Her silence and quivering breath insulted me. If she wouldn’t speak, I would. I’d do a lot more than speaking. “You’d better shut that mouth of yours right now.”
“No. I did everything you asked of me. Now, let me choose the one thing in my life I still can choose.” Leo stood and then got down on one knee, a small box open in his hands, a fucking ring inside it. “Angelina Maria Baldi, you’re the love of my life. I promise I’ll always protect, love and take care of you. Will you—”
Blood filled his mouth instead of the outrageous shit he was saying.
Yeah, I punched the motherfucker silent.
Chapter 29
Tino
She hadn’t said a word all the way home, and once we arrived, she stalked away with her violin case into the gardens.
“Where are you going?” I yelled after her.
“The greenhouse! Don’t follow me!”
I rolled my eyes and waved for Michele to go after her. After I’d left Leo with a bloody face at the restaurant with the useless bodyguards who had failed to stop him from following Angel to the movies before, he might show up uninvited to cause more damage.
A fucking proposal. Ma a che cazzo sta pensando, Leo?
“Tino, can I have a word?” Nicole asked.
“Not now, Nicole. Go to bed. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
“I’ll have to wait for Lina.”
“No.” I’ll be waiting for her. “Don’t talk to her tonight. Tomorrow the three of us will sit together and say everything that needs to be said.”
She sighed and nodded reluctantly. “I don’t mean to interfere between you and your son, but punching him like that in front of Lina…”
What the fuck was I supposed to do? Give him my fucking blessing or wait for her to say yes? “You shouldn’t interfere,” I warned.
She blinked, startled for a second. I never spoke to her harshly. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Just for the record, she wouldn’t have said yes.”
“She didn’t exactly say no, did she? She accepted his gift, his love declaration. She stood there, tears in her eyes, gasping and emotional while he got down on one knee.” Fire gnashed through my whole body. “She did absolutely nothing to stop him. She fucking led him on.”
“Tino—”
“Buonanotte, Nicole.”
I made sure she went to her room before I let myself in Angel’s. I thought about drugging Nicole like that night with the thunderstorm, but that was a one-time thing so that Angel couldn’t have slept with her. Tonight was different. I wasn’t going to watch Angel in her sleep while I lay in her bed.
I was staying the night. Under the bed.
Wasn’t that where I was supposed to be? I was the monster under her bed.
Prowling through the room, I made my way over to her bedside. I took off my shoes and hid them under the bed. Then I sat, filling my nostrils with her lingering scent in the sheets, and cursed my cock for wanting her so badly.
After the death of my wife, whenever I felt the need to fuck, I’d go through a long list of women who had no problem throwing themselves at the most eligible bachelor in town hoping and trying for something that would never happen.
But now… The thought of being inside any woman other than Angel was hideous. Useless.
Yes, she was fucking seventeen. Yes, I shouldn’t think of her that way. Not yet. But I did. And so did Leo. He fucking proposed to her. If she’d said yes, he could have been her husband in a week, sinking his cock in her virgin pussy that was mine.
The thought alone made me want to flay someone alive. Angel was mine, and she’d continue to be mine. I’d make her mine in every way humanly possible.
Me. Not Leo. There was only room for one monster in her world.
Footsteps echoed outside the room. Hers. Quickly, I dropped to my knees and then flattened myself against the carpet. It took some maneuvering, but I managed to slide myself under the bed. Once I was comfortable, my face pointed to the mattress, I relaxed. She’d stopped looking under her bed for months now. She wouldn’t look for me. And with being her free self without knowing I was watching, with her right where I heard her every move, her every tear and breath, I could close my eyes and sleep forever.
Click!
She locked the door? She never locked the door.
Light streamed into the room, and angry heels came toward the bed. The mattress sank around the edge, and her shoes went flying one by one.
“Fuck you. FUCK YOU!”
Was that for me or my asshole son?
“Don’t swear. Don’t call me Don Bellomo,” she mocked. “Well, fuck you, Don Bellomo.”
Gladly, Angel.
The springs gave a tiny squeak, and her toes landed in my vision. “Wear a fucking bra. I can perfectly see your nipples again. Here’s your goddamn bra.”
Zip! Burgundy red pooled over her feet. Then her bra dropped next to them. I suppressed a moan, picturing her standing topless a few inches away from me.
“Do you like what you see now? Or you need the full view?” Her panties fell to her ankles. I narrowed my eyes to see if they were wet, but I couldn’t tell from here. Later, I’d have my fun with the whole outfit.
“Want your hands on my tits and your mouth worshiping them?”
Yes.
“Want to bend me over your knee and spank my naked ass?”
Fuck yes.
“Here I am.” She kicked the dress and panties off her ankles and stepped out of them. Then the mattress sank again. “But you’ll never come and do it. You’ll go dance with my sister and punch your son in the face for loving me, for wanting to marry me. Because I’m not good enough for any fucking Bellomo.”
You’re good enough for one Bellomo. The only Bellomo you’ll ever have. The only man you’ll ever have.
“I’ll always be the program kid. The nobody with the psycho stalker threat, the outsider that could break Mafia allies and screw family friendships. The little girl.”
Was she mad at me for stopping Leo from being with her or for seeing her as a little girl? Who did she want? Me or him?
The bed squeaked again as she settled her back on it, her feet still in my view. “I’m not a little girl, Tino. In my dreams, I’m never a little girl to you.”
I looked up at the mattress, a silly grin on my face. You’re not a little girl, Angel. I wish I could still see you as one. I wish I could still protect you from myself. But that ship has sailed.
“I know I can please you in real life as much as I do in my dreams.” Her feet pulled up, and her body slid back and sprawled over the mattress. “Even if I can’t at first, you can teach me…”
I bit my lip and closed my eyes. Soon, my sweet Angel. Soon, you’ll learn everything you need to know from me. Only me. Not that she needed to learn anything. One look at her sweet body, at her beautiful pussy, and I became undone.
“Tino, what have you done to me? I hate you for making me want you so bad. I hate you for making me think about you when I should be thinking about Leo, the boy who wants me, who loves me, who thinks I’m worthy of anything, who has the balls to defy you, almighty Tino, and fucking propose to me.”
What Leo had for her was nothing compared to what I had. She thought he had balls to defy me for her sake, and I didn’t. I’ll defy the whole world for you, Angel.