AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Maybe another woman would be thrilled to hear those words, and if I’m honest, deep down, I kind of am, but it’s like they flip a switch inside me. All those thoughts and questions from when I was in his lap in his office rise right back to the surface, and this time, I don’t try to stop them from bubbling out. Maybe I’m finally just snapping and losing my mind, but I let the anger, the fear, the desperation consume me as I scream, “I’m so sick and fucking tired of people telling me I belong to them. I belong to my fucking self. I’m more than a possession to barter or marry off to further your causes. I am Giulia De-Fucking-Luca, and I will not belong to anyone other than myself. Not even you. I could give a flying fuck that you are a mafia boss, or if you’re the King of England. So you can take your fucking possessive streak and fuck right the fuck off.”
And before I can tell myself it’s a very stupid idea, I turn and take off running for the terrace exit. I may not know what the hell I want to do where Nico is concerned, but I do know I don’t want to be here right now and I need to get the hell out.
I hear Nico let out a low growl and a thrill spreads down my spine even as I move faster. It’s like deja vu all over again as I hear his feet pounding on the marble floor. And I curse the fact that this room is fucking long and huge. Still, I move as fast as I can, even as I hear Nico gaining on me. I swear I’m going to start working out more so that I can build my speed.
I barely reach the end of the room before he’s on me. And much like before, he tackles me to the ground, rolling us so that he takes the brunt of the fall, and then rolling us once more to straddle me, pressing my wrists onto the cold floor. He’s barely breathing hard or breaking a sweat, the bastard. I glare defiantly up at him, even as he stares down at me. “I’m starting to think tying you to the damn bed is a good idea,” he rasps, narrowing his eyes at me.
That only pisses me off more. “Because I’m nothing more than a prisoner to you,” I sneer. “Only of use until you figure out how I can benefit whatever plans you have going on. I’ve been so stupid to it all. Sitting here acting like you’re going to keep me around and actually treat me like a person. But in reality I’m going to be nothing more than something for you to possess. You got your hands on the unknown daughter of the De Lucas, and now you’re going to use that to make sure that you keep my family in line and advance whatever cause you have going on in that head of yours. And I’m tired of it. I’m a person. I have thoughts, I have feelings, I have desires, and plans that don’t matter to any of you because you don’t give a damn.”
“Are you done?” he asks tightly.
Wrong thing to say. I struggle against him, not that it does much good. I let out a loud cry of frustration before I stop moving and I hiss up at him, “Before you took me, you said you watched me. You said you stalked me and you decided you wanted me. Which means you would have seen exactly what kind of life I lived. That I wasn’t allowed to do anything. I have no friends, and until now, I have never been out of my routine. Nothing. And still, even with all of that, you didn’t think, hmm, maybe I should rescue her, and then let her go. She deserves some kind of life. Instead, you took me, and you are doing the exact same thing. You’re keeping me locked away, you’re keeping guards on me, and you’re making sure that I can’t escape. All because you think that’s your right. Because I’m nothing more than a plaything at best, and a pawn at worst. And you don’t care what I want. I don’t matter.” Those last three words are torn from me, and I hate that my voice cracks and tears pool in my eyes before I can blink them back.
Nico doesn’t move or say anything for a long moment. He just stares down at me. Until suddenly, he’s moving off of me, hauling me up to my feet and then gripping my upper arms as his expression morphs into one of fury as he glares at me. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this angry at me, but I’m not afraid. Even now, as he grips my upper arms hard, he’s careful not to do it hard enough to leave marks. “Don’t matter? Don’t matter? Are you fucking serious, woman? Of course you fucking matter,” he yells before he suddenly wrenches his hands away from me and steps back, thrusting a hand through his hair before he turns away from me, pacing angrily along the floor.
“Funny way of showing it,” I say sarcastically. “You know what, maybe I should leave when the Caruso’s come. Maybe they’ll finally let me have some freedom.”
He whirls on me, and the feral look in his eyes has me stepping back just one step before I stop myself.Uh oh. I may have pushed a little too hard.
CHAPTER28
Nico
Mine.Mine. Mine. Mine.
Those are the only words chanting through my mind right now. Everything inside me screaming at me to grab her and hide her away. And I know it’s insane, that I’ve obviously lost my mind, but the rational part of my brain has finally slipped away. And now I’m only acting on pure instinct. Pure driven need to make sure Gia knows that she will never be free of me. Because she belongs to me. She will never get to leave me, and I’ll kill anyone who tries to take her.
