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I preferred silence.
She finally asked the question on her mind. “You’re taking me back and you’ve given me my phone…how do you know I won’t just round up my family to kill you? I know where you live.”
“You know of one place where I live.” I drove with one hand on the steering wheel, the other resting on the windowsill. My eyes were on the road, but I could see her in my peripheral vision. “I have many places.”
“Do you have a place in Milan?”
I grinned. “Why do you want to know?”
“Just curious.”
“Yes. I have a place there.”
“Well…you didn’t answer my question.”
I was taking a gamble here, but the reward outweighed the risk. “You won’t say anything to them.”
“Why wouldn’t I?” she asked. “You didn’t kill me, but you’ve made it abundantly clear my family is your blood enemy. While I’m grateful I’m still alive right now, I will do anything I can to protect my family. This is a stupid thing to say, but the second I talk to them, I’m telling them everything.”
That didn’t surprise me. I’d judge her if she did anything less. “You’re missing a piece of the story.”
“What piece?” she asked.
I followed the curves of the road and headed down the mountain. Lake Garda was beautiful right now, calm and flat while the mountain peaks behind it were covered in white caps. I thrived in the winter and despised the humid heat of summer—along with the tourists. “Keep this to yourself, and I promise I won’t touch any member of your family—that includes Sapphire, who isn’t family yet.”
“How did you know her name?”
I chuckled. “Baby, I know everything about my enemies.” Plus, she was on TV everywhere. The media thought she was the most stunning woman in the world, but I’d seen a different woman in lingerie—and she was way better.
“And that’s it?” she asked incredulously. “You’ll just drop your revenge like that?”
“Not quite. I am getting my revenge, just in a different way.”
“How?”
“Because you’re mine.” I felt her head immediately turn my way once she heard the words.
“What?” she asked quietly. “What does that mean?”
“It means you’re mine. You have your own life, and I have mine. I’ve got a lot of shit to do, and I can’t be with you all the time. I travel a lot for work. Sometimes I’ll be gone for weeks at a time. But I’m free to come and go as I please, to fuck you before you wake up in the morning and to fuck you before you go to sleep at night. You’re a prisoner—but you’re free at the same time.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
I grinned when I listened to the terror in her voice. “No.”
“That’s ridiculous. I’ll have a boyfriend eventually.”
“You can have a boyfriend. But when I stop by, he’s forgotten.”
“I’m not a cheater,” she snapped.
“Then don’t have a boyfriend.”
“I’m going to fall in love with someone and get married.”
“And when that day comes, the blood war is back on. You can break our arrangement anytime you want, but the second you do, I’ll be coming after your family.”
She stared out the window and sighed under her breath, livid.
I was enjoying every second of it.
“You can’t do that,” she whispered.
“Would you rather I kill you?” I questioned. “This is the only other option. I have you as my prisoner, and I’m punishing your parents without them even knowing about it. I know you’ll comply because it’s the best way to keep everyone safe. And it’s not like you don’t get other things out of it…”
“Fuck you,” she snapped.
“Baby, you aren’t going to want another man after having me. The sex won’t be nearly as good, and he won’t be nearly as big. You’re used to the best now, to a man who knows how to please a woman. And once you’ve had a taste of that…you’ll never go back.”
“Your arrogance is disgusting.”
“But it makes you want me more anyway.”
She sighed again and looked out the window. She turned quiet, her arms folded over her chest. Her legs were crossed, and her phone sat on her lap. She didn’t say anything else on the drive. She knew the only way to get out of this situation was to kill me herself.
And I knew she would try.
I was looking forward to it.
We pulled up to her apartment, and I killed the engine.
She didn’t ask how I knew where she lived, but I knew she was wondering.
We walked to her front door, and she got the door unlocked before we walked inside. Her apartment was small, perfect for a single person. She had a small living room with two couches and a TV. Down the hall was her bedroom and her bathroom.
I glanced around, seeing the brightly colored furniture and the vase of flowers that had died while she’d been away for the past few days.
