Chapter 3: The Worst Criminal

IRIS P.O.V

A sound startled me awake.

It sounded like an engine that was refusing to start. Then I felt the warmth searing my back and Massimo's rough breathing behind my ears.

Of course, he was snoring.

Anger, disgust and other vile emotions made me grit my teeth, grab his hand from my waist and shove it back roughly. At this point, I gave zero fucks if he woke up and complained.

In one move, I was pushing back the covers and sitting up in bed. With my head in my hands, memories of the previous day washed over me. After Hilda had given me the news, I had gone numb all over and had drank too much champagne till my legs wobbled in their heels and I almost caused a scene.

I vaguely remember Hilda informing Massimo of my friend's demise, and Alessandro had arranged for me to be taken to one of the bedrooms in his mansion.

After that, everything else had become hazy. I had ended up throwing my guts, and Hilda had held my hair through it all. Massimo didn’t once check in on me, but I was surprised when Alessandro had water and ibuprofen sent up.

Eventually, Hilda had to leave, and I was glad for it. I didn’t want her comforting me. If anything, I don't deserve it.

I should have been the one dead.

More tears sting the back of my eyes, intensifying the headache that was now blooming on the right side of my head. Raising my eyes to the bedside alarm clock, I discovered it was just four thirty-nine in the morning.

Restless and anxious to get away from Massimo, I left the room. As I stepped out into the cold hallway, I immediately hugged myself before taking a deep breath and deciding to go right. After wandering for a while, I found paintings and tall portraits of Alessandro and his family.

Fascinated, I stopped in my tracks and studied them all. It was clear Alessandro grew up…cold. None of the portraits or pictures depicting his childhood to adulthood showed him smiling.

He was always rigid, as if he had to put on a mask, or always be on guard. I noticed the same pattern in his younger brother as well. The only person who smiled in the family photos was a beautiful woman who had a striking resemblance to Alessandro and who was obviously his mother.

“Can’t sleep?” came a deep voice near my ear, and I automatically jumped around in fright. Standing dangerously close to me was my one-night-stand, looking splendid in nothing but soft cotton pants.

“Uhm…yes.” I swallowed, nodding furiously as I tried to get my breathing under control but when my gaze fell to his naked tattooed chest, my heart squeezed when I saw the name, ‘Charlotte’ written on it.

She must have meant so much for him to tattoo her name on his chest like that. My eyes climbed back to his face, fringed by thick black hair that seemed to have been run through by his hand several times. I remembered how silky it had felt in my hands when I-. I shook my head as images of our passionate night together flooded my brain.

His angelic face, his sculpted, tattooed body, his blue, blue eyes. It’s too much. My lower region immediately turns moist as Alessandro slowly appraises me from head to toe with knowing eyes, like he can tell what’s going on in my head.

I suddenly became aware of how short my pyjamas shorts were, and my face heats up at the hunger in his eyes as he stares at my exposed thighs. I find that I can’t take it any more nor help my attraction towards him. I needed to say something to fill this tense silence between us.

“Uhm…do you have aspirin?”

Alessandro raised his eyes to me and I could see the dark thoughts swirling behind them before his face cleared of all expression. He cocked his head to the side and watched me for a second. Then he suddenly turned around, revealing a set of stairs before him. “Follow me.”

The way he said it left no room for argument, and I found myself following after him. A few minutes later, I find myself standing in a grand kitchen equipped with everything an all star chef would need.

“Sit.” Alessandro ordered as he opened a tall fridge and peered inside. Then he began to bring out items, and it dawned on me that they were food.

“What are you doing?” I asked, as I took a seat.

He closed the fridge and looked at the items. “Isn’t it obvious? I’m making you a sandwich.”

“Me? No. I asked for aspirin.”

He began to rinse his hands. “And you can’t take medication on an empty stomach. You didn’t have dinner last night, so let me make you breakfast. Deal?”

I opened my mouth to protest, but then I changed my mind. I was hungry anyway. ‘Deal.”

“Good. And one more thing,” he said, catching my attention. “I am so sorry about your friend.”

_________________________________________

"I don't care. You’re not going.” Massimo said as I dried myself in front of a bathroom mirror. After breakfast with Alessandro, I came back to find Massimo still asleep, so I went to the bathroom to shower.

Massimo came in when I was drying myself, and I had asked him for permission to go to my best friend's funeral.

When he refused, anger and desperation took hold of me, battling to prevail. “Please, Massimo, I’ll do anything!” I said, turning to face him and then I realised I shouldn’t have said that, because now Massimo gave me a sultry look as he appraised my body in the towel.

“Well, you can always make me happy by coming to bed with me.” He said, wrapping his disgusting body around me. “You’re still a virgin, and I’ll be more obliged to let you go if you let me pop your cherry, right here, right now.”

His hand goes under my towel to my naked butt and a mixture of panic and disgust overwhelms me. All it takes is one squeeze and in a moment of rage, my hand flies to his face, making a loud smack that echoes in the bathroom.

I’m breathing hard from the thrill of my rage when the realization of what I just did, dawned on me. I just hit Don Massimo in the face. Something, I doubt the worst criminal in town would have the guts to do.

Massimo’s face reddens in rage, and before I could take a step back, he gripped my wrist and gripped my hair before slamming my head into the mirror.

It cracks, and my head suddenly swims before I collapse to the floor. Still, he held my wrist and dragged me forcefully across the bathroom floor to the bedroom, making my towel slip off.

“Massimo, please, I'm sorry!”

“You're going to be sorry by the time I am done with you.” He said. In one move, he unbuckled his belt, and panic filled my veins.

Wrapping the tail of his belt around his hand, he raised the weapon high, and I immediately cowered from the oncoming assault.

My eyes were closed waiting for the sting of the belt when I heard the door suddenly open, and then I heard Alessandro’s voice.

“What the fuck is going on here?!”