I believed him.
And God help me, I couldn’t wait.
Chapter Twelve
Dante
The penthouse door closed behind us.As much as I wanted to make good on my promise, to show her what it meant to be protected like a man like me, I also wondered if it was time to come clean.If she knew the truth about why I’d accepted her offer, would that change something between us?Perhaps make her hate her reaction to me a little less?
I headed for the bedroom, my movements deliberate despite the adrenaline pumping through my veins.She followed because of course she did.I turned and locked the door behind us.The click of the mechanism seemed impossibly loud in the quiet room.
Her eyes narrowed.“What are you doing?”
“We need to have a conversation.”I shrugged out of my suit jacket, draped it over the chair.
“A conversation that requires locking us in?”
“Yes.”I loosened my tie, pulled it free, began unbuttoning my cuffs with methodical movements.“Because what I’m about to tell you, you’re not going to like.And you’re going to want to run.And I can’t have you running.Not until you understand.”
She crossed her arms, defiance written in every line of her body.“Understand what?”
I studied her for a long moment.My wife.Beautiful and furious and completely unaware of how long I’d been planning this.How many years I’d spent ensuring this exact outcome.
“Did you think this was just business, Caterina?”I moved closer, watching her body language shift from defensive to uncertain.“That I agreed to your terms because of political advantage?Territory?Access to the old families?”
“That’s what the contract --”
“Fuck the contract.”The words came out harsher than I’d intended.I took a breath, forced my voice back to something resembling control.“The contract was what I needed to make this legal.To bind you to me in a way Giuseppe couldn’t break.Unless you went tattling to your papa that I hadn’t fully upheld my end of the deal.However, if you were going to do that, I think you would have already.”I stopped three feet away from her, close enough to see her pulse jump at her throat.“But the reason I wanted you?I’ve had eyes on you since you were eighteen.”
The color drained from her face.“What?”
“Since you were eighteen,” I repeated, watching comprehension dawn in her eyes.“That night at Rossi’s party.You wore red.Some designer dress that clung to every curve.You laughed at something Luca said, and I watched you from across the room and thought, mine.You’re mine.I just have to wait for the right moment to claim you.”
“You’re lying.”But her voice shook.
“I’m not.”I moved to the window, looked out at the city below.Remembered watching her through similar windows, through cameras, through reports from people who didn’t know why I was asking.“I had my security team track your movements.Not constantly.Not like a stalker.Just enough to know where you were.Who you were with.Who was getting too close.”
“Jesus Christ.”She pressed a hand to her forehead.“Exactly how is that not stalking?”
“That boy from university.The one who asked you to dinner three times before you finally said yes.”I turned back to face her.“He got a job offer in Singapore he couldn’t refuse.Moved two weeks before your first date.”
Her hand went to her throat.“That was you?”
“That was me making sure no one claimed what was mine.”I rolled up my sleeves, the gesture automatic.“The gallery owner who kept calling you.The politician’s son at that charity gala.The bartender at the club you used to frequent with your friends.Every man who got too close, who looked at you like they had a chance, who thought they could have what belonged to me.”
“I didn’t belong to you.”Her voice was rising now, anger replacing shock.“You had no right --”
“I had every right.”I closed the distance between us in two strides.“You were going to be mine.I knew it the moment I saw you.Knew it in my bones, in my blood, in every part of me that matters.So I did what was necessary to give me the advantage.And while it didn’t work entirely the way I’d hoped, you did end up in my bed.”
“You’re insane.”She backed away, her eyes wide.“You’re actually fucking insane.”
“No.I’m patient.Thorough.A man who understands that some things are worth waiting for.”I followed her retreat with measured steps.“I watched you grow into yourself -- saw that sharp tongue and sharper mind take shape.You learned to navigate your father’s world with a grace most people never master.And through it all, I waited.”
“Waited for what?”She hit the wall, trapped by her own backward momentum.“For the perfect moment to manipulate me into marriage?”
“I didn’t manipulate anything.”My hand came up to brace against the wall beside her head.“Your father arranged the marriage to Marco.You came to me looking for a way out.I simply provided what you asked for.That I’d been preparing for this opportunity for years doesn’t change that you made the choice.”
“Because you engineered the circumstances!”Her hands pushed against my chest, but I didn’t move.“You probably encouraged Papa to consider Marco.You probably made sure I’d be desperate enough to agree to your terms --”
