Chapter Nine
Gianna
The sight of Marco standing in the doorway makes me want to scream. He’s here to take me away. To marry me.
Yes, I’ve been kept prisoner by Will but at least I haven’t been forced into a marriage. I still have some autonomy left. But I know the moment Marco marries me, I’ll be his forever.
“Marco,” Will says, unable to hide the surprise in his voice. So, he didn’t know Marco was coming over either. For some reason, that offers me a small comfort.
“Aren’t you going to step aside and let me in? I mean, this is my house after all.”
“Of course.” Will steps out of the way and Marco struts inside. His eyes land on me.
“There she is. The girl who has caused so many problems for me.”
“You kidnapped me,” I snap. My shyness has slowly faded away ever since I was taken.
I guess being out from under my aunt’s thumb has helped.
I haven’t thrown up in days, which has been good for me.
I never thought there would be any good to come out of being kidnapped but I guess those are the positives.
“Your brother wants my head. We’ll need to be married soon to get him to quiet down.”
“Just because you marry me, doesn’t mean Enzo won’t stop coming for me. He’ll keep coming for me until you’re dead.”
Marco smirks. It’s a shame how handsome he is.
His looks are wasted on someone so evil.
“The second I marry you, I gain more power than your brother is ready for. He’ll have to bow to me because he won’t want to risk you getting hurt.
I know your brother. I’ve worked with him for years.
He’s a hothead but he won’t risk your safety. ”
“Are you here to marry me right now?” For some reason, my eyes flick to Will when I ask this. I have no idea why. Will averts his gaze as his body stiffens.
“Not right now. Your brother is close to finding you. Will, you need to move Gianna. Take her to one of my other safe houses. It was already a risk with me coming here. But I will be back soon to marry you. I just have to find the right time so your brother won’t stop the wedding again.
” Marco strolls over to me and runs the back of his fingers down my face.
I flinch. “So pretty. Soon, you’ll be mine. ”
Will grabs Marco’s wrist, shocking everyone in the room. Marco narrows his eyes.
“Is there something you need, Will?”
Will looks between me and Marco before slowly letting Marco go. “Nothing.”
“So then why did you try to stop me from touching what’s mine?”
“I’m not yours,” I whisper, hating how weak I sound.
Marco doesn’t even spare me a second glance as he looks Will down. “Answer my question.”
Will pushes his shoulders back, looking strong and tall.
But he doesn’t tower over Marco. Not when they’re the same height.
“I wasn’t trying to stop you. I was trying to protect you.
Gianna might hurt you. She doesn’t want to marry you and as someone you hired, it’s also my job to make sure you’re safe. ”
After a long beat where Marco stares Will down, he finally laughs. “You think this little girl can hurt me?”
“She does have a fork right beside her hand. She could have easily stabbed you in the eye with it. I was just trying to keep you safe.”
Marco glances down at the fork on the table and huffs.
“You’re not wrong. She could have. But I know Gianna.
She’s a mouse. She won’t fight back. She won’t hurt me.
But I appreciate your concern, Will. It was a smart move in hiring you.
I have to leave now. Before Enzo finds me here.
Take Gianna to the new safehouse.” He tells Will the address so fast that I’m not sure if Will can remember it.
I can barely remember it and it’s my life on the line.
“Will, a word before I go.” He pulls Will over to the side of the room.
I have to strain to hear what they say to each other.
“She is not yours,” Marco says to Will. “Don’t touch her. If I find out she’s not a virgin on our wedding night, I’ll know who’s responsible. So don’t be stupid. Do your job. Keep her hidden. Nothing more.”
Will slowly nods.
Marco’s smile is tight as he gives me one last look before leaving the house.
I stare down at my plate of food. Why would Marco tell Will that? Of course I’m not Will’s. He has never touched me and never will. That’s insane. Will doesn’t have romantic feelings for me and I don’t have romantic feelings for him.
And yet… my mind flashes back to when I saw him shirtless as I stitched up his arm. How vulnerable he looked. How open. How handsome. We shared a strange moment together that night.
And then last night when he came into my room after not murdering that woman he was hired to kill.
He had been distraught and was acting like I was the cure.
But I have no idea how to be the cure for him.
I have no idea what I even want in life except freedom.
The power to make my own choices and not have my life chosen for me.
Will sits down across from me, his expression closed off, like a brick wall.
“What did Marco mean?” I ask.
He startles. “You heard that?”
“Yes. I don’t mean anything to you. Why would he tell you not to touch me?”
“Because he’s a possessive ass. That’s why. Nothing more. And I won’t touch you. You’re just a job to me.” There’s no emotion in his voice. Only pure coldness.
