I almost dropped the cigarillo like a poisonous snake.
Muscle memory made me suck the divine smoke past my lips.
“Good girl,” murmured the voice of sin incarnate. Vincenzo stepped into the pool of light. It cast his face in sharper, harsher hues. His hands settled on my shoulders. An unspoken claim. There wasn’t an ounce of forgiveness there. He bent over me, inhaling my hair.
“Dio sacro,” he rasped.
And then his lips pressed against my forehead.
My chest cracked wide open. Pain and longing spilled out. The feelings were black, like tar that was sticky and toxic.
I panicked, trying to stumble away.
Vincenzo held me tight, dipping to press his forehead against mine. “We’re not getting divorced.”
I fought back a cry of dismay. My voice sounded high, full of the distress I would rather have hidden. “What do you want with me?”
“Isn’t it obvious, my sweet Mandy?” His lips curved up with a cruel slant.
“No!” I gasped. “Why would you actively try to screw up my life?”
“Screw up your life?” He tasted the words. “If that’s how you see it, va bene.”
“Enzo,” I prayed.
“You want an answer that you already know, but clearly don’t understand.” He spoke more to himself. “Well, I’ll give you one. I made you mine, fiore mio, because I can.”
A full-body shudder rocked through me. My eyes squeezed shut to keep the tears back. Those words were nails in the coffin!
His voice cracked like a whip. “Mandy, what’s happened?”
“What?” I blurted out. “What do you mean?”
“You’re trembling.”
I shrugged. “I can’t be married to you. Please, Vincenzo, it’s important.”
“It’s done.” He pulled back, staring hard at me. His jaw tightened, eyes turning to pitch.
“Undo it!” I narrowed my gaze. “Or I’ll sue.”
“Something’s happened.” He shifted his hold to cup my jaw, fingers pushing into the hair at the back of my neck. “Tell me.”
The whole horrific story was right there, right on the tip of my tongue.
But I swallowed it.
In life, we played the cards we were dealt. I wasn’t going to ask someone to play them for me. There was no such thing as a knight on a steed to save the lost girl. This was my battle.
It might have been my own desperation for independence, but really, if I was being honest with myself, it was because I didn’t want him to be involved for his own sake. If he knew what had happened, he would act.
That was just who he was.
So, for reasons I couldn’t explain, I decided to protect him. “Nothing. I’ll see you in court.”
“Can’t wait,” he smirked and plucked the burning cigarillo from my fingers. Flicking the ashen tip, he brought it to his mouth. I stood transfixed for a heartbeat, as if my body knew it would be my turn to take another drag, and I waited for the ritual.
But as he exhaled, I snapped out of the enchantment. I set my shoulders straight and marched away. His gaze followed me to the mouth of the alley, and although I didn’t look behind me to see him, I felt it the entire way to the rideshare I’d paid to wait for me. I knew in my gut he followed.
