7. Chapter Seven #2
I’ll give Nico this: he is a man of his word. He wanted me to be his wife and so far, he has saved me. He also hasn’t been with any other woman, claiming he only wants to be with me.
It makes me hate him slightly less.
Just slightly though. There’s no way I’ll ever fall for him. I can’t fall in love with a murderer. I just can’t.
Natalya
I tell Mikhail about my phone call with Sasha. “She’s in Italy. She gave me the address. You have to go save her for me.”
Mikhail sits on the couch, nursing the wounds Nico gave him. The only other time I’ve ever seen my husband look weak was when he was shot in the back and stomach. He was down for a few months before returning to his normal strength.
“Natalya, baby. I can’t leave to find Sasha. I have so much I’m dealing with here. The Irish are still trying to come after me and I’ve got your uncle to think about. Nico is on his honeymoon. For once, I don’t have to worry about him.”
If he weren’t hurt, I would hit him myself. “My sister needs help. We know where Nico’s vacation house is. You can strike.”
He considers my words, before gently pulling me into his lap. “You make a good point. But I can’t go there. It’s too dangerous. But…”
“But?”
“I could send someone else. I could try to get a guard onto Nico’s rotation and they could get Sasha out of there.”
“We tried that with Denis and it didn’t go over well.”
“Do you want me to help or not?”
I sigh, leaning into him. “I want you to help.”
“This is how we’re going to do it. I’ll get someone in on the inside to save Sasha. We know her location and as long as Nico doesn’t find out, then we stand a real chance of saving her.”
A flicker of hope enters my heart. The chance to save one of my sisters. There isn’t anything I want more.
Nico
“How’s that wife of yours?” Adrien asks as we sit across from each other, enjoying a meal. Since I’m Italy, we figured it would be the best time to meet up and discuss more expansion plans. When I’m in New York, we have to rely on talking over the phone and that’s always a little risky.
“I heard you’ve been killing men left and right to save her,” he continues, taking a bite of his steak.
“She keeps escaping. It’s cute in a way. I like how feisty she is. But she’s causing me to lose my game. I can’t get caught killing all these people for her.”
“Then don’t.”
“I had to kill the men who attacked her. I can’t let that stand.”
“So, I should take that as a warning?” Adrien raises an eyebrow, giving me a look I don’t appreciate.
“I saw you looking at her at the party. I didn’t appreciate it. Don’t look at my wife like that ever again.”
“That’s just how I look. I can’t help my face. If you don’t want me around your wife, Nico, then don’t invite me around your wife.”
I sigh, running my hand over my face. “I’m just tired. Having a wife is a lot more work than I ever thought it would be.”
“That is why I’m single and plan on remaining that way for the rest of my life.”
“Only one night stands for you, huh?”
Adrien’s grin is dark. “Exactly. Why shackle myself to one woman and be miserable, like you?”
“I’m not miserable. Just frustrated.”
“Has she let you fuck her yet?”
I take a large gulp of my wine. “No. She’s holding out. I respect it. We just got married not even a week ago. This is all new for her. And, I suspect she’s a virgin.”
“Ah. Even better.”
“Except she keeps telling me she isn’t.”
“So is she or isn’t she?” he asks.
“I think she’s putting on a front for me. Trying to seem braver than she really is. It’s amusing and entertaining. I’ll give her that.”
“Your wife is beautiful, Nico. If you don’t take her, someone else will soon.”
“But not you, right?”
Adrien laughs like what I just said was funny. It’s not funny to me. “We’re business partners. I’m not going to fuck that up by going after your girl. I can appreciate her beauty and leave it at that.”
“Good. Because I would hate to kill you, Adrien.”
“Trust me. If I went to war over a girl, it would be one I would want to marry and so far, I have never met a woman I wanted to marry.”
I raise my wine glass. “To marriage.”
Adrien clinks his glass with mine. “May your wife not give you blue balls the rest of your life.”
God, I hope not.
Returning home, I find Sasha in the library, looking through the stack of books.
“They’re all in Italian,” she says once she sees me.
“Well, we are in Italy.”
“I can’t read Italian. I’m not allowed a phone. I can’t use your laptop. You don’t have any TVs in the house. I have no way to entertain myself when you’re away.”
“Ah, so you’re bored without me? I’m touched.”
She gives me a flat look. “At least when you’re here, you make things less boring. You’re treating me like a prisoner in this house.”
“Well if you stopped running, I wouldn’t have to.”
“Did I run today? While you were out?”
“No,” I admit, slowly approaching her. She stands her ground. God, I love that about her.
“Exactly. Give me some entertainment. Please. I need something. If you don’t want me to leave, then give me a laptop. A way I can watch movies or something. Just… anything.”
“You could start by learning Italian.”
She huffs. “So, is that your way of saying we’re going to be living in Rome from now on? Are we ever going back to New York?”
“Why? Hoping to sneak off to see your sisters?”
She averts her gaze, turning to the bookshelf and pretending to look at them.
