Lorenzo #3
"Ronan hit her on her wedding day," My father says and the air leaves my lungs in a woosh. "Pushed her into a mirror. She has a goose egg on her head, according to Vittoria. She's been managing the pain since she arrived here."
I put my hands flat on the table. Fuck. How the hell did I not know what the fuck happened yesterday? How did I not know she was injured? Because I didn’t care to know, that’s the simple fact of the matter. That is my duty to marry her and that’s it.
"If you hurt that girl after everything she's survived," my father says, "you'll have four very angry women to answer to." He stands, straightens his jacket. "You’ll also have me to contend with.”
He walks out without looking at me again.
Fuck. There’s so much I don’t know and every day there seems to be new information coming out.
I will be paying Ronan a visit, that I’m sure of. If he comes near my wife again, I’ll be sure to enjoy taking his hand.
I skip dinner. I can’t deal with my sisters staring at me like I’m the fucking devil, or not demanding answers from Quinn. There’s so many fucking questions that I have, and yet, I don’t deserve any of the answers. Not from her, anyway. Her brothers are an entirely different situation.
I stay in my office, going through every scrap of information that I have on Quinn.
I need to relearn everything that I’ve ever learned about her because I’ve been looking at it completely wrong.
I’ve been seeing how she’s able to deceive me, how good she is at playing the game this world has people play.
I believed lies about her and now everything I thought I knew isn’t true.
I think about what Daithí has said to me recently;
If she did what you think she did, why the hell would Tony still be standing beside my father every day?
You don't know the truth. And until you do, if you hurt her—
He knew. He's known the whole time. He was protecting her the only way he knew how, which was putting himself between her and everyone who was getting it wrong, including me.
It’s late when I go to the bedroom. The room is empty and I breathe a sigh of relief. I wanted to be here when she arrived, but I wasn’t sure if I would be too late. I shower quickly and get ready for bed, when I return to the room, Quinn’s still not here.
I sit in the bed, the sheets covering my legs, as I read through some emails. It’s not long until the door opens and Quinn walks in.
She's beautiful. She’s dressed in sleep shorts and a tank top. Her hair’s loose, and she’s holding a book in her hand. She’s reading it, not looking around.
“Good evening,” I say and watch as her head lifts, her eyes wide as she sees me and stops dead in her tracks.
"I thought—" she starts
"You thought wrong," I reply.
"You said that this marriage would be in name only,” she stammers, glancing around the room like she’s looking for an escape.
"We're married," I remind her. "There's no separate beds, no distance, and no other people.”
I watch her swallow hard, her eyes still wide. “You don't trust me."
"No," I say honestly. I won’t lie to her, I owe her that much at least. "But you're still mine."
She stands in the doorway, staring at me as though she’s unsure of what to say.
“I don’t have the energy for this,” she whispers and I know it’s costing her a lot to admit that.
“I know,” I whisper back. “I know everything, Quinn. Your brothers came to see me today. I’m sorry.”
Her eyes narrow. “Know what?” Her voice is tight as she watches me.
“Everything, but we’ll get into that tomorrow. Come to bed, Quinn. Just to sleep,” I assure her when I see the fear seep into her eyes. “Just to sleep,” I repeat.
Her shoulders sag forward and she closes the door behind her before she steps toward the bed. It feels as though a huge weight has been lifted from my chest as she climbs into the bed beside me.
“Quinn,” I say after a few minutes. “I doubt there’ll be a next time, but just in case, the next time someone hurts you and you don’t tell me, there’ll be trouble.”
She turns to face me, a look of indignation crosses her features. “Tell you?”
I nod. “Yes, you are my wife. No one, I don’t give a fuck who they are, no one touches you. They do and they’ll pay dearly for doing so.”
“But—”
I shake my head. “No buts, this discussion is over. I just wanted to let you know what’ll happen in the future if this happens again. Understood?”
She’s silent for a moment but she slowly nods. “I understand.”
“Good. Tomorrow we’ll discuss what happened in your father’s home to you, but now, read your book, Quinn, and sleep, you’re safe here.”
I need to speak with Tempest. Now that I know what happened between Daire and Tony, I want to know if she’s done the same with anyone else.
I watch as Quinn sinks into the mattress and turns over. She's safe, as I said, and that's all that matters for now. The lamp beside the bed clicks off and darkness settles over the room.
Tomorrow, we'll talk, but tonight, I lie awake listening to the steady rhythm of her breathing and wonder if I've already done too much damage to fix anything.