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One night after we had both orgasmed, she was lying in my arms afterward, her cheeks flushed a delicate shade of peach. I looked down at her arm, where the gash from the church had healed but left behind a small, jagged scar. It looked wrong on her perfect skin, a sin marring her innocence, and it bothered me.
The Società was responsible for that, and I was responsible for not protecting her from them. She had been mine to not only own but also to protect.
I no longer felt just possessive of her, I also felt protective of her. When I thought about her during the day, I felt not only desire in my loins but also a fierce protectiveness in my chest.
Juliana seemed to be weighing up in her mind whether to say something or not. “I’m not a mind reader. If something’s on your mind, just say it.”
She licked her lips in a nervous gesture. “My birthday is next week.”
“I know. Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten that you’ll be turning twenty.”
“I’ve been thinking about a present that I would like.”
She said nothing further. “Go on.”
Biting her lower lip, she paused, but then her words rushed out. “I want to call Jessica.”
We looked at each other and neither of us said anything. I could see she was uneasy. When I made no response, she rushed on. “I could call her on her cell phone and make sure to tell her that she can’t mention the call to my family or anyone else. I’m sure that she would agree to that, if it meant that we could speak to each other. Please.”
Having got that off her chest, she exhaled a breath and lay back against her pillow, waiting for an answer. I could see the tension in her shoulders as she waited.
I regarded her closely. She had come a long way these past few weeks. She was no longer fighting me at every turn and that was refreshing, given our rocky start. “In some ways it’s better that you do not have contact with anyone from your old life.”
“But we’re not just talking about anyone. We’re talking about my sister.”
“All the more reason why it will be upsetting for you. It will bring back all the memories that I’m trying to move you on from, like your sister getting shot.”
“But I’ve been trying. I’ve really been trying. I’m not dwelling on the kidnap or you forcibly keeping me here or that you made me go through with the marriage.” She was getting worked up.
My jaw tightened. “The way you describe it makes me think that you are still dwelling on it. You still resent the Fratellanza. You still resent me.”
“I’ll resent you more for not letting me speak to my family!”
“You have my answer. It’s no. No good will come from speaking to your sister. You need to move on and put that all behind you. I know you don't believe me but I'm protecting you from any further harm coming to you. Your father's plan on our original wedding day could have ended up with you being dead. You're too important to me to let anything like that ever happen again. You're mine now, and I protect what's mine.”
“How can I move on? I’ve never been allowed to have any closure. I wasn’t even given the chance to say goodbye to my family. I’m your wife now and we are legally married. I can’t go back to them, so why can’t you just let me have this one small thing?”
“We’re not talking about this anymore.” And then I turned toward the nightstand to switch off the lamp.
When I tried to pull her into my arms, she struggled and went as far as to elbow me in the abdomen.
I caught her by her hair and pulled her head back. “Careful, beautiful. Don’t push me on this,” I warned.
CHAPTER 29
MARCO
In the days leading up to her birthday, I had to admire Juliana for trying to not dwell on my refusal to let her phone her sister. She didn’t sulk as I feared she would.
It was a couple of days before her birthday. In the evening, I was cooking dinner in the kitchen while Juliana watched me. I was making a Thai chicken and basil stir-fry with jasmine rice.
Juliana had admitted to me that she had no idea how to cook and that her mother had a housekeeper who had prepared all their meals. “Where did you learn to cook? Did your mom teach you?” she asked while watching me chop up vegetables to add to the chicken which I was stir-frying.
We hadn’t really talked about my parents. Whenever Juliana had previously asked about them, I’d changed the subject, making it clear to her that I did not want to talk about them. “When our parents died, we moved to this house. With our parents gone, me and Alessio were in charge. Camillo was nine, Danio was six, and Debi was only five. Man, Debi was such a cute kid. Still is.”
“So, you started cooking when you all moved in here together?”
“Yeah, it meant that either Alessio or I would have to be here for mealtimes. We wanted the kids to have that, you know, a bit like a normal upbringing. If we had gotten live-in staff, it would have been too easy to skip meals with the kids and just leave the staff to deal with them.”
