Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Sophia
Mistress.
That’s what he had said. I was here to discuss being his mistress.
Which meant my brother had lied to me, because there wasn’t a chance in hell that he didn’t know.
Mistresses were scum in our world. Well, maybe not to the men who kept them, but they were shunned, gossiped about and never seen in polite society.
I hadn’t been raised to be a mistress, and I valued myself too much to be one now.
Rolling my wrist, I forced him to let go of me. “How dare you.”
Every atom of my being wanted to try and slap him again, maybe even throw a punch, but I also knew he was too fast to allow that to happen. Plus, he would be ready for that. I had no misconceptions. I knew all of my emotions were right there on my face.
“How fucking dare you.” Twisting away, I clenched my hands at my sides and stormed toward the window.
I loved this city and hoped the view of it sprawled out under me would calm my anger into something more manageable.
“How dare I?” Matteo’s voice was smooth.
The air around me moved as he stepped into my back. He was so close that another inch closer, and he would have pressed against me.
How many times had we stood like this in our brief but passionate relationship? Back then, he would have put his arms around my waist and pulled me back against him, but not now.
How things had changed. It was like being next to a stranger who knew me intimately.
His breath blew against the back of my neck and I shivered. It was like a stranger my body knew and craved him.
“You’re not a virgin, Sophia.” His breath whispered against my skin. “And in my position—"
I whirled on him. Lifting my chin, I glared at him. “The only man I have been with is—"
Reaching out, he slid his fingers across my cheek and under my hair. “Oh I know who you have been with.” Lashing out, he caught my ponytail and yanked my head back, baring my throat to him. I held my breath as he lowered his lips.
Only his kiss never came.
“I remember how you feel trembling under me, how…” he paused, “you begged for it. I am a little surprised you haven’t opened your pretty little legs for others, though.”
“You’re an asshole.” I stared up into his face without blinking.
“And what are you?” His fingers flexed in my hair. “You are not wife material, Sophia. You never had been, which is why you let me pluck your cherry even though you were engaged. You used me, beautiful. In more ways than one.” Fingertips scraped against my scalp and my hair tie snapped.
My long, dark hair tumbled free, and he made a groaning noise in the back of his throat.
I held my breath, my eyes never leaving his.
There it was: the heat, the attraction. Even after six years, it was still as intense as it had always been.
I hated him, but that didn’t stop my body from wanting him.
“I think it’s time I got to use you.” His other hand reached out and closed around my hip, yanking me into his body.
Thick hardness pressed into my stomach.
“Maybe I should use you now. See if you remember just how I like—"
Laughter floated around me.
“Let go of me, Matteo,” I said through gritted teeth. The heat in my stomach was melting away. “I am not the kind of woman you can talk to like that.”
More laughter. “You’re exactly that kind of woman. A whore. Maybe I should see how good a whore you can be right now. Maybe on your knees.”
Tearing my way out of his grasp, I slapped him straight across the face and he was too busy laughing at me to see it coming.
The sound of my hand making contact was loud and his laughter died completely.
Pressing a hand to his cheek, he glared at me. “That was a mistake.”
Matteo had always been intense, but he had never been cruel. Not to me anyway.
Never to me.
He really had changed.
“I’ll bite your dick off,” I said between gritted teeth. “You touch me against my will, and I will end you.”
Staring up into his face, I forced each word out. But I didn’t once break eye contact. I wanted him to know that I meant every single word.
Surprise flickered to life in his eyes. “As cold as your murderous family.”
“I am leaving. This meeting is over.”
I had taken two steps before he caught up with me. One muscled arm, barely hidden by the pristine white shirt, caught me around the waist and lifted me back into him, holding me there with my legs swinging.
“But it’s not over, Sophia. Do you think I would let you just walk out on me again?”
His mouth was so close to my skin that it moved the hair away from my throat.
“I am not going to be your mistress, Matteo. I wouldn’t even agree to be your wife,” I screamed it at him. My legs were kicking uselessly, but it didn’t matter how much I struggled, because he didn’t loosen his grip.
“You are a piece of shit and I hate you.”
“Good, because I hate you as well.” Chuckling, he turned and headed toward another door, taking me away from the safety of the hallway and the brother I was going to punch.
“But that doesn’t stop this. It doesn’t change it. Luckily for you, I’ve always wanted you in my bed, even when I hated you, and I know you feel the same. When you have calmed down and we are home in New York…”
Panic gripped me.
New York? I couldn’t go to New York. I couldn’t. My child was here in London.
