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His jaw tensed. He moved his lips into a pout and back as I saw his control slipping. I knew this was where I should back off. I was one more insult away from his hands on me, but I would be damned if I backed down from a bully.
“Why don’t you marry her yourself, Sal? A pretty little thing with a tight ass. The arrangement is for her to be the next boss’ wife. You are already the Boss. Marry her yourself if this alliance is so important.” I snarled.
"I am old enough to be her father. How ruthless you are, Cecilia!"
"That has never stopped you sleeping with them before. Why not marry one?" I screamed in his face.
He lunged at me, grabbing my upper arms and spinning us so my back slammed against the bedroom wall. His death grip on my arms was so tight, I could feel my skin burning from the bruising that I was sure would appear.
“You know why I will never marry Cecilia. Don’t act foolish,” he growled.
Narrowing my eyes up at him, I spat back, “You are living in the past, Sal. Look at you. You are making yourself miserable and trying to bring everyone else down with you! And for what?”
“All I have ever done is try to look out for you and the kids. To care for you! When Vin died, who was there to pick up the pieces? Who held this family together? Who made sure you got the right care and help when you needed it?” he hissed in my face, his eyes glaring into mine with maddening desire and rage.
“Giovanni!” I shouted in his face.
“No!” he bellowed back; his voice boomed as it filled the room. “Who do you think Giovanni came to for help? Why won’t you just let me care for you all?”
I knew it was coming but it still took me by surprise. He smashed his hard lips onto mine and gripped my head in his enormous hands as he kissed me forcefully.
I shoved him off me with all my strength and slapped him hard across the face just like I had on the night of the club. “Don’t touch me! Ever!”
I stormed out of the room and locked myself in the bathroom as my breathing raged and my quivering body paced the floor, trying to get my adrenaline and fury under control. That man could get under my skin like no other. How dare he!
My phone vibrated in my pocket, snapping me out of the turbulent emotions rampaging through my body. Pulling it out, I paused when I saw it was another text from Olivia.
Cecilia. I need to speak to you alone. Please meet in town and do not tell Giovanni.
I frowned deeply at the message. Strange.
Of course. Where? Is everything alright Olivia?
I paced the bathroom floor as I waited for her response. This wasn’t good. This didn’t feel good. Why does she want to meet me alone and not tell Giovanni?
Near the Ponte Pietra Bridge on the river. 3pm. Thanks.
Too blunt. She didn’t answer my question, which meant only one thing. Everything was not alright. Opening the bathroom door, I was pretty sure Sal would be long gone by now and walked over to Marco, who was standing rigid at the playroom door.
“Marco. I need to go into town. I will call Lucinda up to play with the children. If Giovanni asks where I am, please tell him I need some air and I am with Nic for protection. He nodded once in understanding. “I shouldn’t be long.”
Strutting down to the ground floor, I went into my office to grab my handbag and keys. A feeling of dread loomed over me. I had no idea what this could be about but I knew in my gut that Olivia had not come into work today for a different reason than a stomach bug.
Camilla Aiani
Camilla
Swinging my legs over the edge of the stone wall and looking out across the ocean, I inhaled the fresh sea air and closed my eyes. Calm. Tranquillity. Peace. Just for a moment, I could allow those feelings to wash away the suffocating torture that is my life. Just for a moment, I could forget who I was and what I had to do and just be present. A girl sitting on the edge of the world, listening to the sea.
A cough interrupted my quiet and I felt him take a seat next to me, dangling his muscular legs over the wall before handing me a takeaway cappuccino. Him. The man who I could never have yet wanted more than anything. The man who had quickly become the only thing I could think about and the only person I could trust in this hell hole.
“Grazie,” I said as I took the cardboard cup from him, our fingers brushing and sending my stomach into a flutter of excitement. Pathetic. He gave me a small smile and looked out across the Mediterranean that calmly lapped against the wall below our feet.
We sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, and I took little opportunities to sneakily admire him. His masculine, rough hands were covered in colourful tattoos that held his coffee in his lap. The strong, furred forearms were decorated in the same ink that disappeared into his black T-shirt which hugged his biceps. His strong, square jaw line decorated with a full beard and brown hair pulled back into a bun. He was gorgeous. He was everything I always dreamed of in a man. The perfectly groomed and model good looks were not my thing. I liked ruggedness. I liked aggressively attractive. That was Maximus. But, of course, as my luck would go, he was not the Buccini mafioso I was being handed to in a business transaction. His cousin was. The man who terrified me more than my own father does. Even though Maximus looked every bit the scary thug, he wasn’t at all. He was nothing like his cousin. He had shown me so much kindness and care since I was practically left on the doorstep of the Buccini mansion. I was under no false impression that Max was just as deadly as all the other men I had grown up around, but he was also different. I wasn't used to it. The only man who had ever been half as kind to me was my fratello but he was blood.
“You see that there?” His husky voice broke me out of my forbidden thoughts as he lifted his arm and pointed at the outline of a small island miles away. “That island is owned by my uncle. Do you want to hear a funny story?”
He turned his head to look at me and I nodded as my eyes connected with his sparkling green irises. I didn’t care what he was saying as long as he was talking to me. I would listen to him talk all day if I could.
