Page 80 of Captured Innocence

“That’s why you never made good on your promise.”

“Yes, Sophia. But it wasn’t because of fear of exile or losing power. It was because I truly believed you deserved a better life. I still do. At this point, my job is to get you home safely.”

Too much time had passed. I could see it in his eyes. He’d moved on. Maybe it was time I did the same. The fucking was just that, electricity that needed to be extinguished.

Then why did my heart ache as much as it had from the beginning?

My chest immediately tightened, my pulse racing. “I only wanted to be with you. She begged me not to see you.” I thought about what she’d said all those years ago. Why had she continued to lead me to believe Mattia had anything to do with the death of Dar’s family? “You were there at the fire. Weren’t you? My sister wasn’t lying.”

He turned his head so slowly that I didn’t see it move until he was looking in my eye. “Yes, I was there, Sophia. I was an angry kid who’d overheard something he didn’t understand.”

“Meaning what?”

“My father was a brutal man. I hated him, everything about him. He enjoyed tormenting both Tommaso and me while we were growing up. I knew who your family was. I was told the same bullshit that you, your brother and sister were when growing up. It was drilled into us that you were bad seeds. Our enemies. My father often talked about destroying Roberto, claiming his territories. On that night, I overhead my father talking to someone. I found out later it was D’Artagnan’s father. He made a promise that he would take Dar as his son. I was livid. He’d accused our mother of being unfaithful, later having her murdered because of it. He did it right in front of our eyes, yet he wanted to bring another boy into the family. His sister too. Another ready-made family.”

“Oh, my God.” Was that possible? It was something neither Dar nor Lucia talked about. Granted, not that I’d given them much of a chance to talk about the past. I’d shoved every aspect of my life away, including my family.

“Yeah, just imagine. I don’t know the entire situation or all the reasons why, and I certainly had no clue at the time but I left to confront D’Artagnan, to keep my family intact, telling him no one wanted him. Yeah, it was fucking stupid and irrational, but I couldn’t think straight. That was the night of the fire, so Lucia was right in that I was there. I heard a slight explosion only moments after I arrived. The truth is I couldn’t do anything to stop it. And yes, Sophia. I did try.”

There was such conviction in his voice that I wanted to believe him. I didn’t have a chance to say anything before Vincenzo returned from searching the interior.

“All clear, boss. I’ll finish walking the grounds with Luis and we’ll be in the guest house out back if you need us.”

“Thank you,” Mattia said, taking a few seconds before nodding toward the door. “Let’s go inside. Then we’ll finish our discussion.”

“I can take almost anything, Mattia. I’m not the girl you knew all those years ago, but what I can’t take are lies. I love my sister, but I know that her love for Dar clouded her vision and kept the rage inside. I don’t want that for myself or my future, but I can tell you’re still hiding something. If that’s the truth, you need to tell me. I can’t live like this any longer. The longing. The need. The uncertainty. It’s not living, Mattia. And it’s not worth it.”

I walked past him toward the house, the ache building.

“Are you certain you want the truth, Sophia? Sometimes, the truth won’t set you free. Do you understand me?”

Exhaling, I stopped yet refused to turn around. “Yes. I understand, Mattia, especially in this cruel, jaded family. But I need to know all of it. You made a deal with my father at my nineteenth birthday party. Didn’t you? Please tell me.” I folded one arm across my stomach, uncertain I wanted to hear the ugly truth.

The quiet was horrible.

“Yes,” he hissed. “I did. Did you know your father was almost broke? Did you know he was looking for the highest bidder that night for both his daughters?”

The news wasn’t shocking. “That’s the night he made a deal with Giuseppe Romano regarding Lucia.” Thank God, the marriage hadn’t been allowed to come to fruition.

“Yes. He also made a deal with the highest bidder infusing cash into his broken company. With me. I have a contract for your hand in marriage. And before you ask why I never mentioned it again…”

“Because of Lucia,” I said, interrupting him.

“That was only part of the reason. As you said, I take what I want. It was because you were happy in the life you’d created in Paris. I didn’t want to interfere. I’ve done a hell of a lot of terrible things in my life, Sophia, including murder. I’ve never lied to you about that, but I refused to take your life away. If that was the one good deed, then so be it.”

The angst in his voice was as tremendous as the ache in my heart.

“I wasn’t happy, Mattia. Don’t you understand that?” I should be angry with him, but it was just the opposite. In telling me the truth, something I think I already knew, he was admitting his faults. And that he had a heart. I suddenly loved him more than anything in the world.

Yet when he said nothing, I was gutted. I’d played the game too long. I’d risked everything because of my impetuousness, my need to have him chase me. I’d lost the one thing I’d wanted my entire life more than freedom.

Love.

Tears formed in my eyes, but I refused to sob like a child in front of him. This was the moment, the end. And now, I had to walk away.

When he snapped his hand around my wrist, jerking me backward, I gasped. Then he cupped the side of my face, shaking his head.

“You need to listen to me, Sophia. You are everything to me. You’re the reason I go on living, the air I breathe and the light at the end of the darkest tunnel. I live to see you safe, to watch you thrive and to ensure that no one ever hurts you. I long to taste your sweet lips, to drive my cock deep inside your pussy and to claim you as mine. It’s all I’ve ever wanted. You’re all I’ve ever needed and now that you’re back in my life, I will never allow you to escape again. Do you hear me, bellissima principessa? Do you? I love you and you belong to me.”

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