Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Nina
Luca feeds me the next morning. Bite by bite of the breakfast his housekeeper made. Fortunately, the housekeeper, Mary, isn’t in the kitchen when Luca decides to feed me. I don’t think I could live it down.
“I can do this myself,” I grumble as he cuts another piece of the omelet and holds it towards my mouth.
“Nina.”
I sigh and try to hold back my eye roll but it’s impossible.
Luca smirks, like he finds it amusing that I am the way I am, but he keeps the piece of omelet held towards my mouth.
I open my lips and let him place it on my tongue.
His eyes flick down to my lips and my breath hitches.
We kissed on our wedding day but it was a small peck.
What would it be like to have Luca truly kiss me?
Before I can wonder, the doorbell rings.
Luca frowns. “It’s our honeymoon. Who’s showing up here?”
I follow him to the front door. When he opens it, I’m not surprised to find Susanna there. She barges inside without Luca inviting her in.
“What are you doing here?” I ask.
“I wanted to see where my sister now lives.” She makes a big show of looking around. “Nice place. Of course it would be nice. You’re stealing everything from me, aren’t you?”
“We didn’t invite you over,” Luca comments.
Susanna flashes him with her megawatt smile but it has no effect on him. I’m amazed. Most people are always in awe of Susanna because of her beauty and her outgoing personality.
“I know you didn’t. But I have the right to see my sister. You can’t keep her from me.”
“I thought you wanted nothing to do with me,” I say, crossing my arms. “You made that perfectly clear when you ripped my wedding dress.”
“It’s all in the past. I wanted to spend time with you today.”
“We were just having breakfast,” Luca says.
“Great. I’ll join you.” She marches forward into the house like she owns the place.
Luca and I share a look. His look tells me I need to deal with my sister but I never know how.
We all settle into the kitchen.
“Omelets, yuck.” Susanna shudders. “I hate eggs.”
“You don’t have to eat them,” I mutter. “No one asked you to come over here.”
She ignores my comment and sits down anyway. After a moment, Luca resumes cutting up my omelet and holds it out for me to take a bite. I hesitate. Are we really doing this in front of my sister? But Luca is insistent on making me listen to him.
So, I open my mouth and let him feed me another bite.
Susanna watches us with a frown as Luca continues to feed me. Then she laughs. It’s a cruel, sharp laugh. “What is the meaning of this? You’re seriously feeding her? What the hell? Are you a baby, Nina?”
Susanna’s sharp tongue sends a rage over me. “I am not a baby. Why are you being so rude? Seriously, get out.”
She settles back in her seat, crossing her arms. “I don’t have to do anything you tell me to.”
“This is my house now,” I continue. “You have to listen to me.” I can feel Luca’s eyes on me but he doesn’t interfere. He wants to see if I’m strong enough to stand up to my sister.
“I don’t have to do anything,” she scoffs. “Your husband is feeding you like you’re a baby. It’s weird.”
“Just go.”
“No.”
“Susanna.”
“No.”
I turn to Luca, feeling utterly helpless.
Luca sighs and gives me a look of disappointment that hits me right in the core. But why should I care what he thinks? We’ve only been married for a day. I don’t have to listen to him.
Feeling even more angry, I turn back to Susanna before Luca can speak and say to her, “Go. Or I’ll make you go.”
She stares back with a haughty expression. “You couldn’t even if you tried. You’ve never been strong enough to stand up to me.”
“Go.”
She leans forward until her face is close to mine. “No.”
The utter disrespect she is showing towards me makes my anger roar to new heights and I can’t stop myself from doing what I do next.
I slap Susanna across the face.
The room goes silent until Susanna screeches and stands up. “You just slapped me!”
“I told you to get out.”
With a huff, she finally storms out of the kitchen. I remain behind as Luca walks her out of the house. When he comes back, I’m expecting to see him happy. I got rid of my sister. I stood up to her.
But instead, he looks upset… with me.
“You slapped her,” he states.
“I stood up to her. It’s what you wanted me to do.”
“Not like that. I don’t want you acting like your sister. If I had wanted her, I would have married her. But I chose you. You disappointed me this morning, Nina. Don’t stoop to her level.”
“But she wasn’t going away. I got her to go away.”
“Not like that. I want a wife who is poised and strong. Not one who acts like an immature little girl and slapping someone is immature.”
I stand up so fast, my chair falls to the ground. I don’t bother picking it back up. “You’ve killed people. You told me that yourself. You don’t get the right to judge me on this.”
