Chapter 60

"She was my sister's best friend. Practically lived with us when we were young."

Massimo's fork returned to the table forcefully.

"That's enough," he hushed.

But I hardly learned anything!

I faced Massimo and asked uncaringly, "Could I have a moment alone with Leonardo?"

"No," he cut.

"Fine," I spat, and asked Leonardo instead. "Who's Giulia?"

Massimo lost it.

I should've calmed the cruelty he'd walked in with, instead I let it loose.

I flinched as the glass cup shattered into the mantle as loose glass glitters rained down the fireplace. He stood so quickly in wrath that I froze. I'd seen him angry, I'd seen him lose control, but I'd never seen him fucking lost and taken by anger.

This demon, I feared.

His body rushed toward me, and in one swift move, his hand replaced the faint bruises that marked my neck. Gripping tightly, his face lowered with wicked evil.

"Don't ever speak her name in my presence."

His warning filled me with fear.

I fucking feared him!

For once, I felt paralyzing dread, the chilling spite of his words, and the promise he didn't elaborate if I went against them. This time, his merciless brown eyes cut through me savagely and inhumanely as he clearly threatened. Seeing the diabolical beast of the man who everyone feared, I understood it.

With his shackling hand wrapped around my throat, and even while I couldn't hide my shaking chest, or the trembles on my fingers, I pulled my push dagger out, and placed it under his jaw.

"Get your hand off me." I seethed.

Massimo's head tilted down to touch the sharp edge that threatened him. Ignoring the blade, his cruel gaze watched me with disgust.

He let go, and I gasped without removing my blade.

"Giulia is whose ring you bear, piccola."

My arms failed, my heart broke, and I froze.

Giulia was his mother.

Massimo gave me his mother's ring.

MASSIMO

Leonardo refused to speak to me and returned to Mrs. Carmine for the nightly coffee hour. His disappointment and words followed me everywhere." Will she die by your hands?" While I hadn't believed she would, that day spoke otherwise.

"Leave your bike and come with me," I ordered Elio as I passed him.

"Where are we going?" He spun and followed me until he jumped into my car.

I shut the door. "Dress shopping."

His head snapped, and I ignored the questions and loathing aimed at me.

"We leave in an hour," he said, confused, as if I had forgotten the plans I'd made.

But because of those plans, I was searching for her. I put the car in drive and left my restaurant, Gusto's, in the rearview mirror.

Things between Alessandra and I had spoiled into hatred. I could see its haze in the short time her eyes locked on to mine. So much sparked around them, but revulsion was its master.

Whether I cared or not wasn't the problem. Because during those days, I used my time to hunt Leandro. And while I convinced myself it was for the best, a thin needle pricked with annoyance by seeing her so distant. Lost.

But the knowledge that I had broken the same promise I once vowed to never repeat kept me away from her. I was outraged at breaking my honor. She now made me question my own vow. My word.

I focused on work, the famiglia, and the meeting I would soon face. But, after not speaking one word to each other for days, and her indifference to seeking out my body at night, this wasn't what I wanted to return to.

We were to be wed in less than two weeks, and I had a fucking syndicate to burn. I shouldn't be concerned about her delusional feelings. She had tossed and turned each night, and even though she'd admitted to being fine after killing a man, her sleepless nights had kept me up. When dawn had arrived, I left her by the edge of the mattress as if I hadn't struggled to see her helpless, fighting me even in her sleep.

The door bells chimed at my entrance, and Nate smiled knowingly with crossed arms at the corner.

"My God, there's so much white in here," Elio uttered repulsively as he scanned the shop.

There was, as well as lace and tulle.

Mrs. Carmine asked if Alessandra had chosen a dress or if she needed to look for one. I'd told her I would take care of it, and that same afternoon I reserved a private appointment with just the owner for Alessandra. Then I'd told Vadim to ask Davina to accompany her, giving him the name and time before moving on.

Alessandra hadn't involved herself with any wedding preparations, but I knew what she wanted, so I'd made it meet her expectations and desires. She might not see it as a celebration or a promise before God, but damn if I ruined the one thing little girls dream of. Did she dream of her wedding day? Had it been for love? Had it been to a killer?

As I glanced around the elegant and silk-filled room, I knew I had found the ideal shop for her. Antique sofas and chaises scattered before a mirrored podium, and I watched Nate's reflection.

"I wondered if you would come," Nate cooed.

I didn't find him funny and moved past him.

Davina's head didn't turn as I stood next to where she sat. Her fingers stilled on the catalog she held too tightly on her thighs. She slowly exhaled, and while her eyes didn't lift, her head twitched in acknowledgment.

Without Vadim around, my presence always made her uncomfortable. At unease. I didn't blame her; I was no different from the bastards who butchered her body. I too had men hunting her at one point.

I looked straight ahead, and our eyes met through our reflection.

"Why all the trouble? Why not just tell her you've booked the place and asked me to join?"

