Chapter Four
Aria tried not to panic as she woke up and found her husband fast asleep in the chair in the corner of her bedroom.
Glancing around the room, she didn’t know what she expected to find. Guards, soldiers, all expecting to kill her. She’d not done anything wrong, but that didn’t mean lies couldn’t be planted on her.
There was no one else in the room with her and Dante.
She still held onto the bed sheet for dear life, hoping against hope this wasn’t the calm before the storm.
If Dante wanted to have her killed, he could have already organized it by now. Once she realized that sad truth, she still didn’t let up on the sheet. Why was Dante in her room?
She tried to ignore the man opposite her and focus on how she was going to get out of her room. He was near the door to her en suite bathroom. Even her closet was behind him as well. She would have no choice but to sneak past him, and use another bathroom in another room. Some of her clothes might still be in the laundry room.
Dante’s asleep.
Aria didn’t know why that mattered to her. It hadn’t concerned her before. Every time he stayed home, he’d go to his own bedroom where he was probably sleeping. This time, he was asleep in her room and she couldn’t help but glance over at him. His eyes were still closed and without anyone to bear witness, she couldn’t help but take this opportunity to look at her husband.
Dante looked so … sexy.
He wore a pair of pajama bottoms, no shirt, showcasing his fully inked upper body. She hadn’t looked at him for any length of time. She often tried to avoid anything that would bring them too close. He was muscular. The ink couldn’t hide that, but she could imagine he didn’t have much of a choice. He would have to be strong to gain the reputation he’d gotten over the years.
He was a handsome man. She knew there were a lot of women who would be very happy to share his name. Who would love to be close to him. Even if it was for one day a month.
“You’re awake,” Dante said.
She gasped.
She’d been so distracted by his chest, leading down toward his pelvis, that she’d failed to see him wake up.
“You’re in my room,” she said, wanting to distract him from the fact she might have been caught ogling him.
He didn’t move.
His gaze was on hers and where she would normally try to avoid looking at him, she felt in a trance, unable to look away.
“What happened?” Aria asked.
She needed to talk.
“I heard,” Dante said.
“Heard what?” Had there been an attack? A threat of an attack?
“Your conversation with your sister.”
“Oh,” Aria said. She tried to think of what she talked to Isabella about, and then it all came flooding back.
Was he talking about the sex? She felt her cheeks start to heat. She hadn’t exactly been complimentary, far from it.
“I, ugh, I…” She didn’t have a clue what to say. Was it wrong to tell the truth? “It’s like that for a lot of women,” she said.
“I know,” Dante said.
She licked her dry lips. This was not a conversation she ever intended to have with her husband. She didn’t like sex. She didn’t get the hype and what drove people crazy about it.
“Can I use the bathroom?” she asked.
“Yes.”
She was a little taken aback that her request was granted, but she pushed her blankets off and tried to make her escape quickly while walking at a normal pace. Her heart raced as she entered the bathroom. She pushed the door closed and went to the toilet. Once she was finished, she washed her hands, and then couldn’t help but glance at her reflection.
Her face was red. She couldn’t help but wonder if her lips were a little swollen from the kisses she and Dante had shared last night.
Kisses.
She had completely forgotten about that first true kiss. There was no way the kiss on her wedding day could even compare. This had been a real kis s— hot, sexy, and one she couldn’t deny felt amazing. Yet, it had been a kiss.
She brushed her teeth, then took care of her hair. She splashed cold water on her face to gain control of herself.
Dante was in her bedroom. Maybe this was all a silly dream she was going to wake up from. She pinched herself, expecting to wake up.
Only, she still stood in her bathroom, holding a towel, with her fingers tight around her flesh. This wasn’t a dream.
Dante was in her bedroom.
This wasn’t good.
She couldn’t linger in the bathroom for too long. Squaring her shoulders, trying to feel a confidence she truly didn’t feel, she stepped back into her room, and Dante had moved. He was no longer sitting on the chair, but opening her drawers.
When she left her family home and moved in with Dante, she hadn’t taken anything with her. Her parents had been clea r— she didn’t own anything from her childhood. They purchased everything, and other than the wedding dress, she didn’t have any of her clothes. According to her brother, her parents had tossed her stuff out. She didn’t even have a bedroom to go back to.
Not that she was surprised. Even if they did live in a house that didn’t need all the rooms. Her room had been removed. Isabella’s hadn’t. Her sister always had the choice to go back home, sleep in her old bed. That invitation had never been extended to her.
The moment she was married, they had stopped taking responsibility for her. She now became Dante’s problem.
“You don’t have a lot,” Dante said.
She had a small amount of savings, or at least she did, until her parents took that back as well. She was only able to afford a few items of clothing, which she rotated and kept in pristine condition. When Dante needed her presence for a party, he always supplied her a dress, which meant she never needed to worry about shopping.
