Page 138 of Rise To Power

“No.” Her chest rose and fell with heavy breaths.

My pants dropped to the floor. I grasped the blanket, jerked it from her hands, and tossed it onto the bed.

“Marco, wait.”

I was done fighting and, done coddling her. “Don’t make me ask you again.” I grazed my knuckle along the bruises and hickeys on her neck, trailed my finger lower, and tugged on the collar to her V-neck night shirt. “Take it off, or I’ll tear it off.”

With her eyes staring into mine, she slipped the shirt over her head. Only wearing her panties, she turned away from me, crawled onto the bed, and adjusted the blanket to cover herself.

If a threat was what it would take to get her to obey me, we were going to have a volatile marriage. I turned off the light, climbed onto the bed, and slid beneath the covers.

Her soft breaths echoed in the room. Turning onto my side, I curled my hand over her hip. She stiffened as I slid in close to her, aligning my cock with the roundness of her buttocks. “I don’t wish to spend my life fighting with you.”

“Going to war with your enemies is what you do.”

“I’ll fight for you, for us.” I wrapped my arms around her. “You’re my wife, not my enemy.”

She sighed. “Those are just words, Marco. You hate that you can’t control me. I’ve asked you to trust me. You won’t. You threaten the one thing I keep to myself.”

“I won’t have another man in our marriage.”

“I hope when you realize you’re the only man in our marriage, it isn’t too late because we’re killing us. One day all that will be left will be the ghost of what we could’ve had.”

Silence stretched between us. Time slowed, and the quiet of the night saturated the air. The soft scent of her perfume clung to her skin. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply. The warmth of her body seeped into me. I relaxed into the intimate embrace, and tension bled from my muscles.

I slid my hand over the slope of her hip and into the dip of her waist. Her belly quivered under my palm. Much about us was laced with lies and desire.

Perhaps she was right. I had blood on my hands from men who’d betrayed me. I lived with their ghosts.

I could live with one more.

***

A light knock on the bedroom door woke me. I untangled from Allegra’s soft limbs and slid from the bed.

I opened the door to Ant’s hard glare. “Emilio got a hit. I didn’t think you’d want to wait until morning.”

My pulse spiked. Leaving the door open, I crossed to the closet and grabbed a pair of jeans and a Henley from my limited wardrobe. Something that would need to be remedied now that we were staying.

Allegra leaned up, noticed Ant, and snatched the blanket to cover her beautifully bare breasts.

I leaned over her and quickly kissed her lips. “Stay in bed. I’ll be back soon.”

“What is it?” she whispered.

I didn’t know yet. There were only two options. Emilio was running face recognition software on Luca’s girl and voice recognition on Allegra’s secret.

“Go back to sleep.”

I strode alongside Ant down the corridor.

“Everything good with you and Allegra?” he asked.

Ant had been by my side since childhood. There was never competition between us. I trusted him, but I didn’t reveal my weaknesses to anyone.

“I need to sever all connections to Francesca. Deed her the property in Milan. I can’t have her near the estate. Give her a settlement contingent on no contact and a confidentiality agreement. Make sure she understands the consequences of failure to comply with my request.”

Ant led the way to the rear of the property. Emilio and Orlando had taken over the guesthouse as living quarters, and Emilio had set up one of the bedrooms as his office with his computer systems.

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