Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 105679 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 528(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105679 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 528(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
After all, I was doing their dirty job, carrying out their sins so their hands remained untainted while mine bore the weight of every death.
And my father hated me bringing it into his perfect, sterile dining room where we played the perfect family.
His expression shifted to disgust and I knew he wanted to yell, to scold me as if I was a young, reckless boy that he had grown tired of disciplining while Matteo shook with pure, unadulterated hatred.
Guilia avoided my eyes, choosing to focus on her plate instead. Beatrice looked a little concerned and Gabriel, of course, was nowhere to be seen.
But none of them mattered.
I was more curious of Serafina’s reaction.
The initial horror slowly faded and her lips curled with disgust as she stared at me. I almost laughed. If only she knew just how dark and evil I truly was, how much blood I’d spilled over the years. Her hatred was so pure, so innocent compared to the things I’d done.
“Adrian,” Matteo’s voice cut through my thoughts, dripping with contempt. “How can you walk into a family dinner celebrating your wedding in such a manner? Have you no respect for your wife? No sense of decorum?”
How typical of him. What a mockery.
Matteo was always trying to paint me as the villain.
I heard that word so many times that I was starting to get used to the title.
I turned to face my brother, watching his jaw tighten with anger. Always so proper, so concerned with appearances. The heir who always got what he wanted.
His lies made me sick.
His truth stirred a madness inside me that I kept controlled.
“I do your dirty work, brother, and now you care how I look?” I spread my hands, displaying the blood that had dried in the creases of my skin. “This is what keeps our family in power. This is what pays for the silverware you’re eating with.”
“I’m well aware of your duties,” Matteo hissed, his shoulders shaking with his anger. “You’ve embarrassed this family enough after what happened the day of the wedding. Do you know that you’ve turned us into a laughing stock? You made me look weak.”
I shrugged. “It’s not my problem if you can’t contain the gossip. That was your duty. To keep our family’s image clean. To solve the problem. And if that made you look weak, then brother, you have bigger problems.”
My father cleared his throat. “Perhaps you should clean up before joining us.”
Serafina spoke then, her voice barely above a whisper. “Perhaps he should have stayed away entirely.” I wasn’t sure she had intended for everyone to hear but it was loud enough to make my father raise an eyebrow and Matteo’s eyes to gleam with dangerous victory.
“Is that so?” I said, fists clenched to my side. “Does my presence make you uncomfortable? Would you rather enjoy dinner with your ex-fiancé instead, playing house?”
“Adrian–” My father started to warn.
“Actually, she was enjoying dinner,” Matteo said. “Laughing and smiling until you came. You’ve interrupted everyone’s pleasant evening with your…unpleasantness.”
My wife, laughing and smiling with Matteo while she only gave me silence at home.
Fuck him.
“Adrian, please… go and wash up so we can resume with dinner,” Beatrice said, her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to calm the room.
Serafina’s lips twisted, her eyes roving over my bloodied attire. “Except, some sins can’t be washed away.”
I moved before I could think, striding to her side of the table. I leaned down, my blood-splattered face inches from hers. Her eyes widened and I saw the small flinch, the way her body quivered, a small twitch before she composed herself, lifting her chin.
My sweet, defiant wife.
She chose the wrong place to stand up for herself.
I held her gaze as I grabbed her half-eaten steak from her plate, and took a large bite, chewing slowly as I stared into her horrified eyes. The meat was warm, the juices mixing with the taste of blood that still lingered in my mouth.
Serafina thought me a monster…then I was going to show her just how savage I could really be.
“Delicious,” I said, dropping the steak back onto her plate with a wet thud. Then I grabbed her arm, pulling her to her feet with enough force to make her gasp.
“What are you doing?” she demanded, struggling against my grip.
I dragged her toward the door, nodding to my father who watched with that calculating expression I’d come to despise. “There we go,” I announced to the stunned room. “I came, I ate, and now I’m taking my wife home. I don’t have time for fake pleasantries.”
Serafina stumbled beside me, her heels catching on the carpet. “Let me go,” she hissed, but I only tightened my grip.
Nobody dared to interfere. Not even Matteo with his inflated ego and his shallow arrogance. Even he knew better than to push me that far or what I was capable of once he did.