“The Bennato Brothers? I worked for you. Don’t you think I know?” I was being far more daring and bolder than I would have ever done before, but I had to fight. I had to do something. I could see the brothers slipping between my fingers if I didn’t do everything I could to stay with them once the baby came.
“Wanted men. Feared men. Coveted men,” he answered. “You name it. Regardless, it isn’t safe for you or the baby.”
“You both want me to stay in hiding. I get it. But why can’t I stay hidden with you? With you both to watch over me and the baby. Won’t we be safer with you and Stefano at all times?”
“That’s not part of the plan. Part of our success is that we always stick to the plan,” he said, still staring out the window.
“But can’t we alter it just a bit?” I countered. “There is so much I don’t know about you and your brother, but I do know that there is some sort of connection between all of us. There is something deep inside of us that deserves exploring. Yes, you awoke sexual desires I never knew before, but I know there is more than that. Tell me that I am wrong. Am I nothing more than just a woman who is paying her penance to the feared Bennato Brothers? Have I misread you both completely?”
“I don’t know you,” he said as he turned to face me. “Not beyond these walls.”
“You know more about me than anyone ever has before. The real me. You have stripped me naked from the inside out. You said I was yours. I am! I truly am.”
“This conversation is over. The sooner you wrap your head around what will be expected, the better.”
“No!” I screamed. “I won’t. For your plan to work, you need me to agree. Once I’m not a prisoner, you won’t have full control and you know it. So no, I won’t be cast off to raise the baby alone with occasional paternal visits. I won’t do it.” I stood up and charged toward him. I was completely out of control, but the thought of being forced to leave them was far worse than the thought of staying and whatever discipline he would issue for my outburst.
Thomas met my charge and took hold of my shoulders to stop me. He then grabbed my neck and squeezed. “Do you have a death wish?” he asked. “Have we taught you nothing?”
“Why are you not listening to me?” I demanded with wild eyes and fury building inside.
He squeezed my neck some more. He applied just enough pressure with his fingertips to make breathing difficult and to show me he was the one in control and not me. “Because this is who I am. This is who my brother is. We are monsters, not husbands. Don’t try to picture us as men that we aren’t.”
“I don’t have to picture it. I feel it,” I said with strangled breath. “You said yourself. You may be a natural monster, but I now see that I am a natural prey.” His hold on my neck loosened. “I was just a bookkeeper. No connection with my family. No real friends. A near hermit. Working for your mafia family and knowing I was breaking the law was the only excitement or spark I had in my life. Until you and Stefano. Until you set me aflame with the things you did to my body. I felt alive while here. I don’t want death. And that was exactly what my life was before you and your brother. Death. So please, Thomas. Keep me alive. Don’t allow me to die. Please talk to Stefano. I beg you.”
His hand on my neck moved, and he once again grabbed a fistful of my hair. I hissed as the sting intensified, but as I was about to beg for more, Thomas brought his lips down upon mine. Passion erupted as he pressed his tongue inside my mouth and danced it within. A kiss from my captor. His breath merged with mine as our bodies pressed together and our kiss intensified.
“You don’t want this,” he said between his claiming of my mouth.
“I do.” I held onto his shoulders hoping to never let go. I hoped desperately Thomas would not force me to let go of the only thing—the only people—I wanted. I wanted the brothers.
Breaking the kiss but still holding me close, he said, “I’ll talk to Stefano. What we discuss and what we decide isn’t up to you.”
Fresh tears built and clouded my vision as I stared into his stern expression. Feeling defeated, I shook my head as I looked at my bare feet and whispered, “But it is. I’ve paid my penance, Thomas. I’ve done everything you both have asked. I’m not the naughty girl anymore that I once was. But our future needs my input as well. I ask you to consider that. Consider me. Not the prisoner. But me. Me.”