Page 224 of Merciless Desires

“Che cazzo?!” Marcella howled, pounding at my back. “Put me down, you asshole!”

“No.”

She kicked at my stomach as I began to climb the stairs. Her left shoe slipped off her foot and tumbled down to the main floor. That stilled her for a moment, but she quickly resumed slamming her feet into my sternum, not stopping when her other shoe fell.

With a nod to my men, who I had assigned to guard Marcella, they pushed opened the double doors to her bedroom and pulled them closed behind us.

Crossing the space, I tossed my bride-to-be onto the plush bed. I was breathing heavily, not because I had carried her, but because I was poorly restraining an immense amount of lust for the woman who was mine.

Marcella’s left leg raised in a weak attempt to kick me, but I grabbed her ankle before she could. Unbuttoning my suit jacket, I watched her, trying to determine her next move.

She used my grip on her as leverage and brought her chest up, but I wasn’t having that. I gripped her throat and placed a knee on the edge of the bed between her legs, pressing her down into the mattress with my full weight. Sliding my other hand higher up her leg, I grinned at the sound of the dress ripping as I pushed her legs apart.

Marcella swallowed a gasp, and I felt the strain of the action against my palm. Her lips parted, and I wanted to squeeze her throat further, see if I could get a sound from her to know that she enjoyed it.

I would figure out what she enjoyed soon enough, and I would use that against her.

I wasn’t going to ask her to love me.

I was going to make her love me.

She didn’t have to like me, but she needed to love me.

“Stop,” I hissed and tightened my grasp around her throat.

Marcella stilled beneath me, her squirming finally coming to an end. I removed my hand from her throat, but I stayed above her.

That rage she’d felt had been replaced with fear.

Shit.

“It seems like you need a moment to get settled. Come find me when you’re ready, and we can discuss logistics.”

I expected her to question what I meant by logistics, but she didn’t. She didn’t do anything. Not as I leaned back, not as I let go of her, and not as I got off her bed fully. Marcella didn’t move, even as I left her bedroom and my men closed the doors behind me.

“Let me know if she leaves this fucking room.”

Chapter Five

MARCELLA

Let me know if she leaves this fucking room.

Great. So those men were going to be stationed outside the room. The room that was apparently my room.

Matteo was right. This was happening whether I wanted it to or not. It was just how things worked in our world. As much as I had hoped Papà wasn’t going to arrange a marriage for me, I’d known it was bound to happen.

I pushed my hair out of my face and ran my fingers across my throat. Would he leave a mark on me? Intentionally? Was I going to live in fear for the rest of my life? In fear of my husband?

My husband. Oh, my God. I was going to be married soon…to a monster.

I stared at the ceiling and tilted my head when I noticed the single pink glow-in-the-dark star. It was exactly where it had been at home.

What the hell?

I sat up a little too quickly, my head spinning, and I stared around the space that was familiar. Far more familiar than it should have been.

This room looked like my bedroom at home, but with a major upgrade.

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