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“So there’s no… business contact?” Her lip curls in distaste. “You made me dress up like this foryou?”
I can’t stop myself from laughing. “Yep. You really think I’d visit any of my old man’s acquaintances without Damien as backup? He’d probably kill me if I actually passed you around for real. He’s barely tolerating Slayer getting a go at you.”
“This isn’t funny,” Vanessa snaps. “And I don’t know what you would and wouldn’t do. I see you without Damien all the time. I don’t know what you do when you’re visiting people.” There’s relief she can’t hide, though, which makes me grin.
“Damien said you were smart, so I thought you’d figure it out,” I taunt her. “Maybe he was wrong.”
She glares at me. “Laugh it up,” she mutters. “You succeeded in scaring the crap out of me, okay? And next time I’ll know better.” She narrows her eyes. “So you’re the one who just played your cards early.”
I grab her by the waist and pull her flush against me. “Yeah? You think I’m not creative enough to come up with something even better?”
She squirms, trying to pull away from me. “I know you are,” she says, not looking as confident as she had only seconds before. “I have a feeling you can be very creative when you want to be.”
I kiss her forehead, finding myself inordinately amused by her reactions. “I’ll be very creative later tonight. I’m feeling a lot less tired than earlier. But first, why don’t I give you a tour? Unless you want to skip straight to the main event.”
She tenses against me, shaking her head. “No, I want to do the tour,” she says quickly.
“Great!” I let go of her waist to grab her wrist, pulling her further into the condo. “Why don’t we go meet Antonia.”
I love the look of horror that crosses her face. This is going to be so much fun.
16
VANESSA
Antonia.
I’d forgotten all about the woman he keeps in his home, the one he’s referred to a few times so casually that it’s like she’s a piece of furniture. I’m horrified by my own thoughts as I wonder whysheisn’t the one he’s trying to get knocked up. I wince. It’s cruel of me, and I quickly dismiss those thoughts from my head. I wouldn’t want this to happen to anyone.
Giulio keeps a tight hold on my wrist, and I have no choice but to follow him as he moves deeper into the apartment. I keep a wary eye out, half-expecting some business contact to pop out of the woodwork anyway.
“This is nice,” I say lamely.
“Yeah, I hired a very prestigious interior design firm to decorate for me.” Giulio pauses in front of a sculpture of some kind, a modern art piece that I can’t even begin to interpret. “They tried to make me get rid of this artwork though.It doesn’t go well with the rest of the design. Come on, I’m paying you to make it all fit.”
I shake my head. “I don’t think there’s anything they could’ve done to make it fit,” I tell him as I stare at the sculpture. It’s ugly as sin, and I can’t imagine why anyone would want it in the first place.
“You an art expert now?” Giulio asks, winking at me. At least he doesn’t sound insulted, but he does start walking again, dragging me toward a closed door. “Antonia, baby, daddy’s back!” Giulio calls out as he opens the door.
Daddy?
I’m mortified. I stop in my tracks, not wanting to see Antonia. I desperately donotwant to see the woman Giulio keeps in here, especially if she’s calling himDaddy. I don’t know what kind of kinks Giulio is into beyond the ones he’s role played with me, but I have a feeling I’m not going to like them. “Maybe I shouldn’t meet her,” I say hurriedly. “She probably doesn’t want to meet me.”
“Aww, no need to be shy. Antonia loves meeting new people. Gives them all a nice, tight hug.” Giulio tugs on my hand, forcing me inside.
I’m instantly hit with howhumidthe room is. It’s also fairly dark, even after Giulio hits the light switch. The overhead lights are dimmer than even the lighting at Ntimacy.
And all around us, from wall to wall, are plants.
Or, not plants, but aquariums. Terrariums? Glass displays filled with little slices of nature.
Giulio drags me to the nearest wall and peers inside one of the smaller terrariums, which has a water feature on one end and resembles a small forest floor on the other. A bright green frog sits on a log.
“Hi, Jumper,” Giulio says, waving a finger in front of the glass. The frog doesn’t react at all. “Looks like you ate your meal. Good job.”
There’s no woman in here, but I can’t bring myself to be relieved. Dread continues to build within me as I look around, stunned at how many of the terrariums are in the room. How many… creatures has he collected? I try to back up, wanting out of the room as quickly as possible. “Okay, I’ve seen enough of here,” I say.
“You haven’t even met Antonia yet!” Giulio protests. He twines his fingers with mine, as if we were simply on a romantic date, and moves on to stop in front of another, much larger terrarium.
