Page 23 of Heart's Temptation
I worked on controlling my sobbing and when I was finally able to take a full breath, his hand crashed down on my backside, and my hands flew to the floor to keep me from tipping off his lap. “You’re mean!” I yelled.
“And you're a brat!” he yelled back, spanking me harder.
His hand came down relentlessly until I finally gave in. “Please Gio, please stop. I will be good and listen to you.”
He unclasped the device that held my legs apart and swung me up to sit on his lap. He gripped my chin between his thumb and forefinger and tipped my face until our gazes locked.
“I am ready to finish my dinner now, Sir.” I used the words that had appeased him in the past.
“Sorry little girl, dinner is secondary to an explanation. What the fuck happened, Niki? Why did you run away?”
There was no getting out of this. I didn’t know what this colder version of my Gio would do if I held back from telling the truth, or worse, what he’d do when he learned of it. He was so much harder than before. I shivered, but from my nerves or from the sustained subspace, I wasn’t sure.
He grabbed a throw blanket from the end of the bed and wrapped it around me. “Speak, Niki, this will be your only chance to come clean. What happened that day after the football game? Why didn’t you meet with me and Marko as planned?”
“Giovanni… If I tell you, will you promise not to hold it against me?” I asked softly, trying to appeal to his gentler side, praying he still had one.
The denial came hard and fast. “No promises. This is your last warning, Niki. I will tie you to my bed and put a vibrator against your clit for hours, forcing orgasms from you. Your boss will understand when you don’t show up for rehearsal, won’t he?”
If I told him the truth, he wouldn’t understand. Gio had no idea how the thought of something bad happening to him and Marko because of me was paralyzing. I’d felt I had no choice but to do as I did, but in no way was there an expectation on my part that he would be of the same opinion. “I ran away because I was stupid. Something happened and I felt that if you and Marko knew, you’d keep me here and make me be… uh… someone I wasn’t meant to be. I had to go so you would be free, and I needed to stand on my own two feet.” It was a partial truth that could be interpreted many ways.
He studied me like a mafia boss would study a subject they were deciding whether to kill or just torture. It was intimidating to be regarded in that way. I’d never given them reasons to do that in the past. Hell, they hadn’t fully developed their mafia skills when last I’d been with them. A bead of sweat trickled down from my temple and another down my spine, where it pooled between my ass cheeks.
“What happened?” His voice was cold, dangerous and brooked no argument. A darkness snaked its way between us. A barely contained beast waiting to pounce, and I knew there were no more places to hide. Not inside myself, and not out in the world. No more running from my guilt and remorse of not telling him the truth when I had the chance.
“I left because I met someone else.”
I knew my answer was not what he expected, and it was complete bullcrap. There was never anyone else, could never be anyone but he and Marko, but I wasn’t ready to speak the truth and the idea of me wanting to be with another man would put an end to the questioning.
This moment, this truth, would close the life I’d known, and most likely kill all hope I’d carried in my heart that one day they’d forgive me, and we’d start again. The Vitale men were all Doms and held onto what they felt was theirs. By perpetuating a lie about another man, I would be closing the chapter on the life I’d known with them, the life I wanted to rekindle, because I very much doubted, Gio would forgive me leaving them for another.
But at least I’d kept them from going to war and possibly dying. Letting them think I’d cheated on them and been into someone else may forever destroy anything salvageable between us, but it was better than the alternative.
CHAPTER TEN
Marko
I’d been busy for hours getting the ballet company settled in one of the Vitale hotels. We’d all just arrived at the I-rock theater. The corps were making immediate use of the changing wing below the stage to throw on their practice garb and get ready for rehearsal. Meanwhile, Sergei, the facility manager, and I were touring the theater and setting up our men at various posts and entrances.
My phone’s ringtone startled me and I pulled my phone out of my pocket and frowned at the screen before answering. Gio.
“Tell me you didn’t know.” He spoke before I could get out a greeting or ask what he wanted, but his words made no sense.
What was he on about?
“Know what? Has this got something to do with Niki?”
He paused and his clipped response told me he had indeed learned something.
“I’m making Amergio her driver and moving the soldiers’ responsibilities to make Remo her personal guard. Send him to me so the two of them can escort her to you.”
“I thought you were bringing her, and what do you mean ‘did I know’?”
He sighed. “I’m gonna take that as a no. I’ll tell you later at the club. In the meantime, get her detail set up and ensure she has a guard at her dressing room around the clock.”
I was about to ask why when he cut the call.
I shoved my phone back in my pocket with a frown, not sure what had happened, or what any of it meant. All I knew was something had raised his hackles and this sudden change regarding Niki meant he was segregating himself from the situation and didn’t want to share why, not even with me.