Angelo waves his hand like a bored prince. “Nothing to worry about, Cal. Just my wife throwing a tantrum.” Cal’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise. I guess he wasn’t aware of my arrival. He holsters his gun and stands tall, carefully ignoring my presence.
“Um, okay. Want me to ask Maria to clean this up?”
“No, it’s late. Maria clocked off an hour ago. I’ll sort it.”
A sliver of ice in my heart melts. Angelo clearly cares about his household staff. A murderous, sociopathic dictator wouldn’t give a fuck about waking up a servant to wipe up after him. Maybe he’s not so bad after all.
Cal disappears, and Angelo’s calm facade slips.
“Have you finished?”
I eye his half-empty bottle of wine. The bastard notices and pulls it out of reach before pouring a fresh glass.
He doesn’t offer me another one.
“No.” I’m still angry, even if maybe he’s not as bad as I expected. Okay, so he’s not bad at all.So not badI can barely take my eyes off him. And from the way his gaze lingers on my braless tits, he’s not entirely immune to my charms either.
“No?” He sits back in his chair, ignoring the mess I made for the moment.
I sigh as my anger drains away. I’m exhausted. Not just from being kidnapped yesterday. I’m exhausted from living on my wits for a year. From existing in fight-or-flight mode, hypervigilant every time a stranger looked twice at me.
“Look,” I begin, “I never agreed to this stupid marriage, and I’m sure you’d much rather choose a wife you actually love than be stuck with me.”
He doesn’t disagree, so I continue.
“I don’t know what agreement my stepmother made with your family, but surely we can figure something out?” My eyes well up and my lip quivers. It’s all fake, but Angelo doesn’t know this.
Crying on demand is my special skill, and my father usually caved when I sobbed my little heart out. Sadly, that trick stopped working when I hit my teens and everything changed.
Angelo shifts in his chair but seems unmoved by my show of emotion.
“Vivian needed money and my father wants an heir.”
My act slips. Why would she need money? My father left her well provided for. Then again, that woman had a real talent for spending money.
“The fact you’re not ugly as fuck helped seal the deal,” he adds with a smirk.
I tense as my fake tears dry up. If that bastard thinks he’s fucking raping me, he better start sleeping with one eye open.
“Are you fond of your dick?” I ask in a conversational tone.
He chokes on his wine. “Excuse me?”
I smirk while picking up my fork. Red sauce still clings to the sharp tines. It looks a little like blood if you squint. Angelo catches me admiring the fork and his jaw clenches.
“You hurt me, and Iwillretaliate using whatever means I have at my disposal.” I stab the fork into a bread roll so hard it penetrates the table. Angelo watches me, all traces of amusement gone. He’s not impressed by my show of defiance.
“Cute,” he says. “But I don’t respond well to threats.” He kicks back from the table and stands. The bastard is tall. Much taller than me.
My muscles clench as he stalks around the table like a panther before looming over me, caging me in with his arms. I hate how he uses his size to intimidate me, but I refuse to cower.
“I need an heir. You will give me a child by any means necessary. Sex doesn’t have to be part of the deal. Although…” He smirks. “I’ll leave it on the table in case you change your mind.”
That fucking asshole! On what planet does he think I’ll willingly open my legs for him? Okay, so he’s hot. But I’m not that desperate.
My pussy disagrees. Being this close to Angelo is a sharp reminder I haven’t had sex in forever. And goddammit, I miss sex.
Angelo sees the way my nipples perk in the thin top I stupidly chose from the closet. I grind my teeth, angry at the way my body happily betrays my true feelings on the matter.
