155

Everything seemed to be happening behind a fog. I was pushed into the back seat of a car, and Matthew slid into the back seat beside me, then we drove off with tires squealing.
I watched the place I had called home for the past two months disappear . I pressed my forehead against the cold window. I hardly dared to blink. Every time I closed my eyes, crimson flashed behind my eyelids. Sid was dead because of me.
I could hear Matteo talking to someone on the phone in the background but I couldn’t focus. Everything was over.
Now he was going to take me back to my father, and I had no doubt that I could expect no mercy. I had betrayed not only the Outfit but also New York, I had made my father and Matteo lose face. I would be punished. I cast a glance at Matteo, who was staring at the back of the front seat. I quickly fastened my bra again and put it back on. Of course Matteo noticed.
I could tell he was furious. I wondered what kind of punishment he had in mind for me. I had been on the run for six months. He could not desire me for any other reason than revenge.
I knew the rules. I was no longer worthy of marriage. Matthew probably already had a new girlfriend and once she took care of me he would move on with his life. If he had wanted to kill me, he would have already done so. That did not mean that my father would not do it the moment I set foot in Chicago.
We stopped in front of an airport hotel, and Matthew turned to me, his eyes containing a clear warning.
“We are going to spend the next few hours until our flight here. If you try to ask anyone for help, you will end up in a bloodbath, understand?”
I nodded. Then Matteo pulled me out of the car with him and led me inside. No one paid any attention to us as we made our way to the elevators and up to the fourth floor.
Matteo led me through the long hallway until we came to a plain white door.
Stan and the other Outfit man also stopped. ” You should come to our room with me and Carmine. He’s still part of the Outfit,” Stan said, his eyes gliding over my body.
I knew what he and the other guy would do to me if I entered a room with them.
“She is mine. I will never lose her from my eyes again. Now fuck off. Gianna and I have matters to discuss,” Matteo growled. He slipped the key card into the slot and opened the door.
Stan and Carmine exchanged a glance but did not protest.
Then Stan sent me a cruel smile. “Everyone has their manners.”
Matthew dragged me into the room, kicked the door shut, and stared at me with a terrified expression. “Oh, I will.”
Gianna Matteo threw me on the bed. Then he was on top of me. He pressed his arms on the mattress above my head, his knees beside my thighs. His eyes were almost black with fury. Did he want me to beg for mercy? Ask him for forgiveness? Then he had to wait a long time.
“Let someone have what is mine,” he growled, his eyes burning my body with their possessiveness. He leaned down as if he wanted to kiss me. Our noses almost touched but he merely frowned. “Your father gave me permission to do what I want with you. He doesn’t care if you live or die. He doesn’t care what I do to you. I think he would also approve of me punishing you harshly.
I was not surprised. My father had already barely tolerated me before I ran away disgracing our family.
Now he probably hated me like the devil. I almost wanted Matteo to hurt me. I deserved it for getting Sid killed. I knew Matteo would have no problem hurting me. I had seen what he was capable of. Maybe the physical pain would finally stifle the anguish I felt deep inside.
Matteo Gianna didn’t say shit like she didn’t care what I did to her.
I tightened my grip on her wrists to see if she finally showed some of the fire she had accustomed me to, but despite a small gasp she did not react.
I hated what she had done to her hair. It was light brown, no longer the fiery red I loved. At least she had not cut it.
My eyes were drawn to the sliver of bare belly peeping out where her shirt had lifted. The thought that someone else had touched her there, had touched her everywhere, made me want to tear it all down.
She had to be mine. Mine alone.
For a moment, the fury was so blinding that I wanted to hurt her, wanted to show her that she belonged to me, wanted to fuck her so hard that she would forget everything else. I grabbed her waist, brushing my fingers over her soft skin.
Mine. From now on only mine. Her father had told me I could use her as I saw fit before bringing her back to him. No one would bat an eye if I took from her what was mine from the beginning. She stiffened under my touch but continued to say nothing. Her eyes were resigned. No hint of her usual temper.
She did not clash with me, did nothing. She reminded me of a rag doll. She was probably waiting for me to do what everyone expected of me, to fuck her even if she was unwilling, to hurt her until she begged me to forgive her.
And I could have done that but I didn’t want to. Despite what she had done and how bad she had made me look, I still wanted her, and not just her body.
“Being submissive is not like you,” I said quietly. Her pulse quickened under my fingertips. It was the only sign that she was not as indifferent as her expression made me believe . Maybe she didn’t care what happened to her because she was heartbroken over the bastard I had found her with .
The idea triggered a new wave of anger in me and I quickly let her go before I lost control . I slid off her and sat on the edge of the mattress, trying to ignore the expression of surprise and shock that crossed her face. I stared at the floor, clenching and unclenching my hands. If Carmine hadn’t killed that asshole, I probably would have. I still wanted to do it, wanted to cut off the part of his brain that housed the memory of Gianna’s body beneath him.
