rooms, I see his pain. “That was a long time ago, Brother. You just make sure your girl stays out of my way or she’s fair game, ring or not.”
4
Cristina
I took shelter in his arms.
After seeing his brother, I felt safe in Damian’s arms.
“What’s the point of keeping you when I’m through?”
I groan as I make myself remember what he said, then push the covers off and get up. Something is seriously wrong with me.
I walk into the bathroom only pausing for a moment on my reflection—I’ve looked better—before bending down to open the cupboard under the sink. Inside I’d hidden the knife I took from the hallway. After cleaning it, I’d stored it here, and now, given the circumstances, I’d feel better sleeping with it under my pillow.
But as I look through the cabinet, which is stocked with toiletries, I empty everything onto the floor to find it missing.
I’d hidden it inside one of the boxes of tampons.
For a moment, I doubt whether or not I’m remembering clearly. I go through the cabinet again, and then all the drawers, but I don’t find it. The knife is gone.
Damian had asked me about my walk the morning after. Did he have my room searched once we’d gone to the city and confiscated the knife? Was it Elise?
“Crap.”
I straighten, meeting my eyes in the reflection. I really do look like shit.
Turning on the tap, I wash my face before going back into the bedroom. I test the doors to double-check they’re locked before I get into bed. I can’t sleep, though. My mind is racing, and that eerie tune keeps playing in my head.
Lucas Di Santo is alive and well. Sort of.
And he scared the crap out of me.
I feel superficial in a way. He was scarred in the accident that changed all our lives. But it wasn’t just the damaged skin of his face and neck that scared me. It was what I saw inside his eyes.
There’s a darkness inside him.
Damian has it too, but it’s different with Damian. Or am I willfully blind where Damian is concerned because I’m drawn to him? Because I want him?
God. What is wrong with me?
I think about Liam. About Damian letting me see him and giving us time alone together. He didn’t have to do that. And I think about that last night in the city. When I pushed him and when he could have done anything he wanted, taken anything he wanted.
He hadn’t.
He’d walked away.
“After humiliating you, idiot,” I tell myself and roll onto my side.
And besides, he’s taking more tomorrow. He will force me to marry him. And he will finish what he started that night. He’s not walking away this time. I have no doubt.
But that’s not what has me worried.
He’s right that my denying that I’m attracted to him, that I want him, is a lie. Even now, I shudder at the thought of him on top of me, the feel of him, his weight, pressing against me. The idea of him inside me makes my belly flutter. I hate myself for it, too. But it’s the truth, and if I lie to myself, aren’t I giving him that piece of me too? He’s already taking enough.
Give me what I want and when the time is right, I’ll let you go.
Do I believe him? Would he let me go?
And when will the time be right? After one year? Damian chooses his words with care. I am very aware of that.
But there’s something else. Something about the way he looked when I asked him if I was supposed to die in payment for his sister’s death. His father may have decided that to be my fate, but Damian has not. Maybe, like he said, there is something human left inside him.
I need to be smarter.
Better.
More cunning.
I need to be like them. I need to learn from them, from father and son.
Sons.
And sister? Where does Michela stand in all of this?
And ultimately, why does Damian need me? For the foundation? It’s written in the foundation’s bylaws that only a blood descendent can inherit The Valentina Foundation. The foundation will dissolve, and any remaining funds donated to the various charities should the Valentina line somehow end. He can’t kill me, or the foundation goes to my uncle, to Liam, or even Simona.
My father was the eldest of the brothers, so it went to our line, but if I hadn’t survived the accident, it would have gone to my uncle, then Liam and