Chapter 24
TWENTY-FOUR
Lissia
My pulse pounded through my body, intensifying between my ears. The anger was so strong, I thought it might swallow me whole.
As I paced the villa, waiting for Marchello to return, I shoved down the bile that burned my insides.
Although Marchello was my protector, I was the only one who could save me from these demons that threatened to hold me under the waves of despair.
I stormed into the bathroom and slammed the door. Images of Diego’s face and the sound of his raspy, superior voice threatened to consume me until there was nothing left. Being told you were sold to a vicious man was nothing compared to actually seeing him, smirking and breathing in front of you.
I hope you’re happy looking up at me from hell, Daddy!
I turned on the faucet in the shower and then stripped. Catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror set me off even further. My mascara ran down my face, staining my cheeks black. Tears! Fuck no!
Violently rubbing at my skin only made the marks darker. My weakness disgusted me. How could I be so defeated from an encounter with such a sickening man?
Anger trembled through me. I hadn’t stopped shaking since I left Marchello in the lobby. Not even the humid Miami air had warmed me as Dom and the other guards brought me back here to wait for Marchello.
As soon as I realized who Diego was, all of my father’s transgressions hit me. He sold me to a stranger with no regard for what would have happened to me once I was in his possession.
Realistically, Marchello would never have let anything happen to me, but I couldn’t be rational right now. I needed to feel these raw, unhinged emotions. But I couldn’t stand looking at my pitiful reflection.
I saw the ghosts too—Diego’s smirk, my father’s cold eyes. They layered over my reflection, mocking me, daring me to fight back. I curled my hands into fists, shaking with the need to break something, anything, to silence the voices clawing at my sanity.
You are not weak. I picked up a glass from the counter and launched. The mirror shattered, and cracks appeared over the surface to distort my face, but I could still see the pain in my expression.
“I am not weak!” I ran my hand up my face and through my hair.. “Fuck!”
A loud pound on the bathroom door startled me.
“Lissia.” Dom knocked again. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” I gasped as I placed my hand on my mouth, trembling harder than before. “I’m fine. I’m taking a shower.”
Being a mafia wife didn’t allow me to have a violent freak-out. There were too many guards waiting to barge in and save me. At least Dom had the decency to knock before catching me naked.
I entered the shower and shrieked at the scalding water, but once under the powerful flow, my body adjusted. As the steam swirled around me, I relaxed and allowed the spray of the faucets to calm my broken soul.
I leaned against the damp tiles and slid down until I was seated on the wet floor. Pulling my legs into my chest, I closed my eyes and took a few exaggerated inhales and exhales. Mediation was never my thing. It still wasn’t.
After a few minutes, the steam filled the entire bathroom, and I lost myself in random thoughts—my childhood, going to that little cafe on campus, waiting in line to get those cookies for a man who looked at me with contempt.
Marchello never scared me. Not when he tossed me in his car or when he threw my phone in the river. I was too determined to believe that one day he would fall in love with me. I belonged to him the moment I gazed into his eyes. He was mine even when his heart hadn’t caught up with mine.
“Lissia.”
I peered up at Marchello. He entered the large walk-in shower stall, naked and breathtakingly mesmerizing.
“Hey.” I bit my thumbnail. “How’s it going?”
I had been so lost in thought that I hadn’t heard him come into the bathroom or even realize I was shivering.
“What are you doing on the floor?” He extended his hand. “Get under the hot water. Your lips are turning blue.”
He pulled me to a standing position and guided me under the stream of hot water. I glanced down at his swollen knuckles, but he didn’t appear to have any other indicators of what had happened when I left the lobby.
“You must be freezing.” He wrapped his muscular arms around me and held me close to his warm body. “Talk to me.” He looked down at me. And don’t tell me you’re fine.”
“Seeing him…” I shook my head. “It made everything real.”
“Diego?”
“He paid for me. My father…” I sighed. Marchello already knew this story, and I didn’t want to rehash it. “It makes my stomach sick.”
