CHAPTER 6 - ARIANNA
CHAPTER
Arianna
“YOU SHOULD ALWAYS have been mine, ragazza. Doing things this way doesn’t work for me.”
Luca’s voice creeps into my consciousness as glimmers of light push through the dark, cloying fuzz in my head. I fight to make sense of what is being said, but I can’t make my eyelids open. This sickly hangover I’ve become accustomed to is more powerful than ever.
But it’s Luca’s voice, and he’s touching me. At least, I think he is.
Nothing seems real; veiled in a shroud of mist. I cannot fathom what is reality and what are dreams.
Fingers run across my naked body, pausing to concentrate on my nipples. Nausea threatens to override, and I want to twist away, but I’m so tired and sore, my body weighed down and stuck in what feels like treacle.
“That no one has attempted to take you shows our union is accepted,” the voice continues. “This is good and shows what has been ordained for us.”
I can’t work out whether Luca is talking to me or to himself. Finally, with concentration and effort, I crack one eyelid, and his large frame comes into blurred focus. I don’t want him to see I’m conscious. Not that he cares either way.
Not that anyone cares...
What I see isn’t what I expect. I’m right that Luca is groping my body, but what I don’t expect is that he’s fully clothed; his other hand frantically working his cock.
I risk a glance at his face through my one half-opened eye, seeing his are closed and his lips moving in silent words. Perhaps they are audible, but I’m not hearing them.
I’m not sure what works in my body any longer. It doesn’t feel like mine. Moreover, I don’t fully know what’s been done with it. And that, in some ways, is worse.
“Oh yeah, that’s it,” Luca grunts, his fist increasing in speed. “Soon there will be no need to shackle you, and we can be like normal man and wife. Because that’s what we are and always have been.”
“What the fuck are you doing? Why are you standing there like that? You said you were attending to duties and should be completed by now.”
My eyes instinctively shut at my brother’s voice as he enters the room, but not before I catch Luca hastily shove his cock back into his pants.
“For fuck’s sake! You haven’t even started on her today!” Matteo barks. “It will take an age for her to get pregnant at this rate!”
“Is there no privacy around here?” Luca snarls. “And for your information, I’ve already fucked her again. I was just getting dressed!”
I sense Matteo moving closer and pray my cheeks don’t color as his traitorous eyes trail over my nakedness.
“Arianna looks much better now. I told you a few days was all that was needed for her face to heal.”
“Why have you interrupted us?” Luca asks. “Have you heard from Bateman?”
My heart ramps up at the mention of Red. Is he here?
“I told you, we won’t see that cunt again until the day we kill him.
Even if he knows our whereabouts, why would he risk war to get back something he didn’t want in the first place?
As much as I hate the man, he’s not stupid.
Bateman realizes I’ve got the upper hand, and I’ve won, so he’s busy licking his wounds and regrouping his pointless, depleted army.
Now he’s lost his pretend wife too. How embarrassed he must be! ”
Fury skitters through me at Matteo’s nasal chuckle, but despite my anger, I’m realizing he’s right. Yesterday’s hurt enveloping me from Red’s continued absence morphs into resentment.
Resentment for his lies.
Red never wanted me - it was a game.
The knowledge that my brother and, worst of all, my father are behind this is perhaps the worst thing of all.
The only thing Red hasn’t lied about is that Papà never gave a shit about me.
Fingers prod my shoulder, and instead of jumping, I stir. Pretending I’m not fully conscious is the best way.
“You must be into necrophilia, Luca,” Matteo sneers. “Still haven’t convinced my dear sister that you and our plan are the way forward?”
“She’s more than happy with my company; it’s just the drugs making her tired. We should ease up on them now.”
“No fucking way! You don’t know her like I do. She can’t be trusted! In fact, I’ll give her a top-up shot now.”
I hear rustling, and I want to scream not to inject me again, but I have to remain silent.
“I’ve had the old man phoning me yet again. Half the night and now today! I didn’t answer it. He’ll be gone before long, so it’s not like I need to put up with his demands and questions anymore,” Matteo continues.
Despite his betrayal towards me, the horror that they are planning to kill Papà threatens to blow my camouflage, but then I feel the familiar scratch.
“Oh, and the other thing I need to mention is...”
I strain to keep my consciousness in gear, but it’s too late as blackness enfolds me quicker than I can outrun it.