56

Gianna
Knowing what I was doing now, goose bumps covered my skin when I found Daniele in his mother’s bedroom the next morning. I could almost see her lying there from the vivid and raw way Alessio had described the scene. A lump came up in my throat, seeing Daniele curled up on his side. I wished I had known what was going through his mind, if he had seen more than Alessio suspected. I slowly approached Daniele, trying to get the images out of my head. How much worse must Alessio feel every time he sets foot in this room? I picked up Daniele and he woke up in my arms. It was easy to carry him since he was no longer a baby. Alessio came out of the nursery with Simona in his arms. She gently mussed Daniele’s hair, but lowered her head. I turned Alessio an encouraging smile. “I’ll be home in time for dinner,” he promised before leaving. Like every day, Elia accompanied the children, Loulou and me to the dog park.
Daniel was allowed to take the leash as we walked the rest of the park throughout the day. Today she had not even asked for her tablet. Loulou asked for his full attention, and he gladly granted it. It was wonderful to see them getting closer. Elijah settled on the bench while I held Simona by her small hands so that she could take hesitant steps down the path. Daniel perched on the ground, helping Loulou dig a hole in the cold ground with a stick he had found. It was dirt and probably forbidden to dig holes in the park, but I didn’t stop him. “Loulou.” I froze and almost let go of Simona, which earned me an angry cry from her, but my eyes were fixed on Daniel who had just spoken. Not to me, and not out loud, but I had heard the word. I swallowed hard, trying to decide if I should extort more words from him. He had a small, sweet voice, and I wanted to listen to it all day.
I decided not to push him, even though it was difficult. Instead, I peered at Simona. “Good girl.” She smiled and took a couple more uncertain steps. The moment we were home, and I had some free time, I picked up the phone and called Alessio. I couldn’t wait. He answered after the first ring. “What happened?” The tight concern in his voice made me regret my decision. “Everything is fine. I just wanted to tell you that Daniele talked to Loulou today.” Silence. “Are you sure?” Every syllable resounded with doubt. “Yes, I heard him say her name. Isn’t that great? We’re making progress.” “Why should he talk to a dog?”
“Many children develop close bonds with their pets because they can share everything with them without judgment or punishment. They are their best friends.” “It doesn’t explain why he’s so obsessed with that dog.” And then it clicked. “For Gaia it reminded her of Andrea, but for Daniel it just reminds him of his mother, and that’s natural. If he finds comfort in Loulou, that’s fine.” Alessio sighed. “Maybe. Now I have to go back to work.” “All right. Will you still be home for dinner?”
“I promised, so yes.” “Thank you. I like having dinner with you.” I hung up quickly, not wanting to get too mushy.
“I promised, so yes.” “Thank you. I like having dinner with you.” I hung up quickly, not wanting to get too mushy.
“But if you walk around the house, you’ll wake her up. Can you stay in your bed?” He thought about it, tilting his head to the side, then gave a firm nod. I smiled before giving him a kiss on the forehead. Turning on the dim night light, I walked to the door and turned off the lamp. “Good night, Daniel.” I was about to close the door when a soft voice rang out. “Good night.” I froze. Slowly I turned around, but Daniele hid under the covers. I swallowed and left. As if in a trance, I went downstairs, finding Alessio in the cigar lounge, setting up the pool table for our game. One look at my face and he came toward me. “Hey, what’s wrong?””Daniele said good night.”
Alessio took a step back. “Did he talk to you?” Surprise mixed with disappointment in his voice. First Loulou, now me. “He just said good night, but that’s a start, right?” He nodded slowly, but I could tell he was very impressed that Daniel had spoken to me first. I wrapped my arms around his chest. “You’ve been gone a lot, so Loulou, Simona and I are the people you relate to. You should make time to take a walk in the dog park with us or have lunch. When you see him, he is always tired and doesn’t have the right mindset to bond with you.” “We could spend his birthday at the beach house. Daniel loves it there.”
I smiled. “Perfect. I want to make a cake and decorate it with dinosaurs. Maybe we can invite Mia and her family so Daniele will have someone to play with. His daughters are close to him in age, right?” “One is one year younger, the other is two. And that sounds like a good plan.” He brushed my bangs off my forehead. “Do you still hate them?” I remembered what he had said about my hair the first time I had met him. It hurt then, but not so much now. Our tastes were very different. At least Alessio had now almost given up dressing me the way he wanted. “There’s nothing I hate about you,” he murmured.
