Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 102566 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 513(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102566 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 513(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
He only grins wider. "I'll make you submit soon enough," he tells me darkly. "You'll be a good girl for me sooner rather than later."
"I'd rather die," I spit out.
"Careful what you wish for." His dark eyes sparkle with eagerness to hurt me. "I might just give it to you."
My heart pounds with fear. Surely, he wouldn't hurt me. I still see the traces of the boy I met in the docks all those years ago in Adrian. I can only hope there's still some humanity left in his soul.
"Maybe I'll bring you your brother's head as a little souvenir once I'm done," he tells me darkly.
In that moment, I see red. I stand up and walk up to him, my hand soaring through the air in an attempt to slap him.
Eleanora takes a deep breath, her hand flying up to cover her mouth just as Adrian catches my wrist mid-air.
"Did you just try to hit me, bambina?" He snarls at me.
9
Adrian
I glare at the girl before me, knowing both our hearts are pounding. Mine with desire, hers with pure hatred for me. But I'll change that soon enough.
My eyes devour her pretty features. The dainty nose, the full, bee-stung lips. She has porcelain skin with an olive undertone and a mass of dark, silky smooth hair. Her eyes are green, dark and piercing at the same time. She's absolutely stunning. How no man has claimed her body yet, will forever be a mystery to me. If I'd gotten my hands on her sooner, there's no way she would've remained a virgin for as long as she did.
Marzia Da Costa won't hate me for long. Not when I'm the only one that can give her what she wants.
I know she wants me. It's written all over her pretty, innocent face as she stares up at me defiantly. I hold her wrist in my hand, and we both know all it would take would be a twist of my fingers and her delicate bones would snap. I won't hurt her though, not today. It's too soon, and when I do give her pain, I want her fucking begging for it.
"Don't fucking test my patience, bambina," I tell her darkly. "You won't like me when I snap... It won't end well for you when I do." My warning is short and concise.
She recoils back in fear when I let go of her skinny little wrist. She rubs the spot I touched, glaring at me with undiluted anger. She feels disappointed that I've stopped her. She wanted me to see how angry she was when she slapped me, to feel the full extent of her anger.
We stare at one another, me daring her to try something else, and her raising her chin defiantly. But she seems to have some self-preservation instincts at least, and she doesn't offer a counterattack, doesn't attempt to argue with me anymore. Good for her. She finally learned her first lesson—no one fucks with Adrian Bernardi. Not even the woman who stole my heart when I was just a little boy.
"One other thing," I tell her with a sick sense of pleasure. "No one in this house will speak to you, so you might as well not even try."
"What?" She glares at me, holding her lithe wrist as if she can still feel the burning touch of my fingers on her flawless skin. "Why?"
"Because I don't want you getting any ideas." I shrug. "You're a prisoner here, and you will be treated as such."
"Do you give all your prisoners pink bedrooms?"
"Watch that mouth," I hiss. "Don't make me punish you on the first day in the Estate. I'm not going to warn you again."
"You don't—"
She doesn't get to finish her sentence, because the doors to her quarters fly open the next second.
My father strides into her space.
Marzia recoils in fear when she sees him. I don't think she'll ever get over her fear of my father. After all, he did murder her parents.
"Father?" I narrow my eyes at him. "I was just finishing up with Marzia and—"
"I'll finish her off for you, then." He pulls a gun from the holster behind his back.
Marzia and Eleanora gasp in unison as he points the gun at my pretty captive.
I curse and step in front of him, ignoring the barrel of the gun that's now pointed right at me. "What are you doing?" I demand. "She's not a threat to us."
"She is…" Father grunts. "She's a liability."
"Put your gun down," I hiss.
"Get out of my way, Adrian." He attempts to shove me aside.
I refuse to move.
He lowers his hand with the gun and glares at me. "Are you really going to go against your father's direct orders, Adrian? You're going to disobey me like this? Have you no respect?"
"We agreed," I hiss at him in hushed tones. "The girl lives."