He released a low, satisfied hum. “Our marriage has to seem real,” he explained calmly. “My position as heir isn’t secure if this alliance with your father doesn’t seem genuine. If you’d fought with me at the reception, everyone would know that you hate me.”

I pressed my lips together. Before the party, I had told him that I hated him. And in that moment, I’d meant it. Now, I wasn’t sure of how I felt about my mercurial husband. He’d promised that he wouldn’t harm me. He’d sworn to protect me. And he had defended me from Alberto. He was touching me with nothing but tenderness as he bathed me.

I said nothing, too tired to puzzle out my conflicted feelings toward him.

That night, he didn’t force himself on me. He didn’t wring pleasure from my unwilling body, and he didn’t selfishly claim his own. My husband simply held me, cuddling me in our bed and petting me until I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

9. Luca

Chapter 9

Luca

I’d been a married man for nearly a week, and I still barely knew my wife. I’d been busy with the family business and with moving my ailing father into our house in the city. He’d insisted on giving the Long Island mansion to “the newlyweds” since I had no plans to take a honeymoon. Tensions were still running high, and Dante hadn’t shown his face since I’d stolen his bride. If Dad found his absence at the reception odd, he didn’t remark upon it.

Most likely, he hadn’t even noticed. He’d barely made it down the stairs to join the party, and exhaustion sapped his senses.

I’d taken note of it. And I was wary that Dante hadn’t come to meet with my father once since the wedding. I had no idea what his next move might be. He hadn’t declared open war on me, but he hadn’t come back into the fold either. For all appearances, he seemed to be running his business as usual. The money was still coming in from his various enterprises, so there was no reason for my father to be suspicious.

I would never trust the sadistic bastard.

So, I’d been working long hours away from Nora, coming home to find her already asleep in our bed. I hadn’t fucked her in the harsher way I truly wanted since the night I’d taken her virginity, a delay I wasn’t keen to continue. After the reception, she’d been too traumatized by her sick cousin’s attack for me to touch her sexually. And in the days since, I’d been more cautious in how I handled her. I’d made sure she experienced pleasure when I claimed her body, but I hadn’t been fully satisfied.