I can’t move.
I can’t breathe.
I can’t think.
I’m lost in Roman.
“I want you Gia. So fucking badly. In my bed. As my girlfriend. As my wife.”
My eyes shoot wide. What the hell is he talking about?
“I know who you are, Gia. Jeans and a tank top can’t hide who you are.”
Fuck.
“You’re Gia Carini.”
I nod.
“And I’ve never wanted a woman more. You’re beautiful, royal, and powerful.”
I bite my lip again as he grabs my neck and pulls me into a kiss. I’m lost forever as his tongue brushes against mine. I’ve never been kissed this hard or this passionately before. I’ve never been wanted. Not for being a monster.
Because that’s what I am, a monster. I may pretend I’m a princess who hides away in a tower and has no control over my life or what my family does, but it isn’t true. I have power. I could change my life if I wanted to. Stop participating in the evil my family partakes in.
I’m a Carini though. Carinis are powerful, dark creatures, incapable of real love.
Roman knows who I am. I don’t know how, and I don’t care. He wants me as I am. And I plan on giving him everything I have. The light, the darkness. My heart, and soul. And maybe with him, I’ll find a way to be the real Gia Carini. The one I’ve kept hidden beneath the pretty dresses. With Roman, I can learn to love.
1
Gia
Months Later
I sold you.
Roman’s words play over and over in my head.
The light trickles in, striking my face, so all I can see is the light. I can’t see the arch of the doorway overhead made of dark gray marble stone. I can’t see the sharp edge of the windows next to me that open up the living room to the garden below. I can’t see the beauty of the green oak trees that have been here for hundreds of years, the only things on this property entirely untouched by darkness.
All I can see is the weak shit standing in front of me. Asshole, cunt, manwhore, gold-digger, scum of the earth, piece of shit… Words keep coming, but they make no difference. I can call Roman whatever I want in my head, but it doesn’t stop what’s happening. And I won’t give him the satisfaction of seeing my anger.
Roman doesn’t get to see my pain. My regret. Or my anger.
He means nothing to me.
He used to be my entire world.
Now, he’s nothing.
I sold you.
Roman was the one. He’s sexy, charming, and despite how he dresses, he owns a string of wineries. He has money, not Carini level money, but he isn’t poor. I thought he loved me. I thought I was special. I thought I was his everything.
He fucked it up once.
I thought today was about fixing his mistake.