled at the light haired man as he turned and left the room before she began to drift back off to sleep.
     
    ***
     
    When Gia came to a few hours later, it was to voices in the next room of the house, in what Gia assumed was the parlour.  A man’s voice, deeper and much more gravelly than Solomon’s, spoke softly. Gia had to strain to hear what was being said. “...getting desperate. You know that this is what I have to do,” the man was saying. “It’s been three months, and she still has not been found. My youngest angel is lost somewhere in the world without her father to turn to.” He sniffed loudly. “How ever will she make it?”
    “Simon, there’s nothing that we can do other than wait for the search parties to come back and tell us if they have any news on Simona’s whereabouts. They should be back within the day,” Solomon was assuring the man. Gia couldn’t be certain, but based off the mentioning of Simona’s name, Gia assumed that this man must be the head of the Dickens family. “Let us go upstairs to the drawing room and talk about this more. My patient is sleeping, but there is no way to tell that she will continue to rest through this conversation. I do not wish to wake her.”
    Footsteps drew near to Gia’s door before the floor boards creaked and the sounds of steps echoed from an increasing height. I must be near the stairwell, Gia realized, slowly sitting up in the bed. She thought back to all the times that she had sneaked around houses, trying her best not to be heard or seen by wives as she left their husbands’ bed chambers late at night. I have to know what they are talking about. If it is about Simona, I could help.
    Gia pushed herself off the mattress and onto the ground as she heard a door near the top of the staircase fall shut. She quickly tiptoed out of her room, glancing out to make sure that no one was around before she scurried up the steps and pressed herself against a wall next to the door at the top. She leaned her torso over so that her ear was close to the crack, quieting her breathing so it was barely audible even to herself. After a moment, Solomon spoke. “How much are you considering paying for Simona to be returned to you?”
    There was silence before the other man, Simon, said softly, “£100,000.”
    Gia’s eyes widened as she heard the number. That was more than a hundred times what she had earned for Leander in all of his six years of owning her! There was so much that Gia could go with money like that…she would finally be able to leave the country and go wherever she pleased. She could truly be free of her past, could start anew somewhere she had never been before. She needed that reward money. Besides, she knew much better than any of these search parties or family members exactly where it was that Simona was located. 
    Gia heard the sound of something hitting the floor. Most likely Solomon had dropped something during his shock at the amount. “Simon, are you really in the position to pay that much money?”
    The answer came back quickly. “Money is never an issue when it comes to my little girl’s safety. I will pay all the money in the world for her to be brought back to me.”
    “You do no t have that type of money to throw away any longer, Simon, not since Alessandra passed and you quitted working as often to devote more time to your daughters. You are keeping your land and your help because of Alessandra’s father’s adoration of your family, but where will £100,000 be found?” 
    Gia could hear the sound of Simon crying, the room filled with wet sniffs and heavy breathing. “Solomon, I could not bear it if I lost the one who looks so much like my beloved! She’s my youngest and the only one I have left. Rosamond is expecting her first babe, Winifred is getting married in ten days time, and Luciana and