Chapter 20
ENZO
I wait for her in our bedroom while she takes a shower.
Our bedroom.
It has a nice ring to it. She didn’t resist when I told her my room is now hers too. She actually seemed relieved.
Every day in the past three days that I go to work, I hate leaving her, checking the cam feed while I’m there, making sure she’s okay. I can’t stop replaying her scream in my head. I find myself waking up in the middle of the night to check on her.
The bathroom door opens, and she walks out, a white towel wrapped around her, showing her long, toned legs I very much want wrapped around me.
I’m in a permanent state of blue balls but it’s gotta be that way until I’m sure she’s ready.
I’ve never done slow before, but I’ve never been with Joelle before either. She’s not like the others. Never was.
Her eyes go to mine and— “Were you crying?” I’m instantly off the bed as she gives me her back, rummaging through a drawer to find clothes to put on.
“I was,” she says faintly, her shoulders rising heavily as she grips the clothing in her palm.
“What’s wrong, baby?” My mouth is on her shoulder, leaving a tender kiss behind, hands stroking up and down her arms.
She sighs, and her body tenses. I reach for the top of the towel. “Let me help you get dressed.” Once she nods, I undo it, letting it fall to the floor.
She rotates, and one look at her has me spiraling, needing her so fucking badly I’m ready to get on my damn knees for a taste.
I hold her cheek in my roughened palm, looking so deep into her eyes, I’m almost lost inside them. “I’m gonna take care of you. In all ways.”
She smiles brokenly, that lower lip trembling, and it makes me want to cause carnage to every man who’s made her this way.
Taking the shirt from her hands, I bring the tank top over her head, her arms raised as I slip it down.
The shorts come next, and I kneel, guiding each one of her legs inside, then I pull them up. As soon as I’m upright, her arms jump over my shoulders, her face burrowing into the crook of my neck.
My hands wind around her lower back and I hold her to me, so damn tight, I’m afraid she can’t breathe. But in that same moment, she tightly squeezes her arms around me. I kiss the top of her head, never wanting to let her go. I can’t let her leave me.
My fingers coast up her spine, finding the softened strands of her hair. As I pull away, I take a moment to stare into those eyes. I can feel it, right in the pit of my stomach. That sensation I’ve been experiencing these last few days. The one I know is real. The one I know will only get stronger.
Her pink lips part, gaze misted, cheeks flushed, and I damn right hope she doesn’t think I’m crazy for what I’m about to say.
“You’ve always been too good for someone like me.” My knuckle lands on her cheek, brushing back and forth. “I don’t deserve you.”
When she tries to say something in return, I place a finger against her lips before the same hand goes to her hip. “I need to get this out. It’s been killing me not to say it.”
Her mouth thins.
“I’m falling in love with you, Joelle.”
Her face drops. “Don’t say that. You don’t mean it.” She tries to pull away, but I don’t let her go.
“Don’t tell me how I feel.” I grip her hip tighter, my mouth brushing over hers. “I love you.”
A small cry escapes her, hands on my back, sinking her nails into my flesh.
“I’ve never felt this way for anyone, baby. I’d do anything for you.”
With a heavy sigh, she leans in some more, lips touching mine, just staying that way. Just feeling one another.
“You say that now,” she breathes. “But when you hear what I’m finally ready to tell you, you may change your mind.”
I draw back. “I promise. Nothing you say will change how I feel.”
“You don’t know that.” She lowers her eyes, a bout of sadness behind them.
I grab her wrist and pull her palm over my beating heart. “I do. And when I say something, I mean it.”
“I just don’t want you to feel you have to be with me after everything you’ll hear today.”
“Joelle, baby. Give me some credit.”
Her shoulders sag, and with a long pull of a breath, she starts to speak. “It all started with a road trip.”
I stand there listening as she recounts the day she was taken, and all the women and children who fell victim to the Bianchis.
Balling my hands at my thighs, I try my fucking hardest not to react, but inside me, their blood’s already spilling.
The Bianchis are not only killers but they’re sex traffickers too.
They hurt my girl, and no one hurts my girl without answering for it.
“They made me do a lot of dirty things, Enzo. There were men, a lot of them. They did whatever they wanted for the right price.” She lowers her eyes to the ground.
“I get it if I’m not the woman you thought I was.
” Her attention darts back to me. “Because I’m not.
I’m a whore, Enzo. And you can’t love a whore.
” Moisture builds in her eyes as they drift to a close.