For some reason, it stings, though I’m not sure why and I shouldn’t worry about it. Will means nothing to me. Nothing.
Yet, why do I feel like I have to keep convincing myself of that?
We leave the current house to go to the new one. Will doesn’t tie me up or blindfold me fortunately. It shows that he’s not worried I’ll run because I won’t make it far, which is concerning. But at least I can look out the window and have some sort of freedom.
Neither one of us says a word on the entire drive. I keep sneaking looks in Will’s direction. I can’t get Marco’s words out of my head. How he told Will to not touch me… almost like he was worried Will would touch me.
And did he really stop Marco from touching my face because he was worried I’d hurt Marco? Or was there another reason?
The new house in question is another suburban cottage on a nice street tucked away so no one will find me here. At least I don’t have to stay in squalor but it only makes me think that this is Marco’s ploy of making me his. Let me stay at his nice properties until he comes to marry me.
“Why didn’t Marco just marry me today?” I ask once we’re parked in the driveway. It’s the first words I’ve spoken in thirty minutes.
“Do you want Marco to marry you?” I can’t decipher his tone. Is he annoyed with me? Angry with me? Or just doesn’t care at all?
“Of course not. I just don’t know why he didn’t marry me right then and there.”
“He’s trying to get a plan in place. After your brother found him the first time and stopped your wedding, I think he’s worried your brother will be able to do it again. So he’s trying to get everything ready so he can marry you in peace.”
“Oh.” That’s even more scary. Marco with a plan will be harder to take down than Marco without one.
Will gets out of the car before I can say anything more. I follow him into the house, knowing I can’t run.
“You should take a shower,” he says. “Get cleaned up.”
“For a long day spent locked in a room?”
“Don’t fight with me right now, Gianna,” he sighs.
A flare of anger hits me. “I’m sorry that me being kidnapped is an inconvenience for you. If you wanted to solve your problem, you’d give me back to my brother. But you refuse to because you’re selfish.”
His eyes widen. Clearly, he never expected me to talk to him this way but I’m tired of always having to be the good little girl all the time. I want to be free. I want to have my own voice.
I storm away from him before he can respond. He doesn’t get the last word in.
Feeling petty, I slam the bathroom door behind me. Francesca would have scolded me for acting this way but I don’t care anymore. Francesca isn’t here. I have to fend for myself.
I take a scalding hot shower. The feeling of the water stings my skin but it also helps me stay alert. I want to feel the pain right now. I need to feel it.
Will knocks on the door. “Gianna, you’ve been in there long enough. Come out.”
“No.” If I want to take a long shower, I am going to take a long shower.
But then Will opens the door and I realize I never locked it. He freezes when he sees me naked in the shower. I squeak.
Quickly, he turns around. “Sorry.”
I turn the shower off and wrap a towel around my now shivering body. “You knew I was in here. You’d knew I would be naked.”
“I… wasn’t thinking. But I can’t leave you in here. You need to go to your room now.”
“So you can lock me up again? Treat me like I’m nothing?” I pause before asking what I need to ask. “Why did you stop Marco from touching me?”
His back stiffens. “Gianna…”
“Answer me.” The urge to say please is on the tip of my tongue but I push it down. I don’t have to beg him. Not when he took me prisoner.
“Like I said. I didn’t want you to stab him.”
“You knew I wouldn’t stab him. So why did you really stop him?”
“Gianna, don’t.”
“Why?”
“Gianna –,”
“Why?”
“Because I couldn’t stand him touching you,” he snaps.
I suck in a breath. A part of me figured this was the reason but hearing it is a completely different experience than just thinking it.
“Why?” I whisper.
“I can’t answer that.”
“You can’t? Or you don’t want to?”
He turns back around to face me, his eyes flicking over my towel-clad body, before settling on my face. “You’re not mine like Marco said. I need to remember that.”
“You want me to be yours?”
“Of course not. I was just… I couldn’t stand the thought of him touching you. I don’t agree with women being touched without their consent.”
“Says the hitman.”
“Touche.”
“So it’s because I’m a woman that you didn’t want him touching me?”
“What are you really asking?” His eyes bore into mine.
What I’m really asking is if he stopped Marco because I’m just a woman or because of me specifically. Yet, I can’t get the words out.
He picks up my clothes and hands them to me. “Get dressed. It’s time.” Time to go into a new room that will be my new prison cell.
“I hate you,” I state. I hate Will for making me feel this way. Confused and lonely and full of longing that I don’t understand.
“I’m used to people hating me.” He leads me to the new bedroom and I walk inside and he shuts the door behind me, locking it.
Once again, nothing has changed and yet… it feels like everything has changed.