Salvatore

26. Salvatore

26

SALVATORE

She’s said that before, her request for fresh air a precursor to an escape attempt.

For her sake, she’d better not run.

Her departure is composed, her stiff posture and rigid limbs the only signs of her internal upheaval as she walks for the sliding glass door.

“Ivy, wait.” Olivia shifts backward in her chair.

I shoot her a warning glare, one so threateningly lethal that she remains seated while Ivy continues outside to be greeted by the screech of Lorenzo’s birds.

“Well, as delightful as this has been—” I dab my cloth napkin to my mouth, then calmly place it down on the table “—I’m going to have to ask you both to pack your shit and leave. You have ten minutes to be out of here.”

Olivia’s face pales, her dumbfounded stare turning to my brother. “Is he serious?”

“We’re not going anywhere,” Remy mutters. “Not unless Ivy comes with us.”

I raise a brow, my attention remaining squared on Olivia. “Ivy isn’t leaving. She’ll do as I say for as long as I say it.”

“Why?” she begs. “What do you want from her?”

“The more important question is what does Lorenzo want, and the answer to that isn’t favorable.”

“Elaborate,” Remy demands.

I chuckle, the sound demeaning. “He wants her gone, brother. Didn’t he tell you that?”

“Gone?” Olivia’s eyes widen. “Meaning?”

I hold her stare and raise a condescending brow.

Her face leeches of color. “You’re going to kill her? Is that why you came he?—”

“I’ve organized a new identity and passport.” I return my animosity to Remy. “I’ll relocate her out of state. Maybe even abroad. Lorenzo doesn’t approve of the plan but he conceded for the sake of?—”

“But what if she refuses?” Olivia pleads.

I grind my teeth. “Brother, if she continues to talk to me as if we’re equals, I’m going to have to teach her the error of her ways.”

“They’re best fucking friends.” Remy shoves to his feet. “They’re practically sisters. How the hell do you expect her to?—”

“I don’t care if they’re fucking soulmates.” I lean back in my chair and shrug. If anything can trigger my brother into storming from the house, it’s the outright contempt he holds toward my apathy. “You’ve worn out your welcome. Pack your things and spend the night in a hotel. I’ll allow you to come back in the morning and say your goodbyes.”

“You’ll allow me?” Remy balls his hands into fists and leans them against the table. “This isn’t your house.”

“Correct. But the man who owns it is one more complication away from telling his men to take Ivy’s life. So your options are—leave and spend the night indulging in whatever questionable pleasures keep the two of you entertained, or call Lorenzo to complain and be willing to take responsibility for your actions when he orders her death.”

“Oh, God.” Olivia clasps a palm to the base of her throat, her pleading gaze lifting to Remy. “What do we do?”

My brother rolls his tongue over the front of his teeth, clearly wishing he had the balls to lunge across the table and punch me in the face.

He won’t though.

He knows his place, and how it’s positioned beneath me.

“Let’s go.” Remy grabs Olivia’s seat and drags it backward.

“But what if he hurts her?” she pleads.

“He won’t.” He glares at me as he helps her to stand. “Otherwise he would’ve done it already.”

Smart man. I grin though, goading him a little more just because I’m a prick, and move to my feet. “Have a wonderful night.”

“Fuck you, Salvo.”

Remy leads a pleading Olivia from the open living area, murmuring words of placation as I stride for the glass door Ivy escaped through. The birds continue to squawk, the caw and prattle dying down while I walk toward her standing rigid at the far corner of the building.

The moonlight kisses her hair, making the dark strands glossy as she takes in the expansive gardens bathed in moonlight.

She wants to run. I assume the two guards surveying her are stopping that from happening—one camouflaged in the shrubbery, the other in plain view a few yards away with a rifle at ease by his side.

I jerk my chin, instructing them to leave.

They follow my silent command, turning on military heels to march in opposite directions.

Her posture relaxes a little as she crosses her arms over her chest, not bothering to turn and greet me.

I clear my throat. “If you’re expecting an apology for ordering the deaths of your uncle and cousin, I’m going to break it to you gently when I say that’s never going to?—”

“That’s not an expectation.” She pivots farther away, a silent shun while the pain in her voice sickens me. “In fact, I’d be surprised if you understood the concept of an apology, let alone the ability to articulate one.”

“That’s a little harsh. But I’m willing to prove you wrong.” I slide my hands into my pockets, still a slave to the constant need to touch her. “I can wholeheartedly apologize for the effect my charm and dashing good looks have on your lust.”

