His words rang with a truth I didn’t want to face. There was a part of me that craved the depraved, the wicked, the deviant things my House encouraged. A dark part of me that fed off control and was drawn to temptation. I’d been fighting it my whole life, and as Giovanni taunted me with his words, I realized that was what scared me the most about being here—it was why I’d really run twelve years before. I didn’t trust myself in this world. I didn’t trust myself not to cave to all the immoral enticements floating around me.
Sickness rolled through my gut, and I shoved hard against his chest, knocking him back several steps. “Get the fuck away from me. And don’t go anywhere near my wife.”
Giovanni only grinned wider. “Oh, I wouldn’t think of it. Though, if she comes to me...” He clucked his tongue, slid his hands into his pockets again, and moved toward the doorway back into the house. “You and that pretty wife of yours have a good night.”
He disappeared into the house, but I didn’t follow. I didn’t trust myself not to slam him against a wall. Hands shaking, I turned back toward the dark view and braced my palms on the stone balustrade once more, running through those breathing exercises that did shit to calm me down.
Natalie would never go near Giovanni. She was safe here in the house after the deal I’d made, and even if Giovanni decided to test me, he’d never do so in front of Ariana. My instincts screamed for me to go back inside just to be sure, but I couldn’t yet. I couldn’t because I was still vibrating from a rage I was barely holding back. And I didn’t want to unleash it in front of my parents.
I didn’t want to unleash it on the one person who was supposed to be on my side but who now seemed to be aligning herself with my enemies.
Chapter Fourteen
Natalie
Luc hadn’t come back yet. With every passing minute, my stress rose another notch and my ability to keep down the dinner I’d eaten became that much more difficult.
When Giovanni left the dining room, I couldn’t stand it anymore. I set my napkin beside my dessert plate and pushed back from the table, forcing a smile toward Luc’s mother that nearly made me vomit. “Excuse me for a moment. I need to use the restroom.”
“Of course.”
The woman’s words were clipped but polite. As I left the dining room and made my way down the hallway, searching rooms for Luc, I fought the urge to gouge her eyeballs out with my thumbs.
She’d been cold and dismissive when we’d first sat down to dinner—both Luc’s parents had been—and I’d been so worried something explosive was about to happen, I’d forced back every bit of my rage and morphed into the perfect Stepford wife they expected me to be. Every courteous word had made me want to scream, but I’d pushed them past my lips, even as I felt Luc’s anger and disbelief rising across from me. I needed to find him and explain before he had a massive coronary. I needed to get to him before Gio ran into him and said something about our meeting the other day that would destroy everything I’d been trying to do.
I looked right and left, not even knowing where I was going. When I reached the courtyard, I searched everywhere for Luc but couldn’t see him. Moving back into the house, I followed another corridor, but the castle was so big, I got turned around and didn’t know where I was. I walked through a library and into yet another long hallway. Turning a corner in the dimly lit passageway, I drew up sharply when broad shoulders blocked my path.
A gasp slipped from my lips, and I stumbled back, immediately sucking in a breath that told me the dark-haired man in my way was not my husband.
“Mm, bella.” Giovanni moved in closer, pushing me up against the stone wall at my back. “We have to stop meeting in dark corners like this.”
My heart rate shot up. I lifted both hands to keep him back. “Luc is here.”
He braced one hand on the wall near my head and chuckled. “My brother is indisposed at the moment. Trust me, he’s not thinking about anything but himself.” He fingered a curl against my shoulder. “I forgot how soft your hair is, bella.”
My stomach pitched. I pushed against his chest, trying to keep him back, but he was like solid steel. “Don’t touch me.”
His gaze lifted from my hair to my eyes, but there was no warmth in his gaze. Just a malicious glint that told me he got off on power and that this had nothing to do with me and everything to do with hurting Luc. “How easily you forget. You like my touch, bella. At that party on Long Island, you were all but begging for it.”
“You drugged me at that party on Long Island.”
One corner of his lips curled. “And you enjoyed it then. You’re enjoying it now as well.” He trailed his knuckled down my check, over my jaw, and along my throat, the revolting sensation making my heart beat faster. “I bet you’re a screamer. I bet when you come, you make all kinds of sexy soun—”
I lifted my knee and aimed for his groin. He shifted to the side, and my knee slammed into his thigh, making him grunt. Before I could react, his eyes darkened and the hand at my throat drew back, then smacked with a crack against my cheek.
The blow sent me twisting into the rocks at my back. I gasped as pain ricocheted across my cheekbone. Giovanni growled, but before he could grab me and throw me to the ground as I knew he wanted to do, I heard Ariana’s shocked voice screaming at him in Italian.
My hand went to the side of my face. Breathing hard, I chanced a look at Giovanni, standing several steps back from me now. Malice and the promise of retribution reflected in his eyes, but he didn’t lunge for me. He didn’t speak to me. He only muttered something to Ariana, then shoved past her and disappeared down the corridor.
I slumped to the floor, unable to hold myself upright. My hands were shaking. My breaths coming fast and shallow, too fast to draw a full gulp of air.
