Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Damian
Three-forty-six in the morning. Sneaking back into the Fiorelli Estate with an absolutely destroyed dress shirt is not as difficult as I expected. Mainly because everyone is knocked the fuck out. Luckily for me.
By the time I get up to my bedroom, strip my clothing off and climb into bed, I’m close to passing out myself.
Instead, I spend several minutes staring at the ceiling thinking about my night with Alessio.
The intensity of it is still fresh in my mind and on my body.
My shoulder bares the mark of his teeth and tongue; and I swear I can still feel that smack on my cheek.
I hadn’t expected it, but it had felt better than I could have imagined.
Rough sex isn’t exactly new to me, but I hadn’t gone over to Alessio’s expecting anything other than him chewing me out.
Which, I guess he did—in his own way. The punishment he branded me with brought me more pleasure than anything I’ve ever felt in my life. I deserved it, but did I? Do I deserve his forgiveness and trust now after everything?
Sure, I burned the pictures, but the fact that I had found them at all showed that he couldn’t trust me. At least before.
I’m determined now to never lie to Alessio again. To never search for information that Eivor desires to destroy them.
This means I’ll need to come up with a way to get out of it. I need to get the hell out of dodge before Eivor discovers that I’m not looking for information at all.
This thought brings me enough anxiety that I don’t manage to get to sleep until almost five in the morning. Meaning I only get a few hours of sleep before I’m expected to be awake, bright eyed and bushy tailed.
So, I am.
By the time Rosalie is getting dressed for the day, I’m standing outside her door with a mug of coffee already in my stomach.
I need to talk to her, on her own, without anyone else getting in the way.
I know that her plans for the day consist of going out to meet a few of her friends, so I also know that this morning before we head downstairs is the time to talk to her.
The second her door opens, I turn to her.
“Morning,” she says with a flip of her hair. Then she processes that I’m standing in her way. “Do you need something?”
I look to the side for a moment and see that no one else is coming down the hallway or up the stairs. “We need to talk. Alone.”
Rosalie takes a step back into her bedroom. “About what?”
I take a step into her room. “Alessio.”
“Okay, come in.” She motions me in and closes the door behind me, then locks it. I’m frankly surprised Eivor even allows locks on the doors here. What with how much control he seems to want to have over everyone. Even my door doesn’t have a lock on it.
“What’s going on with Alessio?” she asks, folding her arms over her light pink sweater dress.
I step even closer to her so that I can keep my voice down as much as possible.
“I’m taking a risk here, but I have a feeling you don’t know what your uncle has been up to,” I tell her. “Just in case…at least promise not to try to attack me. You’ll lose.”
Rosalie scoffs. “Please, I could take you down if I wanted to.”
I look at her seriously. “I’m serious. You don’t want to try.”
She eyes me slowly. “Fine. If you piss me off I’ll give you a head start.”
I take a slow breath. “Eivor wants me to find information on Alessio to bring him and the Dresvanni family down.”
She blinks at me. “What?”
“When he hired me to protect you, he also hired me to spy on Alessio. To dig up any dirt that I can,” I explain.
She shakes her head. “I don’t understand why he would have us get married if that was the case,” Rosalie says with a knit brow. “Why not just draw out the engagement?”
“Because he wants control. He wants as much control as he can get—that includes marrying you off to Alessio as though he actually plans on playing along, playing nice,” I tell her straightforwardly.
“It might not make complete sense, but I’m sure you’ve figured out that your uncle doesn’t make sense.
He’s concerned about himself, no one else. ”
“He cares about me,” she insists. “In his own way but…no, you’re right.
I only agreed to this whole thing because I was worried about what he might do if I didn’t.
I thought marrying me off to Alessio and joining the Dresvanni family would be enough power for him, but I should’ve fucking known it wouldn’t be.
Damnit.” She starts to pace in front of me.
“It’s not too late to stand up against him, but he’s going to get tired of waiting for me to find the information he wants,” I say slowly.
Rosalie’s heels click on the floor as she walks back and forth. “Why are you even telling me this?” she asks. “You could’ve just gotten the information Eivor wants.”
“Your uncle might be paying my way right now, but I’m not interested in another ego maniac grabbing all the power that he can,” I say with frustration lacing my voice.
“Does Alessio know?” She side eyes me.
“He does,” I admit.
“I’m surprised he didn’t kill you.”
“As am I.”
