“I like Carly. She seems nice.”
“I’m a little less opposed to talking about Carly in bed, but it’s still not what I want to do.”
“Hey,” I say, freeing my hand and shoving him in the chest.
Grinning at me, he says, “Doesn’t feel nice, does it?”
“You’re not a jealous man. I’m a jealous psycho. Different situations.”
“Well, we could stop talking about both of them and I could fuck my beautiful wife after a long, annoying day. How about that?”
“No, now I’m salty,” I tell him, falling back against the bed like a dead fish.
“I was joking. You have to know you’re the only woman I want. I’ve torn at least a dozen lives apart to get you. I don’t do all that work for nothing.” Since I’m misbehaving, he fists a hand in my hair and eases back on his knees, dragging me forward. “Enough of this nonsense, wife. I jump through hoops to keep your heart in one piece and you criticize my methods. I think you should be a little more appreciative of your loving husband.”
His authoritative tone melts me like a warm knife slicing through butter. I’m just like the babies, basking in his attention. He leads me forward and I happily get on my hands and knees. “I very much appreciate my husband.”
He guides my mouth toward his cock. “Show me.”
I bite down on my bottom lip and look up at him, then I move forward and proceed to show my wonderful husband just how much I appreciate him.
Chapter Twenty One
Vince
Carly and I lie flat on the bed I used to sleep in with Mia, staring up at the ceiling.
We both look like we’ve barely survived a war. That’s how I feel, and this is only day one.
“You weren’t exaggerating,” Carly finally says.
I turn my head to look at her. “No. We’re in Hell.”
She nods her head, still staring at the ceiling. “The way he drops bombs, man. Carefully orchestrated, one right after the other.”
“Gives you just enough time to catch your breath, to grab onto hope you’ll emerge, then he drops a new one.”
She looks over at me. “Are there more coming tomorrow?”
“I have no idea.”
“Well, do you have any other potential children running around? Any other ghosts I don’t know about?”
“I think he pretty much ripped the sheets off all of them today.”
“Damn. We should’ve packed whiskey.”
“He has some downstairs. I’ll go steal a decanter if you want.”
Carly smiles faintly. “Don’t do anything else to provoke him. Let’s just try to get through this.”
“You still want to get through this?”
The tiny smile melts right off her face. “I’m not sure,” she says, quietly.
My stomach twists, but I nod my understanding.
“I love you,” she tells me, firmly. “I do. I’m just struggling a little bit with this non-consensual situation that apparently led to a baby.”
“May have led to a baby,” I correct. They never actually verified Mia’s baby is mine. “I wasn’t the only…” I pause, realizing that doesn’t sound better. “When I took Mia, she was with Mateo. She wasn’t pregnant at the time, to my knowledge. She was sharing him then and she told me she couldn’t have the babies. So, when I… when I was with her, she shouldn’t have been pregnant.”
“And you didn’t use a condom. On multiple occasions.”
“Right. But the last night she was in Vegas, she wasn’t with me. My other cousin stepped in and took her to his house. He was into her and she was drunk, so he probably…”
Carly sighs, hiding her face in her hands. “This just keeps getting worse.”
“I’m just saying, there’s even a chance Dom could be his. I can’t tell looking at him. We all have brown eyes; our genes run strong so, as you may have noticed, we all bear a resemblance to one another. And then she came home to Mateo, so it’s not impossible the baby is his. It’s just… not only the timeline, but Mia’s reaction made me feel like… maybe not.”
“That poor woman. You all need to be punched in the dick multiple times.”
“Mia’s sort of the Morelli family whipping girl,” I admit. “That wasn’t even the first time. I never wanted to get into the details for obvious reason, but the first time Mateo had her… he didn’t ask permission.”
“I get why you wanted to save her. I understand now. I want to save her and whisk her away to a nice rehabilitation facility with a team of qualified professionals who can educate her on how to be a normal human being. She probably doesn’t remember at this point.”
It’s not funny since it’s true, but I almost smile anyway. “See? She’s brainwashed. I tried telling you. Everyone thinks I’m crazy.”
We go quiet again. There’s stuff I’d like to say, but nothing I can say since I know there are cameras in this room. It’s not an issue of if they’re being monitored; they’re definitely being monitored. Anything that’s said in this room will get back to Mateo, if he’s not watching it live.