Married To The Devil I Hate

Chapter 7

The heavy doors of the dining room click shut, leaving me completely alone with the shattered glass and the dark red wine dripping down the wallpaper.

My chest is heaving, pulling in ragged, shallow breaths. I stare at the empty doorway where Luca just disappeared, my entire body trembling from the massive dump of adrenaline. I threw a glass at the head of the most feared mafia boss in Chicago, and instead of shooting me, he smiled.

That dark, twisted, hungry smile is burned into the back of my eyelids, making my blood run completely cold. He isn't just a monster. He is a psychopath who actually enjoys the chaos.

I don't stay in the dining room a second longer.

I turn and practically run back through the winding, shadowed corridors of the massive estate. The guards ignore me, their faces carefully blank, but I can feel their eyes tracking my every single movement. I sprint up the grand staircase, gripping the heavy banister, my low heels clicking frantically against the stone.

When I finally reach the master suite, I slam the heavy double doors shut behind me and slide the thick iron lock into place.

I lean my back against the solid wood, closing my eyes and sliding down until I am sitting on the cold floor. I pull my knees to my chest, wrapping my arms tightly around my legs. The dress pooling around me feels like another costume. Another chain.

Tears prick the corners of my eyes, but I angrily blink them away. I cannot afford to cry. I am trapped in a fortress surrounded by heavily armed killers, married to a man who wants to own my very soul. If I break now, I will never put the pieces back together.

More than anything in the world, I just want to hear a friendly voice. I need an anchor to reality. I need to know that the world outside these stone walls still exists.

I need my sister.

I scramble up from the floor and rush over to the massive walk-in closet. My luggage the few bags my father allowed me to pack is sitting in the corner, unpacked. I fall to my knees, ripping the zipper open on my leather duffel bag. I dig past the folded sweaters and designer shoes, my hands frantically searching the very bottom lining.

My fingers brush against cold, smooth metal.

A sharp breath of relief escapes my lips. I pull out my cell phone. My father had confiscated my main phone before the wedding, but he didn't know about this cheap, prepaid burner phone I bought months ago for emergencies.

I press the power button, praying the battery isn't completely dead. The small screen flickers to life, casting a pale, glowing light over my face. I wait for the network to connect, staring at the little bars in the top corner of the screen.

No Service.

"Dammit," I whisper, hitting the side of the phone against my palm.

I stand up and walk around the massive bedroom, holding the phone high in the air. Nothing. I walk into the bathroom. Still nothing. The De Santis estate must be built like a bunker, or worse, Luca has signal jammers installed to keep his secure communications private.

I walk over to the floor to ceiling windows overlooking the dark, sprawling back gardens. Rain is still falling heavily, beating against the thick glass. I press my phone flat against the windowpane.

One tiny, fragile bar of signal flickers into existence.

My heart does a massive leap in my chest. It is weak, but it is enough. I punch in Elena's phone number as fast as my shaking fingers will allow and press it to my ear.

The phone rings. Once. Twice. The static on the line is heavy, popping and crackling in my ear.

"Hello?"

Her voice is tiny and completely terrified, but it is the most beautiful sound I have ever heard.

"Elena!" I gasp, pressing my forehead against the cold glass of the window, tears immediately rushing to my brown eyes. "El, it's me. It's Sophia."

"Sophia!" she cries out, a loud sob breaking through the static. "Oh my god, are you okay? Where are you? What did he do to you? Dad wouldn't let me ask any questions after the wedding. I've been completely losing my mind!"

"I'm okay," I lie instantly, trying to keep my voice as steady and calming as possible. "I promise you, I'm okay. I'm at his estate outside the city. He hasn't hurt me, Elena. I swear."

"He's a monster, Sophia," she whispers, her voice dropping so low I can barely hear her over the rain. "I heard Dad talking to his capos tonight. They are terrified. They think Luca is going to break the treaty anyway. They think he just took you so he could torture our family. You have to get out of there. You have to run."

A cold, heavy rock of dread drops perfectly into the pit of my stomach. My father's men are panicking. If my father breaks the peace treaty because he is paranoid, Luca will slaughter us all.

"I can't run, El," I say softly, my voice cracking. "There are guards everywhere. I'm locked in a fortress. But you don't need to worry about me. I just need to know that you are safe. Is Dad keeping the house secure?"

"I hate it here," she cries. "I want you to come home. Please, Sophia."

"I know,I know," I whisper, a stray tear finally escaping and tracing a hot path down my cheek.

"Just keep your head down. Don't listen to Dad's bullshit. Go to your classes, stay in your room, and stay out of the mafia s**t. I will figure this out. I will find a way to fix this—"

"Who the f**k are you talking to?"

The voice is so deep, so incredibly close, and so lethal that my blood instantly freezes solid in my veins.

I spinning around and dropping the phone in my sheer panic. Luca is standing less than two feet away from me in the dark.

I didn't hear the heavy double doors open. I didn't hear his footsteps on the floor. He moves like a f*****g ghost. The only light in the room is the pale moonlight filtering through the rain streaked windows, casting deep, terrifying shadows across his sharp, hardened face.

