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A mocking smile spreads across his handsome face. “Really? And howis that?”
“Does it matter? I know the truth now, but what I don’t know is why.” I wrap my fingers around his wrist and press my thumb hard against his inner gate pressure point. He winces, and his grip loosens slightly. “Why, Sebastian? Or is that even your real name?”
He strokes the pulse of my neck with his thumb, and his lips stretch into a demented grin. He looks maniacal, and goosebumps skitter across my skin at that look. “You want to know the truth, little Greta?” I swear my heart stops for a second. He releases my throat, and I sag against the wall while I gulp in precious oxygen.
He gestures for me to follow him. “Where are we going?” I ask tohis back.
“No questions. If you want to know the truth, you will do as you’re told. What’s the truth worth to you, Greta?” He speaks over his shoulder, his eyes taking a lazy path to my lips, then down my body as his tongue laves his plump bottom lip.
What’s the truth worth to me?
As much as I want to run and hide in my room, bury my head in the sand, I also want… need the truth. Decision made, I steel my spine and lift my chin, but my voice still trembles as I speak. “I want the truth,”I answer.
He licks a path across his upper teeth, then gives me a model-worthy smile. “Then follow me.”
We walk past one room after another until we reach what I know to be his room. My throat thickens with uncertainty, and the blood thunders through my veins when he opens the door and ushersme inside.
“Take off your dress and lay on the bed,” Sebastian orders, and after a beat of second-guessing myself, with trembling fingers, I do as he says.
It’s only flesh, Greta. He may demand your body, but you still have your heart, mind,and soul.
My dress drops to the floor, and my heels are discarded. I climb onto the four-poster bed in my black lace bra and panties and lie in the middle of the king bed. The whole time I can feel Sebastian’s heated stare on my skin like a physical touch.
“Good girl. Now, where should I begin?” He steps to my side and runs a finger from my collarbone to my breasts, stopping at my belly button, where he circles. My abs tighten, my nipples peak, and I have to blink away the tears of shame that sting the back of my eyes at my body’sreaction.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
“Little did I know that I was the one in danger of your darkness.”Emiliano’s words ring through my mind, and as crazy as it sounds, now that I know what Emiliano and I had was real, every touch from Sebastian feels like a betrayal. I owe Emiliano nothing besides a punch to the testicles. Still, doubt at what I saw nags at me.
Sebastian sits beside me and continues to draw invisible lines along my skin, a smirk planted firmly on his face. “Let’s start with facts, shall we? Your family’s debt was never owed to the Calvanos but to my family, the Vasiles.” I gasp as a brick in the wall that is my control thuds to the ground. “That’s right,Piccolo Uccello. Emiliano’s grandfather wiped out my family beforethattruth could be revealed. I was only spared because I was … away at school in Germany. They didn’t bother to come for me after, so I stayed in Germany to be raised by nuns and ultimately trained by ex-military mercenaries.” The hand currently not stroking my skin fists, and an ominous cloud passes over his face as he seems to drift intoa memory.
“What does that mean?Thattruth? What else were they hiding?” I hate that my curiosity is getting the better of me.
“A bombshell,” he says with a sinister smirk before continuing. “I waited until I was old enough––strong enough––to use my family name to make the connections I needed to rise from the ashes the Calvanos created with the massacre of my family. I began selling drugs, then became a low-level pimp before moving to more lucrative opportunities. Soon enough, I carved out a nice little business for myself, and I was far enough away from Italy to keep under the Calvano’s radar. It wasn’t until recently that I decided it was time to make my mark on their territory.”
My mind grapples with what he’s telling me.
Low-level pimp, more lucrative opportunities… aka flesh trade.
Then it hits me like a hammer to the head. “The missing touristsin Rome.”
Clearly impressed that I put two and two together, Sebastian strokes my cheek and smiles like a proud papa. “Correct. But I couldn’t infiltrate Rome without help. So, with evidence of the Calvano’s many deceptions, I bartered a deal with the recently dethroned Calvano. Work with me or have his family secrets revealed and be thrown to the wolves of the six families. Though the old man would argue he had no choice, Idris Calvano was thrilled for the opportunity.”
Idris’ involvement is no surprise, but what about Emiliano? I open my mouth to ask but shut it again. I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear confirmation of Emiliano’s involvement in selling human beings.
Ultimately, I don’t have to ask because Sebastian can read it in my tear-glazed eyes and in the tremble of my lips. “You want to know if Emiliano had any involvement in my business.” He sighs and runs a hand over his short dark hair. “I wish I could say he was as eager as his father, but I can’t because I never offered it to him. I knew about Emiliano’s war against the flesh trade, so we forged documents and used Emiliano’s letterhead to give our business legitimacy with buyers. I set my plan to take over Rome in motion when I found out he had found you. I started small, taking one or two women every couple of months. When I received confirmation from Idris that you were in Emil’s hands, I escalated the abductions to distract Emiliano. I knew he’d eventually let his guard down regarding you, and I would seize the opportunity. Emiliano did all the work for me, and now I have his preciousperla,”he mocks.
“Don’t fucking call me that,” I growl, which only seems to amuse him as he continues to smirk and stroke my skin, and while before my body reacted to his touch, now any trace of sexual attraction is gone, leaving nothing but fury in my veins as he runs a hand down my leg.
I kick his hand away and lift myself off the bed when suddenly he’s on top of me, straddling my hips, chest pressed against mine. “Where do you think you’re going? You wanted the truth, so lie still and listen.”
With his massive body pressing mine into the mattress, my instinct kicks in, and I bring a knee up to unbalance him, but he’s quicker and lifts his ankle to capture mine, then presses his kneecap into my thigh. I grunt and squirm beneath him as he digs his knee into my muscle. Pain shoots up my thigh to my hip, and I can’t help but wince. So, I don’t see his hand remove something from his pants pocket until the syringe hovers over my face.
I still instantly, my skin going ice cold as a memory tries to punch through. A church, stark blond hair, the pinch in my neck. “Wha… what’s that?”
Sebastian drags the capped needle down my neck, over my collarbone, and back up. “Haven’t you wondered why your memories come and go? Your gut tells you they’re there but just out of reach?” I swallow and manage a slight nod. “That’s because I’ve come up with a little concoction that helps keep those pesky memories at bay. I’ve been feeding you a little bit a day, but it seems you will need a full dose tonight.” He uncaps the needle with his teeth and spits the cap to the side. “Be still for me, and in the morning, it will be like none of this everhappened.”
Ding, ding, ding!
