I stared down into the oceans of pain and humiliation that dominated Sera’s perfect face. One side was scraped and bloodied from the tree trunk. I lifted my hand to touch her without thinking about it, horrified that I’d hurt her, then let it fall to my side again. Her screams echoed in my ears, a haunting reminder of the past, and my jaw hurt where she’d landed a good punch.
For a moment, my throat was so tight I couldn’t speak.
What the fuck was wrong with me?
I’d spotted Sera on the video feed the moment she’d left our bedroom. I’d known immediately that she was leaving. She was running.
My first thought was that I should let her go.
I called the soldiers patrolling the grounds outside and ordered them to stand down. To ignore her. And told them I would handle her myself.
She’d made it around the bottom of the cliff and halfway to the road before I jumped up from the desk and went after her. And when I found her…
I simply lost my fucking mind.
Even as I admired her determination and self-reliance, a god-awful rage filled me that she would dare to disobey me. That she’d put her life in danger like that. I knew the anger I’d displayed was just a mask disguising the anguish I felt that she wanted to leave me. So much so that she’d go with no clothes. No money. No weapons.
She stared up at me now with pain in her eyes. So much fucking pain. Something cracked wide in my chest when she asked in a horrified whisper, “How could you do that to me?”
“You ran from me,” I told her. Like that was any excuse. But I wouldn’t apologize. I couldn’t. Because I wasn’t sorry for what I’d done. Living on her own had made her forget just how dangerous this life was. I’d done nothing but given her a reminder. She was lucky it was me who found her, and not some whack job on the street. Or a gang of them.
“Are you really surprised, Enzo?” she asked bitterly as she wiped at her face, wincing when she accidentally touched the scrapes on her cheek. “What the hell would you do in my situation?”
“I would keep my word and give me a fucking chance to fix this.”
“Fix it?” she asked. Then she laughed. “There is no fixing it. You said so yourself. You only have two choices here: Give me back to my father or start a war. That’s it.” She paused, and her eyes glinted with determination when they met mine. “Or you could give me my money and let me go,” she said quietly.
“No,” I told her. “I won’t do that.” I couldn’t do that. Because something told me that if I did, I would never see her again. And that was unacceptable to me. If she was with her father, I would know where she was. I would know what happened to her.
A few strands of her hair had come loose from her braids, and I brushed them back off her face. Her hair was wet, and her skin was cold. “Let’s go back to the house.”
She took a quick step back. “I can’t go back there.”
I frowned. “Sera—”
“How the hell do you expect me to ever go back there after what you just did?” she asked. She threw one hand in the air, gesturing in the general direction of the house. “Hell, Luca and Tristan and who the hell knows who else are probably enjoying the show you just put on as we speak.” She glanced up at the trees. “Oh, my god.” She speared me with a horrified look. “There’re cameras out here, aren’t there? Not just around the house.”
Of course, there were. “I’ll delete the footage. And no one is watching.”
She lifted her chin in an attempt to hang onto her pride as her lovely mouth twisted into a sneer. “What about the guards who had a front-row seat?”
“No one will dare to say anything to you. And if they do, I’ll kill them.” And I meant it.
She stilled as she stared up at me. “I don’t want you to kill them.”
“Fine. I’ll have them reassigned.”
“They’ll talk.”
“I’ll cut out their fucking tongues first.”
I was dead serious, and she knew it. Her mouth snapped shut. She stared at me as if she’d never seen me before tonight. And perhaps she hadn’t. But she sure as hell was seeing me now. “Come on. We’re going back to the house.”
“No.” She shook her head. “I’m not going back. I’m leaving.” She started to back away, watching me warily to see if I would still give chase.
I sighed. “You’re not going anywhere, Sera. So you can either walk back to the house with me before we get soaked out here, or I’ll forcibly drag you back. But either way, you’re returning with me now so we can get you cleaned up and into some dry clothes.”
Her eyes hardened, and she lifted her chin in that stubborn gesture I was starting to know well.
But I wasn’t in the mood. “You won’t win this fight, baby girl. Not this time.” I crossed my arms over my chest and waited. If she wanted to drag this out, fine, we could do that. But she wasn’t going to win. I couldn’t let her win. Because to do so would mean letting her go. And I wasn’t ready to do that.
