My eyes widen, and I flinch away in shock.
"Sh-sh-she," I stammer, my mind quickly putting everything together—her jealousy, her behavior toward me.
No… not that. Please tell me it's not what I'm thinking…
"I was nine when she started coming into my room. She thought I was asleep, so she would use my hands to get herself off."
I gasp, and my hand goes to my mouth, but I don't speak. Not when Enzo seems to struggle to tell me this. I just let him continue.
"It continued a few times a week until it wasn't enough anymore. She started touching me, trying to jerk me off. I didn't even know what that was at the time," he laughs nervously, "but even then I knew it was wrong. It lasted for years until I startedgoing through puberty and…" he trails off, and my heart breaks for him.
I scoot closer, taking his hand and bringing it to my lips.
Lord, I knew Lucia was missing a screw, but I'd have never imagined she would be this… vile. Her own son—a child at that.
Maybe my vengeance isn't over.
Oh, how I'd love to torture that bitch—make her rue the day she looked upon her son with anything other than maternal love. But I doubt she even had that.
"It's okay," I gently urge him to continue, admiring his courage. It can't be easy to confess any of this.
"I started getting random erections, like any teenage boy. But one night, I woke up with her sucking me off." His voice breaks, and I swallow hard, already fighting the tears.
"I came." His words are barely above a whisper. "I didn't even know what was happening, but I came down my mother's fucking throat. How fucked up is that?" He shakes his head, a sardonic smile on his lips.
"But I kept pretending that I was sleeping. I always pretended, hoping she'd finally leave me alone. Until… one time I couldn't pretend anymore."
"I woke up one night with her straddling me and trying to fuck herself on my dick. I was limp, too, but that didn't stop her."
I stifle a sob. How sick do you have to be to do that to your own son? I'm simply speechless as I watch Enzo struggle to recount his experience, feeling his pain as my own and wanting to make it better.
"I threw her off me, and after that she never came back."
"How old were you?"
"When it stopped? I don't know, twelve or thirteen."
"God, Enzo." My hand moves up and down his arm in a soft caress. "You realize none of it was your fault. She's a very sick woman."
"Was," he corrects, the ghost of a smile on his face. "I killed her after she tried to poison you."
"When she went to Sicily." I remember her sudden departure. "Oh, Enzo." I shake my head at him and what he's been through, my soul hurting for his. Reaching out, I try to touch him and offer him my comfort.
"I didn't tell you this to get your pity, little tigress." He turns toward me, his eyes bleak. "I want you to understandwhyI never so much as kissed another woman before you. All my life, everyone's tried to fuck me—one way or another. Women, men, everyone would shoot their shot, most of the timenottaking no for an answer."
"I guess I got jaded pretty young, but Idespisedseeing that look of desire on people's faces. It reminded me too much of my mother. And I would have been fine without ever having sex, if I'm honest. Until I met you."
My lashes flutter rapidly, his confession taking me by surprise.
"Enzo." His name escapes my lips as I try to come to terms with what he's told me. Thinking back, I can see the signs and how he'd always touch me expecting nothing in return.
He didn't want to be touched.
"No, let me say this. I admit I didn't handle my feelings well, mostly because you freakingterrifiedme. You were so raw and unique and, my God, so, so exquisite," he turns to me, taking my face in his hands.
"Please never doubt that. To me, you're the most beautiful woman in the world and it's not because of your face." He smiles sneakily. "Though I'm particularly fond of that too, but because of who you are. You're simply you." His thumb caresses my face in circular motions, his pupils dilated with the intensity of his emotions.
"You're my little tigress, and nothing and no one can replace you." He leans forward to press a kiss to my forehead.
