I freeze as I’m standing up. “What?”
“Matteo, he cares about you. He would never admit it to you or anyone, but he looks at you differently. Even differently than how he looked at Nina.”
“He cares about me because he l
ikes to fuck me and I’m his best shot at getting Nina back. That’s all.”
“Maybe, or maybe he’s falling in love with you.”
“Even if he is, it doesn’t change anything. I don’t love him. I don’t want this life. I want to go back home to my old life.”
“You sure about that? Because it would seem a woman who wasn’t falling for him would try a little harder to escape, especially when given such a glaring opportunity tonight, instead of rushing back to his bed.”
I ignore her and go back to Matteo’s bed, but her words stay with me. I’m not falling in love with Matteo, and he’s not falling in love with me. We hate each other. Sex won’t change that. Killing for each other won’t change that. Not even kindness will change that.
14
Matteo
She thinks she’s winning.
Ever since I killed the Espocito family, she has gotten cocky. At first, she was scared, hesitant. She didn’t like that she was accepting I killed Armas’s family. But now, she’s fearless.
I tested her, leaving the door unlocked giving her a bit more freedom. And every night since the night I killed the Espocito family, she has snuck out.
Every. Single. Fucking. Night.
At first, I thought she was planning on finding a way to escape. I thought she was sneaking out to test my security, to find the weak points so when the timing was right, she would run to freedom.
But that’s not what she was doing. It seems that merely leaving my room whenever she wanted was freedom enough, at least for now. She’s happy with her life, though she will never admit it. And I can’t have her happy. Happy means I’ll never get what I want.
I close my eyes pretending to sleep like I always do. I wrap my arm around her naked body after fucking her earlier in the shower. She thinks I was rough then; she felt like she was drowning as she laid under the water while I fucked her. Tonight, I have even darker plans for her.
She waits for my breathing to become slow, I even fake snore for a while, so she thinks I’m fast asleep. My arm weighs her down, and I think for once, she might not sneak out tonight and my plan to tame her happy thoughts might be squandered.
But she sneaks out like I knew she would.
I grin as I throw the covers off. I’m going to enjoy tonight.
15
Eden
I sneak into the darkness, not for any other reason than I can. I enjoy the little bit of freedom Matteo has decided to give me. I spend the night eating, walking, reading, or sitting quietly in a new room in the house. It’s hard for me sometimes to pull away from his arms. I like sleeping with him wrapped around me, and I still sleep plenty with him. I don’t spend more than an hour or two out of bed. And I have plenty of time while he’s working during the day to nap if I’m tired.
I let the door close slowly behind me, planning on only reading for twenty minutes or so in the library and then returning to Matteo because I enjoy snuggling with him in bed.
“What are you doing out of bed?” Maximo says, as I freeze in the hallway.
“Just getting some food to bring back to Matteo. He’s hungry,” I lie.
“No, you’re not,” he says as Dierk and Paul walk up behind me.
“Matteo gave us strict orders to punish you if you ever broke his rules,” Maximo says.
I smile, trying to keep it together. “I’m not breaking his rules. Ask him.”
“We will,” Maximo says pulling out his phone and dialing Matteo’s number.