He took a step toward her. Stalking her. Her heart began to pound and her mouth went dry. She sank back onto her heels suddenly afraid of what he might do. She’d never seen Valentino like this. The tension in the room coiled as tight as the tension in her stomach.
“But you aren’t so certain you can keep those vows if you’re around me. That’s why you’re insisting on finding someone in Europe, isn’t that right, Emme?”
She pressed her lips together and curled her fingers around the sheet. Of course, he was right. The physical pull between them was far too strong. She would never be able to resist him. She wasn’t going to chance cheating on her husband. She wouldn’t be like Phillip, her father, using the shadows to sneak around for sex. She would stay in Europe and do her best to make her husband happy. When she made up her mind to do something, she was very good at it.
Val halted just at the end of the bed. “I’ve had enough of this bullshit, Emme. I really have. I’m not even going to pretend to understand why you would want to enter into an arranged marriage, but it wouldn’t stop me from going after what’s mine, and you’d better be very clear on that. You’re mine. We made that agreement a long time ago.”
Fury ripped through her. “No, Val, we didn’t. You made the decision for both of us. I had no idea what was happening. You didn’t give me the courtesy of letting me know. I was a teenager. You were an adult. You had knowledge of what your shadow was doing to mine. You could have told me, but you chose not to.”
“You wanted to be with me. I asked you multiple times, Emmanuelle. We talked about our relationship, how difficult it would be, but how it would be worth it. You agreed. We both agreed. I wasn’t alone in that decision.”
She sat back on the bed, shaking her head, wanting to throw something at him, hating the way he reverted to calm when she was a mess. He always did that, becoming the adult while she was a child. He was older than her, and he led their relationship. He always had. She had been caught in the sensuous web he created, and he surrounded her with heat, with fire. She never seemed to be able to break free long enough to take a breath and think clearly.
She couldn’t let him get away with it this time. She was fighting for her life, and she knew it. In a way, she was fighting for his life as well. She was no pushover. She wasn’t her mother. She loved Valentino, and the moment he treated her the way Phillip had treated Eloisa, she would kill him, or force him to kill her.
“I was too young to know better, Val. I was so caught up in the sex that I didn’t realize what was happening to my shadow until it was too late. You counted on that, didn’t you?” She didn’t take her eyes from his. Holding that steady gaze. She had to know the truth.
He didn’t so much as flinch. He’d settled easily in the chair again, facing her, looking every inch the man in charge, just as he had in the conference room. It was unsettling to think she was facing the crime lord and not the man she loved, but she refused to back down. She wasn’t living with half truths.
He nodded. “Yes.”
One leg was out from under the sheets, her normal way of sitting or sleeping. He reached for her ankle and wrapped his long fingers around her bare skin. The moment they were skin to skin, she felt that connection deep, the sizzling flames flashing along her nerve endings, spreading fast through her body like a wildfire out of control. She tried to pull her leg away, but he tightened his grip.
“Do you think you’re the only one affected by the heat between us, Emme? I can’t think about you without wanting you. I can barely take a breath without needing you. I may have been older than you, but I was in uncharted territory as well. So yes, I counted on the sexual attraction distracting you long enough for me to bind you to me. I had no intention of letting you get away from me. Not then. Not now. Not ever.”
Part of her wanted to pry his fingers from her ankle and then kick him right in the head and hope she knocked some sense into him. He sounded like the worst kind of stalker. Another part of her wanted to yank him down on the bed and make love to him. That was what was so terrifying about being close to Val. It was impossible to think straight.
Emmanuelle took a deep breath and let it out, forcing air through her lungs, needing to be clearheaded. Valentino couldn’t distract her. Her body was hot. Her breasts heavy. She was grateful for the bruises because the aching let her feel the soreness even more. She didn’t want hands on her. Especially Val’s. He could be rough at times, and right now, her body couldn’t accept rough.
“You implied you wanted out of your father’s world, but you were never going to leave it, were you?” She kept her eyes on his. Steady. Forcing him to give her the truth. “You had no intention of ever leaving, did you?”
He didn’t so much as blink, those dark green eyes looking so much like a predator’s she quaked inside, but she didn’t let her fear show on the outside. She was a Ferraro. She could protect herself if she had to.
Val shook his head slowly. He gave her the truth even though it shredded her. “I tried to lie to myself a couple of times, but I always knew I would be taking over for my father. Once I knew Miceli was up to no good, I didn’t hesitate. And I knew it very early on. Years earlier.”
“You wanted to take over,” she persisted.
He nodded. “That’s true. I was raised to stand in my father’s shoes. I don’t know another life. Even before he officially adopted me, we talked of it.”
She hated him almost as much as she loved him. Betrayal ran deep and hurt like hell. “You didn’t trap me because you loved me, Val. I heard what you said to Stefano about loving me, and it rang with truth. At the same time, it was a lie. The lie was as big as the truth. You had another reason. Trapping me even back then, when I was so young, it was never about me as a person, or even about the sex—all of that came with it, but there’s another reason, one much more compelling. The real reason you’re forcing me to be with you. It has nothing whatsoever to do with loving me. Tell me what that is.”
She glanced around her bedroom because now she couldn’t look at him, this man she loved more than life. More than her own life. For the first time, she realized that her soft night-light was glowing, throwing shadows on the wall. Her shadow. His shadow. She thought he’d moved the chair to face her, but he’d deliberately positioned himself so their shadows would merge. The ropes swarmed over her, weighing her down, thicker and tighter than ever. There was no hope of ever getting free, yet he was still adding to the bindings.
Emmanuelle gestured toward their shadows. “You’re still doing it. There’s no doubt in my mind there’s something else, Val. You can’t force me to stay. You know I can find a way to escape. Tell me what that reason is.”
He continued to look at her, his eyes heavy. Hooded. A chill went down her spine. Was there a way he could force her to stay with him? Force her to go into the shadows for him? She had all kinds of confidence in herself, knew she was lethal and yet just for a moment, she was afraid of him.
“You’re already afraid of me, Emme. You’re my heart. My soul. The one good thing in my life. Why would you be afraid of me? Why would you think I would ever hurt you? And don’t tell me I did anything your brothers haven’t done, because you’d be lying to yourself and to me. I’ve seen it in them. Killers know killers. I recognized them early on as well. Why do you think I made the decision to take you?”