“You’re safe.” He pushed the hair from my eyes. “I’m sorry he approached you. That was my fault.”
“I really was trying to stay out of trouble.”
“I’ve come to expect that trouble just finds you.” He ran his hands down my arms. “Speaking of which, how did the mirror break?”
Heat burned my cheeks. “I got angry. Sorry.”
“Don’t be.” He held me by my upper arms. “Did it help?”
“A little.” I sighed. “Can you tell Lorenzo we’ll pay for it?”
“Don’t worry about it.” He kissed my forehead. “I’ve broken a lot of shit in my time. Lorenzo probably has too. He’ll understand.”
“What happened with Diego?” I raised his hand and brushed his knuckles along my mouth. “You hit him.”
“Just once.”
“It must have been a pretty hard hit to bruise you like this.”
“I’m going to handle it, but it’s more complicated than I anticipated.”
“Isn’t everything?”
“Seems that way.” He trailed his lips along mine. “Let’s make things less complicated.”
“I still have my period.”
“I already told you I’m not afraid of blood.”
“You might be afraid of my mood.”
“Baby.” He twisted my wet hair in his hand. “Your mood can’t be any worse than some of mine, and you’re never afraid of me.”
“You love all of me.” I kissed my way down his chest, dropping to my knees.
“There isn’t anything about you that I don’t love.” He tugged on my hair. “But I especially like it when you’re on your knees.”
“I won’t be down here for long.” I grasped his shaft and swirled my tongue around the tip. “I need to feel you inside me. I’m empty without you.”
“I don’t ever want you to feel empty.” He let go of my hair and held the side of my face. “You have my heart, so that means you’ll never be without me.”
“You’ve become quite the romantic.” I licked his length from the base to the tip.
“Fuck,” he whispered.
“Not yet.” I took all of him in my mouth, breathing through my nose as I sucked.
His feral groans and rough hair pulling only served to fuel my fire. Each time his cock hit the back of my throat, I was more determined to keep pleasing him.
Back and forth, I brought him to the edge of insanity.
His thigh muscles tensed under my hands as his salty essence coated my tongue.
“I’m close.” He moaned. “Too close.”
He tugged on my hair, releasing himself from my mouth. I gazed up at him, my head spinning from the arousal that simmered inside me.
“Come here.” He yanked me off the floor and lifted me so I could hook my legs around his waist. “Whatever is on your mind, I need you to let it go. I’m going to take care of it.”
“I know.”
He pressed my back against cool tiles, pushed inside me, and covered my mouth with his. He darted his tongue between my lips in the same rhythmic pace he moved inside me. Slow, steady, and mind-blowing.
“I’m proud of the way you handled yourself tonight,” he said against my lips. “No impulses, no irrational behavior. You showed strength.”
“I’m learning how to be your wife.” I gripped his shoulders and arched my back, receiving all he gave me. “How to be an Accetti.”
“You were born to be an Accetti.” He pinned me against the wall with his solid form, thrusting harder. “You were born to be mine.”
“I…” Shuddering against his powerful jolts, I gave into his demands on my body. “Marchello…”
He tightened his hold on me as he let loose, slamming me into the wall and releasing deep inside me.
My legs seized around his hips, pulsating and trembling until he eased his grasp on me.
Leaning my back against the wall, he stared into my eyes, probably searching for signs of distress. He wouldn’t find any. Not now. He had made it all better.
“I feel better.” I slowly kissed him, clinging to him for warmth. “It’s cold.”
“We ran out of hot water a few minutes ago.”
“Oh? I didn’t notice.”
“I’m that good.” He winked, making my pulse race. “Let’s get out of here.”
He carried me out of the shower and gently set my feet on the plush bath mat. After turning off the water, he reached for two oversized towels on the shelf next to the shower stall. He took his time drying my neck and back before cloaking me in the fluffy towel that smelled of fresh linen and lavender.
I held out my hand and took his towel from him, drying his chest and stomach. I pressed my lips to his heart as I wrapped the towel around his waist.
