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Chapter Twenty-Nine
FRANCESCA
“Ihate being married to Tony,” Maria, the redhead complains. “I hate the sex the most. He grabs my breasts and fumbles around between my legs, and suddenly without any rhyme or reason, he’s finished, and that ladies and gentlemen, is the end of it. My pleasure is none of his concern.”
“At least your husband still wants you,” Tina complains. “Mine thinks of me as the mother of his children. He has zero sexual interest in me.”
I shift uncomfortably in my seat. We’ve ended up in a bar downtown and have already consumed a few bottles of wine. For the past several minutes, the women have been talking about their marriages, and it’s been one grumble after the other. Who knew that underneath all the layers of beauty enhancements and expensive clothes, they were suffering? To be honest if I’d heard all these many grievances before I married Valentino, I wouldn’t fancy walking down the aisle with any man.
Bella sighs, sipping her wine. She looks around the table, her eyes glassy with unshed tears. “Every day I think about running away, but I know he will find me, no matter where I go.”
Louisa visibly shudders. “You girls make me never want to marry.”
Maria scoffs. “Like we were ever given the chance to decide,” she says. “I’m sure even as we speak your family is already looking for a man to marry you off to.”
“I have four older sisters,” Louisa says. “No one really pays me any mind, and thank goodness. I hope I find a man and fall in love before anybody thinks about marrying me off.”
“I hope so too,” Bianca agrees. “My biggest fear is being married off to an old man like Maria’s husband.”
Maria glares at her with disapproval. “Thanks, Bianca.”
“What about you?” Bella asks me. “What’s your husband like?”
I’m about to wave the question off with some noncommittal answer when Louisa answers for me. “How can you not know who her husband is?”
I give a humble smile, but I’m lowkey delighted because I obviously got the best of the bunch. Maria is married to an old geezer who doesn’t care about her sexual needs, and Bella is married to a young bastard who beats her at the slightest provocation. Tina’s man is probably gay. Valentino is a whole different animal.
“Who is he?” The girls lean towards Louisa. “Tell us!”
“She married Silent Night.” At Louisa’s words, the table goes silent and the girls send me shocked and pitiful glances.
“My father told me he cut off a man’s tongue and fed it to him once,” Tina says in a scared voice. “I’m so sorry, Francesca.”
“That’s one of the mild stories,” Bella adds in a scandalized voice. “Silent Night gouged out a man’s eye and ate it!” She shakes her head and trembles at the thought.
I let them exchange more impossibly gory tales before I speak up. “Well, I don’t care about what he’s done because he’s good to me.”
The girls snap their mouths shut in astonishment. “Really?”
“Yes.”
“You mean, he doesn’t hit you?” Belle asks incredulously.
“No.”
“But all the men in our business beat their wives.”
“Not Valentino,” I say vehemently, then cross my fingers because I remember that spanking session. But that was a sex thing, not a violence/control thing.
“What about sex?” Tina whispers. “Is he any good?”
I can’t help it, I blush.
“You don’t have to answer,” Tina says. “I see it on your face.”
“Girl, you won big,” Bianca says enviously. “He’s incredibly handsome and I used to have a secret crush on him years ago.”
“It’s early days. Don’t celebrate too soon. The real test comes when the honeymoon vibes fade,” Maria warns darkly.