Chapter 36

Massimo had men staged by the gates, and throughout the property, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. When I took a step closer to the door, they didn't stop me or bark. They just stood close in attention. This was new.

With one hand ready to slip under my dress for my knife, I pulled the door open, and a piercing shriek stunned me.

A female with her hand on her chest and terrified features stood inches away from me.

"What are they doing here?" she exclaimed, taking a step back and removing her hand from her body to wave down at the sweet four-legged creatures.

What are they doing here? What was she doing here, and who was she?

"Excuse me." I peered down at her without letting my hand fall away from the outline of my blade.

"Who are you?" Purple-stained lips curled and narrowed blue eyes asked.

Who am I?

I almost laughed. Almost.

The dyed blonde-haired woman straightened her posture, but my height combined with the heels I wore wasn't something she could stand up to.

"Alessandra Zanetti."

Her eyes fluttered and widened. That rang a bell, and today, I enjoyed the weight and burden my name carried.

She tried to hide her hesitation, but she was a fool to the game of confidence and a stranger to class.

"The question is who are you, and what are you doing outside my home?"

This allowed her to gain an inch of the lucid power she believed to have. Her hand rested on her hip.

"Delia." No last name was given. Therefore, no one with power. An afterthought. "Massimo is expecting me."

"Massimo isn't here."

"I'm aware." She shrugged. "He said I could wait in his study."

Where my knives were? Where I knew made-men spoke openly? The place not many stepped foot inside without him? I think not.

"You can wait outside."

Delia's mouth opened, and her chest puffed, choking her boobs against the skimpy and classless green dress she wore.

"I don't think you-"

"No." I stopped her before my blade came out to play. Vine and Wix recognized my warning tone, and both let out a heavy warning of their own as their throats snarled quietly enough to cause panic in her eyes.

"You can wait outside or leave." I gave her no room to defy me, and I shut the door in her face.

She didn't attempt to open it on her own, but I waited a second longer. Trying to piece together what had just happened and who she was before I walked away with Vine and Wix to the back side of the property.

While they ran away to take care of their necessities, I hoped the woman would take the second option, but if Massimo was expecting her, I couldn't intervene in business matters.

It was a business matter, right? He wouldn't be so bold as to bring someone under the same roof I lived in.

A part of me knew he would to prove a point. To prove to me he had no limits, no rules. But I would be damned to allow such a thing under the roof where I slept.

Then, it dawned on me.

The woman from the church.

I looked out into the dark, and as I watched Leonardo's home light some of the night away, my heart sank.

Men in our world were rarely faithful. How could they be, when most marriages happened out of convenience, and they could do as they pleased without repercussions while we were imprisoned by only them?

I knew this.

And since we never spoke of the matter, Massimo was oblivious to where I stood. Yet he was a man. One who was powerful, wealthy, and with looks that easily attracted everything that walked and looked for such things.

How could I not have thought of this? It had been weeks! Had I been so naive to believe all this time that he would refrain from sex? A man like him?

The dogs returned and sat by the door, waiting for me to let them back inside.

Breathe, Alessandra, breathe.

I did, but my palms pricked at the thought of him with another woman, and breathing didn't help the rising anxiety that continued to spread.

With each step back inside, I tried to bottle up the thoughts and images that played in my head.

The things he did behind closed doors.

The things deep down I wanted from him.

"Ms. Alessandra."

I heard my name in the distance, but I was stuck in my head. Frozen by the chilling hatred of this happening to me.

"Are you alright?"

I jerked at the soft touch that pulled me away from my thoughts.

My body repelled any touch, then why didn't it fight his?

Mrs. Carmine stood with wide dull-blue eyes. Her hands had clamped together on her chest, and I stared at her, observing the resemblance I had missed.

"Who's Delia?"

Her face fell.

It's all I needed. And yet, I waited for her reply. The confirmation I would get, the tells she would offer.

"She's my daughter." Mrs. Carmine's head bobbed, trying to conceal the full truth.

"What does she do?" My voice was steady while I felt like breaking.

"She is a designer."

Vague.

"What does she design?"

She hesitated, and I grew tired of the word play.

"Clothes."

Clothes.

It wasn't a business meeting.

I bit down on saying anything, gritting my teeth as I stared into her eyes. Then her eyes fell.

I took the blow she delivered but didn't strike back.

She didn't deserve my retaliation. Instead, I walked away from her and the immaculately set dinner table in determined steps.

Vine and Wix trailed behind, and I quickly ordered them to stay. They listened, but Vine whined the further I walked away.

