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I knew exactly who she was talking about and texted Sergio that dinner was off. Told him I knew what he did.
I should never have mentioned the internship or the professor. I just didn’t think it was a possibility he’d hurt him. But he must have had it on his mind all that time because he went behind my back and did what he wanted anyway completely ignoring what I said.
The bus pulls up to my stop about thirty minutes later. I get out, cursing the high heels I’m wearing. I had a presentation at school today, but I’d much rather be in an old pair of jeans, a huge sweater and comfy boots. Carrying my large, cumbersome portfolio along with my backpack and the few things I’d left at the office in a plastic bag, I walk the six blocks home. The streets are busy, it’s the dinner hour, but for some reason, I find myself looking over my shoulder more than once, unable to shake the feeling I’m being followed. That’s got to be Sergio’s influence on my life. He’s a mobster. What he does he proved tonight. He beats people up. Hurts them. It’s what he knows.
Is it all he knows? With me, he’s been so gentle. So generous.
I shake my head. Trying to reconcile these two sides of him is giving me a headache.
Elftreth’s Alley is empty. No reason to be here unless you live here. The tourists usually come by during the day, not at night, at least not during the winter months. I dig my new key out of my pocket. The fact that I have these new locks—courtesy of Sergio who steamrolls to get his way—irritates me. I unlock the door and step inside. The first thing I do is slip off my shoes, leaving them as I walk to the kitchen table to set down the portfolio. I realize it’s strange Pepper didn’t greet me tonight. I’m later than usual and she’s probably hungry.
“Pepper, I’m home. Sorry I’m late. You wouldn’t believe my day.” I walk around the table to open the cabinet under the sink and get her food. “Come on, honey. Dinner.”
Nothing. Not even when she must hear the sound of food filling her bowl.
I stop. “Pepper?” My heart races. Shit. She’s so old. What if…
I straighten, thinking the worst, and turn to head into the living room. I switch on the light and let out a scream because I’m not alone.
Sergio’s here. Sitting in the middle of the couch, arms spread wide, eyes hard.
And right now, he looks like a fucking Godfather.
Pepper’s on the floor, her head on his shoe, sleeping.
“I fed her.” He’s pissed, I can hear it in his voice, feel it coming off him. There’s a half empty bottle of whiskey on the coffee table.
“What are you doing here? How did you get in?”
“She was hungry.”
“How did you get inside?” I repeat. I can match his anger.
“I told you I had a key.”
Fuck. That’s what he’d meant last night. “You can’t have a key. I never gave you one.”
“You switched off your phone.”
I walk over to Pepper, squat down to pet her. I don’t look at him when I answer. “Because I didn’t want to talk to you.”
“When I call you, you answer.”
“Doesn’t work that way.” I say, standing, spinning on my heel. I’m about to walk away when he captures my wrist, his grip firm, more firm than he’s ever been with me. I make a sound, try to pull free, but he tugs on my arm, kicks my feet out from under me so I fall face down onto his lap. “What are you—”
He slaps my ass hard ten times in succession.
I’m gasping, instinctively reaching back to cover the spot. He captures my wrist, so he has both now, and holds them in one of his hands. I crane my neck to look up at him. He keeps his eyes locked on mine and rubs one hand over my ass, then spanks it again, ten more times on the other cheek.
“Stop!” It fucking hurts.
“When I call you, you answer, Natalie.”
I tug at my arms, but his grip is vice-like.
“Do you understand?” he asks.
“Let me go.”
“Do you fucking understand?”
“Yes!”
He gives me one more hard smack before releasing me, and I stumble to my feet. I feel hot, embarrassed, and I’m clutching my ass.
“I just want you safe.” He gets to his feet.
I step backward.
He’s wearing a suit, the jacket of which is hanging over the back of a chair. He gently moves Pepper’s head off his foot before he walks toward me.
I’m mute as he approaches. There’s a darkness to Sergio Benedetti. It clings to him, like a shadow. It’s the one thing that scares me about him because I trust that he won’t hurt me. And I believe that he wants me safe. I may not understand it, but I believe it.
