Page 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Mya

He was standing facing a window looking out when I opened the door and stepped into the bedroom.

I was exhausted. I just wanted to get some sleep, but I couldn’t sleep when he was there.

Silently, I closed the door and walked back to the study where I spent most of my time.

I tried my best to stay away from him, not only because I didn’t trust him, but because I didn’t want him to somehow notice the little subtle changes that pregnancy was having on my body.

When the staff had come back after being gone for a week, I’d been elated to have someone else around so that I wouldn’t have to be alone with him.

His presence still unnerved me. He slept next to me at night, but never touched me. He never tried to get near me.

I would have given him the benefit of the doubt if it weren’t for the fact that I knew about the cameras.

I deliberately avoided the ones I was aware of. It sucked being watched or feeling that I was being watched at every moment. It made me feel violated and on edge.

My life felt suffocating. I didn’t know what to do about Dario. I didn’t know what to do about the baby. My stomach and head hurt just thinking about my lack of choices. How had things gotten so insane and out of control?

What should have been a beautiful moment in my life, starting a family, was a moment I dreaded. Jason and I had never discussed having kids. I’d been on birth control since my teens so I just kept it up after we were married.

Jason and I had been more than enough for each other.

Up until the moment I realized I was pregnant, I’d never thought about being a mother. As far as I was concerned, I was still reeling from losing my own. It was a fresh wound…like Jason’s death had been.

My mother was the best. Strict, yet fair. We hadn’t been best friends.

She always made it clear that she was my mother and not my friend, but as I got older, she’d become gentler and had started to let me in. It had been devastating to walk into that house every day after school and watch her wither away.

She hadn’t bothered with any of the treatment options. She’d said she’d wanted to spend her last days feeling like herself. She’d been strong but I could see the disappointment and pain on her face every day, disappointment that she wouldn’t be able to see me grow up.

She would never get to see her grandchild. It tore me up inside more than anything else.

Mom would do anything for me, and I already felt the same way about my little nugget, which is what I called him or her in my mind. I just needed to figure out a way to escape Dario.

I’d done some digging before our wedding and realized that Dario’s family had ties to criminal dealings back in the eighties before technically going legit. I’d found nothing about Dario, but I did find interesting information about Nico and Matteo, his brothers.

I was curious why nothing about Dario was mentioned, but I didn’t need to know more. I knew he was up to no good. There was no way his family went legit and had gone from terrorizing and shaking down people to being philanthropists.

“Dinner is in a few minutes,” a voice said behind me. “Why aren’t you dressed yet?”

I found his expectation to look presentable and act cordially at all times to be unbelievable. He was nothing but a criminal in a suit.

“I don’t need to dress up for dinner.”

“You’ve been wearing that same shirt and jeans since yesterday.”

“Thanks for noticing.”

“Look, I’ve been thinking that maybe you need a change of pace.”

“Do you mean you’ll finally let the prisoner out into the public?”

“You aren’t my prisoner.”

“Really? Then why can’t I go where I please? Or do what I please.” I couldn’t help the next words that came out of my mouth. “And why are you watching me?”

His eyes searched mine. I expected him to deny it but he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “If you’re referring to the cameras, they’re for your safety.”

“Bullshit.”

“Mya, you tried to kill my brother. Do you think I’m the only one who noticed?”

“What are you trying to say?”

“You’ve made enemies, Mya.”

I gasped. I hadn’t ever considered that.

“No one would dare touch a hair on your head under my protection.”

“You’re just saying that…you’re making things up?—”

I stood up and attempted to walk out of the room past him, but he caught me by my elbow.

“Can you sit down and listen to me?”

I dropped down into the chair. “I’m listening.”

“You feel trapped. That wasn’t my intention.”

“You fully intended to trap me in this marriage.”

“I won’t deny that, but it was for your own good.”

“You’re delusional. And I don’t believe a word coming out of your mouth.”

I walked away.

He followed behind me. Things had come to a head between us. I could feel it.

“You don’t have to trust me or believe me. I’m accustomed to people questioning my judgment and my motives. And most of those people are dead.”

“Because you had them killed?”

His voice was soft, and I saw a glimmer of pain in his eyes as he said, “No, because someone else did.”

His eyes showed a moment of vulnerability, and just like that, the softness was gone. What had he meant? Who had died?

“Actually, do as you like.”

He turned away from me and walked away.

To my surprise, I didn’t see Dario for the rest of the day. He didn’t show up for dinner, and I couldn’t find him around the house.

His disappearing act was out of character. I figured he was avoiding me because of our argument earlier, but I didn’t regret a word that I’d said.

His one moment of vulnerability had taken me by surprise. He had a heart after all, but I still needed to stick to finding a plan to get away from him before he found out about the baby.

I took a shower later that evening before bed and when I got out, I noticed that he was already asleep in bed.

I felt relieved when I slid into bed next to him, but I didn’t allow myself to wonder why. In that unguarded moment, I turned toward him and watched him sleep. To my surprise, his eyes opened immediately.

“Are you still angry with me?” his sleepy voice was husky, deeper than usual, and undeniably sexy.

“Yes.”

He reached out then and took my hand, placing a kiss on the back of it. That small bit of affection turned me on. I could feel myself growing wet. I both resented what his touch did to my body and welcomed it.

