Page 157 of Vicious Intentions
“Goodnight,” I say, giving her another peck on the cheek before heading upstairs.
I’m dead on my feet, but the moment Anna’s floral scent reaches me as I step into the bedroom, my body instantly perks up. Her body is turned away from me, like always, depriving me of the sight of her face. After the day I’ve had…the week, hell, these last few years…her face is the only thing I want to see. Still, my wife isn’t done punishing me, so all I can do is bear it.
I push the thought aside and grab some clothes before heading into the bathroom to shower. Once I’ve washed the day off and changed, I return to our room, finding Anna exactly where I left her.
I slide in beside her, the faint strands of moonlight catching in her short blonde hair, turning it almost silver in the dark. I ache to touch her.
“Don’t,” she says, barely above a whisper.
“You’re awake,” I say foolishly, pulling my hand back.
Anna doesn’t respond. Fuck.
“I… um… thank you. For my mother, I mean. Whatever you’re doing, it’s working. She looks better today.”
“What’s wrong with her?” she asks softly.
“It’s complicated.”
She turns toward me this time, still lying on her side, her head resting on her clasped hands. “Then uncomplicate it for me.”
“Very well.” I clear my throat. “First, tell me what you know.”
“I don’t know anything, remember? Isn’t that how you like me? Clueless?”
“That’s not true.”
“Prove it then. Tell me what’s wrong with your mother.”
I turn onto my back, unable to withstand the venom in Anna’s eyes.
“She’s had a hard life, sweetheart.” I drag a hand over my face, before resting my arm over my head. “A very hard life.”
“Explain.”
I swallow the lump in my throat and force the words out, hoping Anna will be satisfied with the condensed version of my mother’s past.
“Her stepfather… fuck… well, he was a predator. The kind who does sick and twisted things to little girls, but when they age out, they’re no longer of use to him. He kicked my mother out of her home when she was fifteen, while her own mother watched and did nothing to stop him.”
“Oh my God,” Anna gasps, moving closer so I can keep my voice low.
“I wish I could tell you life got better for her, but it didn’t. Life on the streets isn’t kind to anyone, let alone a teenage girl. To this day, we still don’t know much about that time in her life.” I take a deep breath and continue. “After Carlo found her on the streets, her life didn’t improve. My mother was barely seventeen when he forced her into one of his brothels. She became his favorite plaything and visited her often. I can only imagine the horrors he inflicted on her.” I close my eyes, not wanting to see the pain my words must bring to Anna’s face. “Then Carlo became Don, and all of a sudden, he needed more heirs to secure his legacy. Since his wife, Ginevra, couldn’t give him any more, my mother took her place.”
“You were raised in a brothel?”
I shake my head. “No. None of us were. The moment my mother gave birth to any of us, my father took us from her arms and brought us here to live with him. For all intents and purposes, he wanted the world to believe we were true Donatos.”
“That poor woman,” Anna whispers, when she realizes the kind of torment my mother endured for most of her life. From predators sneaking into her childhood room, to my father tearing her babies away from her. One nightmarish existence after another.
I turn onto my side again, but the shadows in the room do nothing to hide the misery in Anna’s expression.
“When she gets overwhelmed… when something triggers her… she retreats into a world of her own. Her mind might be broken, but it’s also the only place she feels safe enough to hide.”
“I’m sorry,” she says quietly. “I didn’t know.”
“I never told you. You don’t need to apologize.”
We stare at each other for a moment, my heartbeat falling into rhythm with her quiet breaths.
