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)
Thud.
I didn’t care.
I shouldn’t care.
But my beating heart betrayed me.
Thud. Thud.
“What? Cat got your tongue, wife?” I taunted, hoping to provoke her, to see the fire return to her eyes. “No clever retort? No sharp words to cut me down? No threats of revenge?”
She remained silent, her gaze fixed on me but not really seeing me. Such a haunted expression…
Serafina looked broken, shattered in a way that made my chest tighten uncomfortably. The silence stretched between us, heavy and suffocating.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Had I extinguished the flame that had made her so captivating, so infuriating, so alive?
Another wave of guilt washed over me, stronger this time, harder to ignore. I pushed it away, burying it beneath layers of anger and resentment.
She hurt me. I hurt her. We were even now.
“We’re toxic together, poison,” I told her, my voice low and harsh. “Fire and water. We can’t exist in the same space without destroying each other.”
I moved closer, watching as she flinched but still didn’t speak. “We’ll never understand each other, never truly connect. We’re too different.”
Too damaged in our own ways.
Serafina remained silent, her breathing the only sound in the room. The rise and fall of her chest, the slight tremble of her lips—that was all she gave me.
“Our reality will always remain ugly,” I continued, the words tasting like ash in my mouth. “This is what we are, Serafina. This is what we’ve become.”
And we couldn’t escape what we were.
We had been born into a cruel, merciless world ruled by fear and bloodshed, building our empires atop piles of corpses. Serafina’s hands might have been untainted by blood, but her soul was woven into this world all the same.
She was no less a part of this darkness than I was. I saw it in her eyes, and I had caught a glimpse of it in her fiery soul.
I finally stood, unable to bear the weight of her silence, her fear.
She was so beautiful, so haunted, it made my chest ache.
I didn’t understand why seeing her like this unsettled me when I had married her for revenge in the first place. To break her. To make her suffer.
Because her suffering would hurt Matteo. And that would bring me great pleasure.
Except…
My fists clenched.
Without another word, I turned and walked to the door, pausing only briefly with my hand on the knob.
“Get some rest,” I said, not looking back. “We’re not done yet.”
We would never be done.
Till death to us part.
I closed the door behind me, leaving her alone in the darkness.
The sound of the lock clicking into place seemed to echo through the hallway, a final punctuation to our twisted story.
She locked her door. Something she hadn’t done since she arrived here.
For the first time since I had set this plan in motion, I wondered if I had made a mistake that could never be undone.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Serafina
Three weeks later
“It’s okay, Elena.” I walked past her into the kitchen and she followed closely behind me. “I want to make my own breakfast today.”
“Are you sure, Mrs. Salvatore?”
“Please, I told you to call me Serafina,” I corrected her gently.
“It’s not proper,” she simply stated, folding her hands in front of her. “You’re the mistress of the house. You deserve respect.”
Ah, respect.
Such a strange, pointless word.
A laugh threatened to burst from my chest but I quickly squashed it down.
“Would you like me to get the ingredients out for you?” she asked when I started to open the cabinets.
The kitchen was spacious and modern, all gleaming stainless steel and marble countertops.
“No, I can manage.” I took out a bowl, a whisk and then grabbed the cutting board from the corner. I found the knife in one of the drawers. “You can leave. I’ll be fine here.”
She hesitated. “Are you sure?”
I haven’t been in the kitchen before to cook anything since I moved in. But I knew I was capable of managing and I definitely didn’t need Elena hovering over my shoulders.
In fact…
“You can take the day off.”
She blinked, confused. “Sorry?”
“You can take the day off,” I repeated calmly. “I can manage.”
“But—”
“I doubt Adrian would mind,” I said before she could finish the sentence. “So please, you and Edmund both.”
“Do you not want us in the main house?”
I smiled softly. “That’s right. I would like to be alone, please. When my husband arrives, I’ll be there to greet him myself. And I’ll take care of dinner, too.” Her expression shifted to concern and I reached out to pat her on the shoulders. “Please, rest assured. We’ll be perfectly fine.”
Elena hesitated for another moment before nodding. “As you wish, Mrs. Salvatore. I’ll let my father know. If you need anything—“
“I won’t,” I assured her, already turning back to the cabinets. “Thank you, Elena.”
The sound of her footsteps faded as I gathered what I needed. Eggs, cheese, mushrooms, and a tomato. I was in the mood for an omelette today.