“Your slut.”
He stopped to look at me, his laugh fading. “How bad did I hurt you?”
I was so sore I might be still bleeding, yet I disturbingly cherished every ache he inflicted on my body and soul that would never be forgotten. “It’s nothing compared to what I’d done to you.” I burst into tears against my will. I hated my weakness.
He swirled me and pulled me into him. “Stop crying.” His arms folded around me in an embrace. Was I dreaming? Was he really hugging me after all the horrible things he’d been telling me since his return? I cried harder. “Hey,” he bent his head to my ear, “I bet the parts of me that exceeded your imagination filling your tight little fucking hot part that exceededmyimagination would make you stop crying.”
Heat flooded my body. Did he call my pussy hot and suggested to be inside me again?
“Looks like just the mention of it does the trick,” he said.
I drew back. “So you were just saying it to make me stop?”
He tucked my hair behind my ear. “I want to be with you one more time, Ravenna, but not in the same way I first had you. I want to show you what making love is before I go.”
“That would be so beautiful, but I bet it’d rip my heart even more than all of the things you’ve done to me.” Tears spilled from my eyes again. “Is that the rest of your punishment and revenge?” It was the only explanation.
“Do I look like akill them with kindnesskinda guy? I just wanna get you out of my system so I’d never look back. I should’ve killed you for what you’d done. You betrayed me just like all of them.”
“Why didn’t you?”
Words and conflicted emotions swirled in his gaze, but he wouldn’t speak.
“Don’t go, Leo. I’m begging you. Keep me in your system. Let’s just forget about everything and run away where no one could find us. The man who tortured you is dead. That’s enough revenge. You don’t have to kill your father or Enzio. Let them go with their ugly world of blood and hate and betrayal. You don’t have to die for it. I want you to live, Leo. You deserve to live.”
His brows hooked. “You don’t understand. Those men took everything from me.”
“You can have everything again. You can rebuild your life away from them with a woman that really understands and loves you. I know you don’t feel the same way for me. I mean, how could you after what I’d done? So it doesn’t have to be me. If you don’t want me, it’s fine. One day, you’ll find someone else, one that will make you forget all about Anastasia and Lina and fill the void with true love, but only if you live. If you die, and you will die if you go back to Chicago, you’ll never have that chance.”
He shook his head, resisting me, resisting every word I said. But then he winced, tangling his fingers in my hair, pulling me into his body, his breath searing my face.
My lips parted on their own accord, reaching for his, begging for a kiss. He closed the distance between us, and just as his flesh touched mine, Nicole wailed.
I jumped while he closed his eyes, his jaw flexing. “Cazzo.”
I nodded at the cottage. “We should…”
“Yeah.”
We hurried in. Nicole was standing in the middle of the place, the stick in her hand, her chest heaving, her eyes bulging, looking like a patient that had been deliberately hiding their pills instead of swallowing them and about to tear the place down. Except this was no psychiatric hospital. There were no nurses with sedatives, the doctor was the one in restraints, and the agitated patient was the only one with a gun.
Shit.
“The son of a bitch switched them,” she grated.
“You mean your birth control pills?” I asked.
“Yes! He said he wanted me off the pill, but I said no. It didn’t matter what I said, though, because he’d already switched them. He knew I’d say no, so he fucking switched them… All this time… How could he fucking do this to me? He never thought about me or what I wanted. He just took, took,took. He wanted me, he took me. He tortured another man to make me marry him. He wanted a baby, he switched my fucking pills so I could give him a baby. What the fuck? What the actual fuck?”
“Hey, Nicky, I know you’re in so much pain right now, but please try to calm down,” I said.
“Don’t tell me to calm down.” She paced the cottage. “And don’t bother telling me it’s gonna be okay because it’s never gonna be okay. Nothing about this is okay.”
Leo stepped toward her with confidence, not minding her agitation or her demands of distance. He just went in there and folded his arms around her shoulder.
“Don’t touch me. Don’t fucking touch me!”
“No. I’m right here, and I’m not going anywhere.” He held her tighter. “I know you’re scared, but you’re strong, Nicky. The strongest girl I’ve ever met. You’ll get through this, just like you’ve gotten through everything else.”