She sighs, still staring out into the bleak night.

“You didn’t like that one, huh?” I stroll around her, stopping to stand a few feet in front of her. “How about, I’m sorry you enjoy my company more than you’d like to admit?”

Her expression is deadpan. Devoid of expression. Yet still annoyingly exquisite.

“I’m sorry you probably find it hard to come to terms with how easily I make you come,” I deliver with a forced grin. “And that I’ve ruined the memory of every other man who came before me because of my infallible prowess.”

She scowls. “Are you done?”

“I don’t have to be if you need more convincing of my apologetic expertise…”

She looks away, staring over my shoulder with eyes that shimmer with an emotion I despise. The men she mourns were rapists. Traffickers. They don’t deserve her thoughts, let alone her tears.

“How’s the fresh air?” I move to the wall, resting my back against the warm brick.

“It was substantially better without your scent tainting it.”

I glance down at my shoes, hiding a smirk. “I thought you were going to run.”

“I wanted to.” She speaks to the moon. “Even if just to feel free for a few seconds. But I didn’t realize how hard it would be to step outside for the first time since arriving here.”

“You haven’t been outside?” Why didn’t Catarina mention that? She’d told me Ivy had been doing well. That she’d been leaving her room. Smiling. Eating. Chatting. I kept my goddamn distance because I didn’t want to risk interrupting her momentum.

“Those guards with their shiny rifles don’t make the outdoors seem all that inviting.” She sniffs, her left leg jittering.

She doesn’t feel safe, and I don’t fucking appreciate her having to feel that way.

I push from the wall to invade her line of sight, cutting off her view to the men with guns. “Why would you grieve men like Javier and Miguel?”

She turns her head away, denying me the chance to read her expression. “Who says I’m grieving?”

“Clearly, you’re upset.” Her confidence has been eroded, her sass lacking its usual luster. I don’t like her like this. “Your grief is?—”

“I’m not grieving.” She snaps pleading eyes to me. “Don’t pretend to know what I’m feeling. You have no idea.”

“Then clear up the misconception, because to me it seems as though you’re heartbroken that I ordered the death of rapists.”

She winces, her posture losing its rigidity. “I’m not heartbroken, Salvatore.”

Yes, she fucking is. She’s almost at the point of tears.

This woman, who has suffered through a life of trauma not unlike my own, is bleary-eyed and fragile. Over what? Men who would’ve sold her to slavery if she were born to a different family?

“Explain yourself,” I demand.

She scoffs. “Okay, Hitler.”

Frustration tightens my limbs. “I mean it, Ivy. Tell me why you’re upset.”

“Can’t you just leave me alone?” she begs. “I’ll come back inside in a minute. I just need?—”

“Tell me.” I get in her personal space.

“Or what?” She squares her shoulders.

I grin. “Or I’ll tie you to my bed and fuck the truth out of you.”

She rolls those pretty, waterlogged eyes. “Somehow I don’t think those two minutes of torture would cut it.”

A growl rumbles in my chest, my frustration taking control of my common sense. “We’ve played games, Ivy. I’ve let you have your fun demeaning me. But you won’t deny me this. Tell me what the fuck has got you so upset.”

“I’m not upset.”

“ Fucking tell me.” I grab her upper arms and back her into the wall.

“I’m not—” She shoves at my shoulders. “This isn’t sadness, you manhandling muppet.”

“Then what is it?” I get in her face, forcing her to maintain our stare.

“ Panic ,” she blurts. “You’ve got no idea what you’ve done.”

I recoil.

“It keeps compiling,” she continues as my hands fall to my sides. “You’re unwittingly increasing my debt to you. And I’m scared at what that means, not only from your viewpoint but from mine .”

This is about me? About the nonexistent fucking debt?

“You saved my life, Salvatore. You killed for me. Then provided all the hospitality that comes with living in an illustrious mansion. Plus ninety thousand fucking dollars’ worth of clothes I can’t even afford to dry clean. And now I learn that you’ve also rid this world of the two men who’ve haunted my nightmares since I was a little girl.” The slender column of her throat works over a heavy swallow, my fingers itching to grab her there and ease the torment. “Have you got any idea how that makes me feel? I’m grateful beyond measure. To you —” She shoves me again. “The lord of fucking darkness. How is that fair?”

I clench my jaw. “You owe me nothing.”