She studied my expression for a few seconds, searching for cracks in my armor, and when she didn’t find any her shoulders dropped as the tension visibly drained from her and she averted her eyes. “I don’t want to go back to my father.”
The hopelessness in her voice tore at something inside of me. Something I thought was long dormant. I dropped my arms back down to my sides. She looked so small and helpless in that moment that I wanted nothing more than to wrap her in my arms and swear that I would protect her from her father and anyone else who tried to harm her. But it would be another lie, because I wouldn’t be able to protect her from myself. And besides, I knew she wouldn’t accept that from me. Not at this moment. “I know,” I told her.
She sniffed and looked away again. I could see her shivering.
I took a step toward her. Stopped. “Come back to the house with me. Let me take care of you.”
That stubborn chin of hers dropped in defeat, and it broke my heart to see it. But I needed to get her inside and cleaned up before Luca and Tristan got home. “Okay,” she whispered so softly I barely heard her. I held out my hand, but she ignored it completely as she walked around me and started toward the glow of lights from the house.
Breathing a sigh of relief, I followed her, knowing this docile act was only temporary.
As we approached the circular driveway in front of the house, I pulled my sunglasses out of my inside jacket pocket and put them on. One of the guards standing by the front door was having a smoke as he scanned the trees surrounding the drive. It wasn’t one of the men who’d come running earlier, but I still saw Sera’s steps falter when she noticed him standing there.
Taking her arm, I propelled her toward the front door before she could try to run. The guard glanced over at us when we approached. With one look, he took in our wet clothes and the scrapes on Sera’s face. “Everything okay?” he asked.
“Everything is fine,” I told him. “Any word from Luca?”
“Not yet.”
“Let me know if you hear anything,” I said as I opened the front door and led Sera inside.
“Yes, sir.” He pulled the door closed behind us. I released her arm once we were inside and followed her through the house.
Veda came out of her room just as we reached the top of the stairs. She took one look at Sera’s face and went into panic mode. “Holy shit! Sera! What happened?” Running up to her, she took her by the shoulders and tried to look at Sera’s face as Sera tried to hide it. Only Veda was having none of it and it didn’t work. She sent me a furious look. “What did you do?”
“Go back to your room, Veda,” I told her firmly.
Her eyes narrowed. “I’m not going anywhere until Sera tells me she’s okay.”
“I’m okay,” Sera told her. “Seriously, I am. I just…tripped in the dark and fell into a tree.”
I noticed she didn’t try to explain to Veda what she was doing outside at night in the rain, which meant Veda knew damn well what was going on. Something I’d talk to her about later.
“Are you sure?” Veda asked her.
“Yeah,” Sera said. “I just want to take a bath and go to bed.”
Veda didn’t seem completely convinced. She glanced at me, then back at Sera, before finally giving in. “Okay. If you need anything, just yell. Do you want a cup of tea or something?”
“That would be great,” Sera told her. “Thanks.”
“I’ll bring it to your room,” Veda told her. With another unreadable look at me, she left to go get the tea.
“Come on,” I told Sera.
In our room, I walked over to the closet and took off my sunglasses and my jacket, watching Sera as she passed me and went straight into the bathroom. Her movements were stiff as she stripped off her wet coat and dropped it on the tile floor, then kicked off her shoes. She was careful not to look at me as she sat on the side of the tub and turned on the water, but I could see the tense set of her jaw and the flush to her cheeks.
There was a knock at the door, and I told Veda to come in. She entered cautiously, holding a steaming cup of tea for Sera.
I came out into the bedroom and lifted my chin toward the bathroom. “She’s in there,” I told her. As she went to walk by me, I took her arm. “You knew what she was doing, and you didn’t stop her. Why?”
She looked up at me. “Did you hurt her?” she asked quietly.
“Answer my question, Veda.”
“Answer mine, Enzo.”
Veda and I had gotten comfortable with each other in the time she’d been Luca’s guest here in the house. I was her guard. I trained her in self-defense. I watched out for her. But right now, she was staring at me like she had no idea who I was. The same look Sera had given me earlier, and I was surprised by how much it bothered me. I removed my hand from her arm. “No,” I told her. “Not intentionally.” Not physically.