"Did you mention that?"

She huffed. "Of course not."

"Good, thank you for coming."

"You say it as if I had a choice."

I chuckled. "True. And not that I owe you an answer, child, but unlike Vadim, I have no desire to make anyone believe I care."

"Don't you, Massimo? Care?"

I watched her head turn toward me in the mirror, felt her questioning gaze, and heard the doubt in her voice.

"No, I don't," I answered coldly, and caught her eyes. "Now, where is she?"

"You can search for her yourself." Davina stood and left.

Fuck, perhaps spending time with Alessandra wasn't such a good idea.

I followed the path Davina's eyes had suggested and walked deeper into the establishment. A woman, roughly in her early thirties stepped out with silent mumbles of annoyance as she closed the door behind her.

"I should have known." Her fingers circled around her temples, and her strawberry-blonde hair fell against her cheeks.

"Should have known, what exactly?"

The lady, who I could guess was the owner, Laura, froze as her mouth opened wide in a silent gasp.

"Mr. Lombardi!" she exclaimed as her eyes scanned my tattooed skin, and her feet carried her a step farther from me.

I raised my brow in question.

"Oh nothing, sir. It's just been aa day," she stuttered.

"And I hope you are making my future bride hers." I took away the distance she'd created.

"Of course, of course. We are so privileged for the Lombardi name to wear our brand."

Of that, I was sure. Money and greed often trumped the moral compass of those you would welcome.

"I'm glad we understand each other. Now if you could leave us alone."

I had hardly spoken the last words before she was nowhere in sight and the white door stared at me. Alessandra's name was printed in cursive on a delicate plaque.

I opened the door to a frustrated and irritable Italian woman.

"I said, I didn't need-" Alessandra's gaze bluntly stared behind her through the mirror. "Massimo."

She uttered my name as if she'd found a ghost. However, I had found a fucking ray of heaven that sent me to hell by the filthy thoughts of seeing her body.

As I gazed at Alessandra's see-through thigh-high tights with lace edges and matching white lace cheeky panties, I was speechless. Her tits were bare and her nipples were hard from the chilly temperature. My dick twitched. She didn't try to cover herself. Instead, her eyes remained on me while mine roamed over her exquisite shape and flawless sun-kissed skin.

I met her eyes and held my attraction, ordering my dick to calm down. But Alessandra's lips curled, her head craned, and her teeth caught her sangria-colored lips. Their color antagonized me for a taste, and I wanted to prove their natural stain was cherry flavored.

Fuck, my stubborn dick was heavy with a load, and she knew it.

Toying with me, her gaze taunted, and with a flick of her wrist, she pushed the right side of her hair back and her tit was fully visible to me.

Mio Dio, I wanted to ruin her body and sink my dick deep inside of her, beating her until her face scrunched in pleasure and her legs wobbled.

I didn't have much time left, but for her, I would find a way to stop it. I would stretch the minutes and seconds and fill her with my cum to remind her who she belonged to. Who owned her body.

"I wasn't aware you were coming."

"I wasn't." I stepped forward.

"Then why are you here?"

I took another.

"I'm leaving for the day."

Her eyes fluttered, losing her bravado the closer I got.

"Where?" she whispered.

"Texas. I'll be back late tonight."

My front met her back, and I lowered my head to her bare shoulder. My lips left their trace while I scattered higher to her neck without our eyes moving away from one another across the mirror.

Her breathing deepened, and she trembled as I took her head into my hand, stretching her skin for my mouth to take more of her neck.

Alessandra closed her eyes, defeated as she sank deeper.

I smiled.

"I still hate you."

My smile turned into a sneer.

She could hate me all she wanted, but her body-her body craved me, molding with my touch like clay. And her words held no power. Not when her skin reacted in need.

Hate?

"I hate you too," I whispered, taking her hip with a tight grip and bringing it back to my straining dick.

I hate you so fucking hard.

"Can you feel it?"

Alessandra whimpered, and her eyes shot open as her head shook.

"I can't."

Was she denying my touch?

I snaked one hand to her aroused nipple while the other pulled her closer and slipped over the lace fabric between her legs. It was stained and damp with her juices, and I cupped her.

"It seems your body betrays you, Alessandra."

Her ass backed deeper into my dick, but she quickly turned and stepped back.

"No."

"No?" A dark smile touched my lips.

"Yes, I said no." Her small, yet flawless tits bounced as she stiffened.

What the fuck was happening?

"Why are you depriving your body of release, exactly?"

"I don't know, Massimo. Maybe because the last time we spoke you had your fucking hands crushing my windpipe!" Her arms flew in frustration.

Hmm. "But you like it when I use my fingers as a choker, Alessandra."

I knew exactly what she meant. What she was trying to explain, and yet, I wanted her body more than to waste time talking about it.

"Don't!" she yelled. "Don't stand there and act as if it's the same. As if you didn't break your promise. As if I'm wrong to feel conflicted."