Page 6 of Brutal Husband

“I don’t like groups of people. Especially ones that include potential mothers-in-law.”

A rueful smile touches her lips. “Mom can be a handful. She wants everything to be perfect, and of course perfect means exactly the way she wants it to be. I don’t blame you for staying away from her.”

“Do you think I’m afraid of your mother?”

Rieta’s smile widens. “No, I don’t. So, tell me what you do, Mr. Nero Lombardi.” There’s a hint of flirtatiousness in her tone.

“I thought you knew.”

She shrugs. “I’ve been told vague things by other people. I’d like my potential future husband to tell me what he does himself.”

“I’m a businessman. I own a company called Lombardi Enterprises. Imports and exports. Nightclubs.” That’s the polite answer. What I really do is a lot bloodier and more illegal. If Rieta knows that “businessman” is code for something else, then she doesn’t show it. As a good little daughter of a mafia family, she’s probably been well trained not to ask questions.

“Why do you want a wife?”

“Every man wants a wife.”

“But why now, and why me?”

I don’t want to talk about that. “My turn to ask the questions. What can I expect from you as a wife?”

She glances down at herself and says with a shrug, “This, I guess. I haven’t really thought about it.”

Her mother must be pushing her into this marriage. “Are you spoiled?”

Her frown returns. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It’s a simple question.”

“It’s an insulting question.”

I pluck the drink out of her hand and pull her to her feet. I hold her hand tightly as we leave the bar by a staff door. Rieta doesn’t start to resist me until we’re halfway up some red-carpeted stairs, and by then, it’s too late. We enter a room with flocked wallpaper, and I close the door behind us and lock it.

Tendrils of hair have escaped their pins and are framing her shocked face. “What are you doing? Why are we here?”

I move closer and trap her against the wall, planting my hands on either side of her shoulders. “I think you are spoiled, Rieta Bianchi. I think you’ve always been given the best of everything and never been told no even once in your life. Men have always tripped over their feet to fall at yours, but I’m notgoing to do that. I think you’ll enjoy being told no by me. I think you’ll enjoy being told a lot of things by me.”

“Move. I’m leaving.”

I smile at her. “No.”

Her eyes narrow in irritation. “Will you let me go, please?”

She’s learning already. “I will never fall at your feet, but you’ll fall at mine, and you’ll love it down there,cara mia.”

“How arrogant you are. You wouldn’t dare talk like this in front of my family.”

I laugh. “Would you like me to be like this in front of your family? Slap your face in front of your mother and call you my pretty piece of cunt?”

Rieta’s face flames red. “Slap my face and…? Why would you do that?”

I groan softly and drag my lower lip through my teeth. “Fuck, baby, don’t turn red. You make me want to humiliate you even more.”

Her eyes open wide. “What?”

She heard me.

Rieta shifts her feet, and I can tell that she’s squeezing her thighs together. She’s turned on, and she has no idea why.

---