“I wasn’t yours to take, and I’m still not yours.”
“That ring on your finger begs to differ, Tesoro.”
My cheeks flush with heat as he grabs my hand, brings it to his mouth, and presses a sweet kiss on top, melting my frozen heart. I shouldn’t be fawning all over this man. He’s the devil in disguise, a dirty demon in an expensive suit. He’s only interested in using me for his own revenge plot. A twisted ruse to destroy an enemy while sacrificing the girl who was in his way. I’m being used as a pawn between two Mafia lords, and now one of them thinks he actually owns me.
I pull my hand away. “So now what? You just take me to your home? Make me your wifey? Pretend I’m some plaything you own?” I taunt.
“You are not a plaything, but I think you know that.” He narrows his eyes at me. “You are mywifenow, and that means you get to live with me.”
The intonation with which he says the word “wife” sends chills all over my body.
But I have to ignore it. “Gee, I’m looking forward to that,” I mutter to myself.
He hums. “What’s that?”
“Nothing,” I say.
He tips my chin sideways, making me look at him again. “You think I’m the devil. Say it.”
“Yes,” I reply.
“I’m not the monster you think I am.”
“Right,” I reply sarcastically. “I’m not dumb. I know what it means to become a wife to someone like you. I know what kind of duties are expected of me, but don’t for a second think I’m going to do any of that. I don’t even know you.”
He nods a few times. “That’s right, you don’t know me. But you will. Eventually. I’ll make sure of that.” He smirks and tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear. “And I will definitely make sure that I get to know you very, very well.”
Why does it feel like he means more than my personality?
I swallow the lump in my throat. “I never asked for any of this.”
“No? Then why did you take the tracker with you?”
My eyes widen.
Shit.
“You could’ve left it behind, but you chose to bring it to the wedding because you wanted me to come and rescue you, like a damsel in distress,” he says.
“I did not.” I frown. “I never asked you for anything.”
He puts a finger on my lips. “You don’t have to ask for anything, Tesoro. Not with me.”
He leans away again, but the air is thick with unspoken tension.
And I don’t know if it’s because of how he just brutally murdered Lucio’s men and forced me to marry him … or if it’s because I can feel his eyes practically tearing the clothes off my body.
STELLA
I clearmy throat as I stare out the window again. We finally get to a giant mansion after driving through a set of gates and a lavish garden full of expensive flowers and trees. The property is huge, and I can only imagine the kind of wealth it would take to buy something like this. A family fortune, reminiscent of that of my dad’s before he became estranged from our family and decided that the only way we were going to access that money would be by marrying someone he’d approve of. Someone like Lucio. I shiver at the memory of standing next to him at the altar.
The car comes to a stop on the pebble path in front of the mansion, and Matteo is the first to step out of the car. My door is still locked, but he walks around and opens it for me, then holds out his hand like some kind of fakegentleman. I narrow my eyes at him, but still grab his hand and let him guide me out of the car.
“Chivalrous … For a man who just crashed my wedding and stole me away as his bride.”
He smirks. “Not as my bride. As my wife. And I’d do it again, if it meant seeing that fucker’s face seethe like a bursting volcano while I take his precious prize away from him.”
I roll my eyes and sigh away the rage before I walk into the mansion by myself, where his people are already waiting for us—staff members, maids, assistants, the whole shebang.
