Chapter 9
Rory
“Time to wake up , tigrotta . We’re home.”
I woke with a sharp gasp, my palm pressed over my racing heart.
I couldn’t remember anything about the dream I must’ve been having, but it couldn’t have been anything good.
Not if it involved the pet name Gio used to taunt me with, calling me his little tigress.
He especially loved bringing it out in the midst of the passion-filled hate sex we used to have.
An involuntary shudder rolled through me as memories of those moments flashed before my eyes.
It was just a nightmare. Shake it off.
I blinked the sleep out of my eyes, my gaze landing on John. But at first glance, he seemed . . . different. I couldn’t quite put my finger on why.
Then it hit me.
“Where are your glasses?”
A smile curved on his lips. “Don’t need them.”
“What?” That didn’t make any sense. His vision was so impaired that most mornings, he struggled to find the eyewear on the nightstand.
“That’s the least of your concerns, Rory.”
My blood ran cold. No one had called me that in years.
But it was when I peeked out the window and saw we were parked in front of the Bellini Estate that I stopped breathing.
Oh my God.
This whole fucking thing had been a trap!
Trembling from head to toe as terror set in that I was about to come face-to-face with Gio, I turned to John, my voice breaking as I asked, “What have you done?”
His dark laughter filled the cabin of what I was coming to realize was a Bellini vehicle, with guards seated up front. When he dropped his palm to my belly, I jerked away, but he used his free hand to grab a fistful of my hair, the tight hold keeping me in place.
“He’s going to kill you,” I seethed, anger at his deception flooding my veins.
John moved closer so that we were nose to nose. “Did you really think you could run forever? Debts must always be paid, and you owe me an heir. It’s time to collect, sweetheart.”
His fingers flexed over where the baby grew inside me, and I sucked in a sharp breath as it finally sank in.
“Gio?” The name was barely a whisper rolling off my tongue.
He released me, withdrawing enough for me to get a good look at him. There was no recognizable trace of the man I’d married.
With a smug smirk, he touched his face. “It’s remarkable what’s possible when you can afford the world’s top plastic surgeons.”
Even with his admission and the evidence mounting, my brain struggled to process that John—the man I’d fallen in love with, whose baby I was currently carrying—had been Gio this whole time.
“No.” I shook my head. “No, this can’t be happening.”
The door opened behind me, and I swung my head around to find my brother-in-law, Matteo, his eyes darting between John and me. Or was it Gio? Fuck, how was I supposed to tell?
Appealing to the kinder, more logical one of siblings, I begged, “Matteo, please. Tell me it’s not true.”
His gaze dipped to my belly, and he grimaced slightly, giving away how he felt about the unhinged methods his brother had used to secure his heir. “I hear congratulations are in order.”
“Fuck this.” I shoved Matteo aside and climbed down from the SUV. With a shaking finger, I pointed to the men gathered nearby. “Fuck all of you!” Then I turned to glare at my husband. “Bet you think you’re real clever, don’t you?”
The wicked gleam lighting up his eyes—that were now the same chocolate brown they’d always been, instead of the green of John’s; fuck, had he been wearing color correcting contacts too?—confirmed that he was beyond proud of himself for duping me.
My chest heaved as I huffed, “You may have won this round, but don’t for one minute think that I won’t be researching how to get my hands on magnets strong enough to rip every single piercing out of your dick.”
Spinning on my heels, I stomped toward the front door.
It might appear as though I was accepting my fate as Gio’s prisoner once more, but the truth was that escape was damn near impossible with a dozen armed guards watching on.
I needed a minute to think about my next move.
I was smart; I would figure something out.
I had to, because no way in hell was I handing over my baby to a monster.
Behind me, I heard Matteo ask, “Did you actually let someone shove a needle through your dick?”
Gio’s footsteps indicated he was following me inside. “Several times, actually.”
“Fuck,” his brother hissed.
A cavernous entryway stretched before me.
The Bellinis might call this building home, but it could just as easily have passed for a family history museum.
The walls were covered with oil paintings of the patriarchs of the past: olive-skinned Italian men with dark hair and dead eyes, who wielded fear to control those under their command.
Gio’s portrait would someday join their ranks, but he would have to find someone else to inherit his fucked-up kingdom. I refused to let my son fill that role.
Rushing up the curved staircase in the foyer, I could feel Gio hot on my heels.
When I turned left toward the guest wing, his fingers locked around my wrist, tugging me in the other direction. “Our bedroom is this way.”
I dug my heels in, but it was useless in halting our progress. Gio was simply too strong for me to overpower.
“Are you out of your fucking mind?” Maniacal laughter burst from my chest. “You know what? Don’t bother answering that.
This whole face swap thing you bought into proves that you lost the plot a long time ago, so I’ll spell it out for you: there’s no way in hell I am sleeping in the same bed as you. ”
Tossing me a bored look over his shoulder, Gio replied, “You act as if you have a choice.”
We came to a stop before the double doors outside of the owner’s suite, and I scoffed. “What’s your plan, then? Lock me inside until I give birth?”
He turned the handle. “That won’t be necessary.”
“You sure about that? Because I can guarantee I won’t stay willingly.”
Lightning-quick, he moved, pinning me to the wall.
With a hand collaring my throat, he got right up in my face, nostrils flaring.