Asking for things didn’t seem right to her.
He had a library and a movie theater in his home as well as a pool. There was nothing for her to want.
“I’m sorry you had to listen to that conversation.” She grasped her hands together, hoping they would stop shaking, but that didn’t seem to be working.
“You don’t have to apologize. I could have stopped if I wanted to.”
“Why were you listening?” Aria asked.
“I wanted to. I’ve not been made aware of you having phone calls.” Dante turned toward her.
“I don’t. Isabella and I rarely talk. I mean, last night was the first time we had even thought about calling each other. We usually see each other at parties or social events.” Now she was waffling.
“You know it doesn’t have to be that way,” Dante said.
“Calling my sister?”
“Sex. It’s not horrible.”
Aria pressed her lips together and glanced down at the floor. She had no idea what to say. She didn’t want to run the risk of insulting him, which she felt like she’d already done.
Dante hadn’t hurt her, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t.
“I am sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to insult you.”
“I’m not insulted. That first night was always going to be shit for you. Virgins are necessary but as far as I’m concerned, overrated.”
She couldn’t help but flinch at the insult. It was fair, she said the sex was awful and overrated.
He took a step toward her, then another.
She saw his feet first.
“Look at me, Aria,” he said.
She wanted to tell him no, to grow that backbone she thought she had. Aria had no idea where it had gone.
Lifting her head, she looked up to see Dante, very close. The last time he’d been this close in front of her, it had been their wedding day, or last night.
She wasn’t used to him being within touching distance. Even when they had sex, they didn’t look at each other like this. They didn’t even speak to one another. Aria followed instructions, and Dante did his duty. The only sounds to be heard were often that of a few grunts, otherwise it was silent.
“I didn’t mean to upset you,” she said, feeling that fear begin to grow within her, threatening to take over and exploit her.
“You haven’t upset me, but it doesn’t have to be that way.”
Aria didn’t know what he was trying to say, or if he was intending to say anything at all. She watched him, waiting, feeling the nerves traveling up her spine.
“I can show you how good it can be between us. Sex doesn’t have to be a duty or punishment.”
She frowned. “You want to show me how good sex can be?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He chuckled. “We’re married, Aria, and unless you want me to keep taking you from behind for us to have a baby, we can try something new.”
“But, you want to divorce me.”
“Aria, that is not going to happen.”
“What happens if we find that evidence?”
“You’re not going to, Aria. I’m not even holding my breath for you to find it. Only your father knows where that is.”
Why was he saying this?
“Think about it,” Dante said.
And to her surprise, he took several steps back and left.
What had just happened?
****
Dante didn’t know what the fuck he’d done.
Propositioning his wife hadn’t been his plan.
From the moment he’d been forced to be engaged to her, he’d always intended to make her life miserable. He wanted her to hate being married to him, and he relished every second of it.
Only, he hadn’t enjoyed every day of making her miserable. Listening to Aria talk to her sister had struck a nerve within him. When she entered his office and asked him how to end their marriage, it was like she had awakened him. Aria wasn’t just some weak woman. There was something more about her, and he saw that now. She was following instructions from her father, but he had come to see there was a woman with her own thoughts and feelings as well.
There was more to Aria than he’d given her credit for.
Over the past eight months, he could have come home many times and spent time with her, but he had avoided it to make Aria miserable. He had no intention of making this marriage a success.
Making Aria miserable hadn’t achieved what he hoped.
Phillip Lewis was happy. He was thrilled to have the connection to the Gallo family. They had eaten right into the palm of his hand. He didn’t give a shit about his daughter’s life. All that talk of keeping the evidence as leverage to make sure Aria was okay, was his way of controlling them. Dante had a feeling he could have beaten Aria, and Phillip wouldn’t have cared.
Running a hand down his face, he glanced out into the garden, and paused as he caught sight of Aria. She was walking across the garden. She wore a red dress, one that grazed her calves. It wasn’t too hot today, and she’d wrapped herself up in a cardigan as well. Even from where he stood in his office, he saw she wasn’t wearing any shoes.
That morning, while she’d been in the bathroom, he explored her bedroom and found there was not a lot she owned. The clothes in her closet were sparse. Most of her drawers were empty.
There was nothing of any value around. There wasn’t even the odd photograph or token memento. She had nothing. After he left her, he went and sought out the soldier who accompanied her from her home to his.
Her parents wouldn’t allow her to take anything. She didn’t even have clothes.
Dante had gotten one of his men to do some digging. Aria’s bank accounts had also been withdrawn. She was only able to purchase a few items before the cash had been taken.
