“She’s headstrong,” I said. “Very willful. She wanted to go to college for a degree in English literature, I wanted to marry her off as soon as she was of age. There were a good many fights in the Esposito house while she was there and she spent a lot of time locked in her room.”
“But she is in college now, no?”
I sighed. “We made a deal eventually. But I signed a contract with her that in exchange for her entering, untouched, into a marriage with a man of my choosing, I would allow her to attend college. She’s intelligent and she knows when to accept when she’s been beaten and make the best of it.”
“How old is she?”
“Twenty-three.”
“Does she know of me yet?”
“No, she thinks she’s engaged to Aurelio Romano,” I said. “I’ll have to kill him when I kill his father.”
“It would be stupid not to,” Viktor said, nodding. “If you’re going to keep your place, you can’t have anyone challenging you.”
There was a quiet sound out in the hall and we both froze. I drew my gun and Viktor stood slowly, his hand going to his pistol. Stepping silently on the sides of my feet, I slid against the door and turned the knob, letting it fall ajar. The space of hall directly ahead was deserted, but as we waited, there was a quiet sniffle from somewhere to my left. I released a sigh and slipped my gun back in its holster.
I stepped into the hall and found my wife standing with her arms wrapped around her body. Her face was pale and her cheeks were wet with tears. She wore only her thin, silk slip that came down to the middle of her thigh and she was shivering.
“My God, what are you doing?” I asked.
Her chin shook. “I’m sorry, I just had the worst nightmare and…I needed you.”
It took everything I had not to melt in front of her. She looked so small and afraid, shivering half-naked in the dark hallway. I stepped back through the door to find Victor watching me with concern.
“Olivia had a nightmare,” I said. “I need to take her back to bed.”
“Go on, we can continue this meeting tomorrow.”
I dipped my head and returned to where my wife stood swaying in the hall, her lower lip trembling. I considered her for a moment and then I lifted her in my arms and carried her down the hall. Her body went stiff at first, but then it softened against me and her arm wrapped around my neck. Her cheek rested trustingly against my shoulder and a glimmer of warmth sparked in my chest.
Back in our bedroom, I laid her on the bed. She leaned against the headboard and wrapped her arms around her knees. Her lashes fell as she gazed down at the comforter, her fingers worrying together in the sheets.
“I’m sorry I took you away from your meeting,” she whispered.
I shrugged out of my clothes and sat on the edge of the bed in my boxers. She looked pathetic, wilted and afraid. It was unlike her. Even when frightened, Olivia had fire and fight in her small body. I sighed and ran my palm up her leg, gently rubbing her smooth skin until she relaxed a little.
“What was your nightmare?” I asked quietly.
She gave a shuddering breath and looked toward the window. The sky was cloudy tonight and the only light outside came from the lamps along the driveway.
“I dreamed I was back in my family’s house. That I was hungry and my father was beating me,” she said. “I think talking about it earlier stirred things up in my mind.”
I studied her face for a long moment. “You can’t be afraid of them anymore, Olivia,” I said firmly.
She turned quickly, frowning. “What?”
I slid into bed beside her and held out my arms, coaxing her to lay against me. She stared at me, still scowling, and then she relented and allowed me to pull her body against mine. Her ass pushed up against my hips and I forced myself not to think about grinding my dick into her.
“The first time I took a life that wasn’t just an ordinary soldier, I realized that if I was going to make bold moves within the outfit, I had to be unbreakable. If you’re going to strike, you hit your target on the first try. That means you need impeccable control, you need to know where your head is at all times, you need to master your fear. And you can never let them see you flinch or back down.”
She lay still, not speaking for a long time.
“As my wife, everything you do will be analyzed for weakness,” I said. “Show them your neck and they will cut it.”
“I thought you would protect me,” she whispered.
“Do you want to hide behind me? Or do you want to stand beside me?”