Ariana knelt beside me and held my hand in both of hers. Looking right and left, she said, “Come on. We need to get you fixed up before anyone sees you.” She pulled me to my feet and wrapped an arm around me. “I’ve got you. The stairs are right over here.”
I didn’t know where she was taking me. We moved up a set of stone steps to the second floor, down another corridor, this one wider and brighter, with sconces on both sides and a plush red rug along the floor, then finally into a bedroom suite.
She walked me around the bed to a sitting area near the wide arched windows and pushed me onto the couch. With a muttered, “Sit here,” she turned and left the room.
I glanced around the space as I tried to bring my heart rate back down. A huge four-poster bed that looked like something right out of Medieval Times took up the middle of the room. Large, antique furniture filled the rest of the space. Dark red draperies hung from the oversized windows and each corner of the bed. The room was bigger and nicer than the one I’d stayed in the last time I’d been in this castle, and I knew instinctively this was Ariana’s bedroom.
She returned a few minutes later with a towel in her hand. Closing the door, she folded the ends of the towel over and sat beside me. “Here. It’s ice.”
She lifted the make-shift ice pack to my cheek and shifted my hand to hold it there. I winced, then relaxed as the cold seeped into my hot skin. “Th-thank you.”
She shot me a sad smile. “I’m just glad I found you before Luc did.”
I closed my eyes against the sting of tears already rushing in. “I-it wasn’t what it looked like.”
“It was exactly what it looked like. I know Giovanni. And he knew exactly what he was doing.”
I shook my head, wondering how I could have thought staying for dinner was a good idea. “He... I...” Those tears grew hotter, choking my voice. “Luc doesn’t—”
“You’re not going to tell Luc. If you do, he’ll lose it and go after Gio, and then all of this will be for nothing.”
I blinked and slowly looked up at her, confused by her words. “W-what do you mean?”
“I know about the deal you made with my parents, Natalie.”
My eyes widened. “H-how?”
&n
bsp; “I heard my parents talking about it one night when they thought I wasn’t around.” She squeezed the hand against my thigh. “I know Luc thinks I’m clueless, but I’m not. I know exactly what’s been going on. And I know he has to hold it together, because Giovanni can’t ever be allowed to take our father’s place with our House. You know how evil Giovanni is. You know what would happen if he took control.”
I stared at her, still grappling with the fact she knew about her House. Luc thought she was completely in the dark. “If you know about the deal, then you know...”
“What they did to him? Yeah, I know.” Pity filled her eyes. “Which is all the more reason you can’t tell him about Giovanni. He’s already struggling not to murder my parents. We all know they deserve it, but he can’t. And he can’t go after Giovanni either. Luc’s too important to the future.”
It was the same thing Marco and Felicity had been telling me. But I hated that it was all falling on him. And I hated that I was only making things worse.
My eyes fell closed, and tears I couldn’t stop spilled over my lashes. “I’m living a lie. When he finds out everything I’ve kept from him—”
“He won’t find out. And you’re not living a lie. You’re protecting him. You have to look at it that way. Luc would do the same for you.”
He had done the same for me. Only I hadn’t cared about the fact he’d lied to protect me. I’d only focused on the lie.
“I’m a terrible person.”
“No, you’re not.” She rubbed a hand down my back that did nothing to make me feel better. “You’re just stuck in a terrible position right now. But I promise it’ll get better.”
Tugging the ice pack away from my cheek, she said, “It’s not as bad as it probably feels. We can cover that redness with makeup. But you have to make an effort not to go anywhere alone when Giovanni is around. He doesn’t care about the rules. He only cares about hurting Luc. He’s always hated Luc because Luc is the heir and he’s not. He wants to rule. He’d like nothing better than for Luc to go after him and try to kill him so our House has a valid excuse to get rid of Luc for good. You can’t let that happen.”
I swallowed hard. It was the very reason I’d brought Luc back here when every instinct had told me to take him and run. “He’s so mad at me right now. I know he thinks I betrayed him by trying to keep the peace at dinner.”
“He’ll get over it.”
I closed my eyes. “He has a wicked temper.”
“Salvatici trait, I’m afraid. But he loves you, Natalie. I’ve seen how much he loves you. That will win out over his temper. Look how much you two have already been through.”
I wasn’t so sure. Yes, we’d been through a lot in our short relationship, but we’d had more moments of agony than we ever had of happiness. At some point, he was going to realize that and decide this relationship was too much work. And when he did, it was going to shatter my heart for good.
She let go of me and pushed to her feet. “Let me get some foundation, and we’ll cover that red mark. By tomorrow, everything will be better.”
I pressed the ice against my face as she moved into the bathroom, closed my eyes, and prayed she was right.
Because I wasn’t sure how much more misery I could take.
Luc was pacing in the entryway, waiting for me, when Ariana and I came back down the main staircase a half hour later. Giovanni and his kitten had already left, and his parents had retired for bed.
One look at Luc’s rigid shoulders and tense jaw told me he wasn’t thrilled I’d disappeared. And the clipped conversation he had with Ariana in Italian only reinforced that dread swirling in my gut.
