Chapter 20
Emma
“I ’ve missed seeing you at home, Emmalina.”
I exhaled through my nose, refusing to let Antonio see how much he bothered me. How much he scared me. I hated the way he said my name, that nasally, whiny emphasis on the na at the end.
“What a shame,” I replied dryly.
“It is.” He didn’t move, standing with his hands clasped behind his back. It was a power move, trying to look mighty and in control. He was in control. I knew he was. But I didn’t have to react like a submissive woman.
“It is a shame that I’ve been deprived of seeing my bride.”
“Future bride.” I wouldn’t back down. “We’re not officially engaged yet.”
He arched one brow, seeming amused as a slow, ugly smile covered his face.
“Are you waiting for a romantic proposal, you stupid, silly bitch?”
One of the guards behind him laughed.
“No.”
He kept goading me. “Are you wanting some grand gesture of love?” he mocked.
“I want you to leave me alone.”
He smirked, looking at his guards as if silently asking can you believe this woman?
“It doesn’t matter what you want. You belong to me.”
Not yet. I practically vibrated with the force of staying still and hiding my emotions.
“I want to marry you now, not later.” He cocked his head to the other side. Strands of his dark-brown hair slid over his brow, the greasy lengths not spreading with the movement. This creep thought slicking his hair back looked good with a ton of product. The joke was on him, though. Nothing could make him attractive.
“You will be mine, Emmali na .”
I bit the inside of my cheek, wishing I could scream hell no .
“Your virginity, that sweet little pussy, will be mine to claim.” He grinned, glancing at the guard who snickered behind me.
“Hey, I thought you said sharing was caring, Tony.”
He nodded, smiling wider. “Of course, it is. She’s so frigid and icy I’ll need lots of help breaking her in.”
No. No. No! I internally cringed, refusing to let this be my future. I had to get out of here. I had to find a way to stop this from becoming my life. A pawn. A hole to breed. A thing to pass around.
Tears—angry ones so scalding hot—burned behind my eyes.
“Where is Krista?” I asked instead, not replying to his taunts. “Someone told me to come here and find her. Where is she?”
“In the car.”
I turned at the sound of the door opening behind me. Luke stepped in, not waiting for an invite. He hadn’t knocked. He strode right in and caught me asking about my friend.
“I found her and moved her to the car,” he said.
Scowling at me, he looked furious and annoyed. I was used to his expressions of rage and frustration. I was learning that his smiles and softer, tender expressions were rare treats to savor. He was mad, though, clearly aggravated at finally finding me.
Locked in a numbing dread, I’d lost track of time. Facing off with Antonio twisted me up to guess how long I’d been in this room. It felt like so short of an experience, but the sick residue of being in his presence would linger and fester within me long after I left.
“Hmmm.” Antonio tilted his head the other way again. His “quirk” made him look like a fucking bird, not a man of power. “Is this him?” he asked of the guards.
“Yeah. He’s the one who fought Orsen,” the man replied.
“I’ve heard about you,” Antonio commented, looking at the distance between me and Luke. Not much of it remained. I resisted the urge to run into his arms, and I felt the tangible tug of him wanting to haul me out of here. It was another display of this connection that snapped into place between us, this awareness that we belonged with each other.
“You think you’re some kind of fighter, huh?”
Luke grunted. “Ask the stupid fucker in the neck brace if I am. Ask Orsen.”
No. Shit. I couldn’t let this happen. Luke couldn’t engage Antonio in a talk about fights and business and— No. This sexy protector didn’t know who he was dealing with.
“He’s just the chauffeur,” I rushed to say. “Security staff at the Tropican.”
Antonio’s brows hiked up high. “Oh?”
I nodded, not daring to look at Luke. He didn’t outwardly react to me delegating him as a staff member. We both knew how much more he was to me. He was the man I couldn’t resist, the man I’d been secretly kissing and messing around with.
“Correct. And we should be going,” Luke stated in a firm monotone.
“You should be,” Antonio replied. “But she can stay.”
“Don’t talk about me like I’m not here.” I stepped back, staying closer to Luke. Pushing against him as I retreated, I felt calmer the moment he put his hand on the small of my back. He dug his fingers in though, clutching the material of my shirt like he wanted to lock his hold on me.
Antonio glared as I left, backing up with Luke. Once we exited the room, he turned me to face forward and we almost ran out of there.
My heart thumped wildly and the tension that gripped me didn’t disappear after that encounter with Antonio. Seeing him always upset me. It disgusted me, and hearing his comments about taking me and sharing me filled me with rage and fear.
Luke didn’t leave my side, rushing to the car with me. I assumed it was him that kept the guards back. He was the reason no one tailed us.
I didn’t think about it, relying on the urgency to just get. To get the fuck out of here while I could and put distance between me and the man who wanted to own me.
Krista slept in the back. I was relieved to see her. As Luke started the car and drove off, I reached over the seat to feel her pulse.
“She’s alive,” he reported, driving quickly and checking his mirrors. Hs jaw twitched with tension, and his eyes remained slitted, in concentration to get away and anger.
He had to have found her and carried her out.
“They drugged her.” My observation was pointless.
“And they could’ve done the same to you.” He slammed his fist on the steering wheel. “Emma, what the hell is going on?” He glanced at me, skewering me with a hard glare. “How do you know those assholes?”
I didn’t want to say. If I did, he’d walk away.
“The mafia? They’re the fucking Marcheses.”
Oh, I was well aware of that fact.
“What the fuck are you doing messing with the mafia?”
“I’m not messing with them.” If I could, I’d run far from them and never come back. I wasn’t sure how someone could erase their family and flush out their blood to start over like that though.
“Those people are dangerous.”
I exhaled hard through my nose. Tell me something I don’t know!
“Do you hear me?” He huffed an incredulous laugh. “The fucking mafia, Emma.”
“I heard you the first time.”
“How the hell are you connected to them? What is going on?”
I bit the inside of my cheek, warring with the duplicity of not telling him.
“Emma!” He shouted, and still, Krista didn’t stir. “Answer me.”
Please, please don’t hate me. He was so adamant that he should avoid me because he didn’t need more trouble in his life. And here I was dragging him through the worst of it.
“Why are you hanging around dangerous men like that?”
“I’m not!” I never, ever chose to be near the Marcheses.
“It looks different from my perspective.”
His jaw ticked with annoyance.
“Those men are killers. Leaders of the underground. Fuck, Emma. You can’t be this na?ve.”
I glowered at him. “I’m not na?ve.” I knew more about those mafia men than he did.
“And you don’t care how dangerous they are?”
“Like you should talk!” I pointed at him. “You’re just as dangerous as them.”
Even worse, he was a danger to my heart. It was two seconds from cracking, crushed by the weight of knowing we would never be able to stay together with the truth of who I was and how deeply I’d be thrust into the Marchese rule at the end of the summer.