Chapter Ninety-Four
The silent tension in the room thickened and Kelley knew that he had to get a firmer grip on his anger. His anger would just scare her, now that he knew the truth so many things made sense to him, things he'd told Jesse earlier. He felt sick to his stomach that all this time she'd been living in fear, afraid of what sick, perverted sexual acts she'd have to perform to please him.
Kelley looked at Milana, really looked at her and his gut clenched tightly at how young she was, how innocent in this fucked up war they were fighting. She was his to protect and he made a silent vow that nobody else would ever hurt her and that he wouldn't push her for more. He'd show her the real him, open his heart and give her a life worth smiling about.
Tears threatened to spill out of her eyes and she bit her lower lip as she nodded her head. Kelley moved closer to her and pulled her into a hug. “I thought my life was going to end when I came here, I wasn’t sure how I was going to do it.”
“I didn’t make it any easier on you either because I thought you were Ernesto’s spy.”
“He said you bought me but that I’d have a decent life if I did what was expected of me.”
Kelley closed his eyes briefly and gritted his teeth. “There was an arranged marriage contract. For me to get the extra twenty percent shares I needed I had to marry a Romano daughter. If I didn’t then Charles got the shares and control of the hotels. I couldn’t let him get those shares because I’m pretty sure that he used the hotels to funnel cash for his playhouses.”
“Is he the man in charge?”
“He is,” Kelley confirmed. “Did your uncle ever take you to The Club?”
Milana shook her head as if in thought. “Ernesto took me there a few times, usually just to make me watch as a threat to keep me in line. I was always terrified to go there with him, he always told me that one day I’d end up like those women.”
Kelley turned onto his back and pushed his arms behind his head as he stared at the ceiling. After a few minutes, Milana lay down on her back too with her hands folded over her stomach. Kelley didn’t want to ask but he knew he should, he had to know.
“Did they … did they hurt you?”
“No. Ernesto made me watch videos of what the men liked, how I was supposed to act but nobody in there ever touched me.”
Kelley exhaled a breath of relief, at least she had been spared that. “Sorry, I had to ask.”
“How did you get your scar?”
Kelley turned his head to find her now on her side, looking at him. “Charles gave it to me the night he kicked me out of this house. He’s not my father, Milana, he’s my uncle but I didn’t know that until I was almost eighteen. That night he showed me a video of my girlfriend in a room with ten men …”
Milana gasped in horror. “I’m sorry.”
“It wasn’t like that with her, she liked it. She told me so herself when I stupidly tried to save her from that life.”
“I can’t imagine that that’s true. What if she was coerced into saying that or threatened to say that?”
Kelley shook his head, he didn’t want to think like that. He’d wanted to believe that she’d been a victim but if she was one then he was even worse than they were. He’d left her there but only because he’d believed her.
“She knows where I am if she needs help.”
“Do you love her?”
Kelley smiled and a laugh escaped his lips. “No.”
Milana turned on her other side and Kelley pulled the comforter over her. She didn’t say anything but she gripped the edge and snuggled into it. He smiled then and turned on his side as well, closer than he had been.
“Screw it,” he said under his breath.
“What?”
Kelley moved right up against her and put his arm around her waist. He pulled her lower half closer to him and then pushed his leg in between hers with his face right against the nape of her neck. Kelley closed his eyes and pushed his hand against her stomach and under her side.
“Who would’ve thought that you were a cuddler.”
“If you tell anyone I’ll deny it.”
Milana laughed softly and the first thing that popped into his head was that he could get used to this. He’d slept alone for seven years and he found it surprising that her presence next to him felt right instead of wrong.
“Goodnight, Kelley.”
“I’d really like to get to know the real you, Milana.”
She was quiet for a few seconds before speaking. “The one thing that always got me into trouble was my stubbornness and my big mouth.”
“I like big mouths.”
Milana laughed louder this time and Kelley realized how that had sounded. “That’s not what I meant.”
“I’d like to get to know the real you too, I’ve already met the asshole you.” She started laughing again and Kelley had to smile.
“I deserved that.”
Kelley and Milana fell asleep like that and for the first time in years, they both slept through the night. Kelley dreamed blissfully of putting a gun to Charles’s head and pulling the trigger as Milana dreamt of seeing her mother again.
Milana woke first, instantly realizing what was poking against the back of her thigh. Her movement caused Kelley to groan and she froze. “Don’t stop on my account.”
“You’re still in the asshole zone.”
Milana lay silent for a few seconds, afraid that she’d just crossed a line despite what he had said the previous night. Kelley laughed then, deep and rumbling and she could feel the vibrations of it through her whole body.
“Definitely going to like your big mouth.”
