Chapter Seventeen
Gianna
“You are disgusting,” Nico snarls as he takes me away from Will.
I can only press my body against the car door to get as far away from him as possible but there’s barely any space between us with just the console in the way.
His hands tighten around the steering wheel until his fingers turn white.
“Letting that fucker defile you. You’re no longer a virgin. Your brother promised me you were.”
“I was kidnapped,” I whisper. “Why are you blaming me?” Yes, I made my choice to be with Will but Nico doesn’t know that. I could have been raped for all he knows and yet, he’s blaming me for it? It tells me exactly what kind of man he is.
“I know you were kidnapped. It’s why I came to save you. It’s why I’ll still marry you even though you’re used goods now. I know this wasn’t your choice. But it’s still disgusting to find you in bed with that man. It didn’t look like rape to me. It looked like you were happy in his arms.”
I don’t comment. The less I say the better.
“How can you live with yourself?” he snaps. “You were a good woman and now look at you. Your brother will be so ashamed when he finds out.”
“Where is my brother?”
“He is out looking for you and that fucker who took you. I can’t believe he’s still alive. Once we’re married, I’ll find Will and kill him.”
“No,” I say without meaning to.
Nico slants his eyes in my direction and it only makes me shiver. “No? Why wouldn’t you want the man who kidnapped you to die?”
I open my mouth but no sound comes out. The urge to throw up hits me. If I just threw up, everything would be better.
Nico huffs. “It doesn’t matter. Enzo and I will find Will and kill him. We’ll be married and all will be right in the world.”
I stare out the window, watching the houses and trees and cars pass me by, knowing I’m getting farther and farther away from the man I care for.
From the man I think I may be in love with.
Nico arrives back at my aunt’s house in Connecticut after a long drive. The sight of my old home doesn’t fill me with happiness like I once thought it would. My legs feel like they’re moving through cement as I walk to the front door.
Nico lets himself inside the house like he owns it.
“How did you get a key?” I ask.
“Your aunt. She wanted me to have one since we’ll be married.”
Of course. Francesca just has to get her way and she believes Nico to be a good man for me when I know he’s the opposite.
The moment I step foot inside, Francesca runs right for me and pulls me into her arms. “Oh thank goodness. You’re finally home.”
It takes me a second to hug her back. “Yes. I’m home.” Those words send a weight into my stomach I never thought I would feel. With Will, I had a taste of freedom. Of making my own choices. But I know now that I’m back home, Francesca is going to dictate everything.
“Where’s Enzo?” I ask, pulling away from her.
“He’s not here yet. Nico called me and I said to bring you right here. I had to make sure you were all right.”
“Does Enzo know I’m alive?”
“We’ll call him soon enough,” Nico explains.
That sends a chill down my spine. “So, Enzo doesn’t know I’m here? We have to call him, Aunt Francesca.”
“Of course,” she says. “We will. But Nico thought it would be a better idea to wait. To let me see you first.”
I glance at Nico, confused for a moment, before it hits me.
Nico doesn’t want Enzo finding out about how he’s treated me.
He knows Enzo will call off the wedding if I tell Enzo everything.
But my aunt is obtuse. Once she sees that someone is good, she’ll see them as good forever.
And once she sees someone as bad, she’ll always see them as bad. Nico knows this.
“You’ve seen me,” I say to my aunt. “Now, let’s call Enzo.” So I can explain everything to him. So I can get Will back. He was shot but I couldn’t tell if it was a life-ending one or not. And I won’t know unless I get back to Will.
“We should get married first,” Nico says while Francesca nods.
“Why?”
“Because Marco and that hitman could come for you any second. But if you’re married to me, it will offer you more protection.
I can take you to my home where you will be safe.
Where they won’t be able to find you. But we can only do that if you’re my wife.
So we’ll get married and then we’ll tell Enzo you’re safe. ”
I look into Francesca’s eyes and hope – for once – that she’ll be on my side and not on her own. “I want Enzo at my wedding. We should call him.”
“Gianna, he’s hours away. He’s not in New York since he’s been looking everywhere for you.
It would take too long. So I think it’s best we do as Nico says.
Enzo wanted this marriage to happen anyway.
We’ll get you two married and then he’ll return home and he’ll be happy to see that we were productive in keeping you safe. ”
“No. I want my brother at my wedding.”
Francesca sighs and reaches out for me but I step back. Her eyes narrow. “Gianna, what has gotten into you?”
“I was just kidnapped. Can’t I have a moment before I’m forced into a marriage?”
“Forced? You agreed to marry Nico.”
“And I shouldn’t have.”
