14
Marcello
She fell asleep, her eyes shifting beneath her eyelids as she breathed in deeply. I pushed her hair back from her face gently, making sure not to wake her. I bit my lip as she silently pressed her cheek further into the pillow. She looked so comfortable that I was doing my best not to make a sound. Moving wasn’t an option, either. I wanted to watch her sleep for as long as I could. It was serene and filled me with a sense of calm.
She was beautiful, that was undeniable. I was surprised that her parents, who were not good looking at all, were able to create someone so attractive. She had perfect skin, even though she was trapped in that dark basement. Her long hair was still healthy and had a soft shine to it. I loved her hair. Everything about her was soft.
I’d never watched a woman sleep before. I’d never felt the urge to. I’d also never performed oral sex or made love to a woman like that either. It was strange to think of those words. Make love. It had been a foreign phrase to me for most of my adult life. My kinks were strange, and I’d never taken the opportunity to please a woman the way I’d pleased her. I’d always been selfish, wanting to see and do things that drove me wild and were strange in nature. It was something I never expected.
But there she was. The testament that I could change—that I had changed. I was beginning to care about her in ways that I couldn’t fathom and that I’d never expected. I was skating on thin ice with her and I knew that at any moment the ice could give way, and we could both drown. I would gladly drown alongside her, whatever repercussions came with it. I was sure that we were compatible in more ways than I’d initially thought, and I found myself wanting to spend every moment of the day with her. She always roamed my thoughts like a ghost.
I wasn’t sure if it was even an option. Being the son of Angelo Cavetti was to be born into a dynasty that would leave me at his beck and call until he decided to step away from the criminal underworld. But it wouldn’t stop with my father. I knew that Romeo would become intoxicated by the idea of having power over people. I was trapped in a life of servitude, despite the many perks that came with it.
Lucia, despite being our prisoner, would still be wed to Romeo. That news had been floating around the family for weeks. They needed someone who he could torment without issues in the future, and Lucia was the perfect woman for the job. She would have little freedom, but she would survive.
I wasn’t sure what the plan was for Chiara and Alessandra. It would be decided by my father once the right time came around. They were pawns for us to do whatever we wanted with them - helpless victims that were ours to enjoy. Somehow, Chiara had changed my view on it. She was no longer someone that I wanted to torment. She’d done it all just by being herself, and that alone was commendable.
Everything might change if she discovered the truth about what happened to Antonio, and she was pressing for answers. I hadn’t thought it was a bad idea to let her converse with her sister, but I knew that Alessandra had convinced Chiara of something—that perhaps we’d killed their brothers and just left the two of them alive.
It was strange that she hadn’t yet asked about Lucia.
I had to make a choice, and so far, it had been to be completely silent on the matter. Avoid the subject completely, and she would give up eventually. That was the goal. So long as Romeo and Savio kept their distance from her, leaving her and her sister in the dark, then there would be no need to worry. She would still want to be with me. That was what I needed. I was desperate for her touch, for her company. Somehow she’d gotten under my skin.
* * *
I closedthe door behind her, grateful that I was able to enjoy her company without her running away, or trying to. The last thing I wanted to happen was to reprimand her for an escape attempt. She was smarter than I gave her credit for. Her brother, on the other hand, had given his life in order to escape. I was glad she didn’t follow in his footsteps. I was able to enjoy her company away from her cell, which was gratifying.
I swept the hatch closed and began to walk away, feeling a void forming in my chest. I didn’t want to leave her down there. The thought of her pacing inside her cell like a trapped lion caused my stomach to knot. She deserved better, but I couldn’t give her that just yet. I had to figure things out first.
Although she was spending time with me, I was still unable to read her. I couldn’t tell if there were any emotions on her end for me. I knew that I cared about her, but she could be using me for my company, for all I knew. Or for sympathy. There was no way to force her to care about me. I just had to wait it out as best I could.
The chances of a relationship happening, or even being able to work out, were near impossible. It would take some coaxing towards my father, for one, and I was terrible with words. I was also terrible at divulging things to my father, who was a hard man. Whether he cared about any of his children always crossed my mind. I doubted it. We were simply tools to be used to get his way with the world. His legacy was his family, which was just another piece in the puzzle of his success. That much I knew for sure. If he didn’t approve of Chiara, there was no way to convince him that it was for the best. My feelings on the matter were the last thing he would consider.
The shifting of the tiles from the kitchen caught my attention as I ascended the small staircase. I saw his back, which was turned from me. The smell of steak filled the room, causing my mouth to water. He’d ordered in, and I wanted some.
Romeo spun around to face me as he stood in front of the granite countertops, distributing the fresh steaks onto plates. “Hey, Marcello. You want some?”
Although Romeo could be an ass, he was good at knowing what people wanted. He often played with people, but there were times when he was kind about it. Of course, he’d know that I was hungry, even if my expression didn’t give it away. There were the subtle hints about me that he had picked up on throughout the years.
“Yeah, I’ll have some,” I told him, waiting in the doorway for him to set me up a plate. “Thanks.”
He gave me a quick nod as he placed one of the hot steaks onto a white plate and set up the utensils for me. I grabbed the plate and made my way to the stools at the island towards the edge of the kitchen. It was the best place to have a quick meal. I wasn’t interested in having a serious sit-down dinner with Romeo. I just wasn’t in the mood to have dinner with anyone.
Despite that, he pulled out the stool next to me and placed his plate on the counter, the scent of the steak wafting up in the air between us. He had some salad on the edge of his plate that he used the fork to stab at, scarfing it down, as though he hadn’t eaten in years. I wished there was music on so I wouldn’t have to hear him chew. The only person I wanted to watch eat was Chiara.
“So, you were coming back from the basement?” Romeo asked while chewing a mouthful of food. “Who were you visiting?”
I didn’t want to divulge any information to him, as I knew that Romeo didn’t like anyone else having a toy that he couldn’t have. If I told him who I was visiting, it was likely that he would begin showing his attention to Chiara, just to spite me.
“I was visiting Alessandra.”
He narrowed his eyes at me as he cut into the steak. “Really? I didn’t think that you would be interested in her. I thought Savio was spending time with her.”
I shrugged. “I don’t keep up with the gossip. How are things going with Lucia?”
“She’s upstairs right now. She’s different from what I thought she’d be like.”
“In what way?”
