“Doe,” I said softly, but she didn’t look up. “Doe.” I placed my hand over hers. “You can eat.” Her eyes met mine, and I nodded, urging her to eat her dinner. My permission to do certain things was still something she required, and I often wondered if she would ever be able to move past it, to live without constantly looking for approval. A part of me hoped she would, but another piece of me hoped she wouldn’t. God, it was complicated.
Her teeth moved across her bottom lip, and I could practically see the battle raging inside her mind. It was because I mentioned him. Her old master. The devil who made it clear he wouldn’t rest until he had his precious, broken girl back. Lucio and I were the only people who knew why she was so precious to him, just another secret we kept to ourselves in order to protect Doe. There was no telling what she would have done if she knew what she carried around in her. If she knew she had a piece of Vadik’s life stuck inside her flesh, it would probably catapult her over the edge. She was too vulnerable, too bruised to know exactly how close Vadik really was. I hoped tonight would play out the way I imagined it, and it would make her stronger. But for her to rise out of the ashes, I needed to break her first.
Lucio and I gave each other knowing glances. My cousin was the only man who knew the lengths I would go to for this woman. I broke my word to protect her—and a Valenti’s word was his bond. Basically, I fucked our family name in the ass by giving Mancuso my word then breaking it by killing a man who posed no threat to us. A man who came to me with a white flag raised in surrender, giving me information in exchange for a truce. But after I found out about him and what he had done to his own flesh and blood, there was no way in hell I had the self-control to let him go unpunished. So that was what I did.
I punished him. I killed him…and no one would ever know. Now it was up to me to make sure his daughter become the queen she was meant to be.
Chapter 4
Doe
He was coming for me. I knew he would. It was only a matter of time. Antonio had tried his best to reassure me I was safe here, with him. And by the amount of muscle constantly around us—around me—I was certain he was trying his best. But Antonio didn’t know Master V. He didn’t know the cruelty and the pure evil that pulsed through that man’s veins. Not a day went by that I didn’t think of him, fear the hour when he would finally reclaim me. But for the sake of my own sanity, I chose to live in the moment the best I could. It was hard adjusting from prisoner to welcome guest, and I often failed in acting as though I were no longer a slave girl who had no choice or rights when it came to anything. Even after our night at the beach, the promise Antonio made me to avenge my ruin, I still couldn’t let go of the past. All this time spent with the Valenti family, I still found myself wanting and needing Antonio’s permission for everything I did.
Why? Why, when Antonio encouraged me to be my own person, did I still want his approval, like a fucking dog with is owner? But luckily, Antonio understood. He knew it was difficult for me to switch off the slave after it had been beaten and abused into me. Whenever we sat at the dinner table with the rest of the family, I would glance at him, and he would give me a subtle nod, granting me permission to eat. Not because he demanded it, but because I still needed it. I wondered if I would ever be able to let go of the slave girl I had become so I could live a normal life.
Normal. I had never known…normal. And I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be able to pull offnormal.
After dinner, Antonio insisted we take another stroll through the garden. He knew how much I loved to be outside in the fresh air, free. For most of my life, I had been caged, imprisoned between four walls. Now I wanted to grasp every opportunity to roam free without the shackles of slavery around my feet. And while I strolled through the garden, smelling the scented air in the evening breeze, I tried to forget about my past, and about the threat still hanging like a scarlet letter around my neck.
“Are you sure you ate enough?”
I smiled when I saw the concern in his eyes. “Karina kept on filling my plate. I couldn’t eat any more, even if I wanted to.”
Antonio shrugged. “My sister has made it her life’s mission to mother you.”
“She’s been very kind to me.”
He snorted. “Consider yourself lucky.”
“She likes giving you a hard time, huh?”
“There is no end to the attitude in that tiny packet of Italian dynamite.”
I let out a laugh but then swallowed when I heard the shrill sound.
Antonio stepped closer and gently touched my cheek, causing my heart to pick up pace. “You have a beautiful laugh, Doe.”
I smiled, my cheeks burning. “I like that you call me that.”
“Doe?”
“Yes.”
His thumb brushed across my lower lip. “Alessia is a beautiful name, but I can’t get myself to call you that.” He leaned down, pressing his mouth softly against mine. “You’re my Doe.”
I sucked in a breath, still tasting his lips. “I like being your Doe. I have no desire to be Alessia. She died a long time ago.”
His face hardened, his dark eyes suddenly turning black. “They killed Alessia. I got rid of Nessuno,” he wrapped his hand around the back of my neck, pulling me closer, “and no one will take Doe away from me. No one.” With a hard, desperate kiss, he sealed his vow, his tongue sweeping through my mouth with vigor. I felt it spread through the marrow of my bones, the power of his promise filling me to the brim.
He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me against him, our bodies molding together so perfectly. I’d never had the opportunity to travel, seeing the world, or been given the option to choose my favorite places to be, but there was no other place in this entire universe I’d rather be than in Antonio’s arms. Being so close to him, in his embrace, was my idea of Heaven. The comfort, the security, the sense of feeling cared for was so foreign to me, yet it was something I had quickly gotten used to. I wanted to be lost in him for the rest of my days.
With a deep rumble in the back of his throat, he moaned as he reluctantly pulled his lips from mine. “I have no idea what you’re doing to me, Doe.” Dark eyes stared down into mine. “All I know is that you’ve ruined me in the best possible way.”
I stilled. “Ruined?”
He traced his fingers over my hip, his hand finding mine. “You ruined me by taking my entire existence and making it yours.”
Our fingers twined together, and I bit my lower lip. “Is that a bad thing?”