Page 284 of Merciless Desires

Marcella. She was all I needed, and everything I wanted.

“I hope this isn’t the dress you planned to wear to our wedding.”

Marcella laughed softly and peered down at her bloodied dress. “You seem to like me in red…”

I unbuttoned the back and carefully guided the dress off her tired body, helping her step out of the ruined heap of satin and lace that landed on the bathroom floor.

Removing her panties and the now-ruined light pink bra, I scooped up my bride and placed her in the bath, undressing once she was settled.

I sank into the hot milky water behind her and carefully removed dried blood and dirt from her body. I could see that the majority of the blood she had worn didn’t belong to her, but her throat was punctured multiple times, each wound an odd curved shape.

“He turned my ring around,” Marcella began, lifting her left hand out of the water. Her engagement ring had blood crusted between the diamond and the band. “And he used my own hand to choke me…so my ring cut me a few times.”

“Amorina…” I sighed and covered the back of her hand with mine.

I was glad I was replacing that ring with the custom engagement ring that was made for her. Now that the temporary ring had been used as a weapon against her, I wanted it off her finger. I wasn’t going to make her stare down at it and be reminded of what had happened.

“Why didn’t you tell me about Annabella?”

I exhaled slowly. I wasn’t going to lie to her, but I was going to give her the selfish truth first.

“I knew that if I told you, you would want to leave me. You would want to be with your family, and I didn’t want that. I know it was selfish of me, but that wasn’t my only reason to not want you there. I…believed my home was the safest when, in reality, Dominov was just outside your door the entire time. I almost told your papà to move your entire family into my home, but I’m glad I didn’t. That might have put them in more danger.”

Marcella brought our hands up to her mouth and pressed a kiss to mine. “I would have run out of the home before you even had a chance to explain anything to me. I would have put my family in more danger by reacting the way I’m prone to reacting, if my past reactions are any indication of my emotions.”

She laughed softly and rested her head back against my chest.

“I will tell you every vivid, gory detail of my work, amorina. I won’t leave you in the dark anymore. I’m sorry, and I promise to keep not only you, but your entire family out of danger. That is all I’ve been trying to do this entire time.”

“I know,” she whispered. “How did you know I was in danger today?”

I turned her so I could look down at her gorgeous face. The only shade of red remaining was her peachy, pouty mouth.

“Other than seeing a call coming in from your old phone number?” I chuckled, and she rolled her eyes. “I’ve spent the past few months I’ve had with you learning everything about you, amorina. What you like, what you dislike, your body language, tone…everything. I could hear the fear in your voice. And when you blurted that you were sorry, I knew that you were being forced to speak. That someone was threatening you in some way. I just didn’t think it would have been Dominov…Lombardo…whoever the fuck he is.”

“Was,” Marcella corrected and brought her finger up to tap against the tip of my nose. “You killed him.”

“You killed him.”

She grinned. “Cavolo, I’m a badass.”

It was perfect.

I tilted the 3-carat oval diamond ring back and forth, inspecting it, wondering if it was good enough for Marcella. The slim gold band was smooth beneath my touch, and at the right angle, you could see the hidden halo of rubies beneath the glistening diamond.

Marcella was right. I did like her in red, but that wasn’t my reasoning for choosing rubies. They were her birthstone, my July queen, which only made the decision to add the red gemstone to her ring even more perfect.

I could hear her asking Genovesi what he was doing, why he was leading her into our backyard when she had to finalize our wedding. My heart thundered in my chest, and I had never felt this nervous in my entire life.

The strategically placed candles provided a warm glow that would guide Marcella beyond the pool and into the manicured garden I had never paid much attention to until her. There were a lot of aspects of my life that I hadn’t given much thought to until Marcella.

“Matteo?” she called and appeared below the wooden archway adorned with greenery and flowers by the landscape artists I had hired to make this area perfect.

Perfect for this.

Perfect for her.

Marcella gasped and covered her mouth, stepping carefully around the cheesy rose petals that were scattered along the stone walkway, creating a trail that led right to me.

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