"This conversation is fucking over. Giana Sorrentino is her own woman. She chooses who she marries, and she has chosen me. If any of you," he continued, his voice filling with dark promise, "have the balls to come and try to take her from me, you are welcome to try. But bring more than talk and your shitty intimidation tactics. Bring your armies. Bring your best. Because I am tired of your gutless posturing and your lies."
He didn't wait for a response. He reached out and stabbed the disconnect button on his console. The screens went dark, plunging the office into sudden, heavy silence.
Giana sat perfectly still in the armchair, her gaze fixed on the dark screen, her face unreadable.
Rodrigo turned slowly to face her. The monster had roared, staked its claim in the most brutal, public way possible. He had used their most intimate, painful history as a weapon.
The bridge of 'partners' felt as if it were crumbling under the weight of his darkness.
"Giana, let me explain…" His voice was rough, stripped bare.
She stood up. When she turned to face him, her eyes were dark pools, swirling with fury, betrayal, andhurt.
The taste of victory turned ashen in Rodrigo's mouth, the wreckage of their fragile new understanding lying at his feet. The monster had won the battle, but he feared he had just lost the war.
25
Humiliation turned Giana's whole body to fire. She stared at the closed box on Rodrigo's desk before picking it up and throwing it at the monitor where Vincenzo's smug face had been moments before. It shattered, the box bouncing to the floor.
"What the actualfuck, Rodrigo?" she demanded, her chest tight as she fought to breathe. "You kept a dirty handkerchief as a fucking trophy? What iswrongwith you?"
Rodrigo pointed to the smashed monitor. "It is because of those accusations that I kept it, Giana. The claims that Gabriella or others would have put on you. What do you think my mother would have done to you if she had found out that you had taken your own virginity and robbed her of that bargaining chip?"
Giana's hands tightened into fists. She wanted to smash everything in the room and rage until she had nothing left.
Rodrigo's voice softened, and it was worse than if he were yelling. "I had to make sure that if Gabriella ever found out, I had some kind of insurance. I would have lied and told her that I had taken it. It was why I smeared it with my come afterward.Gabriella would have been angry, but she would have directed it at me, not atyou. I was trying to protect you like I always do!"
Giana forced her tears back because, as fucked up as it was, Rodrigo's logic made sense in the world they were raised in.
"A part of me knows you're right, but I'm still angry," she said, folding her arms. "You're a man, so you willneverunderstand what it's like to be told your only value lies in a stupid piece of flesh in your cunt. You don't know what it's like to not own your body."
She fought to keep her voice steady. "It's why when my parents died, a part of me was sickeninglyrelievedbecause that one spot of blood on your handkerchief meant more to them than my own autonomy. When I realized Gabriella was going to do the same, I found the first boy who wanted to fuck me. I wanted to have no value in her eyes. Don't you understand that? I didn'tcareif she killed me because at least for that one fucking moment I would have reclaimed my own body, and they could never have it!" Giana was shouting, her voice hoarse and chest heaving.
"I know, baby," Rodrigo said, his eyes filled with horrible understanding.
She wanted to blame him, to hate him all over again. She resented that he had kept her safe by locking up that awful trophy.
Giana gritted her teeth. "You let me do it. You fuckingwatchedme do it. You could have stopped me, and you didn't. It was the most humiliating moment of my life, and then you what? Took it home and jerked off on it?"
"Humiliating?" Rodrigo leaned back in his chair. "That's not how I remember it. To me, you were taking back what was yours, and you lit up with fire as you did it. You looked me dead in the eye the whole time, Giana, daring me to stop you. You knew I should have. Did you ever wonder why I didn't?"
She had for years, but she had never dared to ask or bring that night up again. She had dreamed of it and thought of it every time she tried to get herself off.
"Why did you then? Was it to use against me in the future as blackmail?" she demanded.
"No," Rodrigo growled. "I let you do it because you were always going to be worth more to me than your fucking virginity or your family's fortune."
Giana reared back like he had slapped her. "What?"
"You heard me." His brown eyes were lit with emotion that he usually tried to hide. He had looked at her the same way that night. Like he could devour her whole just by staring at her. "You want to be even, is that it? You want me to get off for you so you don't feel like I have some stupid victory over you?"
Giana's breath caught. Was he being serious? No. Surely this was another game to call her bluff. She narrowed her eyes. "So what if I do?"
"You think I am joking,anima mia?" Rodrigo pressed a button on the side of his desk, and the closed doors leading to the office locked with a resounding click. She quickly scanned the room, and there were no cameras. No escape.
Giana's heartbeat quickened, and she clenched her hands into fists so he wouldn't see her hands shaking. Whatever game he was playing, she wasn't going to be intimidated by him ever again.
Rodrigo reached for his belt and undid his buckle. "Last chance to back out."
