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“Have you seen her? She’s stunning,” he says, looking over my shoulder, watching her working away in the kitchen.
“Do I have to watch you around my wife?” I ask.
Val stills, his eyes narrowing on me. “It’s not real so why would it matter if I flirt with her? Especially when there are no cameras around,” he questions me.
What can I say to that? He’s right, there are no cameras around, and this isn’t real. I shouldn’t care that my cousin is hitting on her. But you do.
“If you want to enjoy my sloppy seconds then go right ahead,” I tell him, annoyed by this conversation.
Val’s eyes widen. And I just know she’s standing right behind me. Turning around slowly, I look up into Natalia’s bright blue eyes that narrow, and there’s a mixture of hurt and anger directed at me.
“Just came over to ask how to turn the oven on.”
17
NATALIA
“If you want to enjoy my sloppy seconds then go right ahead,” Alessandro says to his cousin, the one I was flirting with earlier. Obviously, they were talking about me. Valentino’s eyes widen as he notices me walking up behind Alessandro. Not going to lie, hearing him call me his sloppy seconds is disgusting, he’s reduced me to nothing more than a piece of meat that he can palm off to his friends.
Fuck him.
Normal Natalia would probably have grabbed one of the bottles from the bar and hit him over his head with it for that misogynistic remark, but instead, I ask him how to use the oven. I can see it on his face, I wasn’t meant to hear his words, but he also doesn’t look sorry for them. He silently gets up from the table and follows me back into the kitchen where I’d pulled out the fresh items from the fridge that his chef had created for tonight as per the “poker night” notes on the packages.
“Natalia, I—” Alessandro starts as soon as we enter the kitchen.
“How do I turn this fancy oven on so I can cook up what your chef left?” I interrupt whatever subject he was about to start as I try to keep my emotions in check. He frowns but doesn’t push any further. He walks over to the wall oven and explains the different settings before turning it on. “Thank you,” I tell him, unwrapping the food and placing it onto a tray. I crash and bang around the kitchen as my simmering anger starts to take control.
The next thing I know, Alessandro grabs my wrist and pulls me from the kitchen, then pushes me into the room beside it—it looks like his study from the wooden desk I catch a glimpse of—before he slams the door behind us.
“Natalia, I’m sorry for what you heard. I shouldn’t have said it.”
I shrug as I fold my arms in front of me, protecting myself against him as I stay silent.
Alessandro stares at me blankly for a couple of moments, looking confused, probably wondering why I’m not causing a scene.
“Why aren’t you yelling at me?” he asks, continuing to stare at me. “You looked like you wanted to pour a drink on me at the table.”
I did.
Don’t break, don’t show him that his words have any effect on you. This is what Contis do, find your weakness and exploit it. I wish I was an ice queen like Allegra, but the increased silence and tension in the room are becoming too much, and the slightest of cracks appear in my façade as a tear slides down my cheek. I hate when I’m this angry it manifests into tears.
Before I have a chance to swipe it away, Alessandro does, his large hands cupping my face. “There she is,” he says with a grin, looking down at me, “the girl that I know.” His thumb slides across my cheek as it captures another rogue tear. “I don’t like it when you’re silent, princess,” he says softly. “I like it more when you fight back.” My brows pull together as I stare at him, trying to work out what he means. “I didn’t like my cousin flirting with you.”
He didn’t like someone else playing with his things, that’s all it was, not that he didn’t like him playing with me. “Maybe I liked your cousin flirting with me,” I bite back.
His eyes narrow as his hand tightens around my face. “You’re my wife,” he states angrily as his fingers squeeze my face.
“Please, in name only, a girl has needs,” I tease, pushing him.
“And you think my cousin could give you what you need better than I can?”
I shrug. “Like you said, he can have your sloppy seconds to find out,” I say, throwing his own words back in his face, making him wince and his shoulders sag as his hand falls away from my face, then he takes a step back from me.
“Val’s a good guy, more than I could ever be. So, do what you’ve got to do,” he says before turning and leaving me alone in the darkness.
What the hell does that mean?
After collecting myself, I head back out and try to shake off our conversation. I have one mission and that is to take down this man and his family, not worry about whatever mind games Alessandro Conti is playing with me.
