Chapter 14 Chiara
Chiara
We all sit at the kitchen table in silence. Fina pushes her food around the plate like it’s radioactive, while Angelo glowers while staring at his phone. The only time he warms up is when Felix hops onto his lap.
Kane disappeared an hour ago. I have no clue where he’s gone, but I assume it’s related to the family business.
“You may as well stay here while Papa’s on vacation,” Angelo tells Fina once it’s clear we’re all done eating.
She sits back in surprise. “Oh?”
“You can spend some quality time with Matteo.” He smirks for a moment before scowling again. “Papa’s been talking to Domenico Santini. I’m not sure how far along negotiations have got, but I’ll find out when he returns in a few days.”
Fina clenches her napkin and swallows hard. In the doorway, Matteo has turned white as a ghost. What a mess.
If Fina is twelve weeks along, we have very little time to act. In another few weeks, it will be obvious she’s pregnant, and once her father realizes, I’d put money on him forcing her to have a termination.
I slide a glance over at Angelo. Does he know, or at least suspect? Fina catches me staring and shakes her head. She doesn’t want him to know yet. But why? If anyone can rescue her from this patriarchal bullshit, it’s her older brother.
But then I remember Angelo is the man who forced me to marry him at gunpoint. Well, not quite, but it sure felt that way on the day.
No, Fina can’t count on him. I purse my lips as I push back from the table. Fina might think she has nobody on her side apart from Matteo, but she’s not alone. I will do my best to help her.
Hell, if it comes to it, I’ll put a fucking bullet in Lorenzo’s brain. I’ll be the silent assassin he never saw coming.
“Is something wrong?” When I wake up from my brief fantasy, Angelo is staring at me like I’ve had a breakdown.
“Nothing wrong. Indigestion.” I rub my stomach and wince like I’m suffering from painful trapped wind. He grimaces. “Guess I better go lie down for a bit. Want to watch something on Netflix?” Fina nods and stands with me.
“Great! Let’s go watch a romantic movie on the big screen.” She grins at me while Angelo grinds his teeth like he’s the one with indigestion. Oh dear, I ruined his plans to watch the football game he mentioned earlier. Oops. He can catch the highlights later or something.
I tug Fina into the family room, and we search the Netflix catalog for a movie neither of us has seen, which, in my case, is most of them.
Once it begins and the opening music blocks out our conversation, I lean in and whisper in her ear.
“Don’t worry. I’ll figure out a way to get you out of this marriage.”
Her eyes well up. “I appreciate that, Chiara, but it’s fine. There’s nothing I can do for now. Matteo is working on a plan, but there are many moving parts.”
“I’m more than willing to poison your father,” I murmur. “I hear it’s possible to overdose on Viagra. Pretty sure we can swing that as an accidental death.”
She snorts through her tears. “God, if only.” I reach for her hand and squeeze.
“I won’t let him hurt you.” It’s a promise I fully intend to keep. Nobody protected me, but I will do my best to protect Fina. She deserves to be happy with the man she loves.
I toss and turn for ages before falling asleep. The thought of what might happen to Fina if her father finds out she’s pregnant makes me want to vomit. Coco and Felix both get sick of me thrashing around and eventually jump off the bed and into their own beds.
When I next wake, it’s light outside. Coco yaps to tell me she wants to go outside, so I drag a robe on and stumble downstairs.
It’s early, and there’s no sign of Angelo or Fina, but I spot a familiar figure sitting at the kitchen table with a steaming mug and his phone.
“Coffee?” Kane asks with a smile.
“Yes, please,” I mumble before letting Coco outside to pee. When I come back into the kitchen, Kane hands me a cappuccino dusted with cocoa powder. Despite my bad mood, I can’t help but smile.
“Thank you. You’ll make some lucky girl a fabulous husband one day.”
“Doubtful,” he snorts.
“Don’t put yourself down,” I reply. “There are lots of women out there who’d love a scary mafia enforcer who gets a kick out of drugging innocent females in parking lots.”
He groans. “Damn, you’re never going to let that go, are you?”
“No.” I pull out a chair and sit down. It’s too early for Dominic, but I’m hungry. My body clock is all messed up from the trip overseas, and I’m craving sugar.
Kane chuckles when he hears my grumbling stomach. “Cereal full of e-numbers?”