“You wanna play games? Fine. If you so much as attempt to sleep anywhere but inside this suite, I will have every piece of horizontal furniture in this house removed. I can only imagine how comfortable the hardwood floors will be for someone in your condition.”
Almost as if on cue, the baby gave a little flip. Automatically, my hands covered my stomach, trying to protect the innocent life growing within.
Gio might think he could use our son as a tool to manipulate me, a way to force me to do whatever he wanted. But the truth was that my baby boy fueled the fire within me. For him, I would never stop fighting to break free.
Shoving at my husband’s chest was enough to get him to release his hold and step back, giving me the space to maneuver around him and into the bedroom.
When he spoke from behind me, smugness leaked into his tone. “Putting your pride aside for the sake of the baby. You might just make a half-decent mother yet.”
I spun on him, my rage barely contained. “You’d better sleep with one eye open because I will do whatever it takes to keep my son safe. Even if that means putting a bullet between your eyes.”
A normal person might have been shocked by my death threat, but Gio, being the psychopath that he was, gave off the impression of being amused, a corner of his lips twitching.
“It only took half an hour back in your natural habitat for those claws to come back out, tigrotta.” My jaw clenched at that nickname. “I’ll admit I missed this side of you when you were practically flooding the apartment in Colorado with your endless weeping.”
“That’s funny, because I didn’t miss a damn thing about you. John was everything you’re not.”
He barked out a laugh. “John was a pussy.”
Shaking my head, I huffed, “I’ll take that pussy any day over a man who’s likely to pass on one of the STIs he catches from the whores he sleeps with on the side.”
Something dark and dangerous flashed in Gio’s eyes as I hurled that insult.
When he took a menacing step closer, my resulting cower was pure instinct.
The man I married was capable of unspeakable violence, and in the back of my mind, I knew there was only so far I could push him before he aimed the full force of that brutality on me.
Would today be the day that my husband hit me for the first time, pregnancy be damned?
Through gritted teeth, Gio’s voice came out low and lethal. “Let’s get one thing straight here, Rory. I’ve upheld my vow to remain faithful.” After a pause, he added, “Unlike you.”
My jaw dropped. “Oh, that’s rich. The only man I’ve slept with besides you just so happened to be you in disguise!”
He let out an unimpressed humph. “Don’t think you get off on a technicality. You were ready and willing to fuck me when you thought I was someone else. It doesn’t matter that by default, you didn’t actually cheat.”
I flashed him the mother of all eye rolls. “Sure, let’s just pretend I had any choice in participating in your little game of entrapment. We both know you always get what you want.”
Gio’s lips twisted into an evil grin. “That’s right, I do.
While it might’ve taken me longer than I would have liked, we were always going to end up right here.
With you back under this roof, pregnant with my heir.
” He moved toward the ensuite, stripping along the way.
“And just in case you get it into your head about trying to run again, there is a guard posted below the balcony and another outside the suite. The one inside will be your shadow, following you anywhere you wish to go within the mansion.” The shower came to life, and he stepped inside, hot water pouring over his head and sluicing down his muscles.
“There will be no escaping this time. It’s better for everyone involved if you accept the finality of your place by my side sooner rather than later.
I’d hate to separate you from that baby you’ve grown so fond of, but if you won’t come to heel, then I might not have much of a choice. ”
Those words were a sucker punch to the gut, and fear like I’d never known slithered down my spine.
There was a precedent within the Bellini family for the threat he issued. Wives were cast aside by their powerful husbands, mothers ripped from their children once they produced an heir. The luckier ones—and I used that term loosely—were kept around until they also provided a spare.
It was one of the millions of reasons I’d worked so hard to keep from getting pregnant.
So weakly that I wasn’t sure he would be able to hear it over the rush of water echoing against the tiles, I asked, “What happened to the promise you made me that we were in this together? That we’re a family?
” Even though it had been his alter ego, John, who’d said those words, I held Gio accountable.
He turned to face me as he washed his body.
“The same thing that happened to your promise of ‘until death do us part.’ You don’t get to run, casting aside the vows you made before God, and then expect me to remain true to my word.
Grow the fuck up, Rory. You made this bed, now you have to lie in it. ”
My heart raced so fast that I feared I might pass out, and I gripped the doorframe to remain upright.
The shower turned off, and Gio stepped past me and into his walk-in closet. When he emerged fully dressed, I peeked down at my own clothing, which was rumpled and covered in dog hair, causing me to blurt, “Where’s Cosmo?”
I might be able to survive this living hell if I had my furry companion to keep me company.
Gio lifted a shoulder. “I would imagine he’ll end up back on the streets once the landlord retakes possession of our abandoned unit.”
Imagining my sweet boy cold, alone, and scared was too much to bear, and a sob bubbled up from my chest. “I hate you.”
My husband was completely unbothered by my show of emotion. “You think I care? Our match was never meant to be about love.”
With that, he slipped out of the suite, but not before making sure I saw the guard stationed outside, whose sole job was to keep me prisoner.
It might not have been an ideal situation before I left, but it was a hell of a lot better than the conditions upon my return.
At the time, running felt like the only option. Now I realized it was the worst mistake I ever made.
The game had been rigged from the start.
Gio was always going to win.