Chapter 22
Sofia
“So, I have a question,” I say as I’m lying in bed, Alessandro tying his tie in the mirror.
I was watching him for a minute when I’m sure he thought I was still sleeping; his brow was furrowed and at times, it looked like he was having a conversation with himself, probably a lot on his mind given his new status.
I found it… weirdly cute.
He jolts at the sound of my voice. But he looks at me with hesitation rather than annoyance or anger that I’m used to. “What is it?”
“Those rules you made for me? Are they still a thing or…”
“Of course they’re still in place.” He smirks and turns to me.
My heart pounds at his smile.
“Well, I just broke rule number one. What are you going to do about that?” I get out from under the covers and lay on my stomach so that my head is towards the foot of the bed. I’m only wearing a t-shirt and panties, so his eyes immediately flick to my backside as my legs wave back and forth.
But he stands there frozen, making me feel self-conscious. Maybe I should have thought twice about flirting with him this morning. I’m sure I seemed so fake when I was initially trying to get him to have feelings for me. But now I’m acting natural.
“Come here.” His expression is blank; he is impossible to read.
I do as he says, swinging my legs off the bed and taking slow steps towards him across the room. Once I get into range, he grabs me by the side, spinning me around so that my back is pinned against the wall.
I can feel my face flush as he looks down at me as if he’s analyzing a difficult math problem.
“Two mornings in a row, you try to fuck me.”
“Is that a problem?”
“No…” His eyes move down my body and stop at my chest. I expect him to reach up under my shirt, but he opens his mouth again. “I just want to know why?”
“Why?”
“Yes.”
“Uhh.” I swallow and look up at him. His gaze is intense, and I can’t tell if he’s playing around with me or serious right now. How is he so good at doing that? “I… I can’t explain it. I just want to have sex with you.”
I feel so awkward.
“Why?”
“Okay, seriously?” He lets me push him away. “You have no game.”
He laughs. “Forgive me, I’m just worried that you’ll offer me a blowjob and tear my cock off with your teeth.”
I sit at the edge of the bed. His words sting even though I know that he's being hyperbolic.
I take a deep breath and roll my eyes. “You are the most paranoid person I’ve ever met.”
“That’s probably true.” He shrugs, holding up his finger.
“However, your behavior is strange. Everything has shifted in this castle now that Marco is dead. I could simply drop you off at the airport and send you back home. I could stop forcing your family to pay my family money. You’re intelligent; I’m sure you’ve thought of this.
But you haven’t asked. Instead, you flirt with me. ”
“I didn’t want to overwhelm you with those questions yesterday. And I thought you made it clear that I am still a prisoner here by having Antonio follow me around. But now that you bring it up, can you take me home? Can you stop taking money from us?”
“I can’t.” He doesn’t hesitate. “It’s about optics, Sofia.
If I sent you home or helped your family, it would make me look weak.
And that is not something I can afford right now with my new position.
” He sighs and walks over to the mirror, checking his appearance quickly before turning back to me with his hand on the bedroom doorknob.
“Fine.” I cross my arms and legs, looking towards the corner of the room to hide the emotion on my face.
I look back towards him and I’m surprised to see him still standing there, his hand still on the door. He’s analyzing me the same way he was before. But he looks more confused. Pained.
Then, before I can open my mouth to say something, he’s out of the bedroom.
I take a few moments to collect myself. I need to stop letting my feelings get the better of me.
This is nothing but an intense schoolgirl crush, and I need to get my head in the game and focus on getting out of this place.
I take a few deep breaths, throw on some leggings and a sweatshirt and then make my way out of the bedroom, putting my focus on how I can use this new location to my advantage.
I walked around and explored yesterday, and even though we’re on the first floor now, there’s that issue of the cliff where if I cracked a window open, there’s nowhere safe for me to land.
And there’s the insane number of guards keeping others out and me stuck in here.
He no longer has two to four guards standing outside; it’s a small army.
However, despite it being harder for me to escape, this is a much nicer prison.
I head to the kitchen and figure out breakfast first—we have live-in staff that haven’t batted an eye at the change in clientele so figuring out how to get food won’t be difficult.
But I find Elena in the kitchen, picking at a pastry. I pause, knowing that she wanted nothing to do with me yesterday, but I don’t think it was anything personal. She is mourning, and I want to respect her space.
She stops me before I can politely turn around and leave her alone.
“Hello, Sofia.” Her green eyes look me up and down.
“Morning.” I take a seat across from her and grab a croissant and a banana from the baskets in front of her. “How are you?”
She pauses with a piece of pastry before taking a bite. “Confused.”
I nod. “From the tiny amount Alessandro told me about his childhood, that’s not surprising.”
She gasps. “He actually talked to you?”
“I pissed him off enough to rant one evening.” I don’t mention last night; that seems too intimate to share.
“And what did he say?”