I tip up her chin with the back of my hand and she tentatively looks at me. “Nothing has changed. You hear me?” I kiss her hard and fast, so she can feel the truth of my words. “I love you.” I brush away her tears with my thumbs. “I love you more now than I did a moment ago.”
“N-no. You can’t. Why?” Her expression saddens, ripping right into my soul. “Doesn’t it bother you to know the woman you’re…”
“Sure it fucking bothers me.” I clasp the side of her neck, leaning my forehead over hers. “It bothers me that every man who’s touched you without your permission is still breathing.”
I lift my gaze back to her, wanting her to see in my eyes what I feel in my heart. “That’s the only thing that bothers me, Joelle. All that other shit, it makes no difference. You’re mine. That’s all that matters.”
“You shouldn’t love me,” she whispers in a shaky breath. “You’re the one who deserves better.”
“Well, I’m sorry.” I force a grin. “You’re kinda lovable.”
She lets out a tearful laugh.
“Baby, they don’t get to define you. Don’t let them have that kind of power.”
Her tears come like a heavy storm, crashing down her cheeks in waves as her panting grows heavier. “Who are you?” She gapes at me, ragged and breathless.
“Just a man who loves you.” I tighten my hand around her neck, lips grazing hers, and I can’t handle another second. I take her hungrily, raw passion dripping from my mouth, needing her to feel it, to remember how good we felt together.
My lips fall to her neck as she moans. “There’ll never be a day that you don’t know how much you matter,” I say in between hungry kisses. “Not when I’m alive to show it.”
Her hands grasp the back of my head, tugging me closer, my mouth sucking her lower lip now as she groans.
I bring her roughly against me, arms clasped under her thighs as I carry us to the bed, lowering on top of her as my mouth drags savagely down her neck. She claws my back, my cock hard and heavy between her thighs.
“Wait,” she gasps as I suck her earlobe into my mouth. “Wait, there’s more.”
I growl, propping up on my forearms, but not before I leave a quick kiss on her lips.
Her face lights up with a slow grin, but just as quickly, she turns serious.
“Whatever it is, I can handle it.” I move off her and lie on my side and she does too. “Nothing will make me leave you. Not even some fucking boyfriend I now know you made up. Why did you anyway?” It’s been weighing on me, especially when I picture his smug face.
“Oh God.” She huffs. “I forgot I have to tell you that too.”
I roll a reassuring palm over her arm.
“I’m just gonna say it.” She grimaces. “I’m a murderer.”
I don’t even stop. No reaction. My fingers still brushing up her skin.
She takes me in with a widened expression “Aren’t you going to ask who?”
“No. Because whoever it is, I’m sure they deserved it.”
“I—I didn’t mean to hurt her.” Her voice shudders. “But that night Paulina saw us, she told Faro. He dragged me to his place the next morning, and Paulina was there. We got into a fight, and…” Her shoulders jolt.
“Hey.” I cradle her chin in my palm. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not,” she cries low. “Once she was dead, he told me I had to get rid of you because you were getting too attached. And…” She catches her breath, talking faster.
“And h-he doesn’t want the men thinking of us as human beings.
So I came up with the plan to kiss someone else and he sent the random guy and…
I’m so sorry.” A fresh coat of moisture builds in her eyes.
With two hands at her hips, I bring her on top of me as she weakly cries over my chest, my palm on the back of her head. “Shh. It’s okay. You had to do it. I get it.”
“Why aren’t you mad?” She pushes against my hold. “Be mad at me. Hate me! I deserve it.”
“No, you don’t. Plus…” I smirk. “I think I was pissed at you plenty when I thought you had your tongue down your boyfriend’s throat. We’re good.”
She plops her face back down against me.
“Joelle, you gotta stop hating yourself. That’s what this is. I’m not gonna let you do that to yourself.”
“How could I not hate myself, knowing what he’s been through,” she mutters into my chest.
“He, who?” My pulse slams.
Fuck. It better not be some real boyfriend.
She looks up and sighs, the fight gone from her face. “I have a son, Enzo. His name is Robby.”
My eyes widen on instinct. I swallow the shock away.
“Where is he, baby? Who has him?”
“Who do you think?” she trembles out. “They took him from me the moment he was born. I only get him for ten minutes once a month. Now, I don’t even know if he’s alive.”
My thumbs erase the dripping of her tears running past her cheeks. “Where’s his father?”
“I—” Her eyes scan mine for a second before she swallows harshly. “Ahh, I don’t know who it is.”
I’m not sure how much truth there is to that, but I’m not gonna push her right now.
“Do you know where they’re keeping him?”