Chapter 16
Sixteen
Lissia
I shifted in my seat on the chilly screened-in porch, trying not to wince, but pain was pain. No matter how pleasurable the sex had been, today I learned the meaning of consequences.
Telling Marchello I would leave him ten minutes after we were intimate probably wasn’t my best idea.
But would the physical discomfort I was currently feeling make me turn him down if he came in here and bent me over the table? No.
Ricardo draped a fleece throw around my shoulders as I ate my breakfast. “If you’re going to insist on sitting out here, at least stay warm. We don’t want you catching a cold.”
“I’m pretty sure you don’t catch a cold by being cold.” I finished my grapes. “But thank you for taking such good care of me this morning.”
It is nice that someone wants to.
Marchello never made it back to bed last night, and as much as I swore to myself that his absence so soon after us being together didn’t hurt my feelings, I was lying. Would that make me turn him down? The answer is still no.
“According to my nonna,” Ricardo said, “a very wise woman, I might add, the cold does make you sick.”
“Well then, thank you for the blanket.” I raised my fancy flute filled with a sparkling mimosa to him. “And for this incredible breakfast.”
“My pleasure.” He sat across from me.
“Did you spend a lot of time with your nonna when you were growing up?”
“I went to Italy every summer to visit her. She taught me to cook.”
“My grandmother lived with us when I was growing up. She wasn’t much of a cook, but she loved to shop.” I giggled. “We would spend hours on Fifth Avenue.”
“I’m sure you learned a great deal.”
“I learned how to spend a lot of money in a short period of time.”
“A very useful skill.”
“When my parents got divorced, she moved to Florida. I visited her a few weeks ago. She’s running for president of her condo association.”
“Do you think she’ll win?”
“If my father steps in and pays someone off, she will.” I pressed my finger to my lips. “You didn’t hear that from me.”
“My lips are sealed.”
“You’re a good friend.”
“Can I get you anything else?” he asked.
“I’m fine.” I patted his hand. “Keep me company.”
“That’s my job.” He smiled. “Best one I’ve had in years.”
“You’re so sweet.” I winked. “In an intimidating sort of way.”
“I intimidate you?”
“Me?” I patted my chest. “No, but I can see how you would scare off some. If you accompanied me out in the city, I have a feeling no one would bother me.”
“I would never let anyone bother you.” He topped off my glass with some more champagne. “Maybe someday I’ll be your lead guard.”
“I’m not an easy person to guard.” I pushed my plate away from me. “I get into trouble, and I sometimes lose my security team.”
“You wouldn’t give me the slip.”
“You never know.” I laughed. “I was recently told I’m a handful.”
“You are,” Marchello said.
I looked up to see him leaning against the doorway, appearing hard, sexy, brooding, and more attractive than ever before. Was it even possible for me to think he was getting more stunning every day?
How long had he been there listening to us?
“What are you two up to?” Marchello glanced at the breakfast plates.
“We’re just finishing breakfast,” I said. “Ricardo was kind enough to join me so I wouldn’t be lonely.”
Considering you were nowhere to be found this morning.
“Was he?” Marchello crossed his arms over his chest.
“He’s going to go for a walk with me later and show me the property.”
“Really?” He glared at Ricardo.
“I’ll clear these plates.” Ricardo hopped out of his chair. “Can I get you anything?”
“Privacy,” Marchello said.
Ricardo quickly picked up the plates and hurried onto the house.
“Why are you so mean to him?” I asked.
“I’m more intimidating than he’ll ever be.” Marchello stood next to my chair. “Don’t forget that.”
“Were you listening to our conversation?”
“I didn’t realize it was a private conversation.”
“I don’t have anything to hide.” I reached for the book I had chosen from the shelves to read today.
“I’m glad to hear that since I require total honesty.”
“I don’t work for you.”
“You don’t have to work for me to be honest with me.”
“I require a few things too,” I said. “In my relationships.”
“Champagne?” He motioned to my glass, changing the subject. “Where did you get it?”
“Ricardo gave it to me.” I finished what was left in my glass. “I really like him.”
“I’ll kill him.”
Is he jealous? Maybe I could work with that.
“Aren’t you supposed to be in a better mood after having sex?”
“Maybe if sex was the only thing I had to focus on, but we both know that’s not the case,” he said.
“I offered you a solution.”