After a moment, she told me, “I knew she planned to try to leave tonight. I chose to shut myself in my room. I didn’t see anything.”
“Why did you do that? She could’ve been hurt.”
Her expression darkened. “Because no matter how happy I might be now, I remember how terrified I was when Luca first brought me here.”
“Does she seem terrified to you?”
Her eyes softened as she glanced toward the bathroom door. “Maybe not of you, but she is terrified.” She paused. “Be careful with her, Enzo,” she warned. “Or you’re going to lose her. One way or the other.”
I was about to tell her that what happened with Sera and I wasn’t her business, but she was right. “Go ahead and give her the tea. And then give us some privacy, please.”
Her eyes traveled over my face. Whatever she was looking for, she must’ve found it. “I’ll just be a minute.” Partway to the bathroom she stopped and turned partially toward me. “Have you heard anything from Luca?”
“Not yet,” I answered. “But I’m sure he’s fine.”
“Yeah.” She gave me an unsteady smile. She didn’t seem convinced.
“He’s fine, Veda. He always is. And Tristan is with him.”
She glanced down at the floor and took a breath, then nodded and took Sera her tea. When she came back, she said, “She told me to tell you to stay the hell out.” One eyebrow lifted. “I don’t suppose you’ll listen to her request?”
One corner of my mouth lifted in a smile. “I’m glad she’s feeling more like herself.” I walked over to the door and held it open for her. “Goodnight, Veda. I’ll let you know if I hear from Luca. But no news is good news in these kinds of situations. I’m sure he’ll be home in a few hours.”
“I hope you’re right. Goodnight, Enzo. Don’t be an ass.”
Once she was gone, I closed and locked the door behind her, then stripped off my shirt and dropped it near my jacket in the closet. I kicked off my shoes and took off my pants, boxer briefs, and socks. Naked, I walked into the bathroom.
Sera’s wet clothes were in a pile near the sink, and I spotted my watch on the counter. So that’s how she was going to support herself. Smart girl.
She was just lowering herself into the tub, her mouth twisted in pain as she carefully got into the water. I immediately saw why. The front of her thighs were scraped and bloody like her face. “Jesus Christ.”
She didn’t even bother to look over at me as she finally got herself settled and leaned back, closing her eyes. “I see you ignored my message.”
“You shouldn’t be surprised.”
She sighed, her voice full of resignation as she said, “I’m not.”
With my hand on the back of her head, I sat her forward and got into the water behind her.
“What are you doing?” Though there was a thread of annoyance in her tone, mostly she just sounded so very tired.
“I’m cold.” The sides of her throat flushed red, and I knew she was thinking of the last bath we’d taken together. The night I’d taken her virginity. “Relax,” I told her as I leaned back and pulled her against my chest. “I’m just trying to get warm.”
Water sloshed over the sides as I wrapped my arms around her. Over her shoulder, I could see the bath water tinged red from the blood on her thighs. “I’m so sorry I hurt you,” I said quietly in her ear. “I didn’t realize the tree bark was so rough.”
“I tried to tell you to stop.” Her voice was small, and it hurt me to hear it.
“You didn’t tell me you were hurt,” I countered, trying—and failing—to ignore the pang of guilt that went through me. “Don’t ever not tell me.” I tightened my arms around her. “I know I can be…insistent sometimes. Even rough. But you need to tell me if it’s too much. You can always tell me, Sera.”
She was quiet for a minute. And then she said, “I honestly didn’t think you’d care. No one else ever has.”
I knew exactly who she was referring to. “I’m not your father,” I told her. “I may not be a gentle man, baby girl, but I’m not him. I would never intentionally hurt you like this.”
“I believe you,” she said after a moment.
She was quiet as we soaked in the water, and I was all talked out myself. I was fucking exhausted. I hadn’t been sleeping well since Sera was taken. Even after I’d gotten her back, I tended to only doze here and there, waking up often to reassure myself that she was still there. The sleepless nights were catching up to me, which was the reason Luca had me stay back this time.
Well, one of the reasons. The other was falling asleep in my arms, her lips parted and her breathing deep and even.
