I looked up just in time to see her marching out of the bedroom, her spine so stiff I wondered if she was also forced to wear uncomfortable underthings.
She slammed the door behind her, and I bent down to pick up the shapewear, tossing it into the closet on top of the wedding gown where she’d left it on the floor. My new friend didn’t seem thrilled with the fact that there was another woman in the house, and I wondered what her relationship with Luigi was. Not that I cared. As far as I was concerned, she could have him.
I searched the closet for something else to wear. There was no way I was going to wear that thing on the bed if I could help it. That was something a woman wore when she wanted to seduce her new husband. Luigi may force me to have sex with him, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to pretend that I wanted it to happen.
Finding nothing but suits and dress shirts, I rushed over to the dresser. I had no idea when Luigi would be joining me, and I didn’t want him to walk in and catch me standing here naked. With that thought in mind, I went over to the bed and grabbed the nightgown and threw it over my head. It was sheer and sleeveless, with a low-cut neckline, but at least I felt like I had something on.
Back at the dresser, I found nothing but some tighty-whitey underwear and socks, along with a drawer full of ties and wrist cuffs. Shoving the door shut, I went back to the closet, searching for a robe…anything. I eyed the dress shirts. Luigi wasn’t a large man, and I didn’t think they’d cover anything, but I was getting desperate, so I tugged one off its hanger and stuck my arms through the sleeves. It barely covered my ass, and I couldn’t button it across my chest, but at least it was something.
Covered as well as I was going to be, I walked back out into the bedroom, stood in the middle of the room, and waited.
I didn’t have to wait long.
CHAPTER5
Serafina
Shadows filled the corners of the room as the moon rose higher in the sky. Every tiny creak or shift of air made me jump as I waited for the beginning of the rest of my life to walk through the door. I kept myself from full out panicking by trying to figure out how many more years my new husband would live and imagining what I would do once I was a widow and free to do as I wanted.
Well, maybe not free. I’d never be completely free from the mafia. Especially not now. But at least I would be able to live alone, and I would be taken care of. As Luigi’s only remaining son, Luca would be honor bound to make sure I wanted for nothing once his father was gone. Which meant I would see him often. Luca and his two personal guards.
I immediately pushed the thought of Enzo away. He didn’t want me. I wasn’t about to let him take up any more space in my head. He could fuck right off as far as I was concerned.
I glanced around the room. The first thing I would do was sell this house and buy something smaller and more to my taste. Then spend whatever was left on furniture and decorations that I liked, because at that moment I realized that I’d never had even a space of my own that was truly me. Even the bedroom I’d grown up in was decorated the same way it had been since I was a child. I’d never thought to ask if I could change it.
When I couldn’t stand the silence anymore, I paced the room, my fingers itching with the impulse to pick something up and hide it on my person. Not that I had anywhere to put anything. But my father must’ve warned him about my little “quirk,” because there wasn’t so much as a pen lying around. Even in the bathroom, a gaudy explosion of black and gold, there was nothing on the counters except a toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste.
The door opened as I walked out into the bedroom. Luigi stopped in the doorway, his eyes roaming over my body. “You’re not my usual type,” he told me. “But I suppose you’re fuckable enough.” His mouth twisted in an expression of dislike. “I’ll let you keep that ring in your nose since it’s not too gaudy, but that damn pink hair will have to go. I can’t be seen with a wife who looks like she just escaped from the circus. I’ll have my stylist come do something about it tomorrow.”
It was the most he’d said to me since the wedding ceremony.
Shutting the door behind him, he turned the lock, and a chill slithered down my spine. I shivered, trying to pull his shirt closer around me.
Without looking at me again, he walked past me to the closet, pulling off his tie. “I need a son,” he announced. “An heir. And you’re going to give me one.” He hung up his tie on the hanger on the closet wall just inside the door. There was no emotion on his face. Well, maybe annoyance. “Once you’ve done your duty, I’ll give you your own room. But until then, you’ll sleep in here.”
“But you already have a son,” I told him. “You have Luca.”
“I do. And he grows more powerful every day. He plans to get rid of me, you know.” His dark eyes shifted to me as he laid his cufflinks on the top of the dresser. “But he’ll be rethinking that plan now that you’re here. Luca is soft when it comes to people he cares about. And he cares about Enzo. He would never do anything to harm you, because he knows his friend would never forgive him if he did.”
Nervous as I was, I couldn’t help but scoff. “You’re wrong. Enzo doesn’t give a shit about me.”
Luigi’s eyebrows rose in amusement. “No? You don’t think so?”
“I know so,” I told him. “He gave me back to my father.”
He unbuttoned his shirt, and my eyes dropped down to his barrel chest covered in gray hairs, only to shoot back up to his face when he said, “And that only proves to me how much he does care. That must be some kind of magic cunt you’ve got.”
This entire day had me mentally exhausted, and I frowned in confusion. I wasn’t very experienced in the dating scene, but it seemed pretty common sense to me that if a guy cared about you, he wouldn’t throw you away.
“Take off my shirt. You look ridiculous. Then get on the bed.” He paused, tilting his head as he looked me over one more time. “Leave the nightgown on.” Turning his back, he walked into the bathroom in nothing but his slacks and shoes, calling over his shoulder, “And if you touch my cufflinks, I’ll cut off your hands. They were a gift.” The door closed behind him, and I heard the shower come on.
So hewasaware of my little habit. My eyes shot to the bedroom door, then the window, then back to the door as adrenaline rushed through my bloodstream. But I knew that even if I managed to make it out of the house, I wouldn’t get off the property. He probably had guards stationed out in the hall and in the yard below the bedroom. Tears filled my eyes, and I blinked them away.Come on, Sera. It’s time to toughen up. You’ve been through worse than this and survived. You’ll survive this, too.
But what if I couldn’t give him a son? What would he do to me? My birth control pills were in my bags that should’ve been here by now, so they must be in the house somewhere. If they weren’t discovered, I could continue to take them, and maybe he’d get tired of trying to get me pregnant and leave me alone. Or maybe he’d kill me and bury me in his flowerbed.
No. He’d just admitted that one of the reasons I was here was because he thought I’d serve as some kind of protection against Luca. And even though I knew it not to be true, if it would keep me alive, I wasn’t going to argue with him about it.
The water cut off, and I knew my time was running out. But I’d be damned if I was going to be draped across the bed waiting for him in this ridiculous excuse for sleepwear. So I stayed exactly where I was.
