He wore nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist when he came out, his bow legs sticking out from the bottom, the nails on his toes thick and yellowed with age. I schooled my features so he wouldn’t see the disgust I felt.
“I see I’m going to have to teach you how to obey commands.” He didn’t sound put out about it. Quite the opposite, actually. Walking over to his dresser, he opened a small drawer on the top I didn’t notice before and pulled out a thick leather belt.
My heart jumped into my throat.
“Take off the shirt and get on the fucking bed.”
My immediate reaction was to tell him to fuck off, and I hesitated for just a moment. But that was all it took. Between one second and the next, he’d crossed the eight feet or so between us and I heard the belt whistle through the air right before it landed across my arm and shoulder with a sharp, burning sting that made me cry out.
Fury rose inside of me.
“Take off the shirt,” he ordered again.
“No,” I sneered. Defying him was stupid of me and wasn’t going to bring me anything but more pain and misery, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself.
The belt whipped through the air again, only this time I was prepared and twisted my body away from it. I wasn’t quite fast enough though, and it landed on my hip and wrapped around my ass, leaving a burning strip of skin through the thin material of the nightgown that hurt way worse than the first hit.
“Take. Off. The. Shirt!” he shouted.
“No!” I shouted back, bracing myself for another hit. I was backed up against the end of the bed, my eyes darting to either side, searching for an escape route. But I knew I wouldn’t get far even if I did manage to get around him. My blood boiled in my veins, and I wondered how much of a chance I’d have of wrestling the belt away from him. He was a man far from his prime, but he still had a lot of strength, as my stinging skin could attest to.
“I’ll whip the skin from your bones, girl. Don’t think I won’t!”
“Sera,” I gritted out between my teeth.
He frowned. “What?”
“Mynameis Sera.”
“I know what your fucking name is, girl. Now take off that shirt and get on the bed before I call in my men to hold you down. I’m growing tired of your games.”
If I was smart, I would do as he told me and stop fighting with him. I was only making things harder on myself by not doing what he demanded, and in the end, I wouldn’t win. I knew this. And yet, for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to stop. Maybe it was a delayed reaction to all the things I was put through in Mexico. Maybe I was just sick and fucking tired of men trying to tell me what to fucking do. Of using me. Only to throw me out like trash when they were done with me.
Opening my mouth, I screamed and lunged for him, one hand going for the belt. But he avoided my hand and then backhanded me across the face. His ring slammed into my cheekbone, and I bit down on my cheek right before I went flying, landing on my knees on the hard floor. Pain jarred up my legs and across my face, and I tasted the coppery tang of blood.
“You fucking bitch!” Luigi stood over me, and I glanced up just in time to see him swing the belt toward my face. I ducked and covered my head, and it glanced off the back of my hands. But he recovered quickly, and I felt the crack of leather across my back.
I braced myself for another blow, but it never happened. The sound of shattered glass came from behind me, and I peeked up to find Luigi frozen in place with the belt above his head. He dropped his arm and started to laugh.
“Do not touch her again.”
The voice was so cold I felt slivers of ice slide over my burning skin, but it was also very familiar. So very familiar. Yet I had nothing to say to him, so I stayed where I was on the floor, although I did sit up onto my knees, wincing when they protested the change in weight, and wiped the tears from my face and the blood from my mouth.
There was a knock on the bedroom door. “Boss?”
“I’m fine,” Luigi answered. “Stay where you are.” He didn’t move away from me. “I was wondering when you were going to show up. Honestly, Enzo, I was disappointed when you didn’t try to stop the wedding.” He sighed dramatically. “But instead, you decided to interrupt my wedding night.”
I heard the buzz of a cell phone vibrating, and then it stopped. A second later, it buzzed again.
“I can only assume from the fact that someone is frantically calling you that my son doesn’t know you are here.”
“No.”
Still standing over me, Luigi threw his arms wide, the belt dangling near my face. I cringed away. “So? Now what, boy? What are you going to do?”
The silence in the room was palpable. I glanced over my shoulder. Enzo’s hands were fisted at his sides, his teeth clenched to together so tightly I could hear the enamel grinding off. But other than that…
Nothing. He was going to do nothing.
