Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Matteo
The hotel suite was nice, that’s as far as I would go to describe it. Not because there was anything wrong with it, but because it didn’t really matter where I was. My guts were twisting so badly that I could have been in a gunfight.
I was about to see Sophia for the first time in six years.
Six whole years of dreaming of her face, of thinking about the feel of her skin under my fingertips, and the feelings her betrayal had caused me.
Feelings I never wanted to feel again.
Loving Sophia had made me weak. She had used me. Seduced me—
My thoughts scattered as the hotel room door opened behind me and I tensed. My eyes glued to the huge windows, I watched as one of my men walked in.
Not her.
Not the woman I hated.
Not yet, anyway. She would be here soon, though, Gio had promised it. Not that I trusted that asshole. He was a snake in an expensive suit, but he needed this deal.
He needed me to want his sister because he didn’t know that six years ago, I had wanted her so much that I would have married her.
Things were different now.
Because I hated her.
I hated her just as much as I had once loved her. Maybe more.
Keeping my shoulders straight, I looked down at the city below, letting my eyes sweep across it.
This was where she had been all this time. She had made London her home. She had a job and a home and friends, and she was—
The door opened again, and this time, it was Gio who walked in. His usual smirk was plastered across his face as he sauntered in and behind him…
I sucked in a breath.
Behind him was Sophia. Her long dark hair was pulled back from her face in a simple ponytail. Her body that I remembered so well was encased in skin-tight blue jeans and a simple white tee.
She hadn’t even gotten dressed up for this meeting.
In the reflection, I finally looked at her face. Our eyes locked, and the smile on her face slipped just an inch.
She was happy.
She had left me, literally left me in the middle of the night, after I thought we had agreed to a future together. She came here and built a life for herself, and she was happy.
Right until our eyes met.
At my side, my hands closed into tight fists. Turning around, I met her eyes again, and this time the smile dissolved. She looked away quickly.
Good.
Taking a step forward, I motioned to the straight back sofa opposite me.
“Why don’t you take a seat?”
“It’s good to see you again, Matteo, old friend—" Striding forward, Gio held out a hand. I ignored it completely. My eyes never left Sophia.
“Take a seat.” I was speaking to both of them, but I was still looking at her.
Gio moved first, flopping down onto his seat and giving his sister a pointed look until she perched on the edge of hers.
“Great.” Finally, I tore my eyes away from her with difficulty.
I didn’t know how it was possible, but she looked even better now than she had six years ago.
“So, let’s get down to business.”
Opposite me, Gio fidgeted. It was almost like he was uncomfortable. It should have been Sophia who was awkward, but she was perfectly still. Her hands were clasped in her lap, and her eyes were glued on them.
Was she afraid to look at me?
I hoped so.
But still—
“Hello, Sophia.”
Her shoulders tensed. Her lips thinned, but finally, she lifted her head and looked at me. “Hello Matteo, it’s good to see you.”
Liar.
There was no emotion in her voice. It was like we were strangers.
“You’ve grown into a beautiful woman.”
What? My lips clamped shut. Why the hell had I said that? Of course it was true, but that didn’t mean I should have said it.
Next to her, Gio’s lips thinned. My head snapped around in his direction. What the hell was his problem? All of this was his idea. Surely he would want me to find his sister attractive.
“Thank you.” Sophia’s soft voice broke my stare.
“Such a polite little thing still.“ Leaning forward, I pulled a stack of papers toward me, but I didn’t look at them. I already knew everything they said.
“Can we just get on with this?”
My eyebrows snapped up. Maybe she wasn’t so polite after all. Maybe she had changed more than putting on a little weight.
Leaning back, I let my eyes drift over her. The last time I had seen her, she had been a girl. Petite then, now she was a woman with mouth-watering curves that I couldn’t wait to trace with my hands.
Against my zipper, my cock throbbed.
What was it about this woman that always made me forget what a horrible human being she was? Her whole family were snakes, and she was the worst of the lot.
“Do you have somewhere better to be, Sophia?”
She met my eyes, unflinching. “Yes, I have plans this afternoon. Ones I can’t miss.”
The way she said it, like she was going to meet someone important, made a wave of jealousy zap through me.
“Gio, wait outside.”
Gio did a double-take. Leaning forward, he frowned. “I don’t think—"
Tearing my eyes away from her, I speared him to the spot. “I didn’t think I asked,” I said curtly.
Did he really think he was in control here? Foolish, but then again, he always had been.
“I am not comfortable—"
I rolled my eyes. Was he really pretending to protect his sister’s honor when he was the one who was offering her up on a silver platter?
