Gio’s footsteps indicated he was following me inside. “Several times, actually.”
“Fuck,” his brother hissed.
A cavernous entryway stretched before me. The Bellinis might call this building home, but it could just as easily have passed for a family history museum. The walls were covered with oil paintings of the patriarchs of the past: olive-skinned Italian men with dark hair and dead eyes, who wielded fear to control those under their command. Gio’s portrait would someday join their ranks, but he would have to find someone else to inherit his fucked-up kingdom. I refused to let my son fill that role.
Rushing up the curved staircase in the foyer, I could feel Gio hot on my heels.
When I turned left toward the guest wing, his fingers locked around my wrist, tugging me in the other direction. “Our bedroom is this way.”
I dug my heels in, but it was useless in halting our progress. Gio was simply too strong for me to overpower.
“Are you out of your fucking mind?” Maniacal laughter burst from my chest. “You know what? Don’t bother answering that. This whole face swap thing you bought into proves that you lost the plot a long time ago, so I’ll spell it out for you: there’s no way in hell I am sleeping in the same bed as you.”
Tossing me a bored look over his shoulder, Gio replied, “You act as if you have a choice.”
We came to a stop before the double doors outside of the owner’s suite, and I scoffed. “What’s your plan, then? Lock me inside until I give birth?”
He turned the handle. “That won’t be necessary.”
“You sure about that? Because I can guarantee I won’t stay willingly.”
Lightning-quick, he moved, pinning me to the wall. With a hand collaring my throat, he got right up in my face, nostrilsflaring. “You wanna play games? Fine. If you so much as attempt to sleep anywhere but inside this suite, I will have every piece of horizontal furniture in this house removed. I can only imagine how comfortable the hardwood floors will be for someone in your condition.”
Almost as if on cue, the baby gave a little flip. Automatically, my hands covered my stomach, trying to protect the innocent life growing within.
Gio might think he could use our son as a tool to manipulate me, a way to force me to do whatever he wanted. But the truth was that my baby boy fueled the fire within me. For him, I would never stop fighting to break free.
Shoving at my husband’s chest was enough to get him to release his hold and step back, giving me the space to maneuver around him and into the bedroom.
When he spoke from behind me, smugness leaked into his tone. “Putting your pride aside for the sake of the baby. You might just make a half-decent mother yet.”
I spun on him, my rage barely contained. “You’d better sleep with one eye open because I will dowhateverit takes to keep my son safe. Even if that means putting a bullet between your eyes.”
A normal person might have been shocked by my death threat, but Gio, being the psychopath that he was, gave off the impression of being amused, a corner of his lips twitching.
“It only took half an hour back in your natural habitat for those claws to come back out,tigrotta.” My jaw clenched at that nickname. “I’ll admit I missed this side of you when you were practically flooding the apartment in Colorado with your endless weeping.”
“That’s funny, because I didn’t miss a damn thing about you. John was everything you’re not.”
He barked out a laugh. “John was a pussy.”
Shaking my head, I huffed, “I’ll take that pussy any day over a man who’s likely to pass on one of the STIs he catches from the whores he sleeps with on the side.”
Something dark and dangerous flashed in Gio’s eyes as I hurled that insult. When he took a menacing step closer, my resulting cower was pure instinct. The man I married was capable of unspeakable violence, and in the back of my mind, I knew there was only so far I could push him before he aimed the full force of that brutality on me.
Would today be the day that my husband hit me for the first time, pregnancy be damned?
Through gritted teeth, Gio’s voice came out low and lethal. “Let’s get one thing straight here, Rory. I’ve upheld my vow to remain faithful.” After a pause, he added, “Unlike you.”
My jaw dropped. “Oh, that’s rich. The only man I’ve slept with besides you just so happened to be you in disguise!”
He let out an unimpressed humph. “Don’t think you get off on a technicality. You were ready and willing to fuck me when you thought I was someone else. It doesn’t matter that by default, you didn’t actually cheat.”
I flashed him the mother of all eye rolls. “Sure, let’s just pretend I had any choice in participating in your little game of entrapment. We both know you always get what you want.”
Gio’s lips twisted into an evil grin. “That’s right, I do. While it might’ve taken me longer than I would have liked, we were always going to end up right here. With you back under this roof, pregnant with my heir.” He moved toward the ensuite, stripping along the way. “And just in case you get it into your head about trying to run again, there is a guard posted below the balcony and another outside the suite. The one inside will be your shadow, following you anywhere you wish to go within the mansion.” The shower came to life, and he stepped inside, hot water pouring over his head and sluicing down his muscles.“There will be no escaping this time. It’s better for everyone involved if you accept the finality of your place by my side sooner rather than later. I’d hate to separate you from that baby you’ve grown so fond of, but if you won’t come to heel, then I might not have much of a choice.”
Those words were a sucker punch to the gut, and fear like I’d never known slithered down my spine.
