Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 83776 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83776 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
As Alessandro sets the table, I excuse myself to the bathroom. When I’m finished and on the way back out, I stop short, nearly running straight into Laura as she looms in the middle of the hallway. We’re at the back of the house, away from the rest of everyone.
“I know what you’re doing,” she says, not smiling. She’s looking at me like she’s going to jab a knife into my guts, and I take a step back, afraid she might actually lash out. The girl’s got some seriously dead eyes.
“I have no clue what you’re talking about.”
“Kissing my father’s ass? Getting in deep with my brother? Spending time with my mother and my sister? I know what you’re doing, princess, and I’m not going to let it happen.”
I genuinely have no clue what she’s talking about. I rack my brain trying to think of something I did to piss this girl off but there’s absolutely nothing. I’ve mostly ignored her since coming here and she’s done the same, but now she’s acting like I’m some sort of spy sent to gather her family’s secrets.
“Did I do something to you?” I ask, gathering what little courage I have, because she’s really rattling me.
“Not yet, but I’m going to make sure you don’t. My family is the most important thing in the world to me, and you’re still just a stranger. I don’t care if you’re married to Davide. He doesn’t understand people.”
“And you do?” I almost laugh in her face, but she’s dead serious. “I’m sorry, but I’m just trying to survive right now, okay? If I did something to piss you off, I really am sorry.”
“Davide might seem like he’s strong, but my brother is fragile. You don’t know what he’s been through, and I won’t let you hurt him. I’m warning you right now, be careful.”
“I’m not here to hurt anyone.”
She cocks her head to the side. Her lips pull back into a sneer, but she only shakes her head, turns on her heel, and marches away. I watch her go, totally taken aback by the vitriol.
I’ve never met someone who seemed to hate me so much for absolutely no reason. Maybe she’s got this idea in her head about what I’m doing here, but she has to understand that this is an arranged marriage and I had nothing to do with it. Or else maybe she’s just completely nuts and I’m going to wake up one night to her stabbing me in the chest with a rusty knife.
Either way, I’m shaken when I head back to dinner. I do my best to smile and engage in conversation, and I tell Alessandro about fifteen times about how good everything tastes—which isn’t hard since it’s actually outstanding—but I keep catching looks from Laura. Nothing overtly hostile, but it’s like she’s keeping an eye on me.
Dinner wraps up, and Davide and I walk back to our house with Elena and Laura. They head into their own homes, and once I’m inside with the door firmly locked behind us, I head upstairs to bed. Davide chats about the night, but I don’t have it in me to mention the conversation with Laura.
I keep thinking about what she said. You don’t know what he’s been through. She’s right—Davide’s obviously gone through some kind of trauma. He mentioned the panic attacks and needing to be in wide-open spaces, and there are the burn scars all along his left arm. Whatever happened left its mark, physically and emotionally, and maybe Laura’s worried that he hasn’t processed everything yet.
And maybe she’s right. Davide’s difficult to read on a good day. Sometimes he’s burning hot and can’t keep his hands off me, and other times he disappears for days, barely sleeping and never eating. I don’t know what to make of it.
“You okay?” he asks once the lights are off.
I roll over, turning my back to him. “I’m fine. Just tired. I think I drank too much.”
“You can say no next time. I know you’re not comfortable yet, but nobody will be insulted.” He rubs my shoulder and I do my best not to shrink away from him.
I don’t want to feel this distance but Laura’s warning keeps playing in my head. There’s so much I don’t know about my husband, and even if his sister is being kind of crazy and overprotective, she’s right that there’s a whole world to Davide that I don’t know about.
And I have no clue if I’ll ever get him to open up.
Chapter 21
Davide
Business picks up after family dinner. Uncle Luciano doesn’t make any more brazen attacks like he did against our ships, our warehouse, and one of our soldiers, but now that there’s blood on the ground, I’m busier than ever. I act as the liaison between my organization and the Rossi Famiglia, and there’s a massive shipment of weapons coming in via our trucking route in a few days. I’m tasked with making sure that it’s secure.