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From now on, the only man who touches her, hell, who evenlooksat her, will be me.
I don’t have time to examine these new feelings, and I don’t particularly want to either. Instead I simply scoop Sofia out of the backseat of the car, striding towards the private elevator that will take us up to my penthouse with the doctor following in my wake.
She doesn’t ask questions. Dr. Carella has kept her job and her life while working so familiarly with the family because she knows the meaning of discretion, and she knows that she’s better off with less information, rather than more. So as I lay Sofia down on the bed, she merely gives me a reassuring smile, and says calmly: “Mr. Romano, step out of the room while I examine her, please. I’ll come get you in a few minutes when I’m finished.”
My immediate reaction is to refuse. The sight of Sofia’s delicate body laid out on my black bedspread tightens something deep inside of me. She looks very pale, very fragile, verybreakable.
It shouldn’t excite me as much as it does.
“Mr. Romano,” the doctor prods. “Luca.”
Her saying my given name is what finally snaps me out of it. “Fine,” I growl. “But don’t take too long.”
I stride out of the room, feeling every muscle in my body tensed. My hands are clenched at my sides, and I shake them loose, walking briskly towards the floor-to-ceiling glass window on one side of my living room as I try not to think about how Sofia looked in my bed. Every inch of her, from her delicate pale face to her slender body, to the halo of her golden hair around her head, evoked a sleeping angel, a rescued princess, something innocent and pure and lovely.
Which is why you have no business marrying her.
I’m the furthest thing from pure. I’ve tortured men, I’ve killed them, I’ve fucked as many women in this city as I could get my hands on, and up until this very moment, I never had the slightest intention of stopping. In order to keep my city and my territory, I’m going to have to torture and kill even more men, and nothing in me balks at that for even a second. But it’s not my seat at the head of this city that I feel compelled to spill blood for in this moment.
It’s Sofia.
I’ve never given a single woman that I’ve touched a second thought. My relationship with them ended the second that I threw the condom away or watched them swallow my cum. I hadn’t expected to give Sofia a second thought either, beyond the day that we exchanged the vows that would protect her and consummated our marriage. Once, after all, is all that’s necessary to make it legal. Once would satisfy any lingering curiosity about what kind of woman she’s grown up to be.
A few more times, maybe, during the right time of the month, if I decided that I wanted children. But children were never a part of the plan. My seat is meant to go to Franco’s son when I die, if Angelica gives him one.
All I can think as I stare down at the city below, this city that belongs to me, is that I want Sofia Ferretti more than once. More than for a night. When I saw her face staring up at me from the floor of that closet, something changed.
Everythingchanged. And I’ll burn this entire city to the ground if I have to, in order to keep Viktor Andreyev from ever taking her from me again.
* * *
When Dr. Carella comes out,she looks relieved, which in turn calms me a little. I meet her halfway across the room, sinking down onto my leather sofa as she takes the seat across from me.
“Physically, she’s fine,” the doctor says. “She has some minor bruising on her face and the injury to her lip, as well as some bruising around her wrists, but overall they don’t seem to have harmed her. I’ll run some blood tests, since she was most likely drugged, and I’d advise you to keep an eye on her once she’s conscious again. I didn’t see any signs of a concussion, but if she seems ill, it would be wise to call me in case she suffers any adverse effects from the drugs.” Dr. Carella pauses. “I didn’t see any signs of—abuse, either.”
“Meaning?” I want to hear it clearly.If those dogs violated my fiancée—
“She wasn’t assaulted beyond the bruising that I mentioned. And I’m fairly certain that she’s still a virgin, if that matters to you.” Dr. Carella’s mouth twists downwards when she says that, and I can see plainly on her face exactly what she thinks of that idea.
If she’d mentioned it earlier tonight, I would have said that I didn’t give a fuck if Sofia Ferretti was a virgin or if she’d fucked every guy between her apartment and Fifth Avenue. But as with everything else tonight, that seems to have changed.
The thought of another man touching her makes my stomach clench with rage. And the thought of her being a virgin, of me being the first one to see her naked body, to touch her, to slide inside of her and take her for the first time—
I’m hard just thinking about it. The desire that crashes through me is something primal and vicious, and I have to breathe in deeply and force the thought of what I want to do to Sofia’s virgin body away, just so that I’m able to stand up and shake the doctor’s hand.
“Thank you for coming,” I tell her, my voice cool and formal. “I’ll call you if I notice anything out of place.”
Dr. Carella hesitates.
“Yes?” I can hear my tone harden. “Is there something else?”
I want to be alone with my bride. I’m itching for her to wake up so that I can speak to her and explain the situation, how things will be from here on out. She’ll be grateful to me for rescuing her, of course, and then we can discuss the future—our wedding, and what will come after. What will need to be done to ensure her safety, and the safety of everyone that I’m responsible for.
“Her physical injuries were minor,” Dr. Carella repeats. “But her emotional and mental state when she wakes up may be—fragile. I’d be cautious of that, Mr. Romano.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” I stride to the front door that leads out into the hall, opening it wide. “Good night, Dr. Carella.”
She presses her lips together thinly, and I can tell that there’s more that she wants to say. Wisely, she thinks better of it, and nods, walking out of the apartment without another word.
