Nico growls under his breath, shaking his head as he leans back in his chair.
“And you still have no appetite?” he asks.
Biting my lip, I think about it. My stomach hurts when I think about real food, but I would kill for some fucking gelato.
“There’s a place that serves gelato not far from here. Can we walk there?”
Nico snorts, standing as he offers his hand to me.
“I will never say no to gelato,mia piccola.Let’s go.”
My eyes widen at the way he said that as I rise to my feet.
Don’t take him too seriously.I can’t trust him, despite the various nice things he’s done for me. Allowing him to hold my hand, I have to admit it’s kind of nice.
I still want him to keep the rest of his body parts to himself though. My body hasn’t quite recovered from my father’s brutal punishment the day I met Nico. The very thought of a penis makes me break out into a cold sweat.
“Deep breath, Rosa. There’s nothing to hurt you here.”
I find myself sucking in air simply at his suggestion, and I glare at Nico.
“I didn’t force you to, don’t blame me for being a good girl,” he says with a smirk.
“Whatever.” Rolling my eyes, I walk slowly beside him, enjoying the breeze as it ruffles my hair. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get all of the bruising with my makeup, so I plan to cover problem areas with my curls if necessary.
I’ll happily continue to ignore the fact that he affects me. My stomach does a little flip flop as his thumb rubs absently against my hand, and I tell myself it means nothing.
“We’re causing a stir in certain circles in Savannah apparently. Typically, there are a lot of filler events for couples before they get married, even if it’s an arranged marriage. It’s so people can congratulate the couple, and also allows the bride's family to flaunt their wealth. Your father is refusing to do any of them due to the escalation in our wedding date,” Nico explains. “People think you’re pregnant and we’re rushing to hide the baby.”
“Ha!” I snort, shaking my head. “The only way I could be pregnant is by divine intervention. As far as the chatter about our marriage, Savannah is a small town. People talk, especially about my family.”
“I’d say that all families have their issues, but most don’t grind women into the ground the way yours has.” Nico appears angry at my lot in life. I squeeze his hand since there’s nothing I can do about it, and signal where the gelato shop is as we get nearer to it.
“What are your issues with your family?” I ask. “You haven’t spoken much of them outside of your stepbrother.”
“I live with my two brothers and stepbrother. I moved out of my father’s house shortly after I found that I had feelings for my stepbrother, merely to keep myself from having to have any awkward conversation,” he explains. “My father would fuck anything that walked and was female. He also activelyencouraged others to partake in their perverse behavior by supplying them with underage children.”
Nico says this so nonchalantly, I almost trip on air as I turn toward him in shock.
“What…” My jaw practically unhinges as it drops and Nico smirks without mirth as he opens the shop’s door for me.
“Opening your mouth is a good start for eating your dessert, Rosa.”
I find myself speechless as I struggle to process what he just told me. Leave it to a man to tell you nothing about their life and then overdose you with the truth. Holy shit.
I don’t think this is common knowledge, or Papa wouldn’t have agreed to the wedding otherwise. As he’s said before, he’ll deal in some really shady shit, but kid stuff isn’t his thing.
“Fuck. Was I too honest and ruin your craving for gelato?” Nico asks. “I don’t even know why I told you that.”
“I’m fine,” I rasp, my mind racing. “You haven’t inherited his proclivities though, correct?”
“Guns and sex are what I deal in,” he says. “Drugs are a pain in the ass, so I’m not interested in peddling it.”
We’re standing in an empty store having a very difficult conversation and I nod as I swoon. Shit. The world is a little fuzzy as well, probably from stress.
“I don’t like women and anything to do with kids isn’t acceptable. Children should be cherished, as ours will be,” Nico adds. “I am not my father, and I only recently learned about his side business having to do with children. I’m currently paying reparations as I track down anyone who was affected by this.”
“You’re throwing money at this?” I ask, appalled.