My heart was beating wildly. I scanned his face, trying to figure out what the tone of his voice meant. His lips met mine, stopping my thoughts. His kiss became strong as he grabbed my hips and lifted me onto the pool table. I squealed in surprise. Alessio positioned my butt right on the edge and spread my legs apart. It was terribly uncomfortable, but I would have been damned if I had said anything. My short plaid skirt lifted up. “What about my skirts? Don’t you hate them either?” Alessio licked a warm, wet trail down my inner thigh. I squirmed, stifling a giggle. Part of me wanted to push him away, but the other wanted more. “Not as long as they allow me quick access to your sweet pussy.” He kissed me through my panties.
“You really like oral.” I raised myself up on my elbows to see him between my legs. He always went down on me before sex and sometimes just because. He didn’t even rush. He took his time, and it was great. Seeing him enjoy it as much as I did was a great breakthrough. “Fuck, yeah. I could eat you up all day.” He dipped his tongue between my folds, my panties still between us. “Is that a complaint?” I grabbed his short hair, trying to push it back down so he could lick me. Talking was the last thing on my mind. “Absolutely not. Your tongue is magic.” He giggled, and the deep rumble caused another wave of wetness to pour out of me. He slipped his fingers into my panties and slowly dragged them downward. I lifted my butt to make it easier for him, then spread my legs. “And you, honey, do you like to get on your knees and suck my cock?”
“Yes,” I said, moving closer to his mouth. He smiled. Instead of his tongue, his index finger began to tease me lightly. He dipped it in, drawing out my arousal. “You want me so bad you’re ruining the pool table.” “I don’t care. Please stop teasing me. I need your tongue.” His smile grew darker. “Remember when I told you that only I give orders in the bedroom?” “We’re not in our bedroom,” I squeaked before he lifted me off the table, spun me around, and pushed me forward so that I was bent over the edge, my butt sticking out. He slapped me hard making me arch with a gasping groan. The zipper hissed. It touched my, its tip slowly opening my cheeks until I felt it against my opening, and then it slammed all the way down.
I braced myself against the green surface as Alessio pushed into me. “You’re always eating me,” I managed to say. “I don’t need to order you to.” His chest pressed against my back. “Even now I’m hungry for your sweetness.” He slammed harder into me, causing his balls in front of me to slam into each other. He pushed even deeper into me, and the triangle with the balls jerked. And that was all it took, this vision of Alessio’s visceral hold on me, to send me over the edge, causing me to lose control so quickly that my vision funneled, focusing on the bright green fabric as my nails scraped over it. My release hit me like a wrecking ball, and I dropped my head on the table, trying to inhale as my body shook. Alessio pulled away from me.
I was breathless and my walls contracted from the unexpected loss. I could feel the cold air hitting my wet flesh. Then his tongue was against me, warming it. He lapped me carefully, knowing that I was still too sensitive. I relaxed on the table, hanging by the edge as my legs gave way. Soon the pleasure grew again, and he grew hungrier, and the lapping became a throb. I lost track of time then, letting Alessio take control, letting him pleasure me and take his until I was almost delirious. We both found ourselves lying on the pool table, breathing heavily. I was pretty sure that the next day I would burn my carpet and have a few bruises, but I couldn’t care less.
“Sometimes I wonder what I will tell Daniel when he is older and demands answers. He will wonder why half his family died.” I turned to face him, then turned and leaned on his chest, my chin on my joined fingers. “You look guilty.” “Sometimes I feel guilty.” “You had to kill Andrea. Even if you hadn’t killed him in a fit of rage, you should have killed him for being a traitor.”
“I never got confirmation. I didn’t interrogate him or Gaia. I should have, but I killed him before I could extract the truth from him. And she… I simply could not extort information from her that way. She wouldn’t have told me anything anyway.” I bit my lower lip. “Andrea was a traitor. Everything pointed to that, so her death was inevitable. Gaia’s death was the result of their forbidden relationship, so it was inevitable. It was her choice, and there was nothing you could do to stop her.” “I also killed Daniele and Simona’s grandparents.”
“Daniele will ask questions one day, and we will answer them. We will tell him that Andrea was a traitor who ran away. His betrayal broke his sister’s heart, so she killed herself, and their parents could not live having lost both their children. It is a story that few people could challenge, and those who could will not.” His palm stroked my back. “I didn’t think you would be one to opt for a lie.” “If it protects you and the children.” Alessio sighed, his strong chest heaving under my chin. “First of all, he will have to forgive me for everything he has in store for me.”