Her scoff is barely audible. “For now maybe?—”

“No, not for now. For good . There are things I might want from you, Ivy. But don’t mistake my desire to fuck you as anything other than a challenge I intend to earn on my own merit. You are neither indebted to me by your body or your nonexistent fucking finances. I don’t want your goddamn money.”

She glances away again. “Just because you don’t want it doesn’t mean I don’t feel obliged?—”

“We’re done talking about this.” I cage her against the wall. “Do you understand?”

She raises her chin, her focus remaining on my uncle’s gardens as she grits out, “I don’t like being told what to do unless I’m naked.”

“That can be arranged,” I growl.

She stiffens, her voice weaker when she says, “No. I’m not doing this again.”

“Doing what?”

“ This .” She places a palm to my chest. “Falling for whatever endorphin-induced off-the-rails spell you keep putting me under.”

“There’s no spell, Ivy. You’re just attracted to me.”

She squares her shoulders. “Am I? Or are you so attracted to my body and my don’t-give-a-shit attitude that you can’t see through the fact I’m not attracted to you at all?”

She is attracted to me. She fucking burns for me.

I don’t know how or why, but I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life. She feels the same way I do.

I inch closer, my shoes between hers, our thighs almost touching. “Is wanting me such a bad thing?”

“It’s literally the worst thing. Sleeping with you the first time was a brain-dead decision. But to do it again?” She waves an erratic hand toward the house. “To do what we did in the rec room?” Finally she meets my gaze, hunger blatant in her eyes. Blood rushes to my dick. “This is dangerous for me, and you know it.”

“I’ve proven I’m no threat.” I remove a hand from the wall to wrap my fingers around her nape, showing her she can trust me.

She shudders, her heated skin pebbling under my touch. “You’ve proven I’m valuable. I just can’t figure out why.”

“You hold no value to my family. In fact, your existence is a liability.” I’ve fought all week to keep her alive. I’ve schemed. Bribed. Manipulated. I’ve made more allowances to keep air in her lungs than I care to admit. “I’ve had to beg for your fucking life, troublemaker.”

Her brows pinch. “To who? Lorenzo?”

I incline my head. “The cartel are still looking for you, and he doesn’t want you found on his land. He’d prefer if you weren’t found at all.”

She pushes against my chest, attempting to gain space I’m not willing to give.

“We compromised.” I tighten my hold around her nape, forcing her to weaken to me. “He agreed to have you relocated. Which is why I’m here. To settle you someplace safe.”

“No.” She shakes her head. “That’s more debt. More leverage. I won’t do it. I’ll find my own way.”

“Over my dead body.”

“Is that option on the table? Because, let me make this clear, it’s a goddamn preference right now.”

My blood heats. “You test my patience.”

“You test my will to live,” she mumbles in a lie so blatant I want to sink my cock inside her as I force her to take the words back.

“You’re treading awfully close to being fucked against the side of my uncle’s house in full view of his guards.”

“That’s a wish-list item you’re never going to receive.”

“Are you sure?” I could take her. Have her. Please her. But given the suffering she’s endured, I’m willing to settle for second best.

“After being caught this afternoon, I’m positive. Olivia would kill me before I had a chance to do it myself.”

“Then we won’t get caught.” I lean closer, our mouths bare inches apart. “We can even scrub sex off the table. For now. But I’m a proud man, Ivy—there are only so many times I can fuck my own hand while thinking about you before I lose my mind. At least let me taste you.” I palm her chin, dragging a thumb over her bottom lip.

“I thought you said you didn’t beg.” Her statement fucking drips with lascivious need as she closes her eyes and tilts her head to align our mouths. “Has Sally become a liar?”

My pulse thunders. “Careful . ” I lean my hips into hers, the hard length of my cock pressing into her abdomen. “One more delicious taunt and rubbing up against you will be enough to have me blowing in my trousers like a sex-starved teen.”

“Mmm?” She hums her approval. “I’d like that.”

I’m not surprised.

What’s fucking shocking is that the thought of the juvenile act doesn’t come with a degrading aftertaste. In fact, I’m tempted to demonstrate just to prove how mindless she makes me. My own twisted act of homage.

“One kiss,” she murmurs, her voice breathy.

The menacing thrill of victory blindsides me as I lean in, quick to take what I’ve been promised.

“Not so fast, ninito. ” She pushes against my chest and meets my eyes. “I haven’t told you where I want to be kissed.”

I grip her jaw tighter, my lack of restraint in direct correlation to the increased blood pulsing in my dick.

She licks her lips, her mouth curving in a coy smile. “Get on your knees.”