Francesca gasps, literally clutching the pearls around her neck. “You’re being dramatic like you can get sometimes. I know you just went through something horrific but you will marry Nico. It’s for the best. I think so. Nico thinks so. Enzo thinks so.”
“And what about what I think?”
“You agreed to marry him, so you also thought it was a good idea. Now, we don’t have a wedding dress for you but you have a lot of beautiful dresses you can wear instead. Go change and we’ll take you to the church where you and Nico will be married.”
“Don’t I get a say in my life?”
She grabs my arm, digging her nails into my skin. “You will do as I tell you. Marrying Nico is the best thing for you. Now, don’t argue. Go get changed. You look filthy.”
I walk away from my aunt and Nico just to get away for a moment.
Just to breathe. I take a shower, hating every second of it, knowing that I’m washing away Will’s touch.
Once I’m done, I find a dress laid out on my bed.
A simple cream dress that was the closest my aunt could find for a wedding dress in my closet.
Knowing I have no other choice, I put the dress on. It feels like a cage around my body.
Nico and Francesca smile once I go back out to them. They’re the only ones happy. I can’t even tell my brother about what’s happening. He would save me. I know it.
As for Will… I just have to hope that he’s alive at all.
Will
I drive one handed to the nearest hospital so they can fix up my arm. There’s no way I can save Gianna when I’m bleeding out. The only problem is that the doctor who stitches me up has questions. Why was I shot? Who shot me?
I lie and tell him that I was mugged and shot in the arm and didn’t see the face of the man who did it.
“We’ll have to call the police so they can take your statement,” the doctor tells me, finishing fixing my arm.
“Of course.” I give him my most charming smile and he smiles back, seemingly at ease. But the second the doctor leaves, I get up and leave myself. I’m not waiting around for the police to show. I have to get Gianna back. Nico could have killed me and it was by some miracle that I’m not dead.
Now I just have to find Gianna and save her without getting myself killed.
I drive to her aunt’s house. When Marco hired me, he had me do a lot of digging into Gianna’s life, so I know right where she grew up.
I see Gianna in the driveway – in a white dress – with Nico and her aunt on either side of her.
Where’s her brother? I don’t see Enzo anywhere.
Gianna is forced by her aunt to get into a car.
I watch them drive away from the house and I follow them from a distance.
I have to be smart about this. I can’t shoot at the car, not with Gianna in it.
So, I have to be patient.
I stop the car only after they stop… right before a large, catholic church. Nico is going to marry Gianna and I have to stop it.
Gianna
Nico grabs my arm and forces me down the aisle. Francesca settles in the front pew, looking happy, despite her pinched lips. The priest is waiting for us… almost like he knew this was going to happen. Like Nico called ahead of time.
He’s keeping everything from my brother and he’s convinced my aunt to keep it from Enzo too. This can’t be happening.
“You can begin, Father,” Nico says to the priest.
“I will not marry you,” I announce before the priest can begin.
“Gianna,” Francesca gasps, horrified.
I look Nico in the eye and try to speak with as much bravery as I can. The old Gianna would have let everyone decide her fate for her but this new version of me is going to fight. I have to because I have no one else fighting for me right now.
“I will not marry you,” I repeat. “You’ve treated me terribly and you’re going to do it again after we’re married. You want to control me and I refuse to be controlled.”
“Gianna,” Nico seethes. “Stop being insolent. You will marry me. You already agreed to.”
“Well, I change my mind. I see how bad of a man you are and I will not marry you.”
“And yet, you’d gladly let a hitman fuck you?”
Francesca gasps. “What is he talking about?”
I ignore my aunt. “Will is a better man that you will ever be. He doesn’t want to control me. He wants to give me the freedom I’ve always craved. But you just want to dictate my life. You want to hurt me. And I will not stand back and let that happen.”
Nico turns to the priest. “Begin the ceremony.”
“Well…” The priest hesitates. “If the girl doesn’t want to be married, I can’t force her.”
Nico whips out his gun and aims it at the priest’s head. “You will start the ceremony. Now.”
The priest quickly nods and begins speaking. I drown out his voice in my head. I will not let this happen. I cannot. I have to fight.
I storm away from the dais and down the aisle when Nico tells me to stop. I glance back and see that his gun is pointed at me.
“Nico?” Francesca asks. “That’s my niece. Don’t point a gun at her.”
“You will marry me,” Nico growls. “Or I will shoot you. If I can’t have you, then no one can.”
“Nico!” Francesca gasps.
“Shut up,” he growls at her. “Or I will shoot you too. Now, Gianna, come back here and marry me.”
I can’t let my aunt get killed even if I don’t always like her. With no other choice, I turn back around and stand before Nico, prepared to marry him.