Instead of acting on the impulse, I step farther away, pressing my palm to my chest in an attempt to calm my racing heart.
“Jesus fucking Christ! You frightened the livingshitout of me.”
I sound breathless even to my own ears as Rafe smiles lazily. If I had expected to find anger on his face following how I’d elbowed him earlier, I’d be disappointed. His face is entirely unreadable aside from the taunting half-smirk dancing on his lips.
He arches a dark eyebrow as his eyes leave my face to skim down along my body. “Do you often wander through strange houses in the dark dressed like…this?”
I’m suddenly self-conscious of the blush pink satin sleep set Maria had supplied me with earlier. I move to fold my arms over my chest, only to pause as anger unravels in my stomach.
The audacity of this motherfucking prick to come intomylife, turn it completely upside down, and bring me here as some kind of human bargaining chip, only to have theignoranceto make me feel as though he finds me offensive…
Not happening, fucker.
Instead, I move my hands to rest on my hips, quirking an eyebrow to match his while I shrug as carelessly as possible.
I can feel my bare nipples brush against the satin, inhaling as they pebble into hard buds at the stimulation. He can clearly see it happen, judging by how his jaw tics before his gaze moves back up to meet mine.
“I couldn’t sleep.” I shake my head as I plaster on an indifferent façade. “Thought a good, hard fuck with one of your men might send me right off.”
His nostrils flare, and I feel a surge of twisted delight fill my chest as I tilt my head to one side, widening my eyes in exaggerated innocence. “Know anyone up for the task?”
RAFE
“I wantmy daughter home now, Rafael.Now!”
My stepmother, Sofia, dissolves into a flood of drunken tears as I rise from the piano bench, forgetting to close the fall board in my rush.
When I twist about to face her, I’m mildly amused to find she’s holding the Sauer P210 hand pistol that my father gave her as a wedding gift. Her hands are shaking as tears stream down her face, the gun leveled right at my brow and, for a moment, Ialmostfeel sorry for the cunt.
She was a piece-of-shit wife to my father and an even worse stepmother to both Alessio and me, but Aurelia and Sebastiano are her reason for living. She’s made their lives her whole world.
Six months with no updates has clearly driven her off the edge she’s teetered on for years.
Without uttering a word, I close the gap between us to knock the gun from her hands. She cries out when it goes off before it slides across the wood and disappears into the shadows of the music room.
The smell of stale wine on her breath makes my stomach churn when I grasp her upper arms, giving her a hard shake. “If it wereanyoneelse, Sofia, I’d put a fucking bullet in the back of your head myself,capisti?”
In a heartbeat, twoSoldatiappear in the doorway, guns drawn against the threat, but I jerk my head, and bark, “Get the fuck out!”
Once they’ve vanished, I shove Sofia away with a low hiss. “You can thank your children for my mercy today,Matrigna. But be warned…” I trail off, narrowing my eyes to slits as I squeeze her arms even tighter before letting her go. “You willnotreceive it twice.”
In her intoxication, she stumbles, falling onto her ass and taking a decanter of wine from the edge of the drinks cabinet as she goes. The rich burgundy liquid ruins the gaudy yellow designer dress she’s wearing, but she pays it no heed.
Instead, she rises to stand, dripping wine everywhere as she makes for the door. She rips it open and looks back with hate-filled eyes when she screams out, “It should have been you,bastardo! Not my Aurelia.”
The heavy door slams behind her, the sound echoing through the space as I pour myself a large tumbler of whisky. Then I knock it back, gasping even though I relish the burn that kindles a fire in my stomach amidst the churning guilt.
Itshouldhave been me.
I pour another, some liquid sloshing over the side as I release an angry sigh, detesting Sofia even more for the accuracy of her words. Hating Domenico Conti with everything I possess. Despising myself more and more for my inability to get my sister home safely.
My mind drifts to what she might have endured in her time with Conti.
“Fuck!”
I loosen a low expletive before taking a large gulp of my replenished whisky, vowing to make that bastard pay with his worthless life if it’s the last thing I do.
My mood has soured too much to continue playing, so I sink down into a wing-backed chair shrouded in shadows and turn my thoughts back to the woman sleeping upstairs. The woman whose very presence has ruined my ability to relax enough to allow for sleep.
