Page 29 of Coerced Wife

Wait, what?

“Saverio,” I say, taking a step back in an instinctive reaction to put distance between us.

“What’s the matter? Do you prefer a different room?”

“No.” I lick my dry lips. “I…”

“You what,tesoro?” he asks, pinning me with a glacier blue gaze.

“I—I’m not sure I’ll still be here by then.”

A muscle ticks in his temple. “Where will you be? Living somewhere on your own with no job and no one to take care of you?”

I stretch to my full height. “I can take care of myself.”

He climbs over another panel, stopping flush against me. “That’s not the taking care I’m talking about.”

I know what he means. He’s referring to keeping me safe, but this is something entirely different. This is what he hinted at when he said he wanted to engrave a medal for my baby. He warned me, but I didn’t want to acknowledge the sinister underlying message of his words. I told myself I was wrong, that I saw too much in the statement.

Because it couldn’t mean that he intended to keep me after the murder investigation was closed and our agreement came to an end.

Because why would he?

It doesn’t make sense.

Yet he stands there motionlessly, as solid as a brick wall, the light in his shockingly blue eyes resolved as he watches me quietly.

He can’t imply what I think he does. This is moving too fast. This feels like jumping several steps and crossing a finish line, one I don’t think I’m ready for, not with a manholding me against my will and certainly not with a man who doesn’t love me.

“I’m not sure I understand what this means,” I whisper.

He cups my cheek in the tenderest of caresses while that sapphire gaze cuts through me like glass. “I think you know exactly what this means, treasure.”

CHAPTER

EIGHT

Saverio

Dante recaps an offer from a new whisky distillery in Bolivia. We take care of the import permit and red tape via Luigi’s contacts, and they get a non-exclusive contract to supply our clubs for a significant discount. To sweeten the deal, they’re throwing in a kickback for all the business they procure in our territory.

It’s an interesting proposal. I’ve long since wanted to establish a connection in South America, but my attention is not on my only friend in the world who blabbers from his perched position on the corner of my desk. I’m focused on Anya who sits silently on the sofa in the lounge area of my office.

From the vacant expression in her eyes, she’s miles away. The business talk must be boring her, but it can’t be helped. Since she got fired, I’ve been bringing her everywhere with me. After Luigi’s threat, I’m not leavingher on her own if I can prevent it. I operate better when I have her in sight, knowing I can protect her.

We’re still fucking day and night, my addiction to her only growing stronger by the day, but we haven’t spoken about the baby room after she found me in the midst of demolishing the twin bedroom next to mine, one that, by the design of the architecture, was destined for the mistress of the house.

In my previous life, I wouldn’t have minded giving my wife her own bedroom. Not so with my treasure. Her place is in my bed. At my side.

I study her more carefully. The dizzy spells vanished. The nausea is almost a thing of the past. Nicole is happy with the baby’s development and the mom’s health. Yet there’s a listlessness to Anya that escalated after the wedding, and I know what the causes are. She frets about not earning an income. She likes to be self-sufficient. She’s worried about her baby’s future, and she thought by the time the child was born, she’d be somewhere far away from me.

Like not sharing a room and a bed, it’s not going to happen. The sooner she accepts that, the better.

She’s yet to look at the paint swatches and furniture brochures I left on her nightstand. I ordered a stack of reading material on baby room decoration, thinking it might get her excited about the project, but she hasn’t opened a single book or magazine. The nesting syndrome I read about that hits pregnant woman from their second or third trimesters hasn’t kicked in.

“They’re willing to go up to seven percent in kickbacks,” Dante says, watching me expectantly as he comes to the end of his discourse.

Distributing through our network is a foot in the door of a promising market for the new world distillery. It’s agolden opportunity to get their merchandise into the USA. The deal is worth a lot more than the ten percent markdown and the measly kickback they’re offering.

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