Page 32 of Vow to Corrupt You (Gods of Corruption #1)

Serena

I don’t understand why Nikos left me like this, refusing to look at me. The dark expression that painted his face as he touched me, the disgust filling his eyes, the fury, even fear… What happened in his past that something as simple as the mere touch of skin triggered such emotions within him?

I can’t calm my nerves, the running thoughts. I don’t know what to do with myself, so I need to leave. I quickly shower to freshen up and slip into another one of my black dresses. Valentino or Versace, I don’t even pay attention anymore.

I go to Nikos’s office, where he has locked himself for the past few hours. My excuse is to ask his permission to see Salvatore, but to be honest, I just want to see him and check on him.

He’s so cold and distant. It’s not the same man I had sex with. He’s back to his dark self that I was forced to marry. And here I was, believing we actually made progress.

The entire ride to my parents’ house is spent in the memories of his touch against my skin. The intimate moments we shared, the bond I thought we were starting to create, all shattered like a thin layer of ice under pressure.

I enter my house, which, after weeks spent at Romano’s residence, feels so tiny.

I greet my stepmother and sisters, and we talk over coffee.

My Papà is absent, which is not unusual.

Eventually, I go to Salvatore’s room, unsure whether he will even let me in.

He’s avoiding me. Despite Gianna asking him to join us, he didn’t even come out to say ‘hi’ when I arrived.

“May I come in?” I ask from the doorway.

He removes his earphones and casts a faint smile at me. “Sure.”

“Well, I thought you were avoiding me, Salvatore.” I close the door behind me, my arms crossing.

“It’s not like that, Serena.”

“Then tell me, how is it?”

Salvatore looks at me for a moment, as if searching for words before the mask of lies and denial drops to the ground with a heavy breath.

“You’re right. I’m avoiding you. I can’t stand it. I am the reason behind your situation.”

“But you’re not.” I rush toward my brother, my hands squeezing his arms.

“You can stop pretending now, Serena. It’s just you and me, and I am your twin. I know how you feel like.” Tears well in the eyes of my younger brother, and it’s breaking my heart. “Even if it’s the last thing I do, I will set you free from this monster you were forced to marry, sister.”

I urge him to stop this nonsense. Even if I still wanted to escape Nikos, I wouldn’t let my brother do something reckless. Dangerous. And we both know anything directed against Nikos Romano is a death sentence. He is the law in Sicily. The king. The God.

“Just answer me this.” His cracking voice snaps me out of my thoughts. A tear drips down his cheek, then another one. “If you had a choice, would you have married him?”

“Well,” I contemplate my words. If I had a choice, I wouldn’t have married Nikos.

I mean, how could I marry the man who kept my brother captive and hurt him?

Who gave me an ultimatum—my life for my brother’s life.

Who left me no choice but to marry him? Whom I knew nothing about, except all the nasty things people were whispering.

Despite the hatred and fear I harbored toward him, I definitely wouldn’t have married him, but I won’t tell Salvatore that.

“Just don’t lie to me, Serena. Be honest. If you had a choice, would you still have married that monster?”

“I wouldn’t have married that monster...” I say, a bit frustrated, “as you keep calling him. But that was before.”

“What do you mean?” His brows knit together.

Nervously, I drag my teeth over my lower lip, my chest sinking behind my crossed arms. “I’m not saying it’s the marriage of my dreams, but it could’ve been worse,” I say reluctantly, knowing even if I swear on a cross, my brother won’t believe me.

“He’s treating me well. With respect. As a man would treat his woman. ”

“I don’t believe you,” Salvatore scoffs.

“I knew you would say that,” I tell him, slightly more irritated now, but I know Salvatore just wants the best for me.

I know how much he cares for me. “But it’s true.

Despite all the things people say about Nikos, despite all the things he put you through, and I am sorry for that, you have no idea how much,” my forehead creases, “I see the good in him.”

“Do you even hear yourself, Serena?” My brother erupts like a volcano after lying dormant.

“I don’t know, hell, I’m not even sure if I want to know the things he did to you, but he brainwashed you.

” One thing about my brother, despite being the best brother I could ask for, is that he’s incredibly stubborn and never listens. He thinks he knows best.

“Salvatore, stop!”

He looks at me in a way he’s never looked at me before. As if he doesn’t recognize me. As if he’s disgusted by the sight before his eyes.

“You should go, Serena. Go back to your husband. ”

My heart lurches. I was pretty sure it would be this way. I had no doubt that if I showed even a trace of sympathy toward Nikos, my family would hate me. That my twin would feel the same.