Would it be so terrible if I had sex with him again? I had needs that I’d ignored for a long time. Whether I admitted it or not, Dario had awoken a side of me I wasn’t all that acquainted with.

Passion, lust, desire…I associated all those things with him. Would it be wrong if I let my body have what it wanted…what it craved from him?

I told my brain to shut up when he wrapped a hand around my neck and nudged me closer to him. This time when his lips met mine, the world felt like it paused as the warmth of his lips seemed to set fire to my entire body.

His mouth left my lips and he kissed my ear, trailing kisses along my neck. Something about this time was different from our first time. It was slow, unrushed.

I told myself not to kiss him back, to resist, but I couldn’t. I relaxed against him, enjoying the feel of my breasts against his chest. He was already hard and I couldn’t resist rubbing up against him.

He rose, sitting back on his heels, and pulled off his shirt and shorts. He tossed them across the room. I did the same with mine, and soon enough, our clothes were a tangled mess on the floor.

When he was completely undressed, he came back to me, placing kisses all over my body. He kissed my breasts, my nipples. He trailed the kisses down my torso, going lower until I could feel his tongue against my clit.

He spread my thighs wide and traced kisses up my inner thighs, getting closer to where I wanted his warm mouth to be. The night after we’d fucked on the balcony, I woke up several mornings with my panties drenched, realizing that I had dreamed of him.

One time, my dream had been so realistic that I woke up screaming his name.

Much like I was doing now.

“Dario,” I moaned as he started fingering me. I looked down at his head between my legs and watched as he licked each finger that he’d used to penetrate me.

I gasped, and he smiled at me, that sexy promising and devilish smile of a man who was in complete control.

He slid back up my body, parted my legs with his own, and slid inside me. I squirmed against him, still adjusting to his size as he settled deeper into me.

I attempted to wrap my arms around him, but he pulled my hands away and pinned them down with one hand above my head.

He slid in and out of me. The only sound in the room was my panting, trying to catch my breath as he pushed into me.

I didn’t like that I couldn’t touch him. I wanted to sink my nails into his back. I wanted to wrap my arms around his shoulders. Instead, I couldn’t move. I could only receive. I was at his mercy.

He kissed me hard then, forcing his tongue into my mouth. I moaned against his rough treatment, tasting my wetness on his lips, feeling unbelievably turned on by it.

I wanted to touch him, but every time I went to move my hands, he stopped me.

“No touching unless I say so,” he said, his mouth close to my ear. Even the feel of his breath against my ear sent tingles down my spine.

This time when I came, I wasn’t expecting the force of it. My entire body tensed. My pussy tightened around his dick.

“Dario!” I shouted, surprising myself.

He let out a low growl, sat back on his legs, and pulled my hips toward him, deepening his thrusts, his eyes closed.

The way he took charge and anticipated what I wanted, was somehow just as sexy as the feel of him inside me. I felt myself growing closer to the edge again and this time, he came with me.

He collapsed forward, still inside me, both of us breathing hard. I closed my eyes as the sexual haze wore off and I crashed back to reality. I couldn’t trust this man. I’d made this too easy for him.

I’d given in to my urges. That needed to stop.

Or maybe sex would be my way out of this mess. I hadn’t considered that.

He pulled out of me, and instantly I missed his warmth and the way he had filled me. I didn’t know how to react.

He sat up, his eyes hooded. I was unable to read them. He trailed a hand across my breast and lazily circled a nipple.

Then his hand reached for the locket. Instantly, I closed my hand over his, stopping him.

“What does the locket mean to you?”

Now he wanted to get to know me. I sat up and reached for my pajama top, pulling it on as I said, “It was a gift from my mother.”

“You must miss her.”

I wasn’t expecting him to say that. I wasn’t ready for his kindness. I wasn’t ready for any of this.

“Are you just going to ignore me?”

“What would you like me to say?” I knew my words came out sharper than I intended.

But I was disturbed by his gentleness. This man was multifaceted. I wasn’t ready to acknowledge that.

If I wanted out then I needed to keep my resentment to myself. I needed to stop fighting with him. I had to pretend that everything was dandy until I could figure out my next move. I would be a good wife, a good lover, and he would never know that all this time, I was plotting my next move.

His phone rang and he reached over to answer it.

Who was calling him in the middle of the night? As he looked down at it, he began to get dressed. “I have to get this.” Without another word, he turned and walked away.

Feeling confused and exhausted, I made my way to the bathroom and took a shower. The whole time, my mind was focused on my next move. I felt so conflicted.

I wasn’t naturally a manipulative person, but if that was who I needed to become to protect myself and my child, then so be it.

After I got dressed, I wandered outside the bedroom.

Where was Dario? I found a note on the nightstand that Dario had left. He said he had to attend to some business off the island and would be back tomorrow. Had he left me alone? Doubtful.

Four or five of his men were probably somewhere in the house or out on the island. There were always several of them on the dock leading to the island alone.

I made my way through the house and realized that no one was there. Interesting . I wasn’t going to waste the little bit of time I had alone. I made my way to his office and realized that he had left his computer unlocked.

I had a feeling that in this private room, there wouldn’t be any cameras directed toward his computer. I started going through everything on it. I understood none of it, but it didn’t stop me from retrieving a flash drive and backing up all his files.

My gut was telling me that somewhere in the information I was stealing, there would be information about his questionable business deals. Maybe proof of his illegal doings could be my ace in the hole and the key to my freedom.