His eyes aren't amused anymore. They are blazing with a cold, murderous fury that makes my knees buckle.

"Luca," I gasp, taking a frantic step backward until my spine hits the freezing glass of the window. There is absolutely nowhere for me to go. I am trapped.

He doesn't look at me. He looks down at the floor, where my burner phone is lying on the rug. I can still hear Elena's tiny, frantic voice coming through the small speaker.

“Sophia? Sophia, what’s happening? Who is that?”

Luca slowly bends down and picks up the phone. He brings it up to his face, looking at the glowing screen for a split second. Then, without a single word, he brings the phone to his ear.

"If you ever call this number again, little girl," Luca says, his voice a low, terrifying rumble that promises absolute violence, "I will send my men to your father's house, and I will burn it to the f*****g ground with you inside it."

“No, please—” Elena begs through the static.

Luca pulls the phone away from his ear. He looks me dead in the eyes, his jaw clenched so tightly the muscles tick in his cheek.

He wraps his massive, calloused hand completely around the small plastic phone. I watch in absolute, silent horror as his thick muscles flex. With one brutal, sickening crunch, he crushes the phone perfectly in his fist. The plastic shatters, the screen splinters into a hundred pieces, and the glowing light instantly dies.

He tosses the broken pieces of plastic and metal onto the floor at my feet, like a piece of worthless garbage.

My connection to the outside world. My sister. My only lifeline. Gone in one single second.

"You bastard," I whisper, my voice shaking with a mixture of heartbreak and absolute fury. "She is just a kid! You didn't have to threaten her!"

Luca takes a step forward, completely erasing the space between us. I am pressed flat against the glass, and he cages me in, slamming both of his large hands against the window on either side of my head. He leans down, his massive chest brushing against the soft fabric of my dress. He is so close I can see the faint, white scar cutting through his dark eyebrow.

"I told you the rules, Sophia," he growls, his hot breath fanning across my trembling lips. "I told you that your life as a Romano is over. That family is dead to you now."

"She is my sister!" I yell, pushing both of my hands hard against his solid chest, trying desperately to shove him away. It is like trying to move a brick wall. He doesn't even budge an inch. "I am not going to just forget she exists because you threw a ring on my finger! I hate you!"

"Hate me all you f*****g want," Luca snarls, his face inches from mine. His pitch black hair falls slightly over his forehead, making him look wild and completely unhinged. "But you will obey me. You are in my house, eating my food, breathing my air. You do not communicate with the enemy. Ever."

"She is an eighteen year old girl!" I scream, fresh tears spilling down my cheeks as I hit his chest again. "She isn't your enemy!"

Luca catches both of my wrists in one of his massive hands. He pins my arms down between our bodies, his grip tight enough to bruise but not tight enough to break the bones. He forces me to stop fighting, holding me completely captive against the cold window.

"Everyone with the last name Romano is my enemy," he whispers darkly, his freezing blue eyes locked onto my crying ones. "Except for you. And if you ever try to sneak around my back, or try to run from me, I promise you, Sophia, I will unleash hell on this city, and I will make your father watch as I tear his empire apart brick by brick."

I stare up at him, my chest heaving against his, the reality of my situation finally crashing over me in a suffocating wave. He means every single word. He is a dictator, completely obsessed with absolute control.

"You are a monster," I choke out, a sob finally breaking past my lips.

Luca’s expression changes for a fraction of a second. The murderous rage in his blue eyes flickers, replaced by something darker, heavier, and entirely more confusing. His gaze drops from my tear filled eyes down to my trembling, parted lips.

He shifts his weight, pressing his body flush against mine. I gasp as the solid, heavy heat of him completely surrounds me. The anger inside the room instantly morphs into a thick, suffocating tension that makes my skin burn.

Slowly, he releases my wrists. He brings his large hand up to my face, his rough thumb carefully wiping a stray tear from my cheek. The contrast between his violent destruction of the phone and the shocking gentleness of his touch makes my head spin.

"I am a monster," Luca agrees softly, his raspy voice sending a wild, involuntary shiver straight down my spine. His fingers slide into my hair, tilting my head back slightly. "But I am your monster now. And you are going to learn to survive me."

He doesn't kiss me. He just stands there, his body pressed intimately against mine, his thumb resting against my bottom lip, forcing me to feel his absolute dominance.

After a long, breathless moment, he steps back. The cold air rushes in to fill the space between us, making me shiver . He turns around and walks toward the double doors, his black shirt blending perfectly into the dark shadows of the room.

Before he walks out, he stops and looks back over his broad shoulder.

"Get some sleep, wife," he says smoothly, the dangerous calmness returning to his voice.

"Tomorrow, you are going to learn exactly how my world operates."

He walks out, leaving the heavy doors wide open behind him. I slide slowly down the cold glass of the window, collapsing onto the floor next to the shattered pieces of my phone, and finally let the darkness completely swallow me whole.