Chapter 12

FREYA

Bruzzatore approached me slowly, maintaining intense eye contact. I stared back at him, trying to control my shaky breathing.

He stopped directly in front of my face and let out a long, angry breath.

I flinched. More tears ran down my face.

To my surprise, Bruzzatore’s face softened. He was still clearly the angry alter-ego, but he looked suddenly more human.

“Don’t fear, my Donna,” he said. Then his tongue ran up my cheek and moved to the other one to do the same. There was something feral, animalistic about this man.

I realized then that he was licking up my tears— but I couldn’t tell if he meant it to be comforting or if he was deciding whether he wanted to murder me for being so weak.

I flinched again in disgust. I didn’t want his saliva all over my face.

“Get on the bed.” His voice wasn’t harsh, but his words were clearly a demand.

“Wh-what?” I asked.

He grabbed me by the shirt and pulled me towards the bed. I could feel my blouse start to tear.

Why would he want me to go to the bed? And more importantly, what did he want to do with me once I got there?

“Why?” I whispered.

He didn’t respond. He just grabbed back onto my T-shirt and continued to tug, this time with more force.

I was yanked forward a bit, and I gasped. “Okay, okay.”

I rose from my spot on the floor slowly, never taking my eyes off the monster in front of me.

He moved with me, watching my every movement.

I approached the bed on shaky legs, noticing that he stayed close, almost as if he expected me to fall at any moment.

I slowly sat down and took in a deep breath.

I looked back at Bruzzatore and gave him a questioning look that said, “What now?”

He came to stand in front of me. Instead of speaking, he pressed his hand into the center of my chest and gave me a surprisingly gentle shove.

“I—what?” I lost my balance and ended up on my back, staring at the ceiling. I blinked.

I felt the bed shake violently, and realized that Bruzzatore was coming to lie down next to me.

“What now?” I asked, looking over at his hulking form.

“Now you sleep,” he responded coolly.

“You just want to go to sleep?”

He moved forward and touched my arm. Then he nodded decisively.

Why did he want me to go to sleep? What good would that do?

He leaned in towards me, his eyes twinkling. He really was a beautiful man, even in this state—terrifying, but beautiful.

I looked away. ~I should not be admiring a monster.~

My gaze returned to the ceiling as the tears continued to flow. I had calmed down a bit, but still my body shook.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could feel his eyes on me, which was unsettling. So Luca had a creepy alternative personality who was even scarier than he was normally.

I’d been kidnapped by Dr. Jekyll, who claimed I belonged to him. And it just so happened that his Mr. Hyde had absolutely no self-control.

This was fan-fucking-tastic!

We lay like that for an hour and a half, with my mind racing and him watching me, until eventually my adrenaline ran out and my body stopped shaking. The tears on my cheeks had finally dried, too. I looked at Bruzzatore, and he lifted his head at the movement.

“Can I get up now?”

He shook his head firmly.

“Why not?”

He only put his head back on the pillow with a smirk, and closed his eyes.

Well, that didn’t give me an answer. And if he was going to take a nap, then there was nothing stopping me from getting up.

I slowly propped myself up into a sitting position. Bruzzatore didn’t like that at all. Without a word, he reached out an arm and placed one of his enormous hands on my shoulder, putting enough pressure on it that I was forced to lie back down.

I huffed in annoyance.

“You know I will not be able to sleep, right? So why do I just have to lie here?”

Bruzzatore just lay back down, resuming the position that he’d been in before.

I stared up at the ceiling and sighed. I could feel his eyes roaming my body. “I’m for sure not going to be able to sleep with you staring at me.”

I looked at him only to see that his eyes were now closed, although the ghost of a smirk was still playing across his face.

~Well, that’s better than nothing.~

Another excruciatingly long hour passed like this. My confusion only grew. What was he waiting for? Did he just want me to stay like this forever?

I’d finally had enough. I didn’t care how unhinged he was or about the fact that he had me at his complete mercy. I couldn’t just lie there anymore.

I jerked my body into a sitting position and quickly began scooting toward the end of the bed, hoping to get there before Luca could stop me.

I’d barely made it far when he pounced on me, wrapping his impossibly large arms around me and slamming me back down on the mattress.

“I can’t just lie there anymore! I need to move!” I yelled at him.

“That’s out of the question,” he snapped. “You’re still exhausted and overwhelmed, and you need sleep.”

He forced me back down, so I was lying again. I tried fighting him, but it was no use. He was like a million times stronger than me. He was even stronger as Bruzzatore than he’d been as Luca. And that had still been insanely strong.

I huffed out my annoyance.

I thought he would move away once I was back down, but he didn’t.

Instead, he lowered so that he was lying on top of me, with his stomach pressing into mine, his firm weight pressing me into the bed.

As horrified as I was that I could no longer move, I had to admit, his abs felt amazing pressing hard into my chest like that.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

I squirmed a bit, trying to get him to move. He just put more weight on me, completely immobilizing me. Even my arms were stuck underneath him. I couldn’t move at all.

It seemed like he was done arguing with me.

This was going to be a long day.