24. Isabella
twenty-four
Isabella
I’ve been pacing from one room to another, waiting for Salvatore to come back. The look on his face when he left me with Valentino was the same one I saw the night we were attacked.
I’m not sure why I’m worried. Even to me, it makes little sense. I should ignore him, hate him for forcing me to choose and marry him. But I don’t. Even before I investigated him, I was fascinated by him.
His only fault is that he represents everything I hate.
Still, here I am, worrying.
I sigh and fold my legs underneath me as I sit on the couch. Resting my head on the cushion, I close my eyes, letting the darkness take over.
I startle when the door of the suite closes. With one look at the clock, I can see it’s way past midnight. I stand when Salvatore reaches me. There’s blood on his clothes.
“Whose blood is that?”
“It’s not mine if that’s what you’re asking.” Without sparing me a look, he turns and leaves. I hear the door of the bathroom in his en suite close behind him, leaving me to stare at the space behind where he stood.
Is this what I get for waiting for him? My feet carry me before I can second-guess my decision. I open the door of the bathroom and come to a halt at the wall of muscle under the shower. His face is to the wall and his hand rests on it, his head raised high toward the shower that’s cleaning the redness off his skin. I close the door behind me with a loud click, announcing my presence.
He turns his head to look at me. “Whatever you have to say can wait. I’m not in the right head space for any type of discussion.”
I don’t move. I just stand there and lean on the door, watching him through the fog of steam while he washed the blood away.
His eye catches mine as he turns. My skin prickles from the heat and warning in his eyes. I push from the door, and with a swift move, I unbuckle my robe and let it fall on the bathroom floor. Next is my bra, followed by my panties.
My eyes never leaving his, I enter the shower with only one thought on my mind.
Us uniting.
Me being here for him when he’s lost. Even if it means letting him use my body. He needs this outlet. Just as he was there today for me, protecting me, even if there was no actual danger.
Maybe when the threat ends and everything goes back to how it was before, I too can go back and be the person I became when I ran from my old life.
Under the shower, I put my hand on his muscular chest. Before I can push him inside so he can make space for me, he takes my hands, and with his other on my hip, he spins me around, my back hitting the wall as he pins me.
Without warning, he grabs me from behind at my thighs, raising me up, and with one thrust, he enters me.
No warning, no foreplay. Nothing except his need.
His need to take out his frustration on my body by fucking me until white dots cloud my eyes and I lose track of time. Until the sun breaks through the night and our bodies and minds are spent.
My body aches in all the good places, a reminder of the way he used me, and I let him.
I lay in bed, his body enveloping me from behind. I drift from sleep when Salvatore’s voice breaks through.
“We need to go see your father. It’s time. I need the alliance to be a step ahead of my enemies.”
Sitting up slightly, I turn toward him. “What happened?
“Dante had the traitor, my father’s consigliere.” Salvatore runs a hand over his face before he puts it under his head. “He and others were conspiring against me for years. Apparently, I’m leading the family into destruction with my philanthropic ways. And not to forget that I killed his best friend.”
I freeze for a moment, wondering if I heard him right. This shouldn’t surprise me. After all, my own father killed my mother. What surprises me is that he is opening up to me. “You killed your father?”
“Does that shock you?”
I shrug. “Maybe. Why did you do it? Because of the power?”
A dark chuckle escapes him. “No. I would have the power eventually anyway, but I found out things about my father that even I couldn’t digest.”
I don’t ask; I wait for him to tell me himself. And I know he will if he wants to.
“I’m a killer and a dangerous man. However, there are lines I will never cross. This was where my father and I never saw eye to eye.” I watch as his eyes turn black. “A couple of years before I killed him, I discovered the horrible truth about how I was conceived and the reason behind his death.”