Page 14 of Enzo (Legacy of Heathens #3)

PENELOPE

“ M ia anima.”

My head felt heavy and my body tingled with sweet exhaustion, and I didn’t need to think too hard about why I felt this way. Deep down I knew. I could sense him, his musky scent all around me.

The sheer white curtains danced in the air as a breeze swept in and air brushed my heated skin, leaving goose bumps in its wake.

I looked around, the outline of the familiar muscular frame standing in the shadows.

“Hello, stranger,” I rasped, my voice soft. “What are you doing here?”

He stepped forward, his hands latching on to me. “I came to make you mine.”

His large hands grabbed my thighs, spread them open, and in one go, he plunged inside me. I moaned, his cock making me feel deliciously full.

He paused, letting me adjust to him, and then he started to move. Hard, punishing thrusts. His sculpted chest hovered over me, the single thorned rose tattoo coated with a sheen of sweat.

“Please… please… more…” My voice cracked with every word as he plunged deeper. My body tightened with each thrust, my whimpers increasing in pitch.

“Your pussy… fuck, it’s made for me, strangling my cock greedily,” he rasped with another thrust. “I could die like this, surrounded by you, and be a happy man.”

A heat in my belly built and built, the sensation fit to burst, when I startled, my eyelids flew open.

I blinked, disoriented, and for a second, I searched the darkness of my room.

Sweat covered my skin, making the sheets stick to me. One strap of my babydoll nightgown had slipped down my arm, leaving my breast exposed. And my panties were… on the floor.

The most shocking part?

My pussy was soaked . My inner thighs were sticky and glistened with my arousal. My body ached with a need that only one man could satisfy.

I covered myself up, then scooted back against the headboard, pulling my legs to my chest. My eyes darted around the room again, then out through the open balcony beyond, where a moonless sky stared back at me.

Will that be my future? I thought to myself. Dark and lonely while I ache for the one man who can make me come undone?

I thought I’d have a fling and come out unscathed. I was so fucking wrong. The masked stranger remained with me, lurking in the corners of my mind and coaxing me into revisiting every single second of that night.

It was only in the night, within the walls of my bedroom, that I allowed myself to think about him. I often wondered what would happen if I saw him again. So many what-ifs that life would allow me to explore if only I weren’t marrying someone else.

Chasing my silly dreams away with a subtle shake of my head, I carefully stepped out of bed and padded to the bathroom to wash off the evidence of my desire.

Dreaming was for women who weren’t trapped in an arranged marriage.

ENZO

The dream always started the same way.

“It’s time we stopped sharing a room,” I grumbled, staring at the mess scattered all around.

My six-year-old brother stood next to me, his eyes wide. “But why? I like sharing.”

“You’re a mess, Amadeo.” I opened my arms and pointed at the toys covering the rug. “Every time we come back from school, we have to clean our room.”

We went to the same school. I was a year older, so my classes started at eight while his started at nine. You wouldn’t think one hour was enough to pull every single toy out, but it totally was. My brother proved it over and over again.

A light spilled out from under the bathroom door.

“And you left the light on,” I reprimanded.

I stepped forward, bookbag still on my shoulder, and wandered toward the bathroom on the other side of the bedroom. Amadeo was close behind me, huffing and puffing. Whenever I brought up having independent rooms, he’d get upset.

But Father was right: it was inevitable.

My hand on the handle, a faint scent of copper registered as I pushed the door open. I stepped forward, my brother’s body bumping into me as I froze.

The familiar face lay propped against the porcelain tub, the water filling it stained red. Her eyes were closed, a dreamlike smile on her face, and her hair floating on the surface of the water. She looked like my friends’ mothers.

Normal. Happy. Sane.

“Is that… Mother?” Amadeo whispered, disbelief coating his tone. For the first time in our lives, she appeared normal. Kind, even. But there was still the question of what she was doing here and why the water was that deep red color…

I pushed him behind me.

He was too innocent to see her this way. She would understand that, if she’d ever bothered to love us. All our encounters so far had been terrifying.

“Go get one of the guards,” I whispered, shifting the bag on my shoulder.

Suddenly, a wave stirred the peaceful water, splashing all over the marble tile. “Boo!”

Amadeo screamed. I screamed.

My bag fell onto the floor with a thud and water splashed all over my legs. I scrambled around, ready to push my brother out of the bathroom, when I collided with the door.

It slammed shut, closing us in with her.

