Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Sophia
“You will have dinner with me this evening.”
I looked up in shock to see Matteo standing in the doorway to my bedroom, which was indeed my bedroom now because he no longer slept with me. I was relegated to one of the guest rooms, and he took the master suite.
It was just one of the many things that had changed between us since he had found the poison all those days ago.
Or was it weeks?
It was impossible to keep track. The TV and radio had been taken. I had the view and some books, but nowhere to actually keep track of the time that passed.
All I seemed to do was read, sleep, and think about how things should have been so different.
Not that regrets were doing any good.
Matteo had made it clear that he would never forgive me.
And really, I didn’t deserve it. Sure, I might not have used the poison, but I should have told him.
Because I was never going to use it.
It wouldn’t make any difference now. Matteo had found it and was now treating me like the enemy.
Which he had every right to, but that didn’t mean it got any easier living with a man who hated me and wanted my whole bloodline wiped out day after day.
My gut clenched. He wanted to murder my whole family, and that included Lily. He might not know about her, and now he never ever could. I would never risk her, even if that meant I would never see her again.
“Are you crying again?” he barked, and I started, dropping the book to my lap as I jumped. Self-consciously, I touched my fingers and they came back wet.
“Why are you crying again, Sophia? Did someone you care about try to poison you?” His voice dripped with sarcasm. Which it always did these days.
In the few times he spoke to me, it was always sarcastic and borderline cruel, like he enjoyed torturing me.
“I’m sad.” Lifting the book, I went back to reading. “And I’m not hungry.”
The book was yanked out of my hands and tossed away. Matteo leaned over me, giving me no choice but to retreat into the pillows and stare up at him in fear.
Was this the moment he killed me? I knew he wanted to every time he looked at me. I could see the murder in his eyes.
Anything he had ever felt for me was gone. And he would never listen if I tried to explain.
Not that I could explain.
“I don’t think,” his head descended, and for a second, I thought he was going to kiss me, “I was asking.”
Yeah, he wasn’t going to kiss me. He just wanted to get up close and personal when he spat his hatred. “You will dress properly, and you will join me for dinner. In fact…”
His eyes swept over my body. “You will make me dinner.”
My eyebrows shot up. Make dinner for him? I hadn’t even been allowed to make a sandwich since he had found that stupid vial.
Everything we ate was ordered in. He was worried I would try to poison him.
“Is that so?” God, I was so tired of this.
“Yes.” Climbing back off the bed, he stood there and stared. “Yes, you will, Sophia, because it would be a shame for our time together to come to an end so soon, don’t you think?” His smile was crueller than anything I had ever seen. “And accidents do happen. Plus, you’ve been so sad recently…”
I swung my legs over the bed. He didn’t need to finish that particular sentence. I knew what he was trying to say.
“What would you like me to cook for you, Matteo?”
He followed me out of the room. “Whatever you feel like eating. I would like to eat within the hour, though. I have plans tonight.”
Plans? He always had plans. None of them involved me. I was his prisoner, locked in these same four walls in a gilded cage.
“Of course, Matteo.” I walked toward the kitchen, my back straight, but inside, my soul felt like it was crumbling. Soon, there would be nothing left but a shell because that’s what Matteo's hate did to me.
Twenty minutes later, I brought a plate of steak and salad to the dining table, placing it in front of him like I was his servant.
“Where is yours?”
“I’m not hungry,” I muttered, because honestly, even the thought of food was enough to twist my guts.
He lashed out, catching my wrist and dragging me back to his side before I could even put up a fight.
“Matteo!”
Ignoring me completely, he pulled me into his lap. His arms trapped me there, and he picked up his knife and fork, easily cutting into his steak.
“Eat,” he ordered, bringing the fork to my mouth.
I shook my head. “I am not hungry.”
It was one thing for him to treat me like shit and order me around like I was a servant, all the while mentally torturing me, and there was another if he thought he could order me to eat.
I wasn’t a child or a dog.
“And I am not asking,” he snapped, and the sharp, metal prongs of the fork pressed against my lips. “Open your mouth.”
“No.”
“Open your goddamn mouth or admit…” he bellowed.
“It’s not poisoned,” I snapped because that’s what this was about. He thought I had poisoned his goddamn steak and salad.
Yanking the fork out of his hand, I took a bite, twisting in my seat so he could watch me chew and swallow. And he did watch me.
Matteo’s eyes darted from my lips to my throat and back up again like he couldn’t help himself.
“It’s not poisoned, Matteo.” I snatched some salad from the plate and ate that as well. “I am not that stupid. What I am is not hungry.”
For several long seconds, he stared at me. “I guess you want me to be thankful that you are no longer trying to kill me? In your head, I should fall to my knees and worship you?”
