Page 31 of Desire and Revenge

“Nero—”

“One.”

“I fell, okay!” she screams. “I fell, and I knocked my head into the furniture. Sebastian would never hurt me. He’s not that kind of person.”

He’s exactly that kind of person. A sadistic asshole who takes pleasure in putting down whoever he thinks is weaker than him. Right from childhood, Sebastian has always been a bit of a bully, picking on people he knew couldn’t fight back.

“I don’t care what kind of person he is, Sofia. All I bloody know is that the both of you left the dinner table together, andnow you’re here bleeding out and defending him. For the record, I don’t believe your bullshit about falling.”

“Leave it alone,” she snarls. “It’s my marriage, and it’s none of your business. I don’t remember hiring a knight in shining armor, and anyway, I’m not a lady in distress.”

I step closer to her, and she takes a step backward. I frown into the dark. “If you think I’m going to act like I didn’t see this and look the other way, then you don’t really know me.”

A humorless laugh slips out of her mouth. “Yes, Nero. I don’t know you. You’re just some guy that showed up at my wedding ,and God keeps on throwing us into each other’s spaces.”

“This has nothing to do with God,” I tell her. “Or whatever fate or serendipity shit you’re about to spout.”

“Why do you even care?” she roars, thrusting her hands up into the air. “I don’t see what any of this has to do with you. We are not friends, or haven’t you made that clear enough with the way you blow hot one day and cold the next?”

I stare at her. That really is the million-dollar question, isn’t it? Why the hell do I care? Why the hell do I feel like walking back into the villa and blowing Sebastian’s brains out? I’m not even thinking of my revenge or my birthright, now.

The red over my vision only gets darker and darker the longer I stand there and tell myself that I don’t care.

It could have been worse, a dark voice inside of me says.She could have been lying in a pool of her own blood right now, lifeless.

If I don’t get rid of Lucchese soon, he will hurt her. Or rather, he will hurt her far more than he has already done. She tries to wear a brave face, smiling for his dimwitted aunt and cousins while they study her with a magnifying glass and dissect her brutally, but I see how her shoulders hunch into themselves.

I see how she draws herself tauter than a spring and her false smile begins to falter. I see her fist in her dress and shake with repressed emotions.

And that bastard had the guts to bring his whore right here and flaunt her in his wife’s face.

Vittoria is nothing special, as far as I’m concerned. She’s the kind of woman who can make men at a bar start a brawl for who will have the pleasure of taking her home.

But Sofia...

Sofia can make Kings go to war. She makes me want to set Sebastian’s Kingdom on fire with no rhyme, plot, or reason.

“Someone has to care,” I finally say.

“That someone doesn’t have to be you,” she replies. “I set you free from having to burden yourself to care for me.”

“Princess—”

“And would you please stop calling me that?! I’m not a princess. Princesses are things from fairytales that live in gorgeous castles and get to marry the prince. Does this look like a fairytale to you? Blood, and drugs, and family wars?”

“Princesses are the main characters of every fairytale.”

She goes so still that I wonder if she’s breathing. “I’m not the main character in this story. I’m more of a supporting character. One of the extras, even.”

From the first moment I stepped into that church, it’s felt like Sofia Lucchese is the only thing I’ve been able to see. The tunnel vision I have for her is terrifying. If I were any good at drawing, I’d be able to draw her straight from memory. That’s how much I know every inch of her.

“You have no idea,” I finally sigh.

“How would I? The whole world is designed to keep women in the dark.”

“Perfect for you then, since all you ever do is hide.”

“And all you ever do is call me out on what you think you know about me,” Sofia snarls. “I may not know you, but neither do you.”

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