The small rational part that is trying to push through tries to tell me that I need to be careful, that I need to make sure that I don’t scare Gia, and that I need to let her know she is not going to be a prisoner forever. But I don’t pay any attention to it. No, I need her to understand. I need her to stay, because I can’t let her walk away. Especially not into the arms of those damn Caruso’s. Alliance be damned. If they dare to try to take her, I’ll go down in history as the first man to take them on and win.
“You are going nowhere,” I tell Gia furiously as I stop in front of her. My focus on her is laser tight, and I couldn’t give a damn if anyone else walked into the room right now. She is the only thing that matters. A thought she clearly doesn’t seem to echo. “You are going to stay right here, with me, because that is where you belong. Not with some fucking pretty boy wanna be mafia don who probably doesn’t know how to find a clit with a road map.”
She stares at me. “What?” she demands incredulously.
“You heard me,” I hiss. “You really think you’d be happy there? With someone you don’t fucking know? Someone that—”
“Someone offered me the freedom you haven’t,” she interjects loudly.
“Freedom?” I sneer. “No one is free, Giulia. No one. Not you, not me, and not anyone else in our way of life. Do you really think you’ll be able to go over there without backup or guards and think you can live a normal life? That no one else is going to try and take you and use you as the very thing you say you don’t want to be? You think Italy is any better than here? It’s fucking worse, Giulia. It’s the hub for all things mafia. It’s the place where wars happen all day every day to gain the upper hand. And you want to go running right into all of that? Don’t be stupid.”
“It’s not stupid to want to finally be able to live my life,” she screams, her voice echoing through the empty room. My heart and stomach both clench at the emotion in her voice. And some of the fury inside me dissipates when I see the tears pooling in her eyes again. Fuck, I don’t think I’ve seen her cry even once since she’s been here. And seeing it now guts me. But before I can reach for her, she steps away from me. “I have never had a life, Nico. I’ve been a prisoner for twenty-four years and I’m so damn tired of it. At this point I don’t care if I went there and only got one day. It would be one day that I would finally be free. Finally get to be happy. Get to be the person no one has let me be before now.”
Her words are like spikes and they burn as they hit. Because I know she’s right. “And you think that you can’t have that here?” I demand.
She scoffs. “You’re joking right? You might treat me better than my family, but you’re still a mafia don, and you’re still going to always be in control of my life. And as long as my family or anyone else are after me, you’ll never let me leave. Oh, sure, you’ll sit here and tell me it’s so you can protect me, but I’ll never see outside those gates. I’ll never get to go to the library, the store, or live my life. And like I said when you first brought me here, you let me trade one prison for another. Because no matter how you look at it, it’s just a pretty prison and you are my jailer. You’re a hell of a lot nicer than my last ones, but you’re still the one who holds the key.”
I hate that she’s right. Not that I want to keep her locked away, but that I will always protect her and always make sure she’s safe. And if that means making sure she’s not out in public where she can be taken, or worse, then so be it. “And you think the Caruso’s will set you free? That they’ll give you a key, and even if it means another jail, as you call it, that you’ll be happy?”
“I don’t fucking know,” she cries. “I just don’t know, Nico. I know that this whole situation is messed up and I’m tired. I’m tired of being used. I’m tired of not having choices. I’m tired of feeling like I don’t matter to anyone.”
“You matter to me,” I yell, unable to keep my temper in check any longer.
“Well you have a funny way of showing it,” she screams back. “Why can’t you just let me go?”
“Because you’re mine and I’ll be damned if I let you leave me,” I snarl. I know I need to tone it down, but also knowing she wants to leave me, makes me desperate. To hold onto her as tight as I have to to make sure she can’t walk away. Can’t leave me after everything I’ve done to have her here. It makes me a sick son of a bitch, then so be it. But this woman holds every part of me, and if she was gone, I don’t know what kind of man I would become.
No that’s a lie, I do know exactly what kind of man I’d be. I’d be worse than Pietro and his sons. Hell, I’d be worse than any other don in the world and there are some sick sons of a bitches out there. Because the only person that can keep me human, keep me sane, is my little mouse. If my father was alive, he’d kill her to make sure I became that person, telling me that no woman should ever hold that much power over a man, but my father was an idiot. He barely tolerated my mother, and that is not what I feel for Gia. No, what I feel for her is more than I can put into words.
She’s my obsession. She my everything.