“That Marco hated and isolated him, but loved you.”
She looks incredulous. “Loved? Is that what he said?”
I shrug. “I only know that Alessandro was banished from this wing, but you grew up with Marco. I’m assuming he favored you because you were his biological child.”
“That sounds better.”
I peel my banana open and take a bite.
“How are you doing?”
“Part of me is happy he’s dead, and part of me mourns him. Fucked up, isn’t it?”
I shrug. “My barometer for fucked up is different from it was a couple of months ago. I’m not the right person to ask.” She smirks. “Are you angry with Alessandro?”
“It’s complicated, but Alessandro deserved his revenge.”
She gives me a look as if she’s analyzing me like I’m a lab rat. “What do you think of Alessandro?”
I laugh without humor. “What do I think? I don’t want to speak poorly of your brother to your face.”
My face falls when I realize that was a knee-jerk reaction to the talk we just had a moment ago—where he essentially rejected me because he thought I was seducing him for my benefit. Which I was… but not anymore…
She shrugs. “My family kidnapped yours after trying to murder your grandfather and your brother. If you told me you hated his guts, I wouldn’t take it personally.”
“It’s confusing.”
“Confusing? That’s wonderful for him.”
“Wonderful?” I laugh.
“That means you’re getting along with him at least a little. I was worried he would be single and alone forever.”
I think back to our conversation last night—how he was forced to isolate himself until that’s all he knew. I feel a twinge of sadness for him.
“You’re still single though,” I try to steer the conversation away from him.
She gives me a sly smile. “And you’re wondering how I managed that? Getting into my thirties without marrying or having children.” She takes a sip of tea. “Alessandro helped, and your brother Max is quite lucky.”
I nearly choke on my bread at what she’s implying. “He killed…?”
She smiles and puts her finger to her lips. “But I guess keeping that quiet doesn’t matter so much now that Marco is no longer with us.”
“Well, didn’t Marco catch on to what was happening?”
“Of course. That’s why I was sent to live at the other end of the castle.”
And that’s why she hadn’t stepped into her childhood room in so long.
“Were all of your matches awful?”
“Not all of them.” She shrugs. “Some of them I even thought were nice. But I didn’t want them.”
A chill runs down my spine as I think about how Elena is capable of killing innocent men. She tilts her head; her eyes look cold. “You probably think I’m evil. Alessandro told me about you—how your family kept you from the violence?”
“Yeah… but my grandfather kept everyone away from violence. Or as much as he could manage. From what I understand, we have enough income coming in from our legitimate businesses.”
Elena looks amused. “We have plenty of money from our legitimate businesses as well. But that was never enough for Marco.”
“Right.”
Elena takes another pastry from the basket, rips it in half and then holds it up to me, raising her eyebrow. I take it from her.
“Do you think Alessandro will change that?” I ask.
“Hmm?”
“Trying to make as much money as possible regardless of how much violence and suffering it would take?”
She smirks, resting her chin on her hand. “What do you think?”
I think back to how brutally he killed Marco… but that conversation last night makes me see him differently. “I don’t know.”
She makes a noise in her throat. “Interesting.”
“But I know that he’s still planning on siphoning money from my family.” I can’t hide the bitterness in my voice.
“I know that isn’t good for your family, but do you know what his plan was before he met you?”
“What? Leave me in the dungeon so he can focus on reading and drawing and whatever else he does in that room?”
She snorts. “Exactly. But he didn’t end up doing that, now did he?” She looks at me with curiosity. There’s something about Elena that intimidates the hell out of me. She seems intelligent—one step ahead of everyone. And as a compulsive over-planner, I am so not used to that.
She gets up from the breakfast table, patting my arm as she walks out of the kitchen.
I fill my plate with more food, and look around, wondering if I should ask someone for something more substantial like eggs.
My eyes meet a man who has been lingering in the dining room beyond the kitchen.
I was so distracted by Elena that I barely paid any attention to him, but now I realize it looks like he’s been pretending to dust and not really working.
“Excuse me?” I ask, but he’s already walking towards me. “Can I get someone to make me an omelet, please?”
He ignores my question and continues taking steps until he’s unusually close. His dark eyes darting behind me, then he looks to make sure no one is following him. Then he smiles down at me.
“Miss Calabrese, I have been waiting so long to have this opportunity.” I panic, wondering what this man’s intentions are and wishing that Elena was still here. “I can relay any message you want to your family.”
Oh.
A sly smile spreads across my face as I try to think about what to tell them.
“Well, you can let them know Alessandro won’t hurt me. He’s given me nothing but empty threats since I moved in with him. In fact…” I think about this for a moment, then commit. “It should be safe for them to stop paying him altogether.”
Fuck him. He could have stopped all of this himself, but now I have to take matters into my own hands. And maybe if they stop paying him, he’ll give up and send me back home.
The only problem is—that thought fills me with a sense of loss and dread.