Page 72 of Twisted Obsession

‘Very noble.’ I hated myself the second I’d spoken, but the look she shot me made me feel worse, like the piece of shit I was certain I was becoming. ‘Carry on,’ I encouraged in a friendlier tone.

‘My mama lives in Rome too, and I knew she would get out with her husband before the summer heat arrived.’

I thought about what she’d just imparted.

‘Let me get this straight… you just happened to be here on a summer holiday with your mama, and Salvatore is okay with all of that?’

‘Not quite.’ I watched as she screwed up her beautiful face into a grimace. ‘I deliberately chose Rome to volunteer, to see if I could reconnect with her.’

‘And did you manage it?’

‘Not really. We’re so very different.’ She looked embarrassed at her answer.

‘Yeah?’ I wanted to add more to the question but suppressed it. Whatever had happened all those years ago between us didn’t make her a cold-hearted bitch like her mama.

‘Yes, and I also knew from pieces of information I’ve read over the past few years that Mama and Peter always sail in the summer. I’d heard that when you’d left the army, you’d headed up the family business somewhere in the Med. Salvatore knows I’m on holiday with them in the Mediterranean. That’s it.’

‘I never had you pegged as a master manipulator, Giovanna.’

‘When I finish my year at Rome, I’m to marry.’ I managed somehow not to react physically to what she said.

‘So Salvatore told me.’ I looked quickly at the horrible fucking ruby ring on her wedding finger, before looking away.

‘He did?’

I nodded in response.

‘But, before I can move forward with my life, I need to put the past behind me.’

‘And that’s me, is it? I’m the past you want to put behind you?’

‘It’s not like that.’ She spoke sadly and looked down to her lap where once again she was wringing her hands.

I pushed down the pain her words conjured up and compacted it against the pain she’d left me with when she’d last walked away.

What the hell had I been expecting?

‘You need to eat,’ I spoke roughly. ‘We can’t have you walking down the aisle to the awaiting wanker looking like a waif, canwe?’ I pushed my hands down deep into my trouser pockets to stop myself from reaching out to her, and once again took in the beauty of the woman I was in the company of.

What the actual fuck is she wearing?

Whatever it was. It fitted her to perfection. The shimmering metal made all the skin she was exposing sparkle as she moved, and I struggled with the image inside my head of tasting each inch of skin I could see.

‘Stop it, Dante.’ She shook her head as she spoke.

‘What, stop what?’ I shrugged. ‘All I’m doing is saying it how it is.’

‘You have no idea how it is!’ All at once she was standing. I watched as for a few seconds she wobbled precariously on the heels she was wearing. The same ones I’d earlier imagined over my shoulders and wrapped around the back of my head, as I feasted on her warm, wet cunt.

‘Then tell me,’ I gently offered, as I attempted to calm her down and rein in the anger I could feel reaching boiling point in my gut.

‘All Calabrian women must marry. You know that.’

I nodded at her in answer as I crossed my arms over my chest once again and pushed my tongue against my front teeth in a bid to swallow down the hate filled answer I wanted to give. I wanted to hold back, to not engage in the conversation, even though it was the only way I would get the answers I also wanted. But like a fool, unable to stop myself, I engaged.

‘You married at twenty, Giovanna. You married me.’ And just like that, the box had been opened, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to close the lid on what was inside.

‘Did I really?’ I could see the uncertainty in her face. ‘All I know is that you got what you needed from me, Dante. I was kidnapped when you wanted vengeance. So, did we really marry,or was our marriage a game of pretend that you could use against my brother?’

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