Gianna stood up slowly, cautiously, as if she thought I might attack if she moved too quickly. “Aren’t you going to rape and torture me?”
I almost laughed. This is what everyone expected.
Most men in our world even thought she deserved it. I turned to her, my gaze traveled down her beautiful face. Even more beautiful than my memory had led me to believe, even now that she was pale and her eyes were swollen with tears.
“Did you think I would do that?” I asked in a surprisingly calm voice. Some of my anger was suddenly gone because she was looking at me with her big blue eyes.
“YES. My father’s men surely thought you would.
Didn’t you see their expressions? They probably hoped you would try them on me once you were done with me.
Of course they had told me this many times while we were hunting. I knew what they thought was happening right now. Heck, part of me wished they were right. I was not a good guy. “I don’t give a shit about your father’s men, and I don’t give a shit about your father. And if they point one finger at you, I’ll kill them.
They won’t hurt you, no one will.
His eyebrows frowned. “Once I get back to Chicago, Dad will punish me.”
Did she really think I would turn her over to her asshole father? I had not chased her for the sixth month only to abandon her . I smiled. “You’re not going back to Chicago, Gianna. You’re coming to New York with me.”
Hope and relief crossed her face. “To Aria? Is she okay? Did she get in trouble because she helped me?”
Somehow her answer annoyed me. “Aria is fine,” I said, before getting up and walking to the window. I turned my back to her when I asked, “That boy, did you love him?”
I wasn’t sure what I would do if she said “yes.” I couldn’t hurt that asshole anymore, and I didn’t want to hurt her, so what could I do? Kill someone else, preferably those two Outfit assholes who had been getting on my nerves for too long, and maybe, while I was at it, I’d kill that damn father the next time I saw him.
“Sid?” she asked in a trembling voice, and in that moment I almost lost my mind. I frowned at her from over my shoulder. Her eyes were really moist with bloody tears.
“I don’t care what his name was,” I growled.
Man, I wanted so badly to kill that guy. I would have paid a billion dollars if there was a way to resurrect that asshole, just so I could kill him again. Slowly, painfully.
“His name was Sid,” he said stubbornly, with a familiar twinkle returning to his eyes.
He still had not answered my question. “Did you love him ?”
“No,” she said without hesitation. “I hardly knew him.”
I would have rejoiced if he hadn’t started biting his lower lip as if fighting back tears. She looked damn sad and then a tear slipped out of her left eye. She blinked a few times.
“If you didn’t love him, then why are you crying?”
She looked at him. She looked at him, as if she was the only one who had reason to be angry. “You really don’t know?”
“I am a Made Man, Gianna. I have seen many people die and killed many myself. And at that moment I wanted to kill again more than anything else in the world.
“Sid didn’t deserve to die. He died because of me. He never did anything wrong.”
What the fuck? Really? “He touched the wrong girl. He died from touching what was not his to touch.
Gianna shook her head. “You wanted to kill him yourself, didn’t you? Is that why you stopped Stan? Not because you wanted to spare Sid’s life.
Was it really a surprise to you? For someone who was convinced that I and all the other members of the mob were monsters, she seemed strangely surprised by my desire to kill the asshole who had groped my girlfriend.
Before I could answer, my phone rang. Luca’s name flashed across my screen. I had only sent him a short message while I was in the car. He had tried to call me, but other than a brief chat with the pilot of our private jet, I had no desire to talk to anyone, but knowing Luca, he would not give up.
Stifling a groan, I answered, turning my back on Gianna again.
“One message with ‘I got her,’ is all I got from you?” she said angrily.
“I was busy.”
I could hear Aria’s high-pitched voice in the background, but luckily Luca didn’t put it on. I wasn’t really in the mood to talk to a hysterical woman, much less the woman who had helped my fiancee escape. It was early morning in New York, couldn’t Luca let his wife sleep for once?
“With what?” He paused. “No, don’t tell me. I don’t want to fucking know.”
“Did it hurt her?” Aria asked loud enough for me to hear.
I didn’t say anything.
Luca lowered his voice. “Is she alive?”
“Fuck you.”
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
Aria was still talking in the background.
“Tell your wife that her sister is fine.” “Gianna is fine,” Luca said in a choked voice, then to me. “When will you be back?”
“The flight leaves in less than two hours.” “You will fly directly to Chicago to meet Scuderi.
Right?”
“He’s already called you, hasn’t he?” I said. Stan and Carmine had definitely sent a message to their boss after we had captured Gianna. That meant, of course, that he knew about Sid, too.
“Of course he did. His daughter has been on the run for six months. This is great news.
“Don’t tell me he’s happy to have her back.”
“No, at least not for the same reason Aria is. He wants to see her punished. She made him lose face and you too.
From what I hear, you caught her with another guy. You realize the news will spread like wildfire. Scuderi is eager to make a public spectacle of punishing Gianna. He expects you to help him in this.