The bars of the cage seemed to press closer, the confining space becoming even smaller.
“How do you know how to do this?” I asked Nora to distract myself from the suffocating sensation.
She peeked up at me, then dropped her focus back to my wrists. She shrugged as she wrapped them in gauze.
“I had to tend to Giana and myself over the years, especially after my mom died. Without her to remind him, Father forgot to make sure our injuries were treated after we received a beating.”
Rage licked at my insides in a fiery burst, a familiar burn that I felt whenever I thought of her father. Only this time, it seared my heart. All my loathing for Giuseppe had been magnified.
He was the reason I was Dante’s prisoner; I’d been captured when I’d run straight into his trap. Giuseppe was the one who’d ensured my suffering when he’d betrayed me and given Nora to the monster.
His own daughter. He’d condemned her to a lifetime with a sadist. Twice.
“I should’ve killed Giuseppe the moment I found out about his plans to marry you off to Dante,” I growled, muscles flexing with unspent violence.
I’d known about the old man’s callous cruelty for years before that, and I’d done nothing. Nora had suffered her whole life under his thumb. After Alberto attacked her at our wedding reception, I’d learned that she’d suffered at her family’s hands. But the casual way she spoke about her father’s abuse made me see red.
“I should’ve killed the old bastard years ago,” I gritted out. “I’ve wanted him dead since I was thirteen, but I let him live, even when he tried to set up Dante to usurp me.”
Fury singed the inside of my chest, but I had no outlet for my murderous impulses.
Nora’s eyes flashed up to meet mine, surprise making her dark lashes sweep her brows. “You’ve wanted to kill him since you were a teenager? Why?”
“He’s the reason my mother is dead.” Familiar hatred spiked through my heart, a black, icy blade.
“What?” she gasped. “I thought you said your mom died of an overdose.”
I nodded grimly. “She did. She became addicted to opiates after my father beat her so badly that she was hospitalized. He beat her because he found out she’d been having an affair with Giuseppe, his best friend. But of course, he did nothing to retaliate against your father; my mother was the only guilty party in his eyes. And Giuseppe didn’t defend her. He’d claimed to love her in order to lure her into bed, but he let her suffer alone in that hospital. He didn’t say a word as we all watched her succumb to addiction. And on the night she died, he came to our house. I overheard him cursing her name for her weakness in an attempt to console my father.” I gnashed my teeth at the memory. “The fucker should be in the ground by now. I should’ve ended him that same night.”
Nora’s eyes shone, and her fingers threaded through mine. “I’m sorry. I had no idea.”
“I’ll kill him,” I vowed. “Once we get out of here, I’ll kill Giuseppe. He won’t be able to hurt you ever again.”
She didn’t defend her father. Instead, her expression hardened with her own righteous anger. “He sold me to Dante. He tried to sell Giana. I don’t know what he’ll do to her if I’m not there to protect her. She won’t be safe until he’s dead.”
So, my wife had no qualms about me murdering her dad. Good.
“I’ll get us out of here, and I’ll protect Giana too,” I swore. Somehow, I would find a way to save us all: Nora, my friends, and myself.
Failure wasn’t an option. Dante would not break me.
She didn’t reply to my fierce declaration. Instead, she reached through the bars and caressed my cheek, gently tracing the dried blood at my temple with her thumb.
“Does this hurt?” she asked, eyes soft on my face.
I leaned into her tender touch. “No.”
She started to withdraw again so she could retrieve the cloth to clean away the blood. But I was hungry for more contact, my skin tingling beneath her fingertips.
I grabbed her hand and pulled her toward me, my other hand tangling in her hair to drag her closer. The metal bars were cold on my cheeks, contrasting with the heat that flashed through me at the way she softened to my harsh touch. Her lips met mine, desperate and frenzied. My teeth sank into her pillowy lip, tugging her impossibly closer and urging her to open for me. Her head tipped back, and she welcomed me with hungry lashes of her tongue.
The lust that’d always simmered between us ignited, burning through reason and thought. The self-loathing and fear that’d tormented me since Dante had stolen my wife away from me was consumed by fiery passion. All that existed was her pliant mouth beneath mine, her silken hair around my fist, and her soft, desperate gasps as I stole her breath.
When I had Nora in my hands and under my control, I didn’t have room in my mind for shame. Power surged through my system, coiling my muscles tight with the need to roughly ravage her. My cock stiffened, aching to drive into her wet heat and claim her the way I had when I’d killed our enemies and fucked her in the dance studio. Possessiveness clawed at my insides, the need to dominate and mark my wife tormenting me.
The bars grew icy against my body, bitterly cold reminders of all that separated me from her. She wasn’t confined as I was, but Dante had effectively caged us both.
I kissed her more deeply, desperate to take everything I could. The short reprieve from reality had been a mercy, and I didn’t want it to slip away.