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She pressed her lips together, and her throat worked as she swallowed hard.
He stood and helped her to her feet. She swayed, legs unsteady in the aftermath of the devastating things he’d done to her. He wrapped a supporting arm around her waist and guided her toward the door to my cell.
His glittering green eyes met mine, his satisfied smile sharp enough to cut. “You’re coming with us,” he announced. “You’re going to see how I take care of my wife.”
“Haven’t you hurt her enough?” My demand was hoarse from my raw throat.
He shook his head at me, his grin maniacal. “I didn’t say you could speak. Nora took one punishment for your friends’ sake, but that won’t happen again. Not when she’s blameless for your next actions.”
I wanted to snap at him that she hadn’t done anything to deserve the torment he’d just inflicted, but in his mind, she was partially responsible for our kiss. When it was all my fault. I’d been the one to grab her hair and tug her toward me so that I could claim her mouth.
And now if I dared to speak again, he wouldn’t hesitate to hurt Gabriele and Lorenzo.
“Don’t try anything stupid,” he warned. “Remember what will happen if you try to fight me.”
As though I needed reminding. He’d already crushed my will. How much more humiliation could I bear?
I gritted my teeth and straightened my shoulders. For my friends’ sake—and for Nora’s—I could bear it. I didn’t have a choice.
He retrieved a key from his pocket and unlocked my cell. I stood rooted to the spot, pressing my hands tighter to the wall to prevent them from wrapping around his throat.
He smirked at me and lifted Nora up in his arms, turning his back on me.
“Come,” he commanded, not bothering to watch to ensure I complied.
My feet stuck to the concrete floor, the order grating on my already raw and wounded pride.
But he was carrying Nora away from me. I had to follow.
I wrenched my hands from the wall and fisted them at my sides to prevent myself from snapping his neck. Each docile step pained me like knives piercing my bare soles, but I didn’t attack my enemy. Instead, I watched the top of Nora’s head where it peeked over his shoulder. I wished she would turn her head and glance back at me, but it was probably better for us both if she remained in her detached state. If she looked at me with desperation pinching her delicate features, I wasn’t at all certain if I’d be able to stop myself from killing Dante, and that would condemn Gabriele and Lorenzo.
We strode up the stairs and through a maze of corridors. I marked the path, memorizing the layout of the mansion. I’d already explored a significant portion of the house when I’d hunted for Dante yesterday, after I’d killed his guards and briefly escaped.
But I’d never really been free at all. The bastard had been waiting for me with yet another trap: a gun to Nora’s head. It hadn’t even been loaded.
No, Dante didn’t want to see Nora dead. I knew that now. His insane affection for her seemed genuine, and from what I’d seen, it bordered on obsession. He reveled in tormenting her; he didn’t want to lose that by killing her.
He still held her cradled to his chest when he led me into a cavernous dining room and settled in a chair at the head of the table. Two place settings waited for us. I assumed one was for Nora and one for him, but he kept her in his lap, his arm and iron band around her naked body.
He tipped his head at the chair opposite him. “Sit.”
I sat stiffly, and all my muscles locked up tight. I was on high alert, completely thrown by what was happening. Dante’s actions made no sense. Why free me from my cell and offer me dinner like I was his guest?
Other than to rub it in my face that I didn’t have to be confined for him to keep me subdued.
Nora sat stiffly, too. Her cheeks were pink, a dark shade of embarrassment.
“Please don’t do this,” she whispered, begging Dante to grant her reprieve from something I didn’t understand.
He kissed her cheek. “I’m going to take care of you, pet. Let me.”
Suddenly, she lunged for the sharp knife to the right of his plate. He snagged her wrist mere inches from the blade, dragging her hand back into her lap as his other arm clamped around her more tightly.
“I know you’re angry with me, darling, but there’s no need for that. Don’t make me punish you again.”
Her entire body vibrated with unspent aggression. “Fuck you.”
Keeping her trapped against him with one arm, he lifted his other hand to grip her jaw. He lifted her face to his and locked her in a forbidding stare.
