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“You’ll never escape me. You’ll never outrun me. I’ll make you love me if I have to. I know you still feel the spark that was there when we first met.”
“No,” she denies it vehemently. “That spark went out when you killed. When you lied. When you hurt me!”
“I’ll make up for all that shit, Francesca, I-“
“It’s not shit, Julian!” she spits out. “It’s legitimate! It hurt me!”
“Stop it, you little brat.” I grab the ballgag she had in yesterday and attach it in place, smirking at the result of my work. “If this is problematic for you, just remember you don’t have a choice. And remember how it felt to fuck me yesterday. How special it was. How fucking good it felt. I know you know we belong together, Francesca. I know you do.”
She whimpers, letting out a muffled cry through the gag as I head to the door.
“I’ll be back soon,” I say, blowing her a kiss. “Try to come to your senses, little toy.”
The moment I’m out of the room, I run into Bruno and Santino in my living room. Without saying a word to them, I walk up to Bruno and slam my fist into his nose. Santino curses out loud and two guards point guns at me while Bruno stumbles back, blood streaming from his nose.
“What the fuck was that for?” Santino demands, helping his father to his feet.
“For hurting Francesca,” I hiss, glaring at Bruno. “You used her as fucking bait. You couldn’t have used anyone else?”
“No,” Bruno grunts, picking himself up and shrugging Santino away. “I needed to see whether you still felt the same way about Francesca. There was no other way for me to figure it out. I did what had to be done.”
I swallow my words, knowing he’s right in a way.
“She still upstairs?” Santino asks, and I nod.
“She’s pissed at me right now, but she’ll come around,” I mutter. “You two can leave.”
“Fine,” Santino nods. “We’ll leave a couple guards behind and-“
“No.”
“Excuse me?”
“No guards. We want to be alone.”
Santino furrows his brows but Bruno seems to agree with my decision, patting his son on the back as he says, “It’s fine. We’ll give the lovebirds some space. If you need us, you know where to find us.”
Reluctantly, Santino follows him outside along with the guards. I watch them leave in the black hair and exhale a heavy sigh of relief the moment the vehicle rounds the corner.
The last thing I have to do now, is to convince Francesca I only killed Leonardo Brambilla to ensure her safety.
And punish Bruno for putting her through this in the first place.
23
FRANCESCA
I know we’re alone. I can’t hear anyone but Julian in the house. As much as I need to be afraid, to preserve my sanity, I hope he’ll come see me again soon. Despite all the fucked up shit Julian’s done, I can’t help but want him, crave him. My body acts of its own accord with Julian Bernardi. It’s like I don’t have a say in the matter at all.
He comes back an hour after leaving me in the bedroom and I glare at him as he brings over more food and drink.
“Can you please uncuff me?” I beg him. “My hands hurt.”
“As long as you promise not to run away.”
“I won’t,” I mutter despite myself.
After giving me a long, inquisitive look, he finally unlocks my handcuffs and slides a plate with waffles onto my lap. I eat hungrily, having my fill of the food that instantly makes me feel better.
“We need to talk about Leonardo,” Julian finally says.
“Yes, we do.” I push the empty plate away and cross my arms, glaring at him. “You need to explain, and then we’re going to call the police.”
He laughs at me, making me even angrier.
“I killed him to protect you, Francesca.”
“You can’t keep saying that. He did nothing to me.”
“He was going to,” Julian hisses. “He told me he’d hurt you. Rape you.”
“When?”
“When I went to go see him. When I killed him. And besides, what’s happening with Antonio... You know that man deserves to be behind bars. He should never see the light of day again. Don’t you agree?”
I swallow thickly, knowing in the back of my mind that he’s right. Antonio is responsible for all the cuts that will be over my body for the rest of my life. And I’m not the only woman he’s done this to.
The man has a twisted past of hurting others, and it’s a good thing he’s behind bars.
Slowly, I feel my resolve weaken.
“But you shouldn’t have killed for me, Julian,” I whisper. “I never asked you to.”
“You don’t have to,” he lets out in a low growl. “I’ll always watch out for you, Francesca.”
“But you hated me back then.”
“I never hated you.”
“You sure made a good show of it.”
