Oh, she’s not mad at me; she’s embarrassed with herself over caring too much.
“You’re apologizing for getting carried away? Sofia, I thought there was something wrong with me for being able to hyper-focus on my hobbies for hours and hours. But… I’ve never been able to share that feeling with someone else before. And…” I lose my train of thought from the exhaustion. “What the hell was I saying?”
“That we’re both freaks?”
“Right.” I clap my hand onto hers as it rests on the table, gently squeezing it. “Exactly.”
I don’t know which of the two of us laughs first, but another fit happens. Nothing terribly funny was said, but that doesn’t stop us. Sofia balls up her fist and covers her mouth as tears stream from her face.
I gasp for air and question whether some of our enemies pumped my home with a poisonous gas to make me high so that I can be murdered easily.
But what I think is going on is even more frightening than my mortality.
I think I’m falling in love.
This thought sobers me when I think about the looming threat that is her family. They’re certainly planning to rescue her and murder me. What the fuck am I going to do? I want to run away with her and hide. No… I should just call them and tell them I’m in love with their daughter and we had a delightful night playingBandu.
What the hell am I thinking? Of course, that wouldn’t work. My family tried to exterminate hers. It doesn’t matter how I feel about her. They’re going to want me dead, regardless.
“Okay. Now you’re the one that looks mad.”
Her voice snaps me out of it. I blink a few times to think of a lie to tell her because the truth ruins this whole night.
“Work crept into my mind. It was reckless of me to stay up this late.” She gets that guilty look in her eye again as if I weren’t a willing participant in this game night. “But it was worth it, and nothing a quick nap won’t fix.”
Chapter 27
Sofia
Myclosetisfilledwith so many new things that it’s going to be a struggle to pack for this trip to Greece. Alessandro is taking me and those who directly report to him, so I get to finally socialize with people aside from Alessandro and Elena. I had nice dresses and formal wear before coming here, but I still mostly lived in leggings and jeans. It’s been an adjustment wearing something nice every day to blend in with the rest of the castle.
That’s right, I can go wherever I want to now.
It was a mini-vacation at first, exploring this place. Alessandro said that the floor plan was intentionally laid out confusingly for security reasons. It was kind of fun getting lost almost onpurpose and trying to find my way back to our wing. Ironically, now that I’ve explored every corner of this place, I rarely leave our home. Marco’s wing is practically the size of a mansion within this castle, and it has everything I could ever need.
I run my fingers along some items in my new wardrobe and pull down a few evening dresses to pack away. They’re all more modest than I would typically wear, but that only brings a smile to my face. He never got over his jealous tendencies.
And I don’t care.
I always assumed the typical possessive tendencies that mafia men seem to have would irritate me, seeing that I’m… me. But it’s different with Alessandro for reasons I can’t put my finger on. All I know is that after that fight in the weight room, things have never been easier between us.
Sometimes I question whether everything is too easy and maybe I should be more apprehensive. Maybe I should walk right out the front door of this castle because I can now, and just go home.
But I don’t want to go home anymore. It’s not that I never want to see anyone again, but I realized I need some space from my family for a little bit. Once I got more comfortable with Alessandro and living here, I started having these thoughts like how fucked up it was that they sent me here.
Theyknewhow sadistic and chaotic Marco was.
Theyknewof Alessandro’s reputation for terrorizing this city—which I know that wasn’t his choice and haunts him—and arranged a marriage for me and him, anyway.
But despite all of that, I think I’m falling for him.
And his baby might be growing inside of me, which brings up another topic about my family. I asked my mom whether I should get on birth control before coming here, and she suggested I didn’t. That I talk with Alessandro first and see if he wants to have children right away.
I just… went along with that. Me, someone who has a conniption if things don’t perfectly go my way.
I could have driven myself to the doctor and taken matters into my own hands to get on birth control, but I didn’t. Because my family had me wrapped around their fingers without me realizing. I don’t resent my mother for that conversation because I know she was probably parroting whatever she was told when she was about to get married.
So, I decided some time to myself and exploring my relationship with Alessandro is important to me. I want to keep my head clear of their influence, at least for a little bit.
