It's easier to go on the offensive than to acknowledge the way my heart still skips a beat when I'm near him.
"I think there's one outstanding problem," he casually comments as he folds up the sleeves of his shirt.
"Not my business," I shrug.
I try to pass by him, but somehow he maneuvers us both onto the couch in the middle of the room. I fall on top of him, lying across his lap. My dress is suddenly raised over my hips, the cold air hitting my skin and making me squirm.
"What…" I don't even get the words out as a slap comes down on my ass.
Hard.
I yelp in pain and surprise.
"That mouth is going to get you into trouble, Allegra," he says as he slaps my butt again. And again.
"You should be thankful it's not my belt that's touching your pretty ass." His palm touches my skin tenderly, his movements gently diffusing the pain.
"But Father was right. You do need disciplining." Another stinging pain as he continues to spank me, stopping now and then to caress my battered bottom.
Tears are gathering at the corners of my eyes, but I keep myself from crying out, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of winning.
I suffer in silence until he ends hisdisciplinesession. Draping my skirt over my legs again, he pulls me into a sitting position on his lap.
"Vile… you're vile," I grind out through my teeth, spewing the insult at him, his erection hard and digging into me.
He's getting off on my pain.
I scramble to my feet, wanting to get as far away from him as possible.
"And you'd do well to remember that, Allegra," he says as I rush to the door, wrenching it open to see both Rocco and Lucia waiting outside, their faces full of delight.
"I'm proud of you, son," I hear Rocco's words as I move past them, and my heart squeezes painfully in my chest.
Fool. I'm such a fool.
31
ALLEGRA
Time passesand I find that it's not so easy to bury my heart as I'd previously thought. Enzo and I engage in small taunting matches, but even when he annoys me, his presence is comforting. I feel trapped between my pride and my feelings. My pride doesn't let me give him an inch, whereas my feelings want me to give him my entire heart.
Lucia, noticing the drift between us, keeps upping her antics. SheknowsI can't leave, so she does everything in her power to make me miserable.
The pinnacle of it all was when I found a small camera embedded in the wall. Initially, I'd been furious, thinking she'd been spying on me—on us—the entire time. But as the anger subsided, I realized that I could use this to beat her at her own game. I left the camera there and moved some furniture around so that it obscured the view of the bed.
Seeing that she can no longer monitor me, Lucia has become more creative. Case in point, the situation I'm staring at now.
I shake my head as I watch a rat running around my room before burrowing under my bed.
She'strying,but that doesn't mean she's succeeding. Rats don't faze me—I am a peasant girl, after all. I'm used to animals of all sizes and varieties.
But the same can't be said for dear Lucia.
Using some leftovers, I bait the rat until I catch him in a makeshift box. Then, waiting until Lucia's out for her afternoon social calls, I sneak into her room and leave the rat under her pillow.
Later that night, when I hear a sweet shrill of panic resound through the house, I smile to myself.
Peasant girl: 1, Vicious mother-in-law: 0.