“Enzo!” My brother was terrified, gripping my shirt and shaking. “Is she a ghost?”

Mother threw her head back and laughed maniacally, the side of her I knew well more terrorizing than ever.

She reached for him, but I shoved him out of the way and blocked her path.

“Run, Amadeo,” I yelled, shielding him with my own body when something collided with my face. I looked up, noting it was a belt.

She’d wrapped a towel around herself and had begun to wail on me with her wet belt, sometimes hitting my face, sometimes my back, and sometimes my legs.

My brother screamed, a panicked expression on his face as he tried to yank the door open, but my backpack was in the way and his terror made him clumsy.

“Run,” I croaked, blood coating my vision.

“You leave this room, Amadeo, and your brother dies,” she snarled, her expression twisted. “You two are just like him.”

I fought against her, but she was too strong. I rammed my shoulder into her, making her stumble, but when I turned around, something hit my head, and my knees hit the cold marble.

The belt wrapped around my throat, crushing my windpipe.

“Have to finish you. Monster.” Her voice was a hiss against my ear, twisting with rage and madness. “Can’t have any more evil Marchetti spawns running around.”

I hated this woman. She was supposed to protect us, love us. I even hated Father at this moment for allowing someone like her to give us life.

Why couldn’t we have a normal mom like the other kids?

Dots swam in my vision as I gasped for oxygen, as banging and chiming sounds rang in a symphony I couldn’t comprehend.

I was yanked out of my sleep, that constant chime still present. It was my phone buzzing with the ringtone that only my brother, Father, and I used.

There was a single message.

Amadeo: Guesthouse. ASAP.

Fuck!

I rolled over and groaned inwardly, knowing I couldn’t ignore it. Although I was really tempted to, especially because you never knew with Amadeo. The emergency could involve a resupply of his favorite brand of condoms, or there could be a hurricane.

I stared at the ceiling of my home in Rome, the dream playing on repeat. I knew how it ended, always the same way. Like the reality.

I gritted my teeth as I pushed it all into a corner of my mind with all the other things I let pile up. They were crowding my head, and I feared one of these days, it would be impossible to compartmentalize.

It was five in the morning when I’d finally gotten back to Rome and hit the sheets, and after only a few hours of sleep, I really wasn’t in the mood for his theatrics. Although, it could be argued that I should thank him for yanking me out of this dream.

My phone buzzed again.

Amadeo: Answer, fucker, or I’m going to your fiancée’s house.

One of these days, I would murder my brother. Or maybe I’d just pay him back tenfold when he got hitched to Aria Costello. That sounded even better.

Amadeo: ???

Amadeo: Still fucking waiting!

I sighed, got out of bed, and headed for the shower as I typed my reply.

Me: I’ll be there in thirty minutes.

Twenty minutes later, I stepped into the foyer of Father’s mansion. The shouts of my young siblings echoed through the house, telling me they were all probably in the game room.

I headed through the large foyer, following the noise, and found all four of my siblings lounging on the sofas, Inessa and Romeo smoking a cigarette while Iryna and Fausto stared at them wide-eyed, the remote in their hands and the game completely forgotten.

All four had their backs to me, so keeping my footsteps silent against the plush rug, I snuck up on them.

“What’re you doing?”

The two startled, dropping their cigarette butts onto the floor, and I immediately stubbed them out.

“What the fuck, Enzo?” Romeo mumbled.

“Yeah, what he said,” Inessa hissed, glaring at me. The kid refused to curse, which was admirable, although I wished she would also refuse to experiment.

“No smoking. No drugs. No alcohol.”

They both glared. “You smoke.”

“And it’s a disgusting habit.” The irony of repeating Penelope’s words from yesterday didn’t escape me.

Inessa snickered. “So I heard.”

I rolled my eyes. “What did you hear?”

Romeo smiled smugly. “Better quit smoking so your girl will kiss you.”

“Don’t you worry about my girl. You better worry about Father learning about this and Mom seeing the damage you’ve done to her rug.”

Their gazes lowered to the black mark on the ground and they froze.

“We won’t be in trouble, right?” Fausto chimed in.

“Fausto and I were just playing,” Iryna muttered, glancing at the doors. Much like Inessa never wanted to curse, Iryna skirted trouble as much as possible.

I regarded the four of them, their gazes locked on me and full of awe. I loved all my siblings, but a part of me wished Isla would take them away from this place. Because sooner or later, that innocence on their faces would be replaced with the reality of our world.