I found a washcloth draped over the side of the tub and dipped it into the bathwater, then I adjusted her so she was leaning against my right shoulder and I could see her face where the bark had scraped up her skin. Her eyes popped open, and she sucked in a hissing breath as I started to wash the dirt and blood away.
“This needs to be cleaned,” I murmured.
She said nothing as I dipped the cloth back into the water and added some soap.
“This is gonna sting, but I have some salve and I’ll help you get bandaged up before we go to bed.”
“Okay. Thank you.” She was quiet while I finished washing her face and made sure the dirt had soaked out of the scrapes on her thighs. As I helped her out of the tub and wrapped her up in a towel, she asked me, “Do you really think you’ll be able to get me away from my father?”
No. Not at all. But I sure as hell wasn’t going to tell her that. Wrapping my towel around my waist, I sighed heavily and ran a hand through my own wet hair. Some perverse masochistic part of me wanting to know… “I need to ask you something, Sera.”
She was standing in front of the sink looking at the damage to her face. Her eyes met mine in the mirror. Tension pulsed between us. The same energy that was always there. It poked and prodded at the shell I’d built around my heart, searching for a way in.
“Do you really want to leave me?” My heart sped up as I waited for her answer. “If tonight hadn’t happened, and we could find a way out of this, would you still want to be free? Of me?”
She started to respond, then stopped. I opened and closed my hands as I waited for her answer, fighting down the panic that was trying to rise inside of me. “Honestly?” she asked.
I gave her a nod.
Slowly, she turned to face me. “No,” she said quietly. “I don’t know.” The tears that had been gathering in the corners of her blue-gray eyes spilled over. “And I’m probably the sorriest excuse for women’s rights in the entire universe, but even after what you did to me tonight, I don’t want to leave you.”
Relief flooded my veins, so fast and hard it made me sway on my feet. And not even her next words could damper it.
“But I have to. I can’t stay here, Enzo. I can’t stay with you. Eventually he’d come for me. You won’t be able to stop him. Not because he loves me, but because it would be a blow to his pride that you managed to steal something from him. Because that’s all I am to him. A bargaining chip to further his own agenda.”
I stared down at this woman who had taken my world and upended it with nothing but her gap-toothed smile, and the words were coming out of my mouth before I could stop them. “He can’t have you. Not anymore.”
The way she looked at me made me wonder if what I heard in my head and what I’d said were two different things.
“What?” I asked her. “Why are you looking at me that way?”
She opened her mouth to speak, and then closed it again and shook her head. “Nothing.”
“Tell me.”
Her mouth twisted into something sour. “There’s only one way he’ll ever agree to let you keep me. And that’s only if his return on investment is worth it.” A nervous laugh burst from her. “Of course, I’m no longer a virgin. The one thing he valued about me and that he could use to sell to a higher bidder. So perhaps you’d have a chance.”
I knew what she was talking about. “I can’t marry you, Sera. That isn’t an option.”
There was a flash of hurt in her eyes before she quickly turned back to the mirror and started taking her hair down.
“It has nothing to do with you.”
“It has everything to do with me,” she countered. Picking up my brush, she started ripping it through her hair with rough strokes. “It’s my life, Enzo. It has everything to do with me. But if you don’t want me…” She trailed off, swallowing hard.
“Sera.”
“There’s nothing I can do about that,” she finished.
I came up behind her and took the brush from her hand before she ripped out all of her hair. Carefully, I started working out the knots, my heart in my throat from memories of doing this for Alessandra. “I never said I didn’t want you.”
“But you don’t want me enough to marry me.”
Setting down the brush, I leaned back against the sink and pulled her around until she was standing between my thighs. “I know you won’t understand, but it’s safer for you that way.”
There was something in her eyes as she stared up at me. Something I didn’t at first understand.
“Okay,” she finally said.
And it was then that I understood.
She knew.
She knew what happened with Alessandra. “Sera, you need to understand—”
“I do understand. I know you. You’re a mafia man. And you always will be. You represent the exact thing I’m trying to get away from.”
“That’s not all I am,” I confessed. “I’m also a man. A man who doesn’t want to lose you.”
“I know.”
A trickle of cold sweat slithered down my spine as I bent to softly kiss her lips.