“And I showed you what I thought of your solution.” His jaw tightened when he focused on me with his terrifying gaze. “Don’t aggravate me.”
“Fine.” I wasn’t in the mood to go back and forth with him. I thought maybe after we had sex something would shift between us, but I was wrong.
“How are you feeling?” He sat across from me and poured a glass of water from the crystal pitcher.
“Restless.”
“I meant physically.”
“I’m not up for another round, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Hmm…” He smirked.
Of course, if he asked…
“Proud of yourself for being a caveman?” I opened the book, pretending to read the first page.
“I don’t remember you telling me to stop or slow down.” He took a long sip of his water, wetting those sexy lips of his.
“Would you have if I asked?”
I never imagined my first time being so rough, but there wasn’t much I would change about last night. Even though I would have preferred for him to have stayed with me, what was done was done.
“I can’t answer that now.” He finished the rest of his water. “You needed to understand how things work, and I showed you.”
“Like I said…” I poured some more champagne into my flute, stopping before the bubbles overflowed. “Caveman.”
“Something attracted you to me.”
“You’re good-looking.” I set the bottle on the center of the table. “Every woman at the dealership that night noticed you. I had to see what the fuss was about.”
“You’re probably wishing you ignored the fuss.”
“Do you wish I had ignored you?”
“My life wouldn’t be so difficult right now if you had.”
Ouch. That’s not the response you want to hear from the man you gave your virginity to. No matter how hot he is.
I turned the page, focusing on the font instead of the words. Aggravating him felt good.
“Do you have to read that now?” he asked.
“What else should I do?” I flipped another page, glancing at him before returning my attention to the book I had no interest in.
“You could stop acting like a brat.” He snatched the book out of my hands and tossed it across the porch. “You could make my life easier for five fucking minutes.”
“I want a phone. A purple one with a matching case.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because you can’t have one,” he said. “Why do you need one?”
“Everyone needs a fucking phone.”
“Hey!” He slammed his fist on the table. “Watch your mouth.”
“Are you kidding me? You’re a mob boss who kills people for a living, and I can’t throw an occasional f-bomb to voice my frustration?”
“I’m a legitimate businessman who owns a reputable car dealership, one that took a pretty large hit last night.” He pointed at me. “I don’t like your foul mouth.”
“There are plenty of things I don’t like about you. And if you’re so legitimate, why can’t I have a phone?”
“Why are you so spoiled?”
“Let me use yours to call my mother,” I said. “This has gone on long enough. Don’t you think she’s worried about me?”
“If she knows you well enough, she probably thinks you’re already dead. It’s a miracle I haven’t killed you yet.”
“You’re a real prince. The fact that you would joke about killing me proves who you are.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that you’re callous,” I said.
“You don’t know anything about me.”
“How could I? You don’t tell me anything.”
“I tell you what you need to know,” he said.
“How do you think your mother would feel if you went missing and she couldn’t get in touch with you?”
“My mother hasn’t gotten in touch with me in over ten years because she’s fucking dead.” He stood, knocking the chair into the wall. “Do you have any other stupid questions you want to ask me?”
“I didn’t literally mean your mother.” Maybe that was a bad example. “I’m just trying to get you to understand where I’m coming from.”
He turned his back and stared out the screen at the gray sky.
I joined him, placing my hand on his tense shoulder. “I’m sorry I brought up your mother. You probably miss her.”
“This has nothing to do with her, how she died, or whatever you’re imagining.”
“I’m not imagining anything.” I squeezed between him and the screen and gazed into his brooding eyes. “If you want to talk about her, we can.”
“What?”
“It seems like this is a topic that you might need someone to listen to you about,” I said.
“Are you a shrink now? Did you learn that at NYU?”
“I’ve noticed how you get when your mother comes up in conversation.”
“I don’t get any way about the conversation.”
“You do, and maybe if you talked about it, you might feel better. After my parents got divorced, I was upset. Talking about it helped me.”
“My parents didn’t get divorced.” He shook his head. “We’re not having this conversation.”
“Why not?”
“Because there is no need to have it.” He held up his finger. “Do not press me on this.”
His tough exterior was one of the first things I noticed about him. He didn’t have to pretend to be scary. He just was. But this was different. When I looked into his eyes, I saw a man trying to be strong. One who was running from the truth.
“When things calm down, I’ll have Milo reach out to your mother and let her know you’re okay. Don’t make me kill you before that happens.”
