A Hunger for the Forbidden(17)

“I might be able to change your mind,” he said, his voice rough. He leaned in and kissed her neck, his teeth scraping her delicate skin, his tongue soothing away the sting.

Yes. She wanted to shout it. Yes, forever. Matteo, ti amo.

Instead, she kissed him again, long and deep, pouring everything out, every emotion, every longing that had gone unanswered for so long. Every dream she knew would never be fulfilled. Because Matteo might be hers tonight, but in just a month, she would belong to another man forever.

“Take me to your room.”

Alessia shook her head, brought herself back to the present. Everything had been so perfect that night. It was the morning that had broken her heart. The cold light of day spilling over her, illuminating the truth, not allowing her to hide behind fantasy any longer.

She could remember just how he’d looked, the sheets tangled around his masculine body, bright white against his dark skin. Leaving him had broken her.

She’d wanted so badly to kiss him again, but she hadn’t wanted to chance waking him.

Somehow that night she’d let her fantasies become real, had let them carry her away from reality, not just in her imagination but for real. And she couldn’t regret it, not then, not now.

At least, she hadn’t until recently. The way Matteo looked at her now … she hated it. Hated that he saw her as a leash.

But it was too late to turn back now. The dutiful daughter had had her rebellion, and it had destroyed everything in its path.

“You don’t go halfway, do you, Alessia?” she asked the empty room.

Unsurprisingly, she got no answer.





CHAPTER FIVE


“YOU CANNOT SIMPLY take what is mine without paying for it, Corretti.”

Matteo looked at Antonioni Battaglia and fought a wave of rage. The man had no idea who he was dealing with. Matteo was a Corretti, the capability to commit hideous acts was a part of his DNA. More than that, Matteo had actually done it before. Had embraced the violence. Both with cold precision, and in the heat of rage.

The temptation to do it again was strong. Instead, he leaned forward and adjusted a glass figurine that his grandmother had had commissioned for him. A perfect model of his first hotel. Not one of the Corretti Hotels, the first hotel he’d bought with his own personal fortune.

“And what exactly is that?” Matteo asked, leaning back in his office chair.

“My daughter. You defiled her. She’s much less valuable to me now, which means you’d better damn well marry her and make good on the deal I cut with your grandfather, or the Correttis won’t be doing any trading out of Sicily.”

“My mistake, I thought Alessia’s body belonged to her, not you.”

“I’m an old-fashioned man.”

“Be that as it may, the law prevents you from owning anyone, which means Alessia does not belong to you.” He gritted his teeth, thought of Alessia’s siblings, of all she’d given up to ensure they would be cared for. “However, at my fiancée’s request, I have decided to honor the agreement.” He paused for a moment. “What are your other children doing at the moment?”

“I’ve arranged for the boys to get a job in the family business.”

Matteo gritted his teeth. “Is that what they want?”

“You have to take opportunity where it exists.”

“And if I created a different opportunity?” He turned the figurine again, keeping his hands busy, keeping himself from violence.

“Why should I do any more business with a Corretti than necessary?”

“Because I hold your potential fortune in the palm of my hands. Not only that, I’ll be the father of your first grandchild. Mainly, though, because you’ll take what I give you, and no more. So it’s by my good grace that you will have anything.”

Antonioni’s cheeks turned red. It was clear the old man didn’t like being told what to do. “Corretti, I don’t have to give your family rights to—”

“And I don’t have to give you a damn thing. I know you’re making deals with Angelo. And you know how I feel about Angelo, which puts you in my bad book right off. I may, however, be willing to overlook it all if you do as I ask. So I suggest you take steps to make me happy. Send your children to college. I’m paying for it.”

“That’s hardly necessary.”

He thought of Alessia, of all she’d sacrificed for them. “Listen to me now, Battaglia, and remember what I say. Memorize it. Make a nice little plaque and hang it above your fireplace if need be: If I say it is necessary, then it is. So long as you do what I say, you’ll be kept well in the lifestyle you would like to become accustomed to.”