Chapter Eight
Vanessa knew she had done the right thing after only one month into their married life, and she felt happier than she did that first day.
Diago still had to do whatever he had to do. Some days he returned home covered in blood, other days stinking of old perfume or alcohol, but he was never drunk. She never asked him any details about his work, because she didn’t know if she should.
There had been times around the family table when her father would yell at her mother, and tell her to keep her fat beak out of his business. He’d humiliate her, and all she’d ask about was his day.
It was strange how being away from her family had only shown her how fucked up they had been. Her father hadn’t been able to stand the scar, and he had changed her position at the table so her mother saw it. She couldn’t help but wonder if it was because of guilt. Looking back, she knew it didn’t have anything to do with guilt, but everything to do with his failure.
The scar was a constant reminder of what he couldn’t do. He couldn’t sell her off. No one wanted her, and she couldn’t exactly blame them. Why would they want her? She’d been damaged goods. It was insane.
Diago still hadn’t killed her father, and she knew from previous conversations that he needed to do it at exactly the right time, where no one would want to take revenge. He’d told her there was always the right moment to kill someone, but taking the kill too early would have repercussions. She didn’t know what those could be, and she didn’t care.
“This is a beautiful sight,” Diago said, alerting her to his presence, and she immediately stood up in the pool.
She’d spent the morning walking through the gardens, until a massive rain shower had spoiled her walk, and a chance to think. The cleaners that came to work for Diago twice a week were not due until tomorrow. She was all alone in this big house, so she’d opted to finally use the pool.
“Diago, you’re home.” She glanced at his clothing and saw that he was clean this time.
“Yes, I called out to you, but then I saw you in the pool.”
“I didn’t hear you. Was your work … successful?”
Diago looked at her for several moments. He didn’t give any sign that he was confused by her question, or that he was even shocked by it.
“Do you know what is wrong with this picture?” he asked, pointing toward her in the pool.
She glanced around and was a little confused. “There’s something wrong with this? Am I not allowed in the pool?” She hadn’t even thought to ask permission to go into the pool. He’d told her she had complete freedom to walk around the grounds, and there was nothing off limits to her.
The only place she never ventured was his office, because to her, that was a place she didn’t need to go. His office was his domain.
“You’re allowed. No, the problem with this picture, Vanessa, is you’re not naked, and I don’t like that.”
She couldn’t help but laugh. “You have an issue with me being in a swimsuit?”
“Yes. I love to see my wife naked.”
He had a way with words that she found irresistible.
“Fine,” she said, and stepped back. Staring into his eyes, she didn’t look away as she peeled one shoulder strap then the other down her body, wriggled out of it, and let it drop to the pool floor. Bending down, she held her breath, and reached for the suit. Lifting it out of the water, she attempted to wring out the excess water, and then she threw it toward him.
Diago caught it, just as she knew he would.
“Does this please my husband?” she asked, holding her hands above her head, and giving him a little twirl.
“Yes, it pleases me.”
“Then why don’t you join me?” she asked.
She expected him to refuse, but Diago surprised her by getting to his feet and reaching for the opening of his jacket. There was no way she could look away as he removed each item of clothing. Vanessa marveled at his body, watching as he revealed it to her.
He moved toward the edge of the pool and climbed in. Diago was just as naked as she was.
She stood perfectly still, feeling her heart start to race as he advanced toward her. When he was within touching distance, Diago reached for her, cupping the back of her neck, and pulling her in close. Seconds later, his lips were on hers, and Vanessa lost all sense of thought.
Sliding her hands up his chest, she circled his neck, holding him close, not wanting to let go.
He growled her name and deepened the kiss. She didn’t want him to stop.
One hand remained at her neck, and the other slid down her body, going toward her ass. When he squeezed her cheeks, she whimpered his name, and Diago let go of her neck, gripping her ass, and she circled her legs around his waist.
“Put me inside you,” he said.
Vanessa reached between them, feeling his hardened cock. She lined the tip with her pussy, and slid onto his length. It felt so good, and when he was nearly all the way inside her, she let go and wrapped her arms back around his neck.
Diago walked them toward the edge of the pool, and she felt the tile at her back, but she didn’t care.
He began to thrust inside her, taking her harder. One of his hands left her ass, and she felt him pull out of her, until only a few inches of him was inside her, and he began to play with her clit.
She knew he was always obsessed with making her come with him, not that she was going to complain, because she loved feeling him, and nothing was going to change that. It felt so good, feeling his cock drive inside her, taking her to new heights, to places she didn’t even think were possible.
When he growled her name, Vanessa knew this was where she wanted to be with her life. There was no one else she would ever want. It was just her and Diago. And maybe in the future, a son or daughter, but she was too afraid to ask Diago if they would ever have a family.
This was all too new, and she didn’t want to destroy it.
****
“You’re a good cook,” Vanessa said, cutting into her steak and taking her third bite.
Diago watched her, loving her appetite.
Once again, he’d been able to get her naked, as she sat across from him, just as naked as she had been in the pool. Her hair had dried with a curl to it, as it framed her face. Her blue eyes held a sparkle he’d known hadn’t been there in a long time. His wife looked positively glowing and beautiful.
“I’m not a man who likes takeout.”
“Ah, so you had no choice but to learn how to cook.”
He nodded.
She licked her lips. “Do you have any family? Any friends?”
Diago looked at her, and he knew she wasn’t trying to dig up information to find his weaknesses. Vanessa wasn’t like that. “Only Susan,” he said. “I have other people I trust, but I use them to help me gather information.”