“I’ve killed people for my job. Because it was necessary. Not because I enjoyed it.”
“And you think I enjoyed slapping my sister?”
“I think your sister is good at getting under your skin. When I have killed, it was professional. No emotion. But for you, your emotion is simmering and waiting to bubble over. I don’t want that in a wife.
You’re going to learn, Nina, how to conduct yourself.
And I know the exact way to help you with that. Bend over the table.”
It takes me a moment to realize what he’s saying. “Why would I do that?”
“Because I’m going to spank you for being insubordinate. You need to learn how to conduct yourself and slapping your sister is not the way.”
“But spanking me is?” I ask as my heart rate spikes.
“It’s to teach you a lesson. I’m in control. I’m not going to spank you out of anger. But I want a wife I can be proud of and today, you showed me that I can’t be proud of you. So bend over the table.”
I cross my arms, trying to act defiant but I’m truly terrified. “And if I don’t?”
“Then I’ll spank you anyway. But at least this way, you’ll have some control over the situation.”
“Why are you doing this to me?”
He sighs and gently grabs my chin. “Because I see potential in you, Nina. I know you have the power to be the best wife any man could want. But you have to learn to let go. You have to stop acting like your sister. And you need to learn to be better. This will help get you there. Aren’t you tired of being angry like your sister is? ”
The moment he asks me that, I know he’s right. I’ve always hated being like Susanna. Always hated how she could get under my skin and make me act like her. But I could never seem to let her go. Never seem to let my anger go.
But Luca wants to help me. And he is my husband now, which means I have to make the most out of this. Susanna would claw and fight her way out but for me? I should try a different approach. Maybe I need to just give in to fight my way out.
With a shaky inhale, I nod and Luca lets me go so I can bend over the table. It’s cold and hard against my stomach. Nothing comfortable about this.
Luca grabs the end of my nightgown and shoves it up over my waist and before I can object, he rips my underwear down. I gasp from the coolness in the air.
That and the fact that my bare backside is on full display for Luca to see.
“Please,” I whisper, squeezing my eyes shut, though what I am begging for, I’m not sure.
And then without a word, Luca brings his hand down onto my backside. Hard. A loud scream rips its way right through me but that doesn’t get Luca to stop. In fact, it seems to spur him on more. He spanks me over and over and over again, not stopping once to let me breathe. To let me think.
It’s hard and painful and stings and I can’t stop kicking and flailing around. Until Luca presses his other hand on my low back, keeping me in place. I’m not going anywhere.
Soon, I find myself sinking against the table, all my energy leaving my body as Luca continues to spank me. I have to give in to get out of this. It’s the only way.
If I want to be happy in life, I have to learn to change.
So, I relax against the table and let Luca have his way with me. He spanks me harder and harder until it’s unbearable. I can’t hold back my screams.
That’s when Luca finally stops.
His heavy breaths are loud in my ears. This was hard work for him too.
Without a word, he slips my underwear back into place and pushes my nightgown back around my lower body. He helps me stand up and grabs my chin again.
“How do you feel?” he asks.
Like I hate my husband. And yet… I also feel like I’ve been forgiven for how I used to act with Susanna. How mean we treated Katya when we first met her. How bratty I could be.
I feel like it’s been lifted off my shoulders. Luca is absolving me of all my sins.
So, I answer the only way I can. “I feel good.”
A slow smile crosses his face. “I knew you would. I didn’t spank you to hurt you.
I spanked you to teach you a lesson. Don’t let your sister get under your skin like she did today.
Be the wife I can be proud of. In fact, I’ll be having a few guests over in a couple of days.
Alek is one of them. I’m sure he wants to check in and make sure I’m not hurting you.
My guess is, Susanna will want to join the party.
You can prove yourself then when you see her again.
Show me that I made the right choice in choosing you. ”
“I never asked you to choose me.”
He drops his hand from my chin and I can feel an instant coldness between us, which is in stark contrast to the heat from his hand on my backside.
“I know. But I chose you anyway. And you chose me when you said ‘I do’ at our wedding. You are my wife now, Nina. I expect things from you and I truly believe for your own benefit that you’ll feel better about all of this. In time.”
“How long will that take?”
“As long as it takes.”
I shiver. Luca is in complete control of me and I feel like I’m losing any agency I might have had in life. And yet, at the same time, I also feel more relaxed than ever before. He took away some of the pain I have when he spanked me. The emotional pain of my sister.
Now, I just have to find a way to make my husband proud because for some reason, I want to make him proud.