Chapter 19
Chapter
Nineteen
MATTEO
I don’t think I have ever met a woman that makes me want to punch a hole in the wall and fuck her at the same time. She’s so infuriating.
I’m tense as fuck as we drive back to my place, white-knuckling the steering wheel the whole way. Neither of us says a word. I don’t know what I even would say that wouldn’t end in me losing my shit, and I don’t want to be that way. Not with her.
“I think maybe it would be best if I stay at Delaney’s while all of this is going on,” Wren says from the passenger seat as I pull into my driveway, breaking the tense silence.
My grip on the steering wheel tightens even more, the leather squeaking slightly. I’m surprised I haven’t ripped the damn thing off. If she had just done what I told her to do in the first place, none of this would have happened. I can’t decide if I’m more pissed off about that or the fact that she left out a huge part of that night .
“What you’re going to do is get in my fucking house and stay in my fucking house,” I say as I cut the ignition. “The only bed you’ll be sleeping in tonight is mine.”
Wren’s eyes flair with defiance as she opens her mouth to what I’m assuming is to spout more bullshit, but I beat her to it.
“Get the fuck out of the car, Wren.”
For a second, I thought she was still going to say something, but her mouth closes as she turns to get out of the car.
“Good girl,” I say under my breath as I get out of the car. Hallelujah, she actually fucking listens. “What are you doing?”
“What does it look like? I’m getting my suitcase,” Wren responds without looking at me as she yanks her suitcase out of the trunk.
“Stop,” I command, harsher than I needed to. Wren’s head shoots up, meeting my gaze. Her hand lets go of the handle, the suitcase forgotten as it hits the concrete. “You never carry your own bags. I don’t care how big of an argument we are in, or if you never want to see my face again, you never carry them with me.”
Once again, she has nothing to say. Apparently, my little tesoro isn’t used to being waited on, but that’s going to change.
“Come on, let’s go inside. You and I need to have a conversation.”
“A conversation about what?” Wren tries to play it off like she doesn’t remember that she just dropped that fucking bomb on me twenty minutes ago as she follows me inside.
“Don’t play games with me right now, Wren. I’m not in the mood.”
“Where is everyone?” she asks as she looks around the empty house, making it feel even more obnoxiously larger than it already is .
“I don’t know. I’m assuming at their own places or whatever the fuck they do in their off time.” I can tell you’re stalling, tesoro . You should know better than that. “Are you hungry? You didn’t get a chance to eat when you got home.”
“I would have been able to if I didn’t have another stalker breaking into my place.” I think she thinks the glare she is shooting me looks terrifying, but all it makes me want to do is bend her over the back of the couch and fuck it right off of her face. “But no, I’m not hungry. Thank you for asking.”
“Let's get you settled then.” Grabbing her suitcase, I take it upstairs to my room.
“Why can’t I stay in a guest room?”
“There aren’t any available.”
“Are you fucking kidding me, Matteo? This place is massive. It’s the size of my whole entire apartment building!”
“You’ll be sleeping in my room.”
“Why?” Wren throws her hands up in the air.
“Because,” I reply, trying to keep the smirk that’s dying to take over my face at bay. It’s such a satisfying feeling to know she’s trapped.
“Fuck this. I don’t need to stay here and listen to you. I don’t know why you think you can come bursting into my life like this and control everything!” Wren shouts as she turns to leave the room.
“Stop,” I order, the satisfying feeling I felt moments before intensifying as she obeys. Such a good girl for listening. “You might have been able to leave under my men’s watch, and that will be dealt with accordingly. What you won’t do is leave under mine. Now, turn around and come sit down. We have some things to discuss.”
Wren spins around, her eyes full of fire, fists clenched at her sides as she stalks toward me. “Fine. If you want to talk, then let’s fucking talk. Let’s start with how you didn’t tell me from the very beginning that you’re the head of the Italian Mafia here!”
Fuck.
I wasn’t expecting that to be what she wanted to talk about.
I think a small part of me thought she might have already known, working for Cain and all. But now that I think about it, Cain didn’t let on that he knew her when I asked for her location. He must not have made the connection.
“Who told you?”
“Does it matter?” Wren waves her hands around as she starts pacing. “You should have told me! I had a right to know who I was getting involved with! God, I am such a fucking idiot. The signs were all there,” she rants. “What if someone who hates you tries to come after me?!”
“That won’t happen,” I grit out through clenched teeth. “You’re protected.”
“Yeah, I’ve been real protected so far.” Wren snorts.
And if that doesn’t feel like a kick to the gut. I’m not one to regret things in life. I fully believe everything you’ve done in life is what shapes who you are today. You learn from your mistakes, move on, and do better the next time.
But this?
Yeah, I fucking regret this. I will until the day I die. I’ll never get the image of how I found her sleeping in that filthy motel room alone out of my head.
“It won’t happen again,” I vow. “You’re going to have a man on you at all times when you go out from now on.”
“Have you lost your fucking mind?” Wren’s looking at me like I’m being the crazy one here. “I’m not staying here! I made a mistake even entertaining this for the night. I honestly don’t even know you, Matteo! Whatever this,” Wren points between her and I, “is—it’s over. We are parting ways.”
“No.” I let out a dead laugh. “We aren’t. You see, tesoro , this is just the beginning of you and me.”