During sex there were times when I was sure Gianna would fall in love with me, but then the next moment always came and I wasn’t sure I had imagined it. In the past I had always had girls fall in love with me even when I never gave a reason to, but Gianna was a hard nut to crack, and sometimes I caught myself wondering if maybe she would never fall in love with me and was just fucking me. to get on my good side.
Gianna was cunning, perhaps trying to wrap me around her finger with sex to give her more freedom and escape again. Gianna put back into her hairstyle some of the locks that had fallen out during our quickie.
She frowned at her own reflection and pretended that I was not there.
When we left the bathroom, she still ignored me. Then she stopped suddenly. “We can’t go in together. Everyone will know what we did.”
I shrugged. I didn’t give a shit. Gianna was my wife and I fucked her whenever I felt like it. “We were gone for a while. They’re probably already suspicious.”
“Great,” murmured Gianna, but then she straightened her shoulders and went back to the tables with the other guests without even looking in my direction. So we’re back to playing?
*** That night I woke up to an empty bed. I jumped up and searched the room for a sign of Gianna, but she was not there. How could she have escaped? I didn’t bother to put on my pants. Grabbing my gun holster as I rushed out of the room and into the living room.
I had to call Luca and tell him. He would be furious. He had not been pleased when I had removed the monitor from Gianna’s ankle. My eyes caught sight of a slender figure in an armchair by the window. Gianna.
I relaxed and placed the gun holster on a sideboard before crossing the room toward her. She must have pulled the armchair closer to the window so she could look out. Her legs were pressed against her chest and her face was resting on her knees. She was sound asleep. But even in sleep her eyebrows were furrowed. I wasn’t sure, but she looked like she had been crying. I stood beside her, staring at her sleeping form. She must have moved very quietly for me not to hear her. I was a light sleeper. She had even managed to put on her pajamas. My gaze darted to the elevator console. Had she tried to crack the code and escape? The ‘alarm would alert me to any attempts, yet the suspicion remained. I hated not trusting her. I was not used to trusting people, except for Luca, but I wanted to trust my wife. Of course it was difficult to develop trust when Gianna did not even have a chance to test herself .
If I had given her more freedom and she had not tried to run away, then I could have begun to trust her, but I had a feeling that I would never see her again if I did. I was too selfish and possessive. I didn’t want to lose her, even if it was the best thing for her. My eyes returned to her face and the sadness that seemed to be imprinted on it.
I slid my hands under her body and lifted her into my arms. She did not wake up as I carried her back to our bedroom, where I wanted her and where she belonged, but where she did not want to be.
I put her on the bed, but I did not lie down beside her. I was too angry with myself for my foolish thoughts. What did it matter if Gianna wanted to be my wife? What did it matter if she would rather go back to Munich and find some other idiot like Sid? She was mine and I was not a good guy. I didn’t give a damn about other people’s feelings. I felt on the edge, like I needed to hit something to grab it. With a growl, I grabbed my gym clothes, put them on, grabbed my car keys and left the apartment.
I entered the code in the elevator panel and rode it to the parking lot. I mounted my bike, pulled out of the garage, and ran through town toward our gym. Except for one guard, it was deserted, which was a shame because I would have liked to actually work out with someone instead of a fucking dummy.
I didn’t bother with boxing gloves. I wanted to feel every blow. Facing the dummy, I started punching it, alternating between kicking and punching.
I was still there when the gym began to fill with familiar faces. No one bothered me. Except for a brief nod, they stayed the hell away from me. They all knew what was good for them.
“Are you trying to kill a poor idiot?” said Luca in a drawling accent.
I delivered another hard kick to the head before turning back to my brother. He was not wearing gym clothes. “What are you doing here?”
“Looking for you.”
“Why?”
“Because you weren’t there when I picked you up at your apartment this morning.”
“You broke into my apartment while I was gone?”
Luca rolled his eyes. “I didn’t touch your wife, but I left Aria and Romero with her.”
I nodded, trying to calm the fuck down. I was still nervous . I wasn’t even sure why.
“Take a shower and get dressed. You look like you need a drink,” Luca said in his Boss voice.
I didn’t protest. I felt like a truck had hit me. I must have been in the gym for hours. It was already light outside . Luca and I went to one of our clubs. Except for the cleaners, it was still deserted. I took a bottle of whiskey from the shelf and Luca and I settled in at the bar. In most social circles it was probably considered too early for alcohol. Fortunately, we didn’t have to obey those stupid rules.
Luca and I emptied our glasses, then he fixed me with his big brother look. “So what’s going on? Are you already getting tired of your obnoxious wife?”