With each step, I ignored the pristine and flawless appearance of the home. An interior that portrayed what many strived to live in. What many believed was happiness. When in reality, it was far from the truth. Facade.

Cheap perfume infiltrated the main room, giving away Massimo's arrival and mockery. I followed the scent, and its path led me to the closed door of his study.

My body shook as memories of the last time I faced a closed door and allowed impulsiveness to lead me to a painful punishment.

But bruises faded, and I was too unhinged to care for repercussions. I will be heard, and I will set his fucking world on fire if he believed I would allow such disrespect.

I wiped my hands over my dress, raised my eyes, and twisted the knob.

Not even a lock had been placed to stop me.

The door flung open, and my face heated as I took in the scene before me.

Blonde hair whirled, blue eyes widened, and immediately calmed with a smirk when they noticed me.

And it was over.

I let my madness win, and in one swift movement, I retrieved my knife. It flung out and twirled in my hand until it lay in a reversed grip.

Try me.

Her smirk disappeared, and fear smeared her features.

Frozen, her legs remained spread with her ass on Massimo's desk. Her heels were apart, caging Massimo to the chair. Her dress had ridden up, showcasing herself to the man who wasn't hers to do so, and yet she had smirked knowingly.

My grace and poise had vanished along with any sane thoughts as she stayed in the same position.

I snapped my eyes at him.

Nonchalant in his chair, Massimo sat relaxed with a glass of brown liquor in his hand as he watched me from afar.

While he was composed and unconcerned by my appearance, I spat through my teeth, not removing my gaze from him.

"Get out."

His detached eyes watched the war inside mine. However, the blonde was dense enough to try to talk back instead of listening to the venom that burned through my words.

"You have no-"

My eyes shot toward her, and her mouth shut when she saw the blade spinning in my hand and returning with ease to the grip I had. I kept it below my hips, but the threat was clear. Get out.

"I suggest you leave before I teach you how a Zanetti wields a blade."

Her legs closed quickly, moving away from the desk and scrambling down with raised brows. With both hands on her chest, she held her purse without adjusting the bottom of her dress. When she stood next to Massimo in disarray, she had the nerve to speak up again.

"You are fucking cra-"

Before she finished the sentence, my left hand rose, and I spun the knife in the air in front of me. I watched the sharp blade spin and waited for the exact moment to catch its smooth edge. A move that earned me many scars until I'd perfected it. When my fingertips pinched the cool metal between them, I brought it back. Ready to be thrown at my target.

With the handle near my shoulder and my fingertips aching to cast deadly pain, I waited.

"One more word," I warned. Longing for her mouth to open.

Her brows pinched together, and her eyes pooled with unshed tears as they jumped from Massimo to me.

I almost wished he would try to stop me so I would have a reason to nick him and finally break his composure.

But Massimo took a sip from his glass, and Delia cried, shaking her head. Her blonde hair whipped in desperation, but all she had to do was leave. It wasn't difficult to understand my words. I had spoken in a language she comprehended.

"Leave."

I took a step away from the door, leaving her a clear path to safety while I held it wide open.

Delia's head bobbed up and down uncontrollably in agreement, but her eyes stared at my weapon.

Impatient for her departure, I lowered my knife but never placed it back in its holster. I only reclaimed my first grip.

Accepting my movement, she beelined toward the door. It was silly, really, because this was the most comfortable grip for me to have. The most dangerous. Yet she considered it harmless as her heels trembled past me, and without another word, she left.

I took a deep breath, hoping to overrule the madness that continued to search for a target.

But the only ones left were Massimo and me.

One step forward, and the creaking door was free. It swung slowly until its loud click pierced through the tension and heat that clung inside the room.

I closed my eyes, but they burned with pressure as I acknowledged the disturbed and deranged feelings. The anger and bile I felt for what I'd walked into.

Twisted with resentment, I lifted my gaze to him.

His tie was intact along with his blazer, and my eyes lowered, catching his belt untouched. That alone eased my hatred, but the damage had been done. If I didn't set boundaries, he would act as if I didn't have any.

I wanted to speak as if I wasn't fazed by his actions. I wanted to speak as if I wasn't rattled to my core by seeing a woman spread out and ready for him. And while we weren't anything but two humans who only caused pain to one another, I was hurt.

It didn't matter how much I tried to ignore his silence or the idea of what this perturbed arrangement meant. I cared.

Therefore, I was livid, and my voice was anything but calm.

"Trust me when I say I will cause harm to whoever touches you again."

Massimo's mask fell, and surprise filled his eyes.