5. Anna
Anna
A light knock on my bedroom door causes me to look up as Vincenzo opens the door and walks in. Guilt floods my chest as he walks in and closes the door. “You’re still up, princessa?”
I’m not sure if this is going to be a friendly chat or a scolding of enormous proportions because I’ve certainly misjudged him and after all the trouble I’ve unintentionally caused tonight, perhaps I deserve his wrath.
Instead, he sits on the side of the bed. “My brother seems to have a soft spot where you’re concerned. Nicolo doesn’t like the idea of me forcing you to marry me without your consent, no matter that it’s to keep you safe. What do you think, princessa?”
His question shocks me. I slide up in bed a little, leaning against the headboard as he shifts to face me. “I’m serious, I’m interested in what you think.”
All the emotions of the night, the realizations that no matter what terrible things I thought about this man, everything he did was to protect me and keep me away from Bastian Gallini.
He certainly didn’t deserve any of what I accused him of, or the way I treated him.
But still, he brought it on himself by not telling me the truth from the very start. Right?
No matter how I’m feeling right now, Vincenzo does deserve an honest answer to his question.
“I feel horrible for thinking you were the one who was going to give me to Gallini, and for hitting you in the head and most of all for causing you to leave your mother’s side as she was going into surgery.
I’m embarrassingly sorry for that, Vincenzo. ”
His finger tips my chin. “You saved her life, princessa. She’s out of surgery and doing well all because of you. But don’t forget hitting me in the groin, you should be most sorry for that.”
I know Vincenzo is trying to lighten the night but the raw emotion waging war in my heart right now is making it difficult to not only articulate my thoughts but to even contemplate what tomorrow is going to look and feel like.
Vincenzo takes my hand. “You saved my mother’s life, and then you ran right into the enemies’ hands. The only way I can keep you safe is by giving you a ring and my name.”
My eyes burn trying to keep the tears at bay.
“A wedding day, it’s supposed to be one of the happiest days in a woman’s life.
A time to celebrate love with your family and friends.
Instead, it feels like one of the sham weddings we’ve both been to where the bride and groom smile for the cameras and their pappas are toasting in the background to more territory, power, and control. ”
His eyes darken. “You think it’s a power play on my part?
Do you have any idea what I went through knowing you were gone?
Our guy on the inside over at the Sarone’s sent Nicolo a message.
If we hadn’t got that message we wouldn’t have known where to start looking for you, they would have taken you and god knows what your life would look like after Bastian got his hands on you.
Are you comprehending any of this, Anna?
If it makes you feel better then you can consider it an arrangement to keep you alive. ”
Tears spill down my face. “I had to run!”
His jaw tightens. “Why? Why run now when you didn’t go underground when you should have?
Six months ago, it would have made a huge difference.
Massimo staged your death perfectly, funeral and all.
Fuck, it fooled me and my brothers, Anna.
If you had gone underground then, no one would have recognized you because you wouldn’t have popped up at my casino looking exactly like the woman everyone for six months thought was dead. ”
The tears fall faster. Vincenzo’s not telling me anything I don’t already know. All the trouble and heartache I could have saved by just taking Massimo’s advice. But still it hurts to hear the words.
“I know what I should have done but at the time I just couldn’t face losing my family.
Sophia, Massimo, and maybe even their baby.
I didn’t want to miss being an auntie.” I swipe at my tears.
“I don’t even know how Sophia’s pregnancy test came out, whether it was positive or not and it’s killing me, Vincenzo. ”
He wraps a hand around my nape drawing me closer. “That’s why you ran, to find out if you’re an aunt? Tell me the truth, princessa.”
“I took a gamble on not going underground at first so that I could be with my family for the long term, but…”
Vincenzo lifts my chin with the tip of his finger. “But what? Tell me what I want to hear, baby?”
“Because of the feelings I have for you.” I suck in a deep breath, trying to keep the dam from bursting.
I’m barely able to get it out on a whisper.
“I know you want to keep me, but it’s far more than sex for me.
I love you, Vincenzo. Deep-seated emotion, that transcends everything in the bedroom.
I really did leave to protect you and your family. They’ll come for Lanah, you know this.”
Vincenzo’s eyes soften.
“No matter that our families shouldn’t be together or that Delz would tell me that you’re the enemy and you’ve gotten me to submit. I can’t change how I feel and I don’t want you to get hurt. The Gallinis will come for all of you.”
Vincenzo starts to say something, but I put up a hand.
“Let me get this out. The thought of you and your family in danger, it was just more than I could bear. Your sister Lanah, your mother, all your brothers, and you in danger because of me, I couldn’t take it.
It terrified me. I ran to protect you and both of our families. The DeLucas and the Rosellis.”
His lips connect with my forehead as he draws me closer.
“Princessa, I love you more than you know. Perhaps from the very day I first rescued you so long ago. I have no idea how you don’t feel how much I love you.
You’ve been conditioned not to believe anything I say, but that ends today.
I’ve told you time and time again that you’re mine, but I’m going to spend the rest of my days making sure you never forget it again starting tomorrow when I give you my name. ”
My throat feels tight with emotion as I wrap my arms around his neck, leaning my forehead against his, just soaking in the warmth of his words and security of his hands.
“It may be a sham wedding for the rest of the world, but for you and me, it’s going to be the day that we express our love for each other because princessa, if you don’t know it already, I love you more than words can say.”
I sniff, looking into those dark eyes as he gently lifts my chin. “Will you marry me, Anna? Not because I’m forcing you, but because you want to spend every day in the future by my side?”
He opens up a little black box and pulls out a sparkling white diamond ring that is far more brilliant than anything I’ve ever seen, placing it on my ring finger. “Marry me, Anna?”
My heart constricts with love for this man.
“I’m beginning to get some of my memories back from when you rescued me from Barcelo.
You saved me, cradled me in your arms and I didn’t have any recollection like that when I went to the club at the masquerade ball but somehow, I think my soul recognized yours that very night. ”
I grasp his face with both of my hands, drawing him to me.
“I love you, Vincenzo. Yes, I will marry you. The reason I’m so upset about the wedding tomorrow is not that I’ll become your wife, but that the entire world, including the Gallinis, Rosellis, remaining Cassones, they will all think it’s a sham and until you told me you loved me, I honestly wasn’t sure myself. ”
Vincenzo draws me close, closing off any further discussion, capturing my lips, kissing me with such a passion that all of my fears and doubt start to subside.
“Tomorrow, every fucking family across the globe will know you belong to me, that you are a DeLuca. Not just to protect you, but to show the world that you’re mine in every way. ”
I tug on his tie. “If I’m yours, will you stay?”
He stands, pulling his tie off before unbuttoning his crisp white shirt, exposing his broad muscular chest patterned with an intricate tattoo before unbuckling his belt.
The sound of its clank against the floor causes my pussy to clench with anticipation, and when he drops his pants to the floor his upward curved cock is so incredibly hard that it makes my mouth water.
Vincenzo proceeds to undress me as my hand wraps around the velvety steel that will soon be deep inside of me, torturing me until his name flows from my lips in a scream.