Chapter Seven
Gianna
Istare down at Will’s hand for a long moment, considering what to do. Why did he save me from Nico? Because I’m just a job to him, I remind myself. He needs to bring me back so he can give me to Marco where I’ll be treated like another piece of meat. I’ve had enough. I’m done with it.
“I can’t,” I say. “I can’t marry Marco. And I can’t marry him.” I throw a look Nico’s way.
“Is this your fiancé?” Will asks in shock.
“Yes. But I can’t marry him or Marco. I can’t do it.
I can’t go with you but I know if I run, you’ll just chase me.
You’ll just bring me back to that room and I can’t go back.
I can’t go back to my house where my aunt is.
Where she controls me every single second of every day.
Where my brother means well but even he still controls me because he wants me kept safe.
I need to be my own person and I’m not going to get that with anyone. ”
I’ve never said these words to another living soul before. Maybe because Will is just a hitman – someone who means nothing to me and will pass me on to Marco once his job is done – it gives me the freedom to say what’s on my mind.
I’m expecting Will to scold me. Call me crazy and to get in the car.
But instead, he lowers his hand and nods.
“I get it. I get not wanting to be controlled. My job controls me. The money controls me. I go where it goes and I’ll never be free of it.
Not after what I’ve done. You are my job, yes.
And I’m sorry for that, Gianna. I can tell you’re just an innocent girl and that you don’t deserve this. But I have to bring you back.”
“Is that why you hurt Nico?” He’s still breathing but he hasn’t woken up yet after getting his face bashed in.
Will’s hand clenches into a fist. “I punched that asshole because he was hurting you. I didn’t know he was your fiancé.”
“You… hurt him for me? Why? Because I’m your property?”
“Because I didn’t want him hurting you. No other reason. You are just a job. It doesn’t matter if you’re hurt or not. I did it because… you don’t deserve to be hurt. Because I wanted that.”
I suck in a breath. None of this makes sense. What Will is saying to me. What he’s feeling. What I’m feeling.
And what am I feeling? Confusion. Relief that he saved me from Nico. And dread about my future. And maybe the smallest amount of attraction towards him. The way he didn’t hesitate to punch Nico to save me makes my stomach twist in knots.
“But you still have to take me back,” I whisper, all my energy deflating.
“Yes. I’m afraid so. Marco will kill me if I don’t do what he wants. He paid me. I need to deliver. I’m sorry for that, Gianna. But I won’t hurt you like that asshole did.”
“You’ll just hand me over to one who wants to hurt me.”
“Marco may not hurt you. He wants revenge on your brother. That doesn’t mean he’ll beat you.”
“You don’t know that,” I say. “He’ll hurt me. I feel it. You can bring me back to my brother. He’ll help you. You can work for him. Get his protection from Marco. I can explain everything. How you saved my life.”
“You would really tell your brother that? I’m afraid to say that I don’t believe you, Gianna. You may be a good person but even you wouldn’t save a man like me. I have to look out for myself in this world. Which means I’m bringing you back. Now, get in the car. I don’t want to force you.”
I have no other choice. With a glance down at Nico, I know I’m better off without him.
But am I better with Will?
I’m honestly not sure.
It’s not until we return to the house that I notice Will is bleeding. “Your arm,” I gasp, pointing at it.
He removes the gauze attached to his skin to reveal a messy, bloody cut on his bicep. “Yep. That will need stitches. I’ll need to clean it. But I can’t leave you alone again. We both know you’ll just try to run.”
“How did it happen? Nico didn’t cut you.”
For a moment, he drops his gaze and hesitates. Dread settles in my stomach when I realize what he’s not saying. But when he opens his mouth and tells me, it’s even worse than I imagined.
“I had a job,” he explains. “I got cut there.”
“Who did you kill?”
“You really want to know?”
“Yes. I need to know what kind of man you are.” I need to remember that I can’t trust Will, despite how he saved me from Nico. He did it for selfish reasons. Not for me, I remind myself. I cannot forget that, no matter how I feel in Will’s presence.
“I was hired weeks ago to kill a politician. John Sanders. He likes to rape little girls. Liked to rape little girls,” he clarifies, telling me everything with that one change of a word.
“Really?” I gasp.
“I caught him in bed with one of those girls. She was just a teenager. It… distracted me,” he admits. “John cut my arm but then I ended him.”
“And the girl?”
“I didn’t kill her if that’s what you’re thinking. I told her to leave before I left myself.”
“You didn’t try to get her to safety?”
He frowns. “Why would I have done that? It would have put me at risk. I was already bleeding. I couldn’t get my blood anywhere at the scene of the crime.
All she saw was a man in a ski mask who killed the man who was raping her.
I called one of my men to clean up John’s body.
