Sofia’s pov
The utter shock on Luca’s face after I blurted out that question as soon as it appeared in my mind, made me sober up some more. He appeared genuinely confused for a few heartbeats before letting out a slow, long exhale, and then he began to speak.
“What? What do you mean by that question? What made you think that?”
I bit on my bottom lip and stared down at my fingers which had gone numb at some point, and then I found myself shrugging up one of my shoulders.
“I’m not sure; it just felt like it was my fault since what I had on wasn’t actually long.” I admitted, while still staring at my fingers. Moments later, the feeling of Luca’s fingers beneath my chin, tipped my head upwards until I was staring into his face.
“Oh, bunny… that wasn’t your fault in any way, it was the bastards’ faults and not yours at all. You shouldn’t ever blame yourself for something like that, cause in this situation, you’re the victim. What you had on when you were assaulted, has nothing to do with the guys who touched you inappropriately. They should have known better, they should have had more sense, and perhaps, self control too.” Luca paused for a few moments.
His thumbs drew light circles at the sides of my cheeks for a few moments before he continued. “Which is why I’m going to make them pay.” The way his voice instantly hardened at once made something satisfying settle in the pits of my stomach.
Tears still ended up welling in my eyes, despite how much I tried to fight it. Luca didn’t appear exasperated, instead, a worried look settled on his face as his thumbs instantly began to thumb the tears away.
I was brought up to believe that women were the causes behind assaults. Assault wasn’t even a big deal back then cause there’s never an avenue to speak about it. Rape was fully normalized in arranged marriages, and is definitely still happening till today. I just happened to have been so, so lucky when I got married off to Luca.
I got pulled out of my thoughts on feeling Luca’s soft lips against my wet cheek, moving on a single trail, over my tear track. The kiss felt so soft and featherlight, and it made my heart ache so much, it pulled out more tears from me.
“Shh, don’t cry.” He whispered as he kissed away the newly formed tears with his hands caressing my face and so much softness overflowing from his eyes. I wanted to reassure him that these weren’t tears from what I had gone through today, but the solid lump which had grew in my throat moments ago, prevented those words from coming out.
“Don’t cry, bunny. Okay? I’m going to take care of those people, they’re going to regret ever laying a single finger on you.” He continued, voice soft but filled with so many dark promises as he spoke and I felt a tremor move through my body at that moment. My limbs felt heavy lidded but I managed to lift my hands up in order to wrap them around Luca’s shoulders while wishing I could crawl into his skin at this very moment.
He gently moved atop me, pushing me downwards until I was blinking up at him, and then he tugged my hands off his shoulders, gently pressing it into the bed. His face hovered atop mine when he spoke next.
“Let me kiss every inch of your skin.” He whispered, hands brushing my hair out of my face. “Let my lips trace every spot on your skin, let my kisses erase the memories of you being touched by someone that wasn’t me, hm?”
The rush of emotions I felt next made it impossible from me to formulate words, and so I gave a nod of my head, basking in his warm gaze as he proceeded to do just that.
~~~
Luca’s fingers felt extremely soft and soothing as it massaged every inches of my hair, that it made me feel drowsy. I had been feeling extremely floaty even before he finished tracing every inch of my body with his lips like he had promised. And now that I’m currently in the bath which he had ran for me with scented bath bombs, it felt like I was in heaven.
After he washed the soap out of my hair and regarded me with an encouraging smile, I returned it at once while feeling like my heart was about to jump out of my chest from the amount of care and attention I’m currently being showered with.
“Cute.” He huffed out with a fond laugh and I felt a pout forming on my face at once. Luca regarded me for a moment before leaning down and brushing a kiss against my lips, making the pout fall away at once while it felt like the rest of my body went even relaxed.
Once I was done with the bath, he wrapped a fluffy towel around me before whisking me out of the water and straight into the bedroom.
He dressed me up in a shirt that smelt so strongly of him and a pair of soft panties, along with a pair of socks, which made me sink even deeper into that warm, comfortable headspace that felt extremely safe to me.
We were cuddled in the bed after everything and I was about to fall asleep when his spoke.
“I’m going to sue the boutique where you got assaulted.” He declared, which prompted me into blinking up at him in shock.
“What? The mall?”
“Yes, bunny. They have a lot of explaining to do.”
I knew he meant every word but I also knew that it wasn’t the boutique’s fault, and so I proceeded to convince him against doing that after numerous tries, before he finally reluctantly agreed to not charge them to court.
“I’m definitely going to have a word with your guards later tonight. They need to explain where the fuck they were when those fuckers were disturbing you. Their jobs is to literally never let you out of their sights. Perhaps, it’s high time I switch them out for a new set of more capable guards.”
I know it wasn’t my guards’ fault and even though I knew Luca wouldn’t actually listen, I made sure to try really hard in convincing him against switching them, because I had grown so comfortable around them and I’m not sure I’d like to have them switched for new set of guards. And besides, the thought of suddenly being separated from Ryan completely didn’t feel nice in any way, and so I made sure to keep on convincing him against it until he finally agreed.
“I’m still going to have a little conversation with them, to avoid something like this from happening again.” He declared before brushing a kiss against my forehead. I slipped my hand beneath the tank top he currently have on, and then I let out a contented sigh as I burrowed into his neck, breathing his soothing, familiar scent in.