Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 97656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 488(@200wpm)___ 391(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 488(@200wpm)___ 391(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
“I understand,” I say as I pull on a shirt. The words are calm, but my jaw is tight with anger. I’ll handle it. I always do.
On my way downstairs, I pause outside her room. A part of me wants to go back in and fuck her senseless. But I don’t. I’m giving her the space she just asked for.
As I get out the front entrance, my driver is already waiting, black SUV idling at the curb, engine purring low. He straightens when he sees me.
“The club,” I tell him, sliding into the back seat. “We’ve got a mess to fucking clean up.”
The door shuts, and the car pulls away. Before I lose myself in work, I allow myself a few moments to remember… the beautiful peace I felt holding her that I’ve never felt anywhere else.
Chapter Thirty-One
VIOLA
Istand in front of the fogged-up mirror, hair dryer still purring in my hand, the warm air moving through the last damp strands until they fall soft and loose around my shoulders. The sound cuts off when I switch it off, but the quiet that follows feels louder than the hum. My mind is spinning, replaying every second of the last hour.
Gentle.
The word keeps circling, soft and strange. I thought with this arrangement he was going to treat me like another piece of chattel that he’d snatched from Salvatore. That I would belong to him, the new boss. I figured Ricci would use me the same way Salvatore did—cold, distant, maybe even cruel once the doors closed and no one was watching. That’s how I figured these things worked. That’s how these marriages worked. Instead, he dried my hair like I was something fragile… something precious. His fingers were almost reverent, and the whole time I just sat there on the counter, stunned, watching him, waiting for the moment it would change. He would change.
My body is still buzzing from what he did to me in the shower. The way he touched me, held me, made me come apart, as if he had all the time in the world to learn every inch of me. But even while I melted under his hands, part of me stayed braced. Ready. Because that’s what you do when you’ve spent four years learning that softness is just a trick before the hurt starts.
I can’t understand him at all.
I set the dryer down on the counter. My chest feels strange, a mix of warmth and confusion that makes my breath come shallow. He’s not at all what I expected. And that scares me more than anything. Because if he keeps being like this—gentle, patient, looking at me like I’m the only thing in the room that matters—I know I’m going to fall. Against every ounce of better judgment I have left, I’m going to warm to him. If I am honest, my heart, traitor that it is, is already leaning in. I can’t let that happen. Not yet.
Not when I still don’t know what this really is.
I’m confused. Weak, even. I shake my head once, hard, like that might clear it, but of course it doesn’t. With a sigh, I step out of the bathroom. My legs still feel a little unsteady as I cross into the bedroom. I have absolutely no idea what to do now. Let this strange situation play out and see where it leads? Or immediately wrestle back full control, keep my walls high? My mind flips back and forth between the two options until I feel quite dizzy.
I head for the closet, still wrapped in the white robe, and pull the door open. My breath catches a little. There are clothes inside. Not many— a few simple things hanging neatly, but things I would have chosen myself. My eyes land on the tags still attached to the clothes, and I frown. Marrying me yesterday was one solution to my predicament, but how did he so perfectly guess my taste and preferred brands?
I find underwear and bras in the top drawer too—soft lace in neutral tones. My fingers brush over them as I look for the size. They’re a perfect fit. Exactly my size. The realization hits me slowly, like a secret he’d tucked away without saying a word. He’s experienced enough to guess my size just by looking at me. Heat creeps up my neck. I slip into them quickly, then something warmer curls in my chest. He knew I’d choose this room too. How? The unsettling thought lingers as I pull a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt off the hangers.
The jeans hug my hips just right, and the t-shirt feels soft and a perfect fit.
I head downstairs barefoot, the polished wood cool under my feet. The penthouse is so quiet it startles me. No footsteps echoing from the kitchen, no low murmur of housekeepers moving through the halls, no clatter of breakfast being prepared. In the old house it was never like this. The place was always bustling: staff rushing around, Salvatore barking orders into his phone, his men moving about like silent ghosts dressed in black. I never understood why he made me come down every morning and sit with me while he ate breakfast, when he ignored me the whole time anyway, phone glued to his ear, or snapping at his men. Here… it’s lovely silence. Not even the faint hum of the city far below the windows is noticeable when all the windows are closed. It feels peaceful. Lonely in a way that doesn’t hurt.