“God, yes!” I perk up at the thought of all that tasty sugar as Kane fills a bowl with chocolatey goodness, and then my mood sinks like a stone. Poor Fina.
Kane spots my despondent expression and frowns. “What’s wrong? You know you’re safe here, right? We won’t let anything else happen to you.”
I can’t tell him. It’s not my place.
“Yeah, I know. I was just remembering shit,” I lie.
He drops the cereal box on the counter and lifts me from my chair, placing me on the table. Then he cages me in with his body. The scent of his minty bodywash rolls over me as he grips my chin and tilts it upward.
“Need me to help you make some good memories?”
I can’t help the pulse of lust that rips through me. We’ve not talked since he left my bed after Angelo found us. Does he regret what happened? I wouldn’t blame him if he did. I’m a walking red flag.
“Didn’t we already try that in Scotland?” I force a smile.
“We did.” I examine the fading bruises on his face and frown.
“He hurt you.”
Kane snorts. “I’m fine, kitten. We spar all the time. A few bruises won’t kill me.”
“No, but he could decide to kill you if you touch me again.”
“Sweetheart, trust me when I say he won’t ever do that. He’s my brother in all ways that count, and just like in any sibling relationship, we argue and fight over the things we both want. Which, in this case, is you.”
“You want me?” My poor little heart beats faster in my chest. I know he does, but I’m not sure if it’s because I’m off-limits. There are plenty of men who want what they can’t have. Forbidden fruit and all that jazz.
Maybe he has a kink for married women? Who knows.
He strokes my cheek. “You know I want you.” When I glance down, there’s an unmistakable bulge tenting the front of his black sweats.
“Maybe you do,” I agree, “but we both know it can’t go anywhere.” And boy does that make me sad, which is stupid because my only goal was escaping this house and my husband before I got kidnapped by a deranged psycho.
So why does that no longer feel like the right thing to do?
“Can’t it?” Kane leans in, pulling me closer so I can feel every inch of his erection. “I have no intention of letting you go, Chiara. You can run, but you can’t ever escape me.”
“Wow, that’s not at all disturbing.” I huff out a laugh in a feeble attempt to hide the fact that I find his over-the-top behavior a massive turn-on. “Creepy stalker, much?”
“Damn right.” Apparently over the conversation, he captures my mouth with his. The kiss is hard and dirty, and in seconds, I’m a dripping mess.
When we break apart, we’re both breathing heavily.
I’m also fully aware that Angelo could walk in at any moment, and I don’t want a repeat of what happened in Scotland.
“My coffee’s going cold.”
Kane slides his hand under my tee and cups my breast, not letting me go.
“You’re playing dirty.” I fight back a groan even though I want nothing more than to spread my legs and invite him to play. He tweaks my nipple and grins.
“I know.” To my relief, he finally backs off while adjusting himself. “One bowl of e-numbers coming up. Make the most of your day off, by the way, because tomorrow we’re back in the gym.”
I groan loudly, not liking the thought of Kane killing me on the mats again.
He winks. “Work hard, kitten, and I’ll reward you.”
“Are you offering performance bonuses now?” He pulls a bowl from the shelf before stalking back over to me.
“I sure am, kitten. Work hard and earn orgasms.”
Damn. That’s a bonus scheme I can get on board with.
“Luka’s back, by the way,” he tells me when he slides a bowl of my favorite cereal in front of me.
“He is?” My heart rate spikes at the thought of seeing him again, which is stupid because I’m still angry and upset at how we left things.
“Yeah.” Kane doesn’t elaborate, and I refuse to ask. Knowing Luka, he won’t appear until late this morning, and by then I’ll be hiding in my room to avoid seeing Angelo. Chances are, we won’t cross paths.
It’s better if he leaves because I have enough to deal with. I’m still traumatized from what happened in Scotland, and now that I’m hooking up with Kane, I don’t want to complicate things any further.
Besides, I need to focus on helping Fina, not getting laid.
At least that’s what I tell myself as I shovel cereal into my mouth and silently fume. Coco trots back in a few minutes later, and once I’ve slurped the last of the milk down, I feed her.
Just as I finish my second cup of coffee, the sound of footsteps alerts me to another presence.
Kane looks up and grins. “Coffee, Luka?”