“I’m not going. Let me go, Matteo.” I tried and failed to keep my voice level. The last thing I wanted was for him to realize something was up.
So far, he hadn’t dug too deeply into my life here, and I needed it to stay that way.
He couldn’t find out about Lily.
“I can’t go with you, Matteo. Please. My life is here.”
“You mean your little job in the bakery and your rent? I’ve already paid out your contract. Your roommate won’t be short on the rent. Everything is arranged.”
“But I haven’t agreed.” More and more panic was rushing through me. It made my breath come in pants and my heart race in a way that it felt like I was going to pass out.
“Your brother agreed. The deal is done. You are mine, Sophia. Just like you always promised you would be.”
I froze, unsure whether I had heard him right. “Gio would never—"
Only he would. He was desperate. And desperate men did horrible things.
“Please, Matteo.”
“No, Sophia,” he said before I could even finish the sentence. “The answer to whatever question is no. Don’t waste your breath asking it.”
“I just want…I need to say goodbye to someone and—"
Spinning me around he gripped my chin cruelly. “I thought you said there was no man in your life Sophia. Was that a lie? Are you still a liar like you were six years ago?”
“I don’t…just get off.” Again, I struggled against him. And his hand tightened, sliding from my chin to my throat and squeezing. “Get your hands off of me.”
Even as I said the words , heat flowed through me. The kind of heat that mirrored the fire in his eyes. Matteo was looking at me like he wanted to devour me.
Or kill me.
I wasn’t sure which one.
And it didn’t seem to matter to my body.
I wanted him. Even after all this time and all the things he had done and said I still wanted him and I hated myself for it.
“Or what? You’ll kill me like you killed my…”
“What—"
The main door to the hotel suite slammed open and my brother appeared like an avenging angel.
“Gio.” I let out a sigh of relief. I knew he wouldn’t have done this; set me up so I wouldn’t even get a chance to say goodbye to my daughter.
Gio was many things but he wasn’t that heartless.
“Enough Sophia,” he snapped and all my hope evaporated. “I can hear you screaming and shouting from outside. That is not how a woman in our family behaves.”
He wasn’t here to help me, I realized with a sinking feeling in my chest. He was here to give me away.
Matteo had been telling the truth. My brother had already made the deal. He had lied to me.
“Why would you do this?” I asked and my voice shook with anger. “Why would you fucking do this Gio?”
“Because.” Matteo’s fingers stroked over the skin over my pulse in my wrist in an almost gentle gesture which lasted five seconds before he closed his fingers around it and tugged me back toward him. “He needs me, and you are the only way he can form an alliance. Isn’t that right, Gio?”
My brother said nothing. He was too busy staring at me with a sort of pleading look in his eyes.
“You would sell your own sister to save your skin wouldn’t you? Tell her Gio. Tell Sophia the truth.”
My brother’s face crumbled.
“Gio tell me things aren’t that bad. Tell me—"
He cut me off with a snarl. “I told you they were bad. I told you that,” he snapped. “And you agreed to help. This is our family Sophia. Yoh should want to help your only brother.”
A guilt trip. Just great. “There has to be another way,” I muttered.
“There isn’t.” Matteo chuckled. “Gio needs me to save his sorry skin. Otherwise, who knows if he will be alive by next year.”
Alive by next year? My heart sank. Was my brother really in that much trouble?
“Gio?”
Finally he met my eyes. “He’s not lying, Sophia. I need you to do this.” He gave me a pointed look I couldn’t quite understand.
“Just for a little while. Until I get back in control and I’ll sort things out for you back here.” Another pointed look. “It won’t be forever,” he said finally.
He had a plan. My heart sped up. That’s what he was trying to tell me. This was all an act. Gio needed me to get close to Matteo so he could enact his plan and our family would finally have the revenge it deserved.
“How long?” I whispered and I couldn’t believe I was asking it, let alone contemplating it.
Could I really leave my daughter behind for weeks or maybe months and go off with the man who had murdered my family and ruined my life?
“Not long,” Gio said softly. “And then you will be free.” His eyes locked with mine. “I will never ask you for anything ever again.”
“Enough.” Next to me Matteo grumbled. “Let’s go.”
His hand tight around my wrist, and he began to drag me toward the half hidden door at the other end of the sprawling room.
“Don’t let me down Sophia,” Gio called out after me.
“I…”
“Enough Sophia,” Matteo grumbled. “You don’t talk to him again unless I tell you to. Your old life is gone now.” He flung open the door. “I am your new life and we are going to be late.”