Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
VINCENZO
T he woman beside me was a problem. This I knew for a fact. She was the worst kind of problem, an oblivious one. She had no idea what the stakes were and exactly what situation she was in, so she tried to escape.
The drive was long, and the silence that filled the car only made it feel longer. I was used to silence but I could practically hear the wheels in Isabelle's head turning. For all her plans and schemes, her face was too expressive for her to pull off any kind of subterfuge. If the stakes were not so high, I might have enjoyed watching her and seeing how her mind worked.
As we pulled up to my estate, I realized that I still had no idea what I was going to do with her. What I did know was that I had to keep her under control and I knew that she was going to do her best to escape. Lucky for me, she was on my territory, and that gave me an advantage. I just had to make sure I kept it.
I got out of the car and walked over to her side before pulling her out. Her skin felt soft to the touch. Even when I pulled her out, it was like her body was a piece of soft silk in my hands. She fell right into my arms, and although I could see her looking up at me with indignation, all I could focus on was how sweet she smelled.
She had a soft, floral scent on her which I attributed to us being in a garden all day. The scent was on her skin, in her hair, on her clothes. I briefly wondered what her skin would taste like if I allowed myself a small taste.
This thought was interrupted when she suddenly began moving around, as if she was trying to yank herself out of my grip. The first thing I felt was amusement and a smile spread across my face as I watched her futile efforts. Her movements felt like a small kitten’s attempt at being scary. She wasn't getting away anytime soon. I waited for a while, interested to see how long she would keep it up.
She didn't disappoint me, struggling for longer than I thought she would before finally giving up. I felt a bit disappointed when she finally stopped squirming in my arms. I wanted to hold her longer, to feel her soft body against mine. The way she shivered when I got close to her, I could have bet that the feeling was mutual
“Are you done?” I asked, my amusement clear in my voice. She didn't respond, so I asked again.
“You just pulled me away and I couldn't even say goodbye!” She replied in an angry tone.
“Goodbye? Goodbye to who? Your friend? Or the groom?” I asked, my words reminding me just how close they were before I found them. It looked as if, had I been even one second slower, he would have kissed her.
“That's none of your business.” She responded and once again tried to break free.
“Where are you going? We're not done yet.” I said in a low voice, as I looked into her eyes. Within them I could see a struggle that I wasn't sure even she was aware of. She didn't respond, but the way her body trembled, folding into my arms even further, told me everything I needed to know.
I could feel the eyes of my men on us and since I wasn't the type to put on a show, I decided that it was time for us to go in. Besides the tension that was growing between us, I wasn't sure that I wanted to leave her alone.
I had spent the day watching her. Even when I went off to make a call, I had kept an eye on her. I quickly realized that I was right to do so. She wanted to escape, and with how fast she moved through the crowd and toward the exit, she obviously had an escape plan in mind.
I was genuinely interested to see what her escape plan was, so I watched her and decided I would only stop her if she was about to get out of my reach. I almost felt bad seeing how much effort she put into her attempt. The one thing she didn't know was that I had men stationed at the exits. They would have stopped her if she came out of that venue alone.
However, the entertainment I got from watching her was cut short when the groom had accosted her. The man, a soft-looking weak little thing, had staggered up to her and had had the guts to grab her. If that wasn't bad enough, she hadn’t pushed him away.
Just thinking about it made me irrationally angry. And I already knew why I was angry. I wanted her, and until I decided otherwise, I owned her. I had wanted to break that man's arm when he touched her.
I tried to push aside those feelings as we walked. But I felt a fire within me, and after a while, I didn't want to fight it anymore.
Although the window of her room was barred and it was a long way down, I knew better than to underestimate a captive’s longing for freedom. So I decided that a change would have to be made to her sleeping arrangements. Or at least, that is what I told myself when I made the decision.
She walked beside me, but her footsteps began to slow when she realized I wasn't taking her to the room she had stayed in last night.
“Where are you taking me?” She asked, and I ignored her as we continued to walk. Our progress slowed when she decided to protest by digging her heels in and refusing to move.
I started dragging her, but it was inconvenient to keep doing it. So I turned to her and issued an ultimatum.
“Move, or I'll carry you.” I finally said, my voice so low it came out as a growl.
“You wouldn't.” Her eyes widened in shock as she spoke. I didn't deign that question with an answer. I just let the seriousness on my face speak for me instead.
When she realized that I wasn't joking, she stopped being stubborn and started walking again.
“There, isn't that better?” I teased her as we walked. She said nothing in response, her stubbornness making me chuckle. We walked forward in silence, with her falling in step beside me.
I noticed Isabelle's eyes looking around every time we passed something that looked ornate or antique. I could tell that she was intrigued by it.
I hadn't renovated much of it when it became mine, so a lot of the decor was stately and a bit old. I finally stopped when we reached a large wooden door that was so thick it would take a chainsaw more than five minutes to get through. And that was just the wood. The second layer of the door was made of metal.