I ignore the ache in my groin as I think about all the things he did to me instead of killing me. It’s not the only ache I feel though, I realize. I find myself wondering what he’s doing, where he’s at, if he’s talking to his family yet about what’s happened.
I pull myself back into reality when I realize Rosalie has spoken and I didn’t process it.
“Did you hear me?” she asks.
I shake my head. “No, sorry. I’m thinking about how I’m going to handle Eivor.”
“That’s what I asked,” she says with a sigh. “What are we supposed to do? If you don’t want to hand over the information, he’s not going to just let you go free.”
“Do you want me to hand over the information?” I ask her with a cocked brow. “Because it’s starting to seem like you do.”
“No!” Rosalie huffs. “Of course I don’t. I…I just don’t know what to do about him. He’s raised me most of my life.”
“You don’t have to be part of this if you don’t want to be,” I remind her. “Whatever goes down…you’re free to call out.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” she asks her face scrunching up more, getting red. “I’m not a coward. I’ll do whatever it takes I—” before she can even get the words out there’s a loud crunching crash behind us.
I look behind my shoulder to see that the lock has been smashed in and the door is flying around in pieces as it’s forced open.
I turn around to face the door completely and reach for my gun.
“Put down your weapon, Mr. Rossi,” Eivor Fiorelli orders me. He’s standing in the doorway with four guards surrounding him. All of their guns are pointed at me.
I gauge my chances. It doesn’t look good. Not to mention I have no doubt that Eivor will be willing to risk Rosalie’s life to end mine.
I lean down and place my gun on the floor, kick it over to him, and then stand up straight.
“What’s this about?” I ask him. “I don’t appreciate being threatened.”
“And I don’t appreciate being lied to,” Eivor sneers. He steps into the room with the guards following after him. Their sights are still set on me.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was just discussing todays plans with Rosalie,” I insist. I know that the cooler I play it, the angrier he’s going to get if he really knows what’s going on…but I’m not willing to betray Alessio again.
I’m not willing to hand him over so easily. Or at all.
“Uncle, what are you doing?” Rosalie asks, walking over to him with a very concerned look on her face. If she’s acting, she’s damn good at it.
“Stay out of this, Rosalie dear, why don’t you leave the room. Mr. Rossi and I have a few things to discuss,” Eivor insists.
Rosalie’s hands ball into fists. “No. I’m as much a part of this as anyone. I want to know what’s going on. You’re threatening my bodyguard, for fucks sake.” This is the first time she’s really raised her voice to her uncle. He looks at her with irritation.
“You’re a foolish girl,” he tells her. “You can’t even see that your own bodyguard has been messing around behind your back.”
“What are you talking about?” she asks.
I can tell that she assumes Eivor is referring to the information that he wants me to get…but I know based on the look in his eyes that it isn’t the case.
Eivor knows about Alessio.
I swallow hard.
“Damian is supposed to be supplying me with information on your husband, but instead he’s screwing him,” Eivor says plainly.
I watch Rosalie’s face shift from confusion to falling completely. She looks at me.
“Is that true?” she asks.
“Don’t ask him, he’ll lie until his mouth falls off to protect his precious toy,” Eivor remarks, a sense of disgust in his tone.
I keep my mouth shut and look to the side. Not letting Eivor look directly into my face.
“How do you know this?” Rosalie asks her uncle.
I can hear the hurt in her voice, and it makes me feel…
guilty. Despite the situation that she’s in, the fact that she doesn’t love Alessio, she clearly cares about their marriage in some manner.
She cares about the trust they’ve put into each other.
She must, at least, or else she wouldn’t be reacting with any sort of surprise or hurt.
“They haven’t exactly been smart about it,” Eivor says with a dark laugh. “All it took was one of the guards at Alessio’s penthouse telling me that Damian was there and what was going on inside. Not to mention hooking up to the security camera’s is remarkably easy.”
I close my eyes. “You son of a bitch.”
“Me?” he says, and I hear him step closer. “You’re the one crossing me. I’m paying you to work for me, but you’ve decided to work against me. You should’ve known you’d be caught eventually.”
My jaw tightens.
“I can’t believe this,” Rosalie says breathlessly. “What the fuck is going on around here? Can’t anyone keep it in their pants?”
“I agree. First my nephew with that Carmine, and now your bodyguard with Alessio. It seems no one can decide what side they’re on,” Eivor spits out.