“I know you probably shouldn’t trust me,” Vanessa said. “Because of who I am and who I am related to. I just…” She glanced down at her wedding band. “I want this to work.”
“What to work?” he asked.
“You and me, this marriage. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and I know you probably don’t want to hear any of this but … I don’t have anything else. You’re the first person to ever treat me like I matter. Like I’m important.”
“You are,” he said. This was already dangerous ground.
She laughed. “Do you know what the crazy thing is? There was a time I used to love my dad. I thought he was this amazing person. He could do nothing wrong. My brothers adored him, and I saw my parents’ marriage as this loving relationship.”
He took a bite out of his own steak. “It wasn’t?”
“No, none of it was. I was a kid, wasn’t I? To me, growing up, that’s what was natural. My dad would yell at my mom, and she wouldn’t do anything about it, and he didn’t want to hear about mundane stuff she’d been up to, and he didn’t want to talk about work. There were a lot of meals in silence, and I only now just realized it.” She pressed her lips together, and then finally looked up toward him. “I don’t want that. I don’t know why you married me—”
“Because I wanted to.”
“But … what if you decide in years to come that you made a mistake?” she asked. “That you don’t want me?”
“That’s not going to happen.” He wasn’t a fool, or an idiot. Diago was aware of the gem he’d discovered, and there was no way he was going to give up on her. “Tell me what you want, Vanessa.”
“I don’t know what I want exactly.” She nibbled that lip and he knew, if he was just patient and gave her a chance to answer, she’d tell him exactly what she wanted.
He watched her.
Waiting.
Wondering.
“I … I’d like to be able to talk to you about your day. I’d love for you to trust me.” She took a deep breath. “To figure out the boundaries of our relationship, and if you hope to expand our family.” Again, she took another deep breath. “I’d like to know about you. Who you are, and I promise this is not to gather information or anything like that. I’d like to get to know the man who doesn’t look at me like I’m damaged goods.”
“How do I look at you?”
“Like you want me. Like you enjoy looking at me. It’s nice not being told to keep my hair down, or to hide my face, or keep it turned away. Did you know my parents were looking into plastic surgery?” she asked.
He nodded his head.
“See, you’re aware of everything even before everyone else,” she said.
“The key to survival is knowing everyone’s business, and making sure no one knows yours.”
The smile on her lips faded, and Diago couldn’t stand to see her unhappy.
“I didn’t know who my parents were,” he said. “I was raised in an orphanage until I was five years old, and then a man, a scary man, came to the orphanage, and he was looking for a boy. One that no one wanted. One that had never been considered by a family.”
“You were that boy?” she asked.
He nodded. “I was a strange boy. I liked silence and solitude. Families didn’t like me, because I didn’t make it work. I didn’t bend over backward to be the perfect son they were looking for. They were interested in children who wanted to be adopted, and I didn’t.”
“You felt that way at five?”
“Like I said, I was a strange boy. The man, he … took a liking to me.” He saw the horror on her face and couldn’t help but chuckle. “Not like that. He was looking for an apprentice. Someone to pass his skills onto, but he couldn’t father children, and he didn’t trust women. He’d spent his whole life around women who would gladly take his money to give him a good time. He didn’t want to trust any of them with a child. Also, he didn’t want to change diapers, or get up early in the morning or through the night to feed a brat. He needed someone who already had the basics, which I did, and so began my training.”
“Training?”
“Vanessa, you don’t get to be the man I am today without training.”
“At five years old?”
He nodded.
“My first kill was at eight years old. My mentor was killed when I was fifteen. His past caught up with him, and he’d gotten too old and too slow.”
“So, at fifteen, you were all alone?”
“Yeah, but I can promise you, I was the scariest fifteen-year-old around. I got by. My Pop, which is what he told me to call him, had taught me everything—how to shoot, how to hunt, how to kill, how to survive. He warned me there would come a time I would have to do this alone. I wouldn’t have him or anyone else. He wasn’t wrong.”
He was surprised he was sharing this with Vanessa.
His past was a secret. No one knew who he was, as his Pop had kept it that way. He’d told him to not go hunting for ghosts of the past, and he hadn’t. He didn’t need to know who the people were who left him at the orphanage. He’d made a life for himself.
“I couldn’t imagine being that young and having to do all of those things,” Vanessa said. “Did you hate it?”
“No,” he said. “I loved it. What you’ve got to understand is that I was a young boy who had come from nothing, who was nothing. I had been told time and time again that I needed to change if I wanted a family. I wasn’t good enough for the orphanage, the foster people, to anyone but Pop. He didn’t treat me cruelly. Don’t think for a second I had a bad life, because I didn’t, Vanessa. Was the training hard? Yes. Did he put me in difficult situations? Yes. Would I change any of it? No. I like who I am, and as for today, I was gathering information on the people surrounding your father to see who else is aware of what he did to you,” Diago said.
“I thought the men who were responsible had been killed,” she said.
“They had been, but I need to make sure no one else was hoping to profit off your treatment.”
“This is insane, who would profit from something like that?” she asked. “It doesn’t make any sense.” She put her knife and fork down.
“You want a family?” he asked.
This made her jerk, which she tried to hide but sitting up just a little taller in her seat. “Uh, I’m not sure.”
“Then that is something we can always talk about at a later date,” he said.
He never intended to have children, but staring at Vanessa, he had a feeling she did. As the days passed, he knew there was nothing he wouldn’t do for this woman. She had become his whole freaking world.