“You are a traitor.”
“I’m not. I would never?—"
"Never what?" he interrupts, his face inches from mine. "Never betray me? You're a Vitale, Isabella. Betrayal is in your blood."
The words slap at me. I stare at him, suddenly seeing the truth. "No matter what happens between us, no matter how many times I share your bed or stand by your side, you’ll never trust me."
His silence confirms it.
"I thought…" I sniff away tears I’m willing not to fall. "I actually thought we might build something real. That beneath this arrangement, there might be respect. Perhaps even affection."
He scoffs.
"But you've already decided who I am," I continue, unable to stop. "You decided the moment you heard my last name. I will always be a Vitale to you first and your wife second."
The truth makes me sick. Every touch between us meant nothing except to try to placate or manipulate me.
“Why did you even agree to the arrangement if you believed you were bringing the enemy into your home?” That part doesn’t make any sense.Unless… “Unless you want to use me against them. Tell me, are you planning to send me with a poisoned bottle to my father?”
“Don’t fuck with me, Isabella. I’m in no mood.” Alessandro's expression hardens. “I can’t afford to trust you. Not when the price of being wrong is my life and the lives of everyone loyal to me."
The finality in his voice crushes whatever hope I'd been foolishly holding onto.
"Then what am I doing here? If I'll never be more than a potential threat, what's the point of this marriage? Because you should know that my father won’t care what you do to me. Threaten to send my head back on a platter, and he’ll say send it."
Alessandro jerks, shock flashing in his expression. “I don’t kill women.”
“Okay. So threaten to rape me or cut me or lock me up, he won’t care. So you have no leverage over him by marrying me.” My lips quiver at the pain of being seen as worthless by everyone who should love me.
“You know why this marriage exists, but it’s clear your father never planned to honor it. He just used it to get closer to me… to ruin me.”
“And you didn’t?” I find it hard to believe that Alessandro didn’t have a plan to defeat my father.
His jaw tightens, telling me I’m right.
All of a sudden, I’m exhausted. I sink onto the bed. “I think I’ll be happier when I’m dead.”
“What the fuck, Isabella?” He gapes at me.
I shrug. “This life… being used as a tool for death and destruction… not having any say or power over what I want… ” I shake my head. “I’m eighteen years old. My future is just more of this.” I wave my hand between us. “Being used. Being manipulated. Being hated… I dread a lifetime of that.”
“I told you when we married what I could and couldn’t do.”
“You said you’d respect me.”
“And then my businesses were targeted and my men were poisoned.”
I laugh then.
His eyes flare with anger. “You think this is funny?”
“Not at all. I’m just laughing at how naïve I was. How gullible. But you knew that, didn’t you? You said you wouldn’t love me or have children, but then you outdid yourself in Capri. Wining and dining me. Seducing me. Letting me believe that maybe there could be something more between us.”
“Give me a break. You act like you wanted more, but it was clear you didn’t. We fucked. That’s it.”
“That’s it… ” I’m sure he doesn’t realize how painful those words are.
He stands over me, his hands on his hips. He’s staring at me like he’s confused by me. “Do you have feelings for me?"