Even if she had been some untouched virgin, it was ludicrous, and I knew she wasn’t a virgin.
“It’s fine.” Sophia’s eyes swept over my face, and her lips thinned so much they almost disappeared. She reached forward and touched the back of his hand until he turned to her. “It will be fine,” she said again more firmly.
Grinning, I watched as her brother, the man I had once thought was closer than a brother to me, walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.
“You can all leave as well,” I said to the men hovering around us. I didn’t want an audience.
“So,” I leaned back as the door closed behind them. “This is where you have been.”
Sophia said nothing.
“Sophia?”
“Why ask when you know it is Matteo?” she snapped, and my eyebrows shot up again.
She was always feisty, but there was a sharpness to her as well.
“Freedom suits you, Sophia. Stand up,”
Her eyebrows shot up. “I beg your pardon.”
“Stand up and let me look at you. Is that really so hard to understand?” I bit back.
She bristled, but only for a second before she stood. Arms stretched out at her sides, she stared at me.
“Turn?” I motioned with my finger, a smile playing across my face.
This was cruel and humiliating, and I was an asshole for doing it, but what did she expect?
Plus, I wanted to see her. I wanted to look at her without an audience watching me.
Finally, she came to a stop. “Do I pass?”
My lips twitched. “You’ll pass.”
She rolled her eyes. Something she seemed to do a lot these days. Back when she had been the love of my life, she had only rolled her eyes back when I was making her cum.
“Thanks.“ She went to sit down
“Stop rolling your eyes at me, Sophia. Did I say you could sit down?”
She froze. “Stop being an asshole, Matteo. This isn’t like you.”
“And how would you know what I am like, Sophia?” I countered.
Standing there with her hands on her hips, she glared at me. “You’re right, I don’t. I’ve never known what you are really like.”
“That’s right. You didn’t. Just like I didn’t know what your real game was. You can sit now. We have some things to discuss.”
A line pinched her eyebrows together as she sat. “What kind of—"
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
“What? What kind of question is that?”
“A relevant one, don’t you think. You said you had something to do this afternoon, and the way you said it made it sound like it was with someone important, so it’s a question I felt I had to ask.”
She remained silent.
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
“No.”
A sigh rattled my chest. What would I have done if she said yes? Not that it would change what was going to happen. Sophia would be mine.
Again.
Only this time it wouldn’t be her in charge. It would be me.
“And how many men have you been with in the last—"
She lashed out, and I caught her wrist in my hand before she could slap my face.
“How many sexual partners have you had, Sophia?” My fingers flexed around her wrist. I should let her go. I knew that, but her skin was still as soft as it had always been.
“That’s none of your business.”
“It is completely my business. How many?” I stressed the last two words.
“One,” she gritted out.
“One.” I mulled the word over. Did that mean one after me or…? “In the last—"
“One partner in my entire life.”
I couldn’t help it. I grinned. One. That meant I was the only man who had touched her. The only man who had…
“Good.”
She ripped her arm away. “Don’t read anything into that, Matteo. It doesn’t mean I was hung up on—“ Her eyes darted to the door like she was scared her brother would be listening in. “The man I lost it to. He was an asshole.”
Mockingly, I clasped my hand to my heart.
“So let’s discuss this. Obviously, you will have everything you need: a home in one of my houses or apartments, and everything else.
I have something ready for your arrival, but if in a few months that doesn’t suit you, we can discuss it.
You will need to stay in the city because it will be easier for me to visit you.
And I have set aside a very generous allowance for—"
Leaning forward, she cut me off. “What do you mean ‘visit me’? If I agreed to this, and I haven’t done that yet, why wouldn’t we live together?”
Confusion pinched her eyebrows together.
“I’m sorry, but you know well enough how these things go, Sophia. You’ve never been a stupid woman. Why would I live with my mistress?” Shaking my head, I carried on. “Now there are going to be certain rules. But I can be—"
“Wait a second.” She threw up a hand and jumped to her feet. “What do you mean, mistress?”
I stared at her, taking in her self-righteous indignation, and I realized she didn’t know the deal her brother had made on her behalf.
“I was told—" Her voice shook with anger, “I am going to kill him.” Hands clenched at her side she took a step toward the door. Jumping up, I barred her way. My hands closed around her soft hips.
“You were told I wanted to marry you, right?” Throwing back my head I laughed. “Oh Sophia, poor poor, Sophia. That wasn’t the deal. I’m not going to marry you. I’m going to take you as my mistress.”