Ariana fired something back at him in Italian that only made Luc’s jaw clench harder and his eyes narrow to a glare. He didn’t respond, only moved for the door, jerked it open, and stepped out into the cool night air.
I wasn’t sure what she’d said, but I liked the girl more and more.
Frowning, she turned my way and rolled her eyes. “Stronzo.” She hugged me. “Don’t let him boss you around. He’s clearly in dick mode.”
I couldn’t stop myself. I chuckled. Hugging her back, I said, “I won’t. Thanks for the help tonight.”
“I’m just sorry you needed it.” Gripping my shoulders, she eased back and looked me in the eye. “Remember what I said. Don’t let him give them what they want.”
I drew a deep breath. “I won’t.”
She flashed a smile and let me go. As I crossed the entryway and stepped out onto the front steps, I was again shocked at how tough she was. Luc thought she needed to be protected, but Ariana Salvatici was a force to be reckoned with.
Luc was already waiting for me at the passenger side of the car with the door open. But he wouldn’t look at me, and I could tell from his rigid posture that he was ticked.
He had every right to be mad, I reminded myself as I slid into the seat and he slammed the door, then stalked around the vehicle to the driver’s side. If I were in his shoes, and he’d just played nice with the family who’d instigated my rape, I’d be livid too.
He climbed in, started the ignition, and jerked the vehicle around the fountain and onto the road. Gripping the armrest at my side as we shot down the long drive, I struggled for something to say to break the tension.
Forty-five minutes later, when we pulled onto Marco’s property, I still hadn’t come up with anything that sounded even halfway sane. And since Luc hadn’t uttered a word the whole way back, I was almost afraid to broach the topic of dinner with him just yet.
He pulled to a stop in front of the guest cottage and killed the ignition. But he didn’t open his door, and, taking my cue from him, I didn’t either.
We sat in silence for several moments, both of us staring ahead at the lights illuminating the porch, my hand gripping my purse in my lap, his wrapped around the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white.
Finally, he said, “What the hell was that back there?”
Shit. I turned toward him, desperate to make him understand. “Luc, I know you’re mad.”
“You’re damn right I’m mad. Porca puttana. Am I the only one who remembers what those sick fucks did to us?”
“No.” Panic pushed up my chest. “I didn’t forget. I was just trying to make things better.”
“You can’t make things better. You can’t ever make things better with them. And it’s not your fucking place to try. Porca troia. Stay out of my family business, Natalie, or I’ll—”
“You’ll what?” Even though I knew he was hurting, my temper flared hot and dangerous. He didn’t have a clue what I’d been through tonight. He was so lost in his own head about what they’d done, he couldn’t see what I was doing now to help him. “I’m your family, Luc. Not them. I’m the one who loves you, not them. They don’t give a shit about you, and you know it. So don’t you dare tell me to stay out of your family business, because I’m the only family that should fucking matter anymore. And if you haven’t figured that out by now, I’m done trying to tell you.”
I shoved my door open and slammed it at my back. Then I stomped up the steps and moved into the villa without looking back.
I slammed that door as well. Silence met my ears. My heart raced as I stood still in the entry, waiting for him to follow me. But footsteps didn’t sound across the porch. Instead, the car engine fired, and the tires squealed as he tore away from the house.
All the fight slipped out of me. I sank to the floor, unable to hold back the tears. They rushed down my cheeks, and my body shook as I let them fall.
I probably would have sat there and given in to the misery, but thinking about everything that had happened tonight and how I was only making things worse between me and Luc caused my stomach to revolt. Everything I’d eaten threatened to come right back up, and I only barely made it to the bathroom before it did.
Long minutes later, I was absolutely spent. Pushing myself off the bathroom floor, I splashed water on my face and brushed my teeth. Then I
moved into the bedroom and stripped off my clothes in the dark, tugged on an oversized sweatshirt and leggings, wanting only to collapse on the bed and drift into oblivion.
A banging sounded at the front door before I could. I stilled, and my heart rate shot right back up again with the thought it could be Gio, come to finish what he’d threatened in Scotland.
The insistent knocking sounded again, followed by Marco calling, “Natalie? I know you’re in there. I saw you come in from the main house. Open the damn door.”
My shoulders slumped, and my eyes slid closed. He was probably curious about what had happened at dinner, and though I didn’t want to get into it all, I knew he’d never leave if I tried to ignore him.
“Hold on,” I called.
I ran my fingers through my hair as I moved out of the bedroom, then swiped at my cheeks to make sure no remnants of my tears remained. Rolling my shoulders back, I drew a deep breath, then pulled the front door open.
Marco stood on the porch alone. With one look at me, his eyes turned deadly. “Figlio di puttana. He hit you? I’m gonna fucking kill him.”
“No.” Oh God... I grabbed Marco before he could go after Luc and pulled him into the villa. “He didn’t hit me. It wasn’t Luc.”
“Then who did? And don’t try to give me some bullshit excuse because I know what a woman looks like when she’s been hit.”
I closed the door and glanced at my bare feet on the hardwood floor, not wanting to tell him.
“Natalie.” He tipped my chin up with a gentle finger, but his eyes were raging storms when they met mine. “Who hit you?”