“I know you aren’t going to do that. I believe you, but it’s hard not to feel unworthy of you, Fiero. You deserve someone better than this broken shell of a woman.” She points at herself with a look of disgust that kills me.
I finish my drink and reach for her, lifting her onto my lap. Screw it. I need to have her close. Her hands grip the mug as she finishes her drink. “I love you to the ends of the Earth, Valentina. The things done to you do not diminish your worth, and you’re one of the strongest people I know. You’re a survivor, baby, and while it might take time to fully heal the broken parts, you are not a shell.” I caress her soft skin, tucking her hair behind her ears. “You have been through a lot, and everything has changed very quickly. Anyone would struggle to cope, but you’ve been amazing.” I press a kiss to her temple. “You’re my hero, kitten, and I’m here for you now. Whatever you need to heal is yours, and I’ll be with you every step of the way.”
“I’m so glad we found each other,” she says, setting her empty mug down. She wraps her arms around me in a tight hug. I inhale her scent and absorb the feel of her in my arms, and I know we’re going to be okay.
She eases back, remaining in my lap as she wipes her tears away. Her stare is glazed, her voice lacking her usual seductive warmth when she begins talking. “I first met Cruz at a party at our house when he arrived as a guest of Vitto’s. I saw him watching me. I knew he wanted me, like I knew he was more powerful than Dom, which meant at some point he’d have me. He came every week after that, and it was always the same. Intense scrutiny. Dark eyes that undressed me without shame.”
I swallow back bile, holding her closer.
“The night Dom lost a card game to him, I was calm. I knew what was coming, and I stupidly thought it would be okay.” Anger dances in her gaze. She doesn’t look at me as she says, “I’m embarrassed to admit this, but you need to hear it all.”
I run my hand up and down her arm and kiss her cheek.
“He was good-looking. Way hotter and younger than most of the creepsDom traded me to, and I thought at least this might not be so bad. I might enjoy it. He looks like the kind of man that might make me come.”
I’m dying inside listening to this, but I hide the emotions, continuing to rub her arm and coax her to continue.
A harsh laugh rumbles from her chest. “It’s true what they say. Beware of the wolf in sheep’s clothing. He was worse than everyone who had come before,” she whispers, digging her nails into her thighs through her yoga pants.
I gently unfurl one hand and rub her fingers.
“I don’t want to go into detail. He was rough. A savage who gave zero consideration for me or my needs. He tore my clothes from my body and brutalized me all night. My tears only spurred him on. My screams made him harder.”
I want to resurrect that motherfucker and torture the fuck out of him before killing him slowly, only to immediately resuscitate him so I can do it all over again.
“He whipped me with his belt that night. Lashing my back until I passed out from the pain.”
I stuff my fist into my mouth, breathing heavily as I struggle to hold on to my composure.
“Dom went crazy because he had visibly marked me. Cruz smoothed it over and made a deal whereby he could have me to himself every week and he was allowed to whip my ass.” She stares at me with a scarily emotionless face. “He wanted to leave marks. He preened over my scars. I loathed him with the intensity of a thousand stars.”
Holding her face, I press my lips to her brow, hoping she can’t feel how I’m trembling with violent rage.
“I wanted to poison him, but I was terrified of the repercussions. He wasn’t like Dom or Cesco. He was much sharper and scarier. If I’d tried poisoning him gradually, he might have figured it out, and that could have tipped Dom off too. I thought of dumping a ton of arsenic in his drink and running off, but I knew they’d find me and kill me for murdering a don. So, I just had to put up with it. Until one week, he didn’t show up, and that turned into two, then three.”
“When he went into hiding after the debacle in New Jersey,” I surmise. We knew he hadn’t shown his face in Miami during that period because we had sent men to scout the territory.
Her chest heaves, and pain rips across her face.
Fuck, there’s more.
“Let it out, baby.” I trace my hand up and down her spine. “Let it all out.”
Tears spill from her eyes as she looks at me. Her lower lip wobbles. “I discovered I was pregnant a month later.”
All the blood drains from my face. “I thought Dom had you on birth control.”
“I was on the pill then. The IUD only came after,” she whispers. “Every other man, including my husband, used condoms. But not Cruz.”
Horror whips through me like a hurricane, devastating everything in its past. My hand has stalled on her back, and I’m fighting a losing battle to remain calm.
“He switched out my pills,” she whispers, averting her eyes and staring off into space. “Cruz knocked me up on purpose, just like he boasted about knocking up all those other women.”
Come again? “What?”
“I knew there was a woman in New York who’d just given him an heir. He chose her for hergood stock.” A look of disgust washes over her face. “But he had backups. A lot of them. In a lot of places. He used to joke he was going to knock a thousand women up and infiltrateLa Cosa Nostrawith his bloodline.”
That sounds exactly like something his arrogant ass would do. Fucking hell. This could be a potential nightmare in the future, and I can only imagine what Cristian is going to say when he hears this. “How many are there?”