“Exactly,” I say, walking up behind her. She stiffens but she doesn’t move away. “We won’t stay in Rome forever. But for now, I’m enjoying it. So we’re staying. Which is why I’ll give you a book on Italian. That way you don’t have to feel so left out. How does that sound? Compromise?”
Slowly, she turns around to face me. We’re so close. It would be easy for me to lean down and capture her lips with mine but I hold back. I want to see what she does.
“It would be a start,” she admits.
“Why didn’t you try to leave today?”
She wraps her hands around her stomach. “I’m still in pain. I figured it would be better to not leave. To your credit, you haven’t beaten the crap out of me.”
“And I never plan to.” I push a piece of her hair behind her ear. “You look so fucking cute right now.”
She flushes but doesn’t pull away from me.
“I’ve been wanting to kiss you, Sasha. Have you wanted to kiss me?”
“Why would you ask me that?”
“Answer my question.”
“Of course not,” she says hotly, almost like she’s lying.
“Why do you look embarrassed?”
“I do not.”
“How do you know? You can’t see your face right now. I can.”
She places her hands on my waist to push me away but she stops herself. She doesn’t remove her hands.
Slowly, I cup my hands over hers, keeping her in place. “I think you want to kiss me,” I say, lowering my voice.
“No. You have to respect that.”
“Fine. I will. But I think you’re lying.”
“Hear my words, Nico. I said no.”
“Ok, ok. I won’t kiss you.” I back away, letting her go. Is that just me or do I see a slight flicker of disappointment on her face? “I wanted to let you know that I’m having a dinner party later this week. You should be healed up by then.”
“A dinner party? Didn’t we just have a party?”
I shrug. “I like parties. You should be feeling better by then. If you know what’s good for you, you won’t try running. I don’t want to have to kill any more of my guests.”
“Then make sure none of them attack me.”
“I can see why men are drawn to you, Sasha. There’s something irresistible about you.”
“So, you’re saying it’s my fault that I was attacked?”
“No. What I’m saying is that you make men go wild. It’s a miracle I haven’t ravaged you yet. Maybe it has something to do with your virginity.”
She sucks in a sharp breath. “I told you that I wasn’t a-,”
“A virgin? I know.” I lean down to speak into her ear. “But I don’t believe you. There’s something purely innocent about you that you can’t hide. You’ve never known the touch of a man.” I trail my fingers down her arm. It brings me satisfaction to see goosebumps break out on her skin.
“Nico,” she whispers.
“Would you like to know what it feels like?”
For just a moment, she leans in closer to me before she shakes her head and backs away, hitting the bookshelf behind her.
“I’ll take that as a no,” I say. “Well, you know where to find me if you want to find out.”
I give her a wink just to mess with her. Sasha stares at me open mouth and it takes everything inside of me not to go right back to her and kiss the life right out of her.
Sasha
I get dressed for the dinner party in a beautiful navy gown that hugs my body in a flattering way while not being too promiscuous. Nico told me that he wanted to impress his guests so that meant I needed to look good, like a mafia man’s wife, not a whore.
My stomach is feeling much better now. There’s still some bruising but the initial pain has passed.
All I’m left now is the memories of what happened that day.
It’s the reason I haven’t tried to leave.
I don’t want to risk getting hurt again.
Every time I’ve disobeyed Nico, I’ve gotten hurt.
Maybe the universe is trying to tell me something.
And besides, Natalya promised me that she’d find a way to get me out of this house. Nico doesn’t know I called my sister. This may be my only chance and if I leave the house, I could be setting myself up to not be saved.
If I’m being honest with myself, I haven’t fully wanted to leave the house.
It’s a beautiful place. And while there isn’t a ton to do around the house, Nico did deliver on the Italian language book so I can start to learn.
I’ve been reading it all day and practicing.
I have a long way to go to get better but as long as I’m stuck here, I want to be prepared for anything.
I finish applying my makeup then leave the room. Nico is downstairs waiting for the guests to arrive.
I nod at the guard outside the bedroom. There’s always a new guard on sight. I’m not sure who this one is. I haven’t seen him before.
Right as I’m walking past him, the guard grabs my arm gently.
I gasp. “What are you doing?”
“My apologies.” He lets me go. “But you should know, Sasha, that I was sent here by your sister to save you.”
I go rigid. Is this for real? Or is this some test from Nico?
“Mikhail sent me,” he says in a low voice. “My name is Alek but everyone here thinks my name is Lorenzo. Only call me Lorenzo. Nico doesn’t know. We have to wait until the right moment for me to get you out. Understood?”
“How did you get to be a guard?”
“Mikhail has contacts and not everyone is loyal to Nico. I’m here to help. But you have to be patient and you cannot reveal any of this to Nico. Not if you want to get out of here. Now, you should be heading downstairs.”
Slowly, I walk away from Alek or Lorenzo or whatever his name is. I’m in shock. There’s a chance for me to get out of here.
But as I walk down the stairs to my husband, there’s a tiny part in the back of my head that wonders if I truly do want to get out of here.