I downed another glass of whiskey, waiting for the familiar burning to turn into heat that spread through my chest. “Why do you ask?”
Luca arched an eyebrow. “Maybe because you’d rather spend the night in a sweaty gym than in bed with your young wife.”
“I couldn’t sleep.”
“And couldn’t you come up with something more fun to do than kickboxing with a dummy?”
“You’re starting to get on my nerves,” I said.
Luca ignored my warning tone. “Actually, I’m surprised you lasted so long with her. If I spend more than ten minutes in a room with Gianna, I want to seal my ears with hot wax.”
“I’m not tired of her. I actually like Gianna’s obnoxious personality. She makes things more lively. Life would be boring if she was like other trophy wives.
Luca squinted his eyes. “Aria is not just a trophy wife.”
Of course he was allowed to get angry when I insulted Aria even remotely, but he could talk shit about Gianna all the time. “I didn’t say anything about Aria. But I prefer my women-” “annoying and foul-mouthed,” Luca concluded for me, before taking the bottle of whiskey out of my hand. “So what’s the problem? Why are you sulking like a whiny bitch?”
I was waiting for one of my usual clever answers to come to me, but I left a fucking blank. That one was complete bullshit. “I’m starting to think Gianna might always hate me. I used to think it was her way of being interesting and a challenge, a kind of game at the end of which she would come to her senses and fall in love with me like all the girls I’ve courted before her, but I’m pretty sure Gianna is a challenge I’m losing. She is not coming here. I think she hates this life a little more every fucking day.”
Luca scrutinized my face. “That really bothers you.”
He said it as if that had been the biggest surprise of his life, as if I were a goddamn robot incapable of feeling emotion. “Coming from you,” I said with a smirk.
“Before Aria I wasn’t even sure you were capable of liking anyone, much less a woman.”
“You make him sound like a faggot. It wasn’t that I didn’t like women. They just weren’t something I considered useful outside the bedroom.
I shake my head. “How on earth did you get Aria to love you? It’s like the damn eighth wonder of the world.
Are there any new drugs you’re not telling me about?”
“You’re drunk, Matteo.”
“I’m not. If you’d stop hogging that damn whiskey, I might have a chance to be here in a couple of hours. I snatched the bottle from his hands and took a sip. “Gianna is like a tiger in a fucking zoo, locked up in a cage. It’s damn depressing to see her trying to find a way to escape captivity.”
“Has she tried to escape again?”
“How could she? I keep her on a tight leash.
“You’re not thinking of letting her go, are you?”
I didn’t think I could, and I didn’t want to. I was selfish and that wasn’t going to change anytime soon. I still wanted Gianna. I wanted her wonderful body in my bed every night and my cock in her tight pussy. I wanted everything from her, especially the things she refused to give me.
“Would you leave me?”
“NO. Familia is already unhappy as it is. You would look even weaker if you let her get away again. I really don’t need any more trouble. Not to mention that the Outfit would probably declare war on us if we managed to lose Gianna again. Her father is a real pain in the ass. He gave me his Chief look, which was meant to intimidate the rest of the world, but was useless to me as he knew full well. “You’re not going to let her get away.
You are stuck with her until the end, and she with you. I don’t care if she’s fucking miserable and if she hates you, she’ll just have to deal with it.
“Wow, you’re full of sunshine and rainbows today, aren’t you?” I knew she was right, and I really wasn’t going to tell Gianna she could go, but somehow her words still managed to piss me off. “You do realize that the only thing that keeps Gianna from cutting my throat at night is that she can’t see the blood. You know how comforting it is to fall asleep next to someone who is probably fantasizing about seeing you dead so she can be free.” He had never said it in so many words, but sometimes I thought I could see it in his eyes. Or maybe I was so damned screwed up that I was always thinking the worst of others.
“I hope you’re kidding,” Luca said dryly.
“Who knows?” I emptied the bottle of whiskey. I could hear the first insidious signs of a good buzz. I smiled.
“Sometimes he was really trying to kill me with his eyes.”
“Maybe then you shouldn’t sleep in a room with her.
At some point she might get over her fear of blood.”
“No. Not so soon. And she’s not the violent type, not really.”
“I wouldn’t count on it. She can be really upset.
“You weren’t worried about sleeping next to Aria when she still despised you, so why should I?”
“You can’t compare Aria to Gianna. They are like two different species. And I absolutely trust Aria. She took a damn bullet for me.”
“That must be nice,” I murmured. “Gianna would probably applaud my killer.”