The metal was thick, reinforced steel. I wanted to get titanium but I opted out of it at the last minute. It was my house, not an impenetrable panic room.
It felt like overkill when I was ordering the customizations, but I had been in my line of work long enough to know that one or two minutes could be the difference between life and death. So, in all my homes and bases, I made sure to provide for emergencies, and it came in handy. It was how we lost minimal personnel when Don Antonio made his move.
“What's this?” Isabelle’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts.
“It's where you're going to sleep tonight.” I responded simply.
“What was wrong with the old room? I liked it.” She looked at the door before her like it was the entrance to a torture chamber.
“Why do you think that your pick of the rooms here is up to you?” I felt amused and stunned at the same time. During the two days that I had interacted with her, I had felt like laughing more than I had for the past five months.
“I… I…” She stuttered, her face turning red in the process. Something about our situation must have intuited her that I bore no malice toward her, although I was clearly holding her against her will. It was why she had grown bolder.
“Get in, then you can complete that sentence.” I said as I pulled her into the room and shut the door behind me.
Locking and opening the door not only needed a pair of keys that were always on me, but also a thumbprint scan. This way, it was the one room I knew for a fact that she couldn't escape from. I turned around to see her watching me in shock.
“Get comfortable, you're staying here with me. It's the only way I can keep you safe and out of trouble.” I said in a flat tone. I knew she would not like what I had said, but I didn't care. I was right, as the moment she heard my words, I could see her face getting redder and redder until she blew.
“You can't just lock me up like some prisoner!” She exclaimed as she walked toward me with fiery anger in her eyes. Her anger and words made me raise an eyebrow. She seemed to have forgotten what position she was in, here. Again.
“I can't? Watch me. I'd love to see you try to get out of here.” I responded as I stepped closer to her. I could see her frustration building.
She even began to look around. Her first move was to go check the window. Although there were no bars on it, we were so high up that she would break a leg or two if she tried to jump. She ran to the bathroom next and did the same for that window.
She came back to the room, looking dejected. I chuckled, choosing not to tell her that even if she made it through the window, both windows had motion sensors that would trigger an alarm if someone jumped out.
“For your own sake, stay here. If you step out of line again, you'll be lucky if the worst thing that happens is being locked up in this room.” This time when I spoke, I was close enough to her that whenever I inhaled, I took in a deep breath of the floral perfume that clung to her. It was mixed with her own scent, which made it even more enticing.
I couldn't stop myself from tracing the path of the redness on her cheeks downwards, to her neck and finally where it disappeared into the low neckline of her dress. I took in a deep breath to calm myself, but that backfired as I only inhaled more of her scent. The combination of the sight of her gloriously angry and her scent were a heady mix.
“You're the only danger I can see here.” She retorted, her chest heaving as she spoke. I allowed myself another look before I replied.
“Maybe you're a bit shortsighted. That's not my fault. Go get ready for bed.” I said. And although she looked fuming, I could see that in her eyes, there was something else other than anger. Something that made me want to lean in and kiss her.
“This is your room, isn't it? If I'm staying here, where are you going to sleep?” She finally responded after looking around.
Rather than respond, I gave her a grin. She instantly understood what I meant and began to back away.
“Where are you going?” I teased.
“I hate you!” She suddenly exclaimed, making me frown. I believed she wanted to hate me, and I didn’t really care, but the way her voice shook when she spoke showed that she lacked conviction.
“Do you? It doesn’t look like it.” I asked, getting closer and closer to her with every word. I looked at her again, from her brilliant eyes to the curves barely hidden by the dress she was wearing.
I had watched her all day, she was a vision in that dress. The back of it was like flimsy little threads woven through each other. Every step she took away from me would shift the threads, exposing tantalizing peeks of the creamy skin underneath.
“Do you really hate me? Or are you just scared of how much you like this?” I asked as I moved close enough for our breaths to intermingle.
I watched with amusement and frustration rising within me as her face turned even redder than it was before. She had a dazed look in her eyes for a few seconds before she snapped out of it and stumbled backwards.
She took slow unsteady steps, and I followed, making sure to close the space between us. With every step I took, I could feel the heat between us rise higher and higher, until all I wanted to do was fold her into my arms.
“Shut up. Why are you standing so close to me?” She suddenly spoke. Her words were harsh but I could not take them seriously when she spoke with such a red face and in such a shaky voice.
As she spoke, I looked into her eyes. What I saw there wasn't just fear or anger, there was something more. I felt my resolve weakening and I approached her. She had stopped moving backwards because the bed was in her way.
“Tell me you don’t want me.” I demanded.
We stood there, right in front of a bed, close enough to touch. My mind almost went blank as I reached out and touched her face. On her expressive face, I could see the different emotions she was feeling. She looked like she was fighting two very different urges; the urge to run away and the urge to kiss me. I groaned softly. That look on her face would be my undoing.
“I… Just- Just shut up!” She protested weakly.
I ran a finger down her cheek to her jawline, then I cupped her chin gently right before I finally responded.
“Make me.”