Page 75 of Bellini Bound

I hugged my knees, curling in on myself. “What are you saying, Enzo?”

“I’m saying that I’m sorry that I didn’t put my foot down when Matteo demanded I marry you.”

God, I felt like such an idiot, waxing poetic in my mind about how incredible last night was, only for him to wake up and tell me he wished we’d never gotten married.

Sure, if you’d asked me a few months ago, I would have admitted to feeling the same way. But now? Now, everything had changed. We’d learned to not only coexist but had taken giant strides toward building a relationship. Yes, it was mostly centered around sex right now, but I’d begun to believethat our physical connection left the door open for us to explore an emotional one at some point in the future.

Sitting up, Enzo swung his legs over the edge of the mattress, keeping his back to me. “I can’t go back and change the past. But I can do everything in my power to make this right.”

With a thick swallow, I asked, “And how do you ‘make this right’?”

“By letting you live the rest of your life in peace, far, far away from here.”

“You’re sending me away?” My voice rose in disbelief.

“We’ve got a few properties around the globe you can choose from. A villa in Italy, a flat in London, a chalet in Switzerland, and even a beach house in Sydney. All of them are off the books; no one can trace them to our family. It’s as much freedom as I can offer you since our marriage must remain intact.”

It took a full minute for what he was saying to sink in. But the more I rolled his reasoning around in my mind, the more it sounded like a load of bullshit. Men like Enzo didn’t have a conscience, so there had to be something else motivating his decision to hide me away in a city halfway around the world. And when I finally landed on the only conceivable explanation, my temper flared.

“Why don’t you tell me the truth, Enzo? That you’ve gotten bored with me in your bed, and that’s why you’re shipping me off overseas. Can’t have your wifey hanging around when you bring other women home.”

Enzo shot off the bed, whipping around with wide eyes. “What? No! Why would you even think that?”

“What else am I supposed to believe when you outright said you regret marrying me and want to take living separate lives one step further and start doing it on a different continent?” I yelled, my anger rising.

He huffed. “I took vows, Allie. There will be no other women, just like there won’t be other men for you, no matter where you end up.”

If that was the case, then I needed to dig deeper because this didn’t make any sense. Especially after last night.

“No.” That one word came out with conviction.

“No?” Enzo’s eyebrows rose high on his forehead. “What do you mean, no?”

I folded my arms over my chest. “No, I’m not leaving.”

“Allie,” he breathed out my name.

“I’m serious, Enzo. If you want me gone that badly, you’ll have to drag me onto a plane kicking and screaming. Then once we arrive at one of those luxury vacation homes, you better be prepared to lock me inside because I won’t stay willingly. Kinda defeats the purpose, don’t you think? Since the whole goal is to grant myfreedom. Which, for the record, I didn’t ask for.”

“Why are you being so difficult?” His hands flew to his head, and the way he clawed at it, I’d bet right now he was wishing the strands were longer so he could tug on them properly.

“You call it difficult, but I call it standing my ground. Fighting for what I want. And what I want is—”

“Don’t,” he cut me off. “Don’t finish that sentence, Allie. I’m begging you.”

Ignoring his plea, I lifted my chin. “You. I want you, Enzo.”

“Goddammit, do you ever listen?” Enzo roared, pacing the room. I folded my lips inward to fight a smile at how ridiculous he looked doing so naked, his morning wood bobbing with each frustrated step. Breathing heavily, he paused long enough to demand, “Take it back.”

With a firm shake of my head, I doubled down. “No.”

“You don’t want me.” His chest heaved, glistening with a thin sheen of sweat from his frantic movements. “I made you kill a man!”

The fire seeped out of me, and my gaze dropped to my lap. “You think I’ve forgotten? But I also remember the laundry list of heinous crimes he committed, the girls he hurt.”

“That!” He pointed a finger in my direction. “That right there is why you need to leave. Today. Because you’re rationalizing the Hell I’ve put you through, chalking it up to some kind of vigilante justice. When the truth is I’m a monster. You said so yourself.”

“I did say that,” I agreed. “But I think I knew, even then, that your cruelty was all an act. Because the night we met, you literally gave Matteo the shirt off your back. And a monster would never do that.”