In the red glow that bathes his body, he looks like the devil himself, risen from the depths of hell to drag my sinful soul to damnation.
“Don’t ever mention Carlo’s name in front of me again. Understood?”
“I gave you what you wanted. Why would we ever see each other again?”
My question is honest. Why would he think we’d meet again?
A wicked smirk curls across his lips, and his voice drips with mockery as he asks, “Did you really think I spent a whole year planning this just to fuck you soft and careful with your eyes closed?”
His mocking tone makes my face burn with humiliation. Is he saying that he didn’t enjoy it?
He leans in closer to make himself clear. “We’ll see each other again. Every Tuesday. In this room, on this bed. The woman in my dreams begs for it. I don’t have to spin ridiculous stories to make her spread her legs. No. Her need for me runs far deeper than mine for her.”
He flashes his teeth in a shark grin. “You’ve got a lot to learn, Princess. You have no fucking idea how I like to be pleased.”
Hatred boils inside me. I want nothing more to spit in his arrogant, smug face.
It’s like he reads my thoughts because he chuckles. “Oh, Lucia. I didn’t finish the story for you, did I?”
His hand tangles in my hair as he keeps the torture going. “The morning after, when Princess Lucia wakes from her sweet slumber, she realizes the king never meant to whisk her away to the Seine for kisses or to the beaches of Spain for love. All those sweet little lies were nothing more than a way to get her out of her panties. And it worked.
Now he’s going to fuck her again and again until he’s had his fill. Only then will the princess be free of him.”
I turn my face away, disgust twisting my features.
This time, he throws his head back and laughs—a loud, unrestrained cackle that echoes through the room. When the laughter fades, he grabs my chin, and claims my lips in a hard, punishing kiss.
Then, as casually as if nothing happened, he gets off the bed and starts dressing.
“I’ll never let you touch me again,” I spit, pushing myself up.
He pulls his pants up, his voice calm, like the surface of an ocean. “You will. And you’ll give it to me exactly the way I want it.”
I don’t argue. I tell myself I’ll never come back to Nonna’s house. But as always, he’s already two steps ahead.
After buttoning his shirt, he shuts that door too. “And if you think you can make excuses and skip next week, let me make this clear. I’ll be here anyway. If you’re not in this room, your grandmother disappears by morning. After she’s suffered enough for your mistakes, I’ll slit her throat and send her head to you in a fucking box.”
My fear doesn’t faze him. He calmly shrugs on his jacket, checks his phone, then pulls a small plastic bag from his pocket. He picks up his cigarette butts and the used tissues, drops them into the bag, and shoves it into his pocket.
Then he walks to the large wardrobe at the far end of the room. Sliding my clothes aside, he reveals a hidden compartment.
“And after her, it’s your precious brother’s turn. Fabiano.”
I can’t hide the terror in my eyes, but he doesn’t even glance at me. Without another word, he steps into the hidden passageway. The back wall of the wardrobe swings shut behind him with a soft click, sealing him away as if it were never more than a solid wall.
I stare at the wardrobe for what feels like hours, unable to move.
When I finally snap out of it, the first faint light of dawn is creeping through the curtains. My eyes land on the key to the room, now sitting innocuously on the desk. I have no idea when or how it got there.
That’s when the tears finally come. This time I know it for sure, I’m completely ruined.
***
I rush up the stairs, heading straight for Fabiano’s room. Tony’s threats had been eating at me all morning. I’d tried calling Fabiano over and over, but he never answered. Since Carlo was out, I had no choice but to ask Don Fernando for permission to come here.
I knock on the door a few times but get no response. I jiggle the handle, it’s locked. He must be inside. I knock again, harder this time, my voice rising with urgency. “Fabi, my love, open the door!”
A few moments later, I hear the click of the lock, and the door creaks open. I hurry inside, but Fabiano stands with his back to me, staring out the window.