They would rather have me suffering under his care so that my hatred for him would grow—just to prove themselves right about him. It would also justify their hatred and thirst for vengeance, rather than accept that he can be a good man too. But he is. To me. I see it more clearly now than ever.

“You’re right. I should go back to my home ,” I say, disappointment filling me within. “To my husband, where I obviously belong.”

I sip another glass of prosecco, waiting for Nikos in the dining room.

I rarely drink. But today, I hoped that it would help me forget my conversation with my brother.

To be fair, I was hoping it would help me erase all the moments from my mind that I let my family use me, manipulate me, and walk all over me.

But, sadly, it doesn’t do that. It’s all still there, all the images, all the words screaming in my mind.

The main door opens, and I hear steady footsteps. It must be him. Nikos. I wipe my face with my hands to cool down my rosy cheeks that are the aftermath of a flute of wine. Maybe three.

I rush to greet him at the entrance, but before I get there, he’s already gone. Only his bodyguards are left behind, and they assume their positions on both sides of the door to Nikos’s office.

“I want to see my husband,” I speak as they block my path.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Romano, but the boss gave us an order not to let anyone in,” one of them says dryly. “Including you.”

Automatically, I take a step back. I don’t understand what happened. Is it because I asked him to touch me? Or perhaps it’s because he got what he wanted— he fucked me —so now he doesn’t have to pretend that we have a real relationship anymore.

Suddenly, Gianna’s words keep ringing in my head. All the things she said about Nikos, his obsession with innocence, or breaking it. Well, now I am not innocent anymore, am I?

My hand reaches for my necklace nervously. I feel so stupid, I wish I could vanish into thin air.

“Let her in.” His voice rumbles through the door, and in an instant, the bodyguards clear the way.

My heart pounds like a sledgehammer as I reach for the doorknob. Even worse when I close the door behind me.

I look at him. The man I gave myself to, his eyes are so cold and dark that even the Devil would envy the effect his gaze has on people.

“From now on, you’re no longer allowed to leave this house unless it’s for the university or to accompany me,” he states before drinking his whiskey in one go, and before I can formulate a response, contemplating what I’d want to tell him.

I’m taken aback by his coldness, the brutality in his voice.

But then I realize that Gianna must’ve been right, despite how much I wish she hadn’t been.

He achieved his goal, and now he’ll push me beyond the edge until I no longer want to live this hellish life.

How foolish I was to believe I could actually be the reason for his redemption.

A man like him is beyond repair. I guess I should’ve known better.

“You can’t treat me like a hostage.” I barely find the strength to speak.

My elusive hope turned out to be nothing more than a fool’s wish I so desperately clung to believe.

Or perhaps I knew it was all lies from the start, but I continued to choose to believe otherwise for the sake of my sanity.

“You told me yourself I am now Mrs. Romano, and I should own it. What happened to that?”

A scoff leaves his mouth, curling up in a nefarious smirk. “This is a part of being Mrs. Romano.”

He advances closer with the kind of darkness in his eyes I haven’t seen since… the very beginning, when I still feared him, I kept my guard up because I knew he was nothing more than a “monster.” The word leaves my mouth before I can stop it.

His face darkens in a way that makes my skin crawl. My heart races as he pins me against the wall, the intensity of his gaze locking me in place. I can feel the heat radiating from him, a pull between us that I both hate and crave.

“I’ll show you what kind of monster I can be,” he speaks through gritted teeth in a tone so dark I’ve never heard before. Not when he was speaking to me.

I nearly choke when his gloved hand clenches around my throat while the other forces its way between my thighs.

A wave of adrenaline mingling with sick arousal runs through my veins as he rips off the lace thong I wear.

He gently circles my clit with his index finger before violently pushing his fingers inside me.

“I just can’t decide whether I want to fuck that wet pussy, or this pretty mouth of yours. What do you want, my little plaything, hmm?” He growls against my lips with a menacing glint in his eyes, fiercely shoving his fingers in and out of me.

“Nikos, please…” I breathe out, not sure what I’m pleading for. To stop or to give me the sick kind of pleasure only he can give me? It’s like I know this is sick, but no one touches me like he does… No one makes me feel like he does. It’s a twisted type of lust.

He is my weakness, and I resent myself for how powerless he makes me feel, yet there’s nothing I can do to extinguish the passion he sparks from me. That’s the thing. The monster I fear is also the one who ignites a fire within me. A fire running so deep it consumes me beyond reason.

His grip tightens around my neck like a vise, and his fingers thrust with increasing force, muffling his husky hiss. “Both, it is.”