Phillip had taken everything back as if Aria wasn’t his own child. For a man who had worked hard to get her married to one of the most eligible men in the Pesci family, he appeared to have all but disowned her. At social gatherings, he’d noticed her family didn’t even approach her. It was like she meant nothing to them.
Leaving his office, he made his way outside, stepping into the garden and following the path she had taken. Dante knew he had more important things to be doing today than following Aria around. He could be back in the city, taking care of business for his father. Instead, he was home and following his wife.
The only task his father had given him was to get Aria pregnant. He didn’t want his son to remain a mockery of the Pesci family. He had a duty and Dante had never failed. The truth was, he hadn’t even tried to get Aria pregnant.
One fuck didn’t exactly account to trying. He knew the whole spiel about it only needing to be one time. One sperm, one egg, and the magic happens. So far, he and Aria hadn’t been lucky. For all he knew, when he left her, she went to the bathroom and washed him away. He wouldn’t blame her.
Aria was a contradiction of a weakling with a spine. It was strange.
“Am I doing something wrong?” Aria asked, stepping out of the shadow of a gazebo as he spun in a circle to find her.
He paid to have the gardens maintained, but he didn’t exactly pay close attention to the work being done.
“Why would you be doing something wrong?”
“You’re following me.”
“You’re in the gardens.”
“I like to walk in the gardens, quite often. It helps clear my head.”
“And is your head quite foggy right now?”
She smiled. “No, it’s not.”
“Then why do you need to walk?”
“It feels right,” Aria said.
He took a step toward her and watched as her hands clenched into fists. He had no intention of harming her.
“Have you thought about what I said?” he asked.
“I’ve tried not to.”
This surprised him. “Why?”
“I’m going to find that evidence, Dante. I … don’t know when, but I will and then you can have your freedom.”
“Until then, you and I have a duty.”
She laughed and her gaze looked off toward the right. “Duty?”
“Yes, you and I have a duty, and you can pretend all you want, but it’s not going to change the facts.”
She took a deep breath and he couldn’t help but notice her large tits pressing against the front of her dress. “What facts?”
“You and I are married. There is no way out of this, and you’re going to have my baby.”
“How romantic.”
This time, Dante couldn’t help but smile as her voice dripped sarcasm.
“Are you not curious?” he asked.
“About what?”
She looked genuinely confused. He reached out and he noticed the way she tensed up as he teased a curl behind her ear. He pushed some of her hair back, and then he tilted her head to look at him with a finger beneath her chin.
“How good it could be between us?” he asked.
He watched her throat as she swallowed.
“You hate me,” Aria said. “How can that be good for anyone?”
This time, he did smile. “Maybe, I thought I hated you.”
She did scoff, but he wasn’t about to be silenced. She could scoff all she wanted. He wasn’t done.
“You’ve heard what people say about you, about us , about this marriage.”
“What of it? They’ve been saying stuff about me for years. Being married to you hasn’t changed that.” She tilted her head to the side.
Dante stepped closer, using this to his advantage. With her distracted by his touch beneath her chin, with his other hand, he pressed it against her back, keeping her in place. She would have to fight him now to gain any distance between them.
“What if you and I could make them miserable?”
Aria’s eyebrows rose. “We make other people miserable? That is an interesting one. How exactly are we going to do that?”
He smiled. “Simple.” He leaned in close so his lips were against her ear. “We find our own happiness together. They won’t know what to do. We show a united front. After all, Aria, you are my wife. What better way to irritate them than to be happy?”
She pulled back. “I thought you’d suggest killing them. Torture. Isn’t that what you’re known for?”
“I have hurt my share of people. I’ve garnered information by being a cruel bastard, I’m not going to pretend otherwise.” There was no point. It was the truth. He was cruel and he knew what to do and how to make it hurt for every man and woman.
“Then a man who knows how to inflict suffering, why are you suggesting we act happy?”
“Because, it would be a turn for the books, wouldn’t it?” He hadn’t exactly thought this through. Following his wife had inspired this train of thought. Phillip and her family were happy in their gloating at parties when they saw how miserable he was. How Aria didn’t quite measure up. He’d played right into their hands. He could change all of that by making Aria the woman he wanted to be with. He saw it clearly now, even more so than ever before.
This is what he was going to do to change it.
“I don’t know.”
“Aria, you have a choice. Spend the rest of our married life being miserable, or take the chance with me and have some fun.”
“And what about our deal?” Aria asked. “What about … if we end up having children?”
Dante looked at her. She would never have their children. Aria would get her freedom, but any children they had would stay with him. There was also the chance she might not even get to see their children, but he wasn’t going to burst that reality. Not yet.
“We’d come to some arrangement,” Dante said.
He didn’t for a second believe she was going to find the evidence he needed. They were married, for better or for worse.
And he was going to make the most of it.