Page 73 of Urgent Vows
"They were going to hold us for ransom?" I ask.
"They were going to ransom Carlotta, but they were going to s—"
"Shut it," Severu barks at his brother before Miceli can finish his sentence.
But Miceli said enough. "They were going to sell me?" I ask faintly, feeling sick. We all know what that means and it's not an arranged marriage.
I cannot help the shudder of revulsion as terror engulfs me. I am safe. I am here. But if I had not been able to defend myself, I wouldn't be. That ability should make me feel confident, but the knowledge that I could have so easily ended up a victim of human trafficking rolls through me.
Carlotta crying. The bodyguards yelling. Blood on the road. Unmoving bodies. The sound of gun fire. Glass shards glittering in the spring sun. The smell of burnt rubber. Blood spreading out over a man's chest.
The man I shot would have sold me. I feel my lips moving. Did I say that out loud?
"Severu would never have let that happen," Giulia says to me, but it sounds like her voice is coming through a tunnel.
I nod, but the ice I felt earlier spreads through my veins until I'm shivering uncontrollably from the chill.
Everyone is looking at me. I don't like it. Earlier when everyone talked to me and showed concern for my wellbeing, I felt cherished. Now I just feel like a bug on the end of a pin. I try to make myself smaller in my chair, but wince when curling in on myself hurts my ribs.
Someone whimpers like a wounded animal. It's me. I'm that wounded animal.
I need to get control of myself, but I can't get enough air. I can't stop the movie from that day playing over in my mind. The feel of the gun in my hands when I pull the trigger. It's so loud.
Aria is saying something, but I can only hear the gunshot.
Chapter 24
CATALINA
What happens next seems to shock every person at the table. Severu shoves his chair back, stands up, and lifts me into his arms before sitting down with me in his lap.
At the dining room table.
In front of his entire family.
"You are safe, and you will stay that way." Severu's voice cuts through the cacophony in my head.
His scent casts the remembered smells of that day into the background. He rubs his hands up and down my arm. "Shh…mi dolce gatto. I will keep you safe."
I nod. Because I believe him.
The cold dissipates as my entire body flushes with embarrassment-tinged pleasure. Because my unemotional husband is holding me and comforting me with no regard for where we are, or our audience.
He pulls my plate near and gives me a bite of the flaky and moist tilapia, as if there is nothing out of the ordinary about holding me on his lap and feeding me during lunch. "You need to eat."
I don't reply, too busy chewing.
"That's one way to keep her safe," Miceli says with a laugh.
No one else comments on the odd seating arrangement, but when I chance a glance up at my husband's face, I know why. His expression is more than forbidding. He looks like he wants to kill someone.
My body relaxes into his of its own volition and I sigh. "I guess I should have stayed in bed."
Only I've never coddled myself after Papà hurt me; I've certainly never been coddled by others.
"Yesterday was taxing on you," Aria says sympathetically.
I flick my gaze to her and notice the worried expression on her perfectly made up features and it does something funny to my heart. Tears prick at my eyes and I blink them away. I do not cry.