It might have been my imagination, but he looked like he wanted to do just that.
“I was never going to do it,” I muttered.
“No?” His arms tightened around me, no longer trapping me in a cage of his arms, but actually wrapping them around me.
“You just hid the poison? You weren’t going to use it? Tell me, Sophia, why should I believe you?”
I wanted to scream at him that he would believe me if he loved me, but what would be the point? I was half guilty anyway, and even if I wasn’t, he had already made up his mind.
Throwing back his head, he laughed. “See, you can’t.” He chuckled. Lowering his face to mine, there was absolutely no sign of laughter in his dark eyes. They looked emotionless like a shark’s.
“You can’t because you and your family are snakes. Double-crossing lying snakes. You are vermin, Sophia, and vermin need to be exterminated.”
Exterminated.
The word seemed to echo in my mind. Over and over again.
Exterminated.
He didn’t want to hurt me. He didn’t want to hurt my family. He was a pest controller, and we, in his mind, were animals that needed to be exterminated.
I was the pest.
And by default, our daughter, my precious Lily, was also one.
My mouth opened. “You don’t believe that, Matteo. Just like you don’t really believe I would…” I managed to stop myself. “If you just understood the truth, then you would see.”
“See what?” His voice lowered into a menacing whisper.
I snapped my mouth shut. I turned my head away.
I had almost said too much, and that would be disastrous.
It didn’t matter what he did to me or even my brother.
Matteo could never ever know about Lily.
Matteo was too unhinged, and he thought about nothing but power and revenge.
Not telling him the truth was the only way I could guarantee Lily’s safety.
She would get to live out her life free from all of this. She would grow up safe and happy with Nat.
I sent up a silent prayer of thanks that I’d had the paperwork drawn up to give Nat guardianship of her.
“Tell me what I am not seeing, Sophia.” Warm, dry fingers caught me around the chin and yanked my face back to meet his.
“Nothing. It’s nothing.”
His eyes narrowed into slits. “You could tell me the truth, Sophia, and save yourself a lot of unnecessary pain.”
My heart lurched. “So you are going to kill me?” Defiantly, I lifted my eyes to his. If he was, I would face that death with bravery.
“Oh, Sophia.” His thumb dragged down my bottom lip. “I’m not going to kill you. At least not yet. But you will feel pain because somewhere in your black heart you love me, don’t you?”
I blinked in surprise. “If you know that, then why are you doing this to me?”
The corners of his mouth lifted in a smile that was more like a grimace.
“Because it’s fun?” he said in a voice that sounded just like his old self.
“Because I want to see the pain on your face when you see me wreck your world, and I am going to demolish all of it. Brick by brick and deal by deal. I just need to marry…”
I stiffened, my shock clear and visible on my face. Had he just said marry? Instantly, my thoughts went to the girl in the diner.
Young and beautiful.
Was that the girl he planned to marry? It had been months ago, but he hadn’t mentioned her again, and like a fool, I had thought—
What had I thought? That he would come around? That his love for me was enough to bring him back to me?
Matteo didn’t love. He used, and when there was no more use, then he destroyed.
“Yes, I’m going to marry.” The finger on my lip moved, pushing a curl of hair behind my ear. It lingered on my cheek, softly caressing.
“Does that bother you?” he asked in a whisper.
I didn’t answer. He knew it did, that’s why he was saying it.
“Does it bother you that I am engaged to another? She’s sweet, you know.
” He brought his fingers to my ear. “Sweet and innocent. You used to be innocent as well, Sophia. But then you gave it up too quickly. And that’s why you will always be nothing but a mistress, and she will be my wife, my queen, and I’ll worship her. Does that make you feel sad?”
“Yes,” I whispered. “But sad for her.”
He reared back. His eyes were angry and dark. “What?”
“I feel sad for her because you will never love her,” I snapped back.
“I don’t think you are even capable of love, Matteo.
You will never know…” I shuddered to a stop.
“You will never know the true meaning of love, and neither will she. So yeah, I’m sad.
But not for myself. I’m sad for her. And I’m sad for you because neither of you will ever know what real love is. And that’s a pathetic way to live.”
He pushed me off his lap. “Get out.”
Smirking, I straightened, wiping my hands down my jeans. “With pleasure, Matteo. I’ll leave and never come back.”
“You’re not fucking leaving. Not ever. You are going to stay and watch me prove you wrong. I am capable of…”
My smirk grew, and he saw it. Instantly, his anger dulled.
“Oh, that was good, Sophia. You almost made me lose my temper, but I have to admit you have always been able to press my buttons, haven’t you?” He pointed. “Go to your room. And don’t come out unless I allow you to.”
“With pleasure. Anything is better than spending one more second looking at you.”