Page 24 of Sins of the Son

I raised my eyebrows. “Oh yeah? Do you know what happened to Rocco and Mario? Do you even know if they are alive?”

Before she could respond, I continued. “I’m not saying I give a shit about those two assholes and, truth be told, I’d be glad if they are dead because they had it coming. All I’m saying is, your stepbrother and stepfather had been beating on you for years since your mother’s death and no one in this fucking village, including the police, gave a damn, until Barone Cavalieri suddenly showed an interest in you. And the very next day, they both disappeared.”

“So? He’s protective. That’s supposed to be a good thing.”

“And what about that guy he beat to a pulp for trying to kiss you?”

“That guy did a hell of a lot more than innocently try to kiss me.”

“And again, I’m not saying he didn’t get what he deserved, but what the hell, Amara? Aren’t you just a little bit worried? I mean, Barone Cavalieri and his sons can do whatever the fuck they want in this country, and no one, not even the law, is going to stop them. That’s what comes from having obscene amounts of money and power.”

Amara inhaled a shaky breath as she hugged her middle. “What are you saying?”

I leaned against the wall, tipped my head back, and closed my eyes. My voice was deceptively calm and even. I knew I was talking in circles because I was worked up and upset and I had to make her understand. “Last night I packed and was halfway out the door leaving for Rome. Cesare stopped me. He told me I wasn’t allowed to leave. That whether I liked it or not, I was staying. If he were anyone else in the world other than a Cavalieri, the idea would be ludicrous. But he is a Cavalieri. We fought bitterly. And then suddenly… we weren’t fighting. I’m not even sure how it happened, but the next thing I knew, he was inside of me, taking my virginity.”

Amara gasped.

I laughed without mirth, opening my eyelids just a slit to glance at her and then closing them again. “Yeah, I know I talk a good game, but I never gave up the big 'V,' not until last night. It’s not something I ever wanted to talk about.”

I curled my fingers into my palms, needing the comforting pain of my nails digging into my flesh. I kept my eyes shut, otherwise the walls might start closing in on me, and we needed to stay within the privacy of the bathroom.

“Then he was saying how I was his now, and that the past was the past, and that he would never let me go.”

Amara cleared her throat. “Do you think that’s possible? I mean, you used to be close friends, once. I even thought you guys were going to be more. I know you. There’s no way you would have slept with him if there weren't something still between you.”

That was the cruelest part of this whole mess.

Sex with Cesare Cavalieri was passionately intense and completely catastrophic.

I had wanted him, desperately.

My stomach clenched as vivid memories of the feel of his powerful arms holding me against him while his mouth roughly claimed mine flooded my mind. I remembered clinging to him, clawing him, licking him, biting him, needing to taste him, to feel his weight on top of me, inside of me. It was as if I had become possessed. My mind was not my own. It was strange. My hatred for him was still there, boiling on the surface, but it morphed into this twisted, darkly sensual energy. Like he was some sort of evil Svengali who had bewitched and charmed me into spreading my thighs for him when I had never been tempted to do so for any other man.

Last night had only confirmed what I already knew: Cesare Cavalieri was dangerous, and I needed to stay far, far away from him.

“Not after what he did. There is no coming back from that. There is no forgiving him. And I know I’ve never told you what happened, and I promise I will, soon, and trust me, you will understand why I could never forgive, but I can’t get into it right now. We don’t have time.”

She nodded, understanding.

“I told him to leave, and I thought he did, but later I woke up in the middle of one of my nightmares and he was there.”

“You haven’t had one of those for ages. What did he do?”

“Nothing. What could he do? It’s his damn fault I have them in the first place. I told him I hated him and that would never change.”

“Is that why he has a guard following you around? Because he’s afraid you’ll try to go to Rome again?”

I pushed away from the wall and stepped closer to Amara. Fuck, I hated to do this to her when she was so happy, when she finally thought she had found a family. But we had been watching out for one another since we were little and both trapped in crappy home situations, and I would not stop now.

“When I woke up, Cesare was finally gone, but so were my suitcases and my purse with my wallet and mobile phone. He took them to keep me from leaving. Sound familiar?”

Amara’s eyes widened.

I knew it was familiar because Barone had done the same damn thing to her.

I sighed. “And when I opened the cottage door, there was a guard posted there.”

“Our situations are different.”

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