Page 54 of Beautiful Torment (Empire of Kings #1)

ANGELO

A fter giving Romeo the go-ahead to torture Maurizio within an inch of his life, I take Abella home .

I would have liked to stay and enjoy slowly breaking him, but seeing Abella so wrecked changed all my plans. As I carry her into our suite, the memory of it still fills me with fury. With me out of the way in prison, Maurizio fucking broke her, and he did it on Matteo’s watch.

If I could, I’d resurrect him and murder him all over again.

How could he not know what was going on there? Then again, I doubt it would have mattered if he did.

From what I’ve been able to gather, I’ve learned that Matteo developed a taste for violence.

His desire to punish women escalated over the years as he spent more time with sex workers.

He’d dress them up like Abella and pay them a small fortune to do whatever he wanted to them.

Several of them told me how out of hand things got when his dick failed to perform.

Knowing what I do now, I can only guess it was because Abella hadn’t given herself to him. I don’t know when or how things soured in their relationship. But if he harbored that much resentment, it wouldn’t surprise me if he was aware of Abella’s abuse and did nothing about it.

He didn’t protect her.

When I look at her, so goddamn vulnerable, that realization punches me in the chest. I swore I wouldn’t let her pull me back in, but right now, there isn’t a thing I would deny her if she asked.

I undress her and settle her into bed, then I slip in behind her and wrap her in my arms. There isn’t much I can do to change what’s already happened, but I can be the refuge she needs right now.

Abella is soft-hearted, but she’s not weak. And though the truth might be ugly, she needed to know the things her father had done. It was the one thing she asked of me when we planned to marry. Never feed her pretty lies.

Maurizio doesn’t get the luxury of taking his sins to the grave.

When I glance down at Abella and see that she’s asleep, I press a soft kiss to her lips.

“ Buonanotte, angelo mio. Sei al sicuro adesso .”

After slipping out early to meet my brothers in the gym, I return to find the bed empty. A quick glance in the bathroom confirms Abella took a shower this morning, and I suspect she may have wandered to Mariella’s wing of the house to find Valentina.

I take a shower and dress for the day before setting out to find her. Instead, Nonna finds me, greeting me with a kiss on the cheek and an eager smile.

“Come, eat breakfast,” she says.

“I have to find my wife.”

“ Sì .” Nonna nods. “She’s already there.”

Skeptical, I follow Nonna outside and find Abella and Valentina laughing at something Mariella said. For a moment, I watch her, wondering if I imagined last night as she shovels a bite of pancake into her mouth and groans.

“Nonna makes the best pancakes in the world,” she says.

“Nonna makes the best everything in the world,” Mariella agrees.

Nonna, thoroughly enjoying their praise, makes our presence known as she grabs the platter of pancakes and tries to add more to their plates.

“ Mangia, mangia .”

“Nonna,” Mariella whines. “We have to work today. You’ll put us in a food coma.”

Nonna ignores that remark and promptly starts making me a plate with enough pancakes to feed six men.

I take my seat beside my wife and lean in, brushing my lips against her ear. “How are you this morning?”

“I’m fine.” She offers me a warm, genuine smile.

It’s a little unsettling how well she’s adapted to turning off her emotions.

“Abella,” I lower my voice.

“Angelo, I’m fine,” she promises.

“What are you two whispering about over there?” Mariella asks.

Abella’s gaze lingers on my face, the gentle flare of desire in her eyes. When she answers Mariella, it comes out a little breathless.

“Nothing.”

“Duly noted,” Mariella says. “I don’t want to know.”

Her chair scrapes against the floor as she rises from her seat. Much to my irritation, it pulls Abella from the moment.

“I have patients to see, so I’m off.”

“And I have a client to meet.” Valentina joins her.

“Val, you’ll have extra guards with you from now on,” I tell her.

She frowns. “Is that really necessary?”

“Yes.” I lean back, my palm drifting over Abella’s thigh beneath the table. “While you’re under my protection, that’s nonnegotiable. Same goes for you, Mariella.”

All three women exchange a brief glance, something silent passing between them. They look concerned, and I don’t know why, but I’ll need to find out what they’ve been up to.

Val and Mariella grab their plates and carry them to the kitchen, where Nonna has seemingly disappeared to.

“I have to leave in thirty minutes,” Abella says. “I should finish getting ready.”

She rises from her seat, prepared to run off, and I grab her by the arm. When she turns to face me, I see something I didn’t expect in her eyes. She’s embarrassed.

“Abella.” I graze the length of her arm and take her hand in mine.

“I wasn’t crying for him,” she says.

“Okay.”

She hesitates a moment before she continues. “Last night, you told me his punishment was for me. But I want you to do it for my mother and those other women and their babies.”

With a tug, I pull her onto my lap and tilt her face up to mine. “I’ll do it for all of you.”

She nods, exhaling a shaky breath. “I want to know when he’s dead, too.”

“You’ll be the first.”

My gaze drifts to her lips. Fuck, I want to kiss her.

I want to do other things too—like spread her out on this table and eat her pussy for breakfast. It’s been far too long since I’ve been inside her, and I’m still aching from being pressed up against her last night.

In an ideal world, I’d stay home and fuck her all day, but we both have things to do.

“Go get ready.” I release her reluctantly. “I’ll be joining you on the ride to the city.”

She hesitates to get up, and it pleases me far more than it should.

“Keep looking at me like that, cara , and you’ll have my cock buried inside you for so long you won’t make your appointments.”

For a second, it looks like she’s seriously considering it. Then my brothers make themselves known as they exit the house and head our way. Rafe smirks when he sees her sitting on my lap, and a pretty pink flush spreads over Abella’s chest as she peels herself off me.

“See you in twenty,” she mutters.