All will be well. Hopefully the girl got to safety. ”
“But you’re not sure if she did.”
“Not my problem.”
“I can see that,” I grumble.
“I saved that girl’s life. Most hitmen would have killed her too.”
“But not you.”
He inclines his head. “Not me.”
“You try to act like you’re better but you’re killing people.”
“I never said I was better. I’m just stating the facts. Most hitmen would have killed that girl but I spared her life. I do what’s necessary. Not more than I have to. Now, I need to deal with this cut. You need to go into your room.”
“It’s not my room,” I snap.
“You’re not as shy as I remember.”
“I guess I’m just tired of always hiding my voice away. It’s gotten me nowhere.”
“Come along.”
“I can help,” I offer. I nod at his arm. “Your cut.” The last thing I want is to go back into that room again. To be trapped again.
“You want to help me?” The incredulousness in his voice almost makes me laugh.
“I know how to sew. I can help stitch you up.”
“Where did you learn to sew?”
“My aunt. She thought a proper lady should know how to sew. So… I know how to sew.”
“All right then,” he says with a sigh. “You can help me. But don’t think about trying to stab a needle in my arm.”
“I wouldn’t,” I say, horrified.
He lets out a small laugh that makes his face a lot less scary. “I was just teasing you, Gianna. Come on.” He leads me to the bathroom and pulls out a first aid kit. “Here.”
Before my very eyes, he takes his shirt off, making me squeak. His body is all hard muscle. It’s obvious he works out a lot from the defined ridges of his stomach to his broad shoulders and strong arms. This man is power and it’s both terrifying and somehow electrifying.
“I had to take it off,” he says after I avert my gaze. “It will make it easier for you to stitch up my arm.”
“Of course.” I still can’t look at him. I can’t even move.
“Have you never seen a shirtless man before?”
“Of course I have. On the television.”
He huffs. “Right. But not in person?”
“My brother didn’t want me dating. Neither did my aunt. So… no.”
“How sad.”
“What’s sad?” That finally makes me look at him and I instantly regret it. His eyes are dark and intense and it makes me feel trapped.
“That you weren’t allowed to date. A beautiful woman like you should have had a lot of boyfriends by now.”
“What about a woman who isn’t pretty? Doesn’t she deserve boyfriends too?”
“Of course. I was just saying… it’s a waste is all.”
“I’m more than my looks,” I snap. Francesca would poke and prod at me. Criticizing everything I did. How I moved. How I dressed. How I styled my hair. She made sure I was perfect in looks but that didn’t mean I was happy.
“Yes. You are. I didn’t mean to imply otherwise.”
I sigh and open the first aid kit, rummaging around for an alcohol wipe. “It’s just… pretty looks are not everything. Not when you’re a pretty animal in a cage.”
“I know you feel trapped but –,”
“I’ve always been trapped. My entire life. This is nothing new. So it’s not entirely your fault.” I dab his arm with the wipe and he hisses. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen him look human. Knowing he can feel pain.
“You grew up in a mansion. I looked into you for the job Marco wanted. You had everything.”
“I had nothing. No friends. No boyfriends. Just my aunt controlling my life and my brother keeping me locked away for my own protection. Just because I have a pretty face and money doesn’t mean I was happy.
It wasn’t my money. I wasn’t free. And my pretty face makes men want to own me. I don’t have a life of my own.”
He goes quiet as I pick up the needle and thread. For a moment, I consider doing what Will said: stab him in the arm. But for some reason, I don’t want to hurt him. I want him to understand. I want one person in my life to understand me.
That was always my sister-in-law, Kira. But she doesn’t have any power over my life any more than I do. She can’t help me.
But Will can. He could bring me home. He could not give me to Marco. I just need him to see me as a human and hopefully he’ll let me go. It’s manipulative, yes. But it’s also the truth: everything I’m telling him.
I run the needle through his skin and he grits his teeth, looking away from me, like he doesn’t want me to see his pain. Like he doesn’t want me to see him as a human being.
“You don’t have a life of your own either,” I murmur. “Not when you’re controlled by money.”
“Everyone is controlled by money. You need money to live.”
“That’s true. But one can still be free of it. We don’t have to be controlled by outside forces.”
He lifts his eyes back to mine. “Maybe in a dream world but that’s not the world we live in, Gianna. We both know it.”
It’s my turn to look away as I continue to stitch his wound. “There. I’m done. You should probably still get medicine for this. You don’t want it to get infected.”
“I’m sure you’d like that. If I died of an infection, you’d be free of me.”
“I don’t want you to die,” I admit.
He sucks in a breath but otherwise, doesn’t comment. After a beat, he slips his shirt back on and leads me to the bedroom where I’m locked away again. Forever a prisoner.