Chapter 78

Alessandra's palms extended over my chest, and she pushed her weight against me. Her force was weak as she tried shoving my body away. Resentful and enraged, she tried again, and this time, her palms formed into small fists.

"You gave me nothing!"

Struggling to see her breaking madness, I held one of her wrists between our bodies. Her arm fought to be freed, angering her further by the feeling of helplessness.

Tugging her close, I asked between my teeth, "Whose face did you envision, Alessandra?"

Alessandra pushed, and I pulled. She writhed, I held her tighter, and when she wouldn't face me, I made her look.

And I saw them. The unshed tears that threatened her hatred rim-filled emeralds. The teeth that captured her bottom lip as it shook, and the slight twitch of her button nose. Alessandra was losing her fight to the battle of hurt she'd held inside.

In a broken whisper, she replied, "My father."

Stunned by her answer, my hold loosened, but her will had already vanished and her hands slipped to her sides with no fight left. My gaze followed the lone tear that fell, and my chest clenched at its sight.

This wasn't my little cunning creature with forest fire eyes I'd vowed to protect for the rest of my life. This was the broken girl she'd imprisoned for years with deep wounds of hurt as agony poured from the past.

I couldn't take away the pain or comfort her without tearing her further. Without giving her the sense of care. And while I detested her cloudy gaze, the red in her eyes, and the tears that flowed, I stood watching her saddened features, unknowing how I could stop them.

My hands spread to her jaw and neck as I lowered my lips to her cheek. My mouth trapped her tears and the salty taste of their pain. Slowly, I brought her body flush to mine while my face slithered close to her ear.

"Don't cry, Alessandra. It weakens me."

Small trembles turned into involuntary body tremors as her tears molded into cries.

They did exactly what I'd expressed, weakened me.

I struggled between walking away and staying. Neither was something I wanted to do. If I walked away, I wouldn't know when they stopped, but if I stayed, I wouldn't know how to take them away.

I was at a loss, so when her head dropped to my chest, and her delicate fingers curled around my arms with fists full of fabric, I stayed.

Standing still while tears dampened my dress shirt, I kept my hands and fingers intertwined with her silk chestnut hair.

I stood there for long minutes without my chest relieving the misery that crept inside, and a part of me wanted to understand her pain.

ALESSANDRA

The dark sky continued to claim the early hours of the new day as soft thunder rocked the silence. I was lying next to Massimo, and while his breathing was even, I knew he was awake.

We didn't touch through the night, and even now, my body remained far from his warmth. He'd seen me weak as I had lost all composure yesterday, and while my mind played with the tricks of want, need, and hope, I'd grown numbed by the time sleep claimed me.

Today was the last day before I said I do to a killer whose hands I craved.

I was worn, confused, and outright dreading seeing my family. Because now, I felt too much.

I'd wished the next time I would face my father, I would smile brightly and show him how he'd lost. How even in misery, I prevailed, and he couldn't touch me again. I wanted to look Aldo in the eye to show him what he hadn't been able to do without me, and I'd dreamed of facing Dante's compulsive demeanor to teach him how a woman could handle their emotions better.

Instead, my eyes were puffy, my heart scorched, and my will splintered.

Massimo hadn't uttered another word after his chest soaked up my tears. Last night, he'd just waited until my rough breathing settled, and my eyes ran dry before he placed his hand low on my back and guided me out of the room and into ours.

His silence had been enough, because at least then promises couldn't be broken, and words would've been tainted by deception.

"Broken streetlamps remind me of the first life I took and the last night I saw my mother."

My heart raced in my chest as Massimo broke the silence inside the room. I didn't move. I lay paralyzed as I listened to him share a part of him.

"It was the night before my fourteenth birthday. We'd been running for so long that I began believing my mother's fear was all a creation of her mind. I don't remember a time before just us, and in the early hours of the morning, she dropped me off on the curb next to a large stone building.

"She held my face one last time and vanished into the darkness. I never saw her again." Massimo shifted. "And while I bathe in the dark, I can't stand seeing a broken streetlamp."

I breathed quietly through my parted lips in ache as my soul grasped a fragment of his past. The troubles he'd buried without allowing others to see them.

"I've made peace with who I am, Alessandra, and what I can't offer. But I owe you a thank you. While I am a proud man, you deserve the reasoning behind my gratitude for something that may seem minor, but to me"

Massimo trailed off, and as he opened the door of his past in the dim hours of the morning, I wanted to venture closer to what made him, him. He was right. To me, the broken light didn't concern me. I had scheduled and assured the repairs with Nate before we left Montana. At a time, I was still riding high on the riches and ideas for our future. Little did I know, it was a rooted wound tied with foul vines of memories.