“I really do love it here, despite the mishaps we seem to have.” I hugged him.
“Mishaps?” He quietly laughed, his chest shaking against me. “That’s one way to put it.”
“I didn’t mean to cause more problems for you.”
“None of this is your fault.”
“Come on.” I stepped back. “If I didn’t come looking for you that night, you wouldn’t be in this mess.”
“I’m the one who took you at gunpoint.” He smiled smugly. “Twice.”
“Hmm… I guess this is your own fault.”
“I wouldn’t change a thing about taking you as my hostage.” He wiped underneath my eyes and cheeks with his fingers, probably trying to remove the mascara from them. “Your makeup didn’t wash away.”
“It’s waterproof,” I said. “I’ll use makeup remover.”
“Then I’ll let you finish up here.” He gently kissed my lips. “I have some business to take care of.”
“Diego?”
He nodded, revealing no more than he had to.
“What did he want?” I rested my head against his chest. “Why did he come here?”
“He wants a refund.”
“Are you kidding me?” I stared up at him. “He had the audacity to ask for his money back?”
“A man who purchases another man’s woman, plants a warning device in her car, and then approaches her when he knows she is alone isn’t the type of person to have the sense not to come here and demand his money back.”
“You’re not considering giving him the money, are you?”
“The only thing I’m considering is how I’m going to kill him.” He pressed his palm to my cheek. “That’s the complicated part.”
“I would think that would be the easy part for you.”
“Normally it is, but Diego was strategic about this.”
“What do you mean?” I had an odd feeling there was much more to this story.
“I don’t know all the details, but Diego is under the protection of the men I came here to do business with.”
“How did that happen?”
“Either he’s really lucky or there’s something bigger at play.” Marchello kissed me long and slow, releasing all the fluttering butterflies waiting to break free. “That’s the complicated part I need to figure out.”
I could freak out and complain about how there was always something in our way, but that was the world we lived in. It was messy and chaotic, but we thrived off all of that. I could throw a tantrum or I could accept who we were.
Didn’t I already embrace the craziness when I vowed to be Marchello’s wife? The woman I was meant to be.
“You’ll figure it out.” I ran my hand through his wet hair. “I have total faith in you.”
“Maybe we can figure it out?”
“What?” A flicker of shock drifted through me. “You want me to help?”
“If you can control those impulses.” He bit the corner of his lip. “I can make some adjustments too.”
“I’ll do whatever you need.”
“I need more sex.”
“That goes without saying.” I rolled my eyes. “Go take care of business, and I’ll be waiting in our bed for you.”
“I won’t be too long.” He traced his finger down my cheek. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” I waved as he exited the bathroom.
Marchello had a knack for calming me even when I didn’t want to be settled. He understood me better than anyone else ever had. I looked forward to spending the night safely secured in his protective embrace.
After getting ready for bed, I opened the patio doors off the bedroom so I could listen to the waves and breathe in the salty air. It was too dark to see anything but a sliver of the moon. Sensing the vast ocean as the water came in and rolled out, I closed my eyes and relaxed into the moment as the vast ocean rolled in and out.
Diego was just another obstacle that we would overcome. He was as insignificant as Danny. But unlike Danny, we knew where Diego was and what he wanted. Danny had been a thorn in our side from the beginning, causing havoc but never really stating exactly what he wanted.
I gazed out into the darkness, concentrating on the motion of the water. Diego managed to come here with the men Marchello met with, and he had their protection. Was that how Angelo knew I would be here?
The ocean breeze kicked up, and the sand and the spray from the water swept over me. Salt coated my lips.
A flicker in the distance caught my attention. A shadow, maybe a bird, soaring over the ocean. Whatever it was, my skin prickled, creating a sinister unrest.
I slammed the patio doors shut, locking them and then backing away. A violent chill streamed through me, so I grabbed the throw from the edge of the bed and tossed it around my shoulders. I stared out the patio doors, searching for any sign of activity.
Even in the utter darkness, I recognized the waves of despair. They were coming…