AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"I am going to take my hand away from your mouth now," he murmurs. "Promise me you won’t scream?"
I hesitate and he whispers with more urgency, "Nod your head if you agree."
I comply, and he removes his hand.
I draw in a breath, turn and blink up at him. His features are familiar—that height, the width of his shoulders. He’s taller than Michael and more leanly built. Where Michael is all raw power and blatant dominance, this man wears his sophistication like a veneer. His muscles coil and his gaze sweeps over my features…
No, underneath the mask he wears to the world, he is all ruthlessness and authority. Shit, this man is as dangerous. Maybe more so, because he conceals his savagery with refined elegance.
"I… I saw you at the wedding." I murmur. "You’re Michael's brother?"
"Younger to him by only a year." His jaw hardens. "Funny how fate determines exactly where you land in life, isn’t it? Take birth at the wrong time within a powerful family, and you’ll find yourself always in sight of the seat of power but never close enough to grab it."
"Ah," I nod. This man is bitter, maybe aggrieved about the fact that he isn't the eldest in the family. He wants revenge for that? Perhaps he's even upset for something that Michael did to him? No wonder he saw his opportunity and moved in now. "I don’t intend to become a pawn in whatever twisted games you and Michael are playing."
"And what about the games he is playing with you?" He tilts his head, "What about the fact that he kidnapped you, then married you to pay your father’s debt, then threw you into a cell."
I stiffen. "What are you trying to say?"
"That we can help each other."
I frown, and he chuckles. "Not like that." He steps back, putting space between us. "Not that you are not attractive, but you are married. The two of you exchanged vows in front of a priest, so you are morally his. Also, Michael has filed the marriage papers signed by both of you with the local municipality. So legally, as well, you belong to him."
"Hold on," I scowl, "I didn't sign anything."
He stares at me and I throw up my hands, "Jesus, he forged my signature, didn't he?"
"Do you blame him?" He raises a shoulder. "Even I can see that you'd have never agreed to sign it of your own free will, and seems, he wanted you for his wife, at any cost."
"Which is why you want to help me get away from him," I firm my lips, "because you know it will hurt his ego more than anything to lose his most prized possession."
His gaze widens and he takes in my features with something akin to...respect? Maybe wariness, even. "I can see why he is so taken by you." His lips curl. "Perhaps you are more intelligent than you look."
I scowl. "Perhaps we need to get out of here, before he comes?"
I tip up my chin and he chuckles.
"He really has no idea what he’s in for, does he?"
"Oh, I think he must be getting an idea about now." I brush past him, step onto one of the ramps, when I hear the sound of Michael calling my name.
"Che cazzo,"Luca growls. "He’ll find us. Come." He brushes past me, up the ramp, and begins to undo the tether to the boat. I walk toward him, then clamber onto the boat. He finishes untying the craft, then jumps onto the vessel, which rocks from side to side. I grasp the edge of the boat, hold on as he brushes past me. He reaches the driver's seat, then presses his finger to the ignition button. The engine fires up, then stops.
"Fuck," he growls as he presses down on the ignition again. The engine coughs, roars to life, then dies away again.
"Oh, god," I squeeze my fingers together, "come on, come on, please, start."
He pauses and I shot him a glance, "Why aren’t you trying to start it again?"
"Can’t flood the engine," he explains. "Just need to give it a few seconds."
"It’s time we don’t have." I hiss, glance around the boat as the door behind us is flung open. I don’t need to glance around to know he’s entered the space. Anger thrums off of him, crashes into my back as I gasp. The hair on the back of my neck rises.
"Beauty," his familiar growl rumbles through the space, "what the hell are you doing?"
