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“Si. I thought a nice Sicilian dinner would be fitting to celebrate.”
“Bianca is killing herself in there trying to hurry the dinner along because she had to redo everything for this dinner. You can’t just—”
“I hope she’s not rushing the meal too much. You really have to give the food time if you want it to be good.”
“That’s not the point.” My voice came out a little louder than I meant for it to, and everything went quiet, looking in my direction. “I’m sorry. I’ve suddenly lost my appetite. I think I’m going to retire for the evening, but I hope you all will enjoy your meal.”
I stood from my chair and Stefano stood as well. “I’ll join you.”
“No,” I snapped before clearing my voice and trying again a little calmer. “No, you should stay and entertain our guests. I’m just going to lie down for a bit. We can talk later.”
Stefano nodded and forced a smile at our dinner guests. As I walked away, I could just barely hear him in his patronizing tone that made my jaw clench. “Those hormones can be very troublesome.”
I wanted to cram his whole authentic Sicilian dinner down his throat but instead, I stormed up the stairs to my room.
Feeling angry wasn’t good for the baby. I read that somewhere, but I was fuming. I paced my room, trying to put my anger into something else so I didn’t go back downstairs and yell at Stefano and his dad in front of everyone. Ever since I’d told him that I was pregnant and agreed to marry him, it seemed like he was a completely different person.
He was bolder but not in a good way. He was always answering for me, questioning every choice I tried to make, not just with the wedding plans, even down to things like what I was eating for breakfast or the fact that I was drinking coffee even though it was decaf.
Could the hormones be affecting my temperament? Sure. But there was no way that I was imagining everything, but every time I got upset, he would blame it on those damn hormones. It was infuriating, but getting angrier over it didn’t help.
I flopped onto my bed, buried my face in my pillow and screamed but it was cut short by my door shutting loudly.
I looked up to see Stefano scowling down at me.
“Is this any way to act when we have dinner guests? You’re behaving like a child.” His calm tone somehow made me angrier. “And you know that losing your temper like this isn’t good for the baby.”
“It’s better than stabbing the baby’s father with a dinner fork,” I hissed angrily. “What has gotten into you lately? You don’t even act like the same man I agreed to marry.”
“But I am, and you did.”
“Well keep trying to control everything and I may change my mind on that,” I snapped and while I knew that I was taking things too far, my anger didn’t let me hold back.
Before I knew what was happening, Stefano had his hand around my throat, pinning me to the headboard, hovering over me with his face mere inches from mine. I gasped, pressing myself against the headboard to put as much distance between us as possible.
The hand on my throat flexed slightly but didn’t apply enough pressure to hinder my breathing as I looked up at him with wide eyes, my heart threatening to pound out of my chest as I looked into the face of a man I didn’t even recognize.
“That is my baby in your belly. My heir. Do you understand?”
I nodded in terror.
“You will marry me. We have an agreement. You will honor your word to marry me. Do we have an understanding?”
I nodded again, unsure of what he might do if I disagreed.
“Good. Now, I will chalk all this up to your crazy mood swings, but you will get yourself under control or I will do it for you.”
He released my throat and pulled back to stand straight again. I waited until he was a few steps away before I calmly climbed off the bed and walked over to my desk. I reached my hand into the top drawer without taking my eyes off of Stefano. My fingers met with the cool steel of my gun, and I pulled it out.
“You are fucking insane if you think I’m going to marry you after that little stunt. You are nothing like I thought you were, and you will never see this baby because he or she doesn’t need to know a violent and dangerous father like you. I’ll be sure of that.”
He chuckled. He fucking chuckled. It was eerie to hear his humorless laugh in the silence of the room even though I was the one holding the gun.
“You’re going to marry me, and I will raise my child. He will learn to be a man just like me so that he can run all of Sicily when he’s grown.”
“You’re delusional if you think that’s going to happen.”
“Am I?” He said calmly as he slowly stepped toward me.