I risked a glance and found his eyes open, watching the ceiling as if he was searching for something more than the roof lines. His relaxed breathing contradicted his rigid muscles, and when he felt my eyes on him, they lowered as his head leaned to meet my gaze.

"While I tell you this, I also have a motive."

Of course he did, Massimo didn't do anything without a gain even if it was to say thank you.

I tugged the bedsheet closer to my chest and gently nodded against the plush pillow.

"What do you want from me, Massimo?"

"Peace."

"I don't understand."

He exhaled deeply and flicked his eyes away before they returned to me.

"I never asked about your past, but I have a clear picture of the man your father was to you, and I know the position your brothers had placed you in."

"Yeah" I quipped.

"I also haven't shared my issues with your family and as they will arrive today, I need peace between us for at least a day." His hand ran over his jaw. "I can't have the war, your family, the threats, and you clouding my judgment. I can't control the other or you, but I am asking for peace for just one day."

I flipped over onto my stomach with a taunting smile I couldn't hold. I balled the pillow under my chest as I lifted my head to watch him carefully.

My, my, was Massimo trying to negotiate a treaty between us? A truce?

The corner of Massimo's lips twitched, and he gave me a look.

"Are you asking to be partners today, Massimo?" I smiled.

"I'm offering you support with your family today."

"So you want to partner?" I rested my chin against my palm.

"Alessandra."

"Massimo."

"Stop smiling."

I couldn't. It was plastered all over my features. The victory for him to agree that together we would be stronger even if it was for a day. The victory for something I'd asked for, even if love wasn't involved.

The trust.

"Just because you asked so nicely."

"All I asked was for one day of peace with you." He tried to make it clear, and it was.

Massimo needed us to see eye to eye and ride the troubles of his mind knowing I would be okay, and that he could count on me.

"Now, stop smiling."

My chest bubbled, and a laugh erupted by his testy tone. Massimo grumbled with dark eyes, and in one swift movement, his strong hands grabbed my hips and dragged me on top of him.

With our centers connected while the sheets writhed along with our bodies, I felt the outline of his dick pressed against me. I watched his brown eyes untamed as his breath feathered my lips.

I dampened my lips with my tongue and clutched onto his neck while my leg snaked around his hips. While we stared carefully at one another and our scents mingled, I failed to care about tomorrow or the following day. Because today we would be partners.

"I'm not good with peace," I murmured against his mouth.

"That's alright. You have tomorrow to wreck me."

Massimo collapsed his brutal mouth free, and his lips controlled mine. I kicked the covers and sheets off for our skin to mend to one. His hands ran furiously and gripped my sides, ass, and thighs, and I rocked my body to their assault.

I was flushed as heat coursed over my flesh, and I wanted him inside me. I wanted him now, hard and fast, to seal the vow of today. My hand slithered down his strong back with nails that stung its path. This caused his skin to crawl in a shiver and his mouth to falter by its sensation.

"Deal," My burning lips agreed, and my hand slipped between us, and I gripped his hard dick. "Now, fuck me." I tugged at his shaft, and he groaned.

Massimo did. He fucked his frustration and the stress he had been holding onto inside me brutally. Bruising and cruel thrusts. Stinging kisses, and painful touches, and each pound and sexual torture he gave, I wanted more. His troubles and torment to stain and use me for pleasure.

I came hard, coating his dick with my release until he emptied himself inside me. Our passion mixed together as he collapsed on top of me. Our scents fused as we both gave in to our desires, and I lay over the ruined white sheets, sore and satisfied.

Reluctantly, Massimo pulled away and stood. His eyes slowly roamed over my body, and he surprised me when he leaned back to steal a kiss before heading inside the bathroom. It took all my will to leave the bed behind and cover my body with his discarded button-up. However, knowing Massimo was behind the door, I chased him.

Massimo stood over the sink in boxer briefs. I admired his taut muscles and inked skin from afar while water ran, filling the sink halfway. He shut both valves off, and I met his eyes in the mirror.

A razor knife lay over a small black towel next to a clear jar of white mousse. His hair was tousled from my fingers and vibrant red smudges joined the black of his tattoos from my touches of our time together. While relaxed, his eyes calculated my every move as I walked closer. I leaned my ass on the counter until I slid onto the cool surface. He spread my legs open to cage himself between them.