“What? I…” I blurted out, but my father’s slap shut me up again. It was harder than before and his ring caught my lower lip. Pain coursed through my face and a warm liquid trickled down my chin. “That’s enough now,” Aria said, and suddenly Luke pulled her back and Matthew grabbed my arm tightly and led me out of the room and down the hall toward the bathroom. I didn’t know if it was the shock of what had happened or the speed with which Matteo dragged me away, but I didn’t fight him, I just stumbled, not even bothering to stop the blood from dripping onto my shirt from the split . lip. Matteo pushed me into the bathroom, then entered behind me and locked the door. I stared at my image in the mirror. My chin was covered with blood and more blood was dripping from the cut on my lower lip and shirt. My lip was already swelling, but I was happy to find my eyes dry, without any sign of a single tear. Matthew appeared behind me, towering over me, his dark eyes scanning my screwed-up face. Without his typical shark grin and arrogant amusement, he seemed almost tolerable.
“You don’t know when to shut up, do you?” he murmured . His lips turned into a smirk, but it seemed somehow wrong. There was something disturbing in his eyes. Their appearance reminded me of the one I had seen when he had dealt with the Russian prisoners in the basement.
“Neither did you,” I said, then winced at the pain that pierced my lip.
“True,” he said in a strange voice. Before I had time to react, he grabbed me by the hips, spun me around and hoisted me onto the sink. “That’s why we’re perfect for each other.”
Behind it was the arrogant smile. The bastard got between my legs.
“What are you doing?” I hissed, moving away from the edge of the sink to bring more distance between us and pushing myself against his chest.
He didn’t move, too hard for me. The smile grew bigger. He grabbed my chin and lifted my head. “I want to take a look at your lip.”
“I don’t need your help now. Maybe you should have stopped my father from breaking my lip in the first place.
The taste of blood, sweet and coppery, made my stomach turn and reminded me of darker images.
“YES. I should have,” he said darkly, his thumb lightly brushing over my wound as he opened my lips. “If Luke had not restrained me I would have plunged the knife into your father’s bloody back, consequences be damned. Maybe I’ll do it again.”
He let go of my lip and drew a long curved knife from the holster under his jacket before turning it over in his hand with a calculating expression on his face. Then his eyes darted to me. “Do you want me to kill him?”
God, yes. I trembled at the sound of Matthew’s voice. I knew it was wrong, but after what Dad had told me today, I wanted to see him beg for mercy, and I knew that Matteo was capable of bringing anyone to their knees, and it thrilled me. That was exactly why I wanted to leave this life.
I had the potential for cruelty and this life was the reason for it. “That would mean a war between Chicago and New York,” I said simply.
“Seeing your father bleed to death at my feet would be worth the risk. You’re worth it.”
I wasn’t sure if he was joking or not, but this was getting too… serious. I wanted to kiss him for his words, but it was wrong. Matthew was wrong. Everything was. Not long before I had seen Sid get killed, and I knew it might as well have been Matteo who pulled the trigger. I couldn’t let it muddle my mind. He was too good.
I nudged his shoulder again. “I need to take care of my lip. If you have nothing better to do than stay here, get out of my way.”
He still did not move and was simply too strong to move. His muscles flexed under his shirt, making me wonder what he would be like without it. Wrong. So wrong.
He laid the knife on the counter next to me.
“You shouldn’t leave sharp objects within my reach when I’m pissed off.”
“I think I’ll take my chances,” he said, placing his palms on either side of my thighs, leaving me no choice but to lean back to bring some distance between us.
“Stop it,” I growled because he smelled too pleasant and I felt my body want to come closer, then gasped again. I lifted my hand and felt my lower lip. It seemed to have swelled even more and had not yet stopped bleeding.
Matthew took my hand away. “You’ll make it worse. He needs stitches. Should I call a doctor?”
“No,” I said quickly. I didn’t want others to find out, and I especially didn’t want my bastard father to find out that he had managed to split my lip. “I’ll do it myself.”
Matthew raised his eyebrows. He stepped back and took a quick look at the cupboards before grabbing a medical kit. He slipped in a needle and handed it to me. I moved to the sink to look at myself in the mirror, then brought the needle to my lip. I had never stitched anyone up , least of all myself. I hated needles. I even had to close my eyes when I shot. Matthew was watching me and I didn’t want to look like a wimp, so I tapped my lip with the tip of the needle, jumped in pain, and pulled back again.
“Fuck it. It hurts like hell.” I blushed, then gave Matteo a dirty look. “Go ahead. Laugh.”
Matteo snatched the needle from my hand. ” It won’t work.”
“I know,” I muttered. “Can you do it?”
“It will be painful. I have nothing against pain.”
“Have you ever patched yourself up?”
“A few times.”
“Then I can handle you stitching me up. Just do it.”
He handed me the Tylenol. “Pop some of them. They won’t help with the immediate pain, but they’ll be fine later.
“Vodka works, too.”
“I guess you found that out during your fugitive months,” he said with a smile that bordered on terror. He hadn’t asked too many questions yet. Not even about other guys besides Sid. Maybe he didn’t want to know, and I wasn’t going to tell him anyway. It was bad enough that an innocent man had lost his life because of me. I wouldn’t have told him the names of the other boys I had kissed, so he would have killed them too. Death was too harsh a punishment for a kiss, for anything, but it was not something a man like Matthew would agree to.
“By the way,” I said because I never knew when to shut up. And what better time to provoke someone than before they hit you with a sharp needle?
“I bet,” he said, the scary smile becoming even scarier.
Matteo grabbed my chin. “Try to stay still.”
I braced myself as he touched the needle to my lip.
Despite my taunts, Matteo was careful as he stitched me up. It still hurt like hell every time the needle pierced my skin and my eyes filled with stupid tears. I fought them as long as I could, but eventually some flowed down my cheeks. Matteo did not comment, and that pleased me. To him this was probably nothing. When he put down the needle after what seemed like an eternity but had probably lasted less than five minutes, I quickly wiped the tears from my cheeks, embarrassed for showing weakness in front of him like that.
“It will swell even more. You’ll have a fat lip in the morning,” Matteo said.
I checked my reflection. My lip had already swelled considerably since the last time I had seen it, or maybe it was my imagination. I lowered my lower lip to check the stitches. You couldn’t see them from the outside. At least I wouldn’t have an ugly scar. “You can’t possibly want to marry me looking like this.” I pointed to my face. ” We should postpone the wedding.”
Matthew shook his head with a chuckle. “No chance in hell. You won’t get out of my hands again, Gianna. We’re getting married today. Nothing will stop me.”