I rolled my eyes.
“If I can’t have a phone, I want other things.”
“Like what?”
“Makeup and skin care.”
“Why do you need that?”
“Because I’m bored, and it will give me something to do.” I pressed my palm to my cheek, then glanced at my nails. “I need a facial and a manicure.”
“You can do these things on your own?”
“Am I a woman?”
“I’ll get you whatever you want.”
“Thank you.”
“But I don’t think you need all that makeup.” He reached out and stroked my face. “You’re beautiful without it.”
A compliment? My stomach fluttered. “That’s really nice of you to say, but makeup makes me feel pretty. I like filling in my eyebrows and contouring my cheeks, you know?”
“No.” He ran his hand along his jaw. “Tell me what you want, and I’ll have it delivered.”
“I’ll work on my list.”
“You can do that while I work. I want you to sit in the study with me.”
“Why?”
“Because I said so.”
“Didn’t you work all night?” I asked. “When you weren’t in bed with me?”
“You can’t help yourself, can you?”
“Maybe it’s you who can’t help yourself.” I raised my voice. “You’re so busy yelling at me and being rude that you can’t see what’s right in front of you.”
“Oh, I see what’s in front of me.” He backed me against the wall, placing his hands against it and trapping me. “I see a spoiled brat who can’t stop demanding everything from me while I’m in the middle of the biggest fight of my life. I see a selfish woman who can’t read the fucking room because she’s too busy asking for things she has no business asking for.”
“How dare you!”
“Shut it!” He slammed his hand into the wall, rattling the pictures on it. “I’m going to remind you that you came after me even when I told you to leave me alone. I told you we were not a good idea. Our families despise one another.”
My chest heaved as I tried to control my rapid heartbeat. Was I furious with him or turned on by the way he spoke to me? Either way, my temper was going to flare in about three seconds.
“You blew into my life and have caused me more trouble than I needed,” he said. “I’ve disappointed my father, and I’m leaving my brother with more than his fair share to deal with. Why? Because of you.”
“Then just let me go.”
“You say that as if there’s a choice. You have no idea what will happen to you if I let you go. You’re what we call leverage, princess.”
“This is still a business situation for you?” If I wasn’t so angry, I might have been sad. “Even after last night?”
“I don’t want to get into this now,” he said. “I have too much on my mind.”
“You have too much on your mind? I’m trapped here with no way of letting my family know I’m safe. Did it occur to you that my father hit your dealership yesterday because you won’t give me back?”
“I’m aware of what’s going on.” He lowered his gaze to my lips. “It’s you who is clueless if you think you can walk out of here and everything will go back to normal.”
“What you’re doing now isn’t working.”
“Don’t tell me how to run my business.” He punched the side of the wall again, and I ducked under his arm and scurried away from him.
As he advanced on me, I held up my hand. “Don’t.”
He stopped, giving me a moment to gather my thoughts.
“Whatever was going on between us before last night was fun,” I said. “But now our relationship has changed. We need to work together to come up with a solution. We can’t stay here forever, fighting and…”
“Fucking?”
“Why do you bait me?” I asked.
“It’s you who baits me.”
“Don’t you get it? We come from the same brutal world. We were forced into situations that we had no control over.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t I?” I pointed at him. “You were born into this world to run an empire and clean up the mess your father left behind. You’re stuck, trying to live up to his standards, doing everything you can to not disappoint him, but you are no closer to bringing him home than you were before you took me.”
“I would shut up if I were you.”
“Why? You don’t want to hear the truth?” The fury rose in my gut. “You’re forced to pick up where your father left off, and I’m expected to marry a man I don’t want to be with. That’s not normal. We didn’t get to choose these lives, but here we are living them.”
I never realized how much of a choice I didn’t have until now. I had reaped the benefits of being a mafia princess, and I never questioned where the money came from or how my father obtained it until it directly affected me. When he told me I was to marry Danny, I acted out and ran to Marchello as if it were a game.
“You know what?” I picked up the champagne bottle from the table and turned to leave. “Don’t ask me why I’m spoiled. You better than anyone should know who we have to become and what we have to do to survive in this world our fathers created for us.”
“Lissia, don’t walk away.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.” I headed into the house and down the hall, my heartbeat strumming loudly between my ears.
Maybe I would pay later for running my mouth and walking away from him, but at that moment, I didn’t care.
Let him try his worst.