might come in handy if the nasty butler ever decided to push my buttons or take things too far. Henry disconnected the call, and I scurried away so he wouldn't notice I was so close in his proximity.
Wanting to be as far from him as possible, I climbed the stairs to the second floor that led me straight into a library so huge it had consisted of multiple rooms. It was filled with hundreds of books, but—to my dismay—most of them were in Italian. At first, I was disappointed and frustrated that Alessandro failed to have any appreciation for English literature, but then I found a few old books explaining the basics of Italian grammar and I had gotten a brilliant idea to start learning my new husband's language. After all, I might need it in order to understand what he and those around him were saying in my presence. Apart from that, I wanted to do something useful with my time instead of spending every waking moment thinking about what awaited me when Alessandro returned from his trip.
Despite the fact I had gained more freedom, I spent most of the time cocooned in my room, getting acquainted with the beautiful language that used to make my knees go weak every time Alessandro had spoken to his entourage in the restaurant. A lot had changed since then, and the language I once associated with love, now reminded me of something darker and more painful. Nevertheless, I was determined to learn every single word of it.
The moments I emerged myself in those old books kept my mind off what he'd done. Whenever I remembered, I felt ashamed and my eyes would brim with fresh tears. I hadn't known it yet, but the anticipation of seeing my husband again would end sooner than I thought.
On the night before Alessandro was supposed to return, the unexpected sounds of commotion woke me up. Half-asleep, I opened my eyes and Alessandro's shadow silhouetted in the middle of my dark room. For a split second, I believed I was trapped in a nightmare, but then he murmured something in a cold voice, calling me tesoro, and I knew he was truly there. Alarmed, I turned on the light on the nightstand. My husband was pale and resembled a man haunted by an evil demon. When he advanced toward me, I noted the blood smeared all over his white shirt. I sat up so fast a wave of dizziness smacked me, and I shrieked in absolute horror. The darkness in Alessandro's gaze intensified, and his eyes resembled black bottomless pits without a trace of light or feeling.
Before I could even think of evading him, he was already on the bed, pulling me closer and kissing me so hard he bruised my lips. Then he covered me with his weight, and in sheer panic I pleaded with him as he yanked my nightie to my hips and removed my panties. But all my begging was in vain. He caught my lips in another brutal kiss and stripped off his own pants. Those dark eyes fluttered closed as he entered my body in one swift thrust. That burning sensation returned with a vengeance and I cried out in pain. Alessandro froze in complete stillness, and slowly opened his eyes to look at me. He didn't move an inch, but was buried inside me. The feeling of fullness caused me immense discomfort.
“Alessandro, please...it hurts,” I stammered, overwhelmed by his consuming presence.
As if awakening from a deep trance, color returned to his cheeks, and the expression in his eyes brightened. I trembled beneath him in fear and pain. Then he caressed my face and kissed away the tears that froze on the edges of my eyelids.
“It's supposed to hurt, tesoro. It always hurts,” he whispered in a distant voice, as if referring to something else entirely. “Now you know how it feels.”
While I gazed at him in confusion, his lips lowered on mine, and this time he kissed me with surprising caution, like he fought with himself not to frighten me further. I silently gasped when he moved inside me. At first in a gentle and slow rhythm, then with more and more demand until he was hurting me again. As I uttered small, helpless sounds of pain, his fingers lowered down my abdomen until they began circling a spot between my thighs that somehow erased the pain and blossomed into something else. Some kind of maddening fever conquered my body.