Becoming Mrs DeLuca novel Chapter 26

ADRIAN

Annoyance hummed under my skin. Valentina peered up at me calmly, thinking she knew everything. It was the advantage of youth- believing you knew how the world ran and convinced you could shape it to your ideals. She’d soon realize that ideals were just young adult foolishness.

“Come now,” I gritted out, not wanting to release the frustration of the last few months on her. Ultimately, it was my fault for allowing this marriage, for thinking a twenty one year old girl could be a wife and mother. The idea that Valentina could become Serena 2.0 turned my stomach over.

She opened her mouth as if to say more, but I sent her a warning look. She would need to learn when to shut up. She pursed her lips but remained quiet.

I led her to Stefan’s room first. I opened the door but didn’t turn the lights on. Stefan’s bed was empty.

“Where is he?” Valentina whispered, worried, as she crossed the room toward the bed.

My heart clenched. Turning on my heel, I walked out and strode down the corridor. Steps followed me, and Valentina appeared at my side.

“Adrian?”

I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t.

The door to the last room on the left was ajar as I knew it would be. I pushed it open. The light spilling in illuminated Stefan’s small form on the huge king–sized bed. He was curled into himself on top of the comforter, half covered by his own blanket. I took a deep breath, hating the feeling of guilt wilting my insides. Anger toward Serena was an emotion I could handle better.

I could feel Valentina’s eyes on me. I knew she had a myriad of questions she wanted to ask. In the silence of the room even her unspoken words frustrated me. She took a few hesitant steps toward Stefan. My hand shot out, clamping down on her upper arm with more force than intended. She winced, looking up at me in a wounded way that had nothing to do with my hard grip. I released her at once then walked past her toward the bed. For a moment, I watched my son’s tear–stained face. He was only five, he would be six in a month, an age when tears were still okay. Soon, they wouldn’t be anymore.

I bent down and carefully picked him up, trying not to wake him. Whenever I did, he’d squirm away and start crying again. He didn’t wake, however. His tiny head leaned against my chest as I cradled him against my body, the blanket swaddling him.

Valentina followed me without a word as I walked out of the bedroom and carried Stefan back to his own room. I put him down on his bed, covered him, then stroked his hair lightly. Feeling Valentina watching me from the doorway, I straightened and headed to her. She stepped back so I could close the door.

She scanned my face, and her expression filled with compassion. “Does he always come to your bedroom at night?”

“It’s not mine,” I pressed out. “It’s Serena’s. I sleep in the master bedroom.”

་.

20

Vouchers

“Oh.” Confusion showed on Valentina’s face. “You didn’t share a bedroom with your late wife?”

I gritted my teeth, trying to stifle my anger and worse, that heavy feeling of sadness. “No.” I headed to Sofia’s

room.

Valentina hurried after me. She couldn’t let it drop. She was too curious. “Because you don’t want to share a bedroom?”

I glared. “No. Because Serena didn’t want to share a bed with me. Now stop the questions.” My voice was harsh, even threatening- a tone meant for soldiers that displeased me, definitely not for my wife.

I turned away from Valentina’s hurt expression. My grip on the handle was crushing as I shoved open the door. Not waiting for her, I crossed the room and headed toward the crib. Sofia was sleeping soundly. Some of the darkness in my chest lifted. It was never all of it though. I couldn’t even remember a time when my thoughts hadn’t been dominated by darkness. I stroked my daughter’s chubby cheek with my thumb then leaned down and kissed her forehead. I was on the way out when Valentina spoke up.

“What about the baby monitor?”

I froze. She was right. Tonight was the first time Sybil or one of the maids wasn’t staying overnight. They had always taken the monitor during the night. Sofia’s cries had still woken me, and she’d only settled down when I’d consoled her. Returning to the crib, I grabbed the monitor from the sideboard. When I stepped back into the corridor and closed the door, I said, “How did you know?”

She shrugged. “I read all about baby monitors, and when I saw it sitting there, I thought we needed it.” She bit her lip. “Have you never taken it with you before?”

I stared down at the small device. “No. Serena or Sybil kept it at night…” I trailed off then held the monitor out to Valentina. She took it with a small frown.

“It should pick up the smallest sound, but unless Sofia starts crying, you don’t need to get up.”

She only nodded. She wasn’t saying anything when I could tell she wanted to. I was glad for her silence. I nodded down the corridor. “Let’s go to bed. I need to get up early, and Sofia will probably wake us a few times tonight.”

I led Valentina toward the master bedroom, wondering how long she’d want to sleep in it before she would decide to move to one of the guest bedrooms. I turned on the lights and motioned for her to enter. She slipped past me into the vast room. She looked around curiously. Her three suitcases waited beside the door to the walk–in–closet.

“I told Sybil that you’d probably want to put your clothes away yourself.”

“Yes, thank you. That way I’ll know where everything is,” she said absent–mindedly as she walked toward the window, peering outside.

It was too dark to see much but the general outline of the gardens. She looked petite, and I had to resist the urge to walk up to her and touch her shoulders. Last night she had to accept my closeness, but I wouldn’t force it on her again.

I cleared my throat, causing her to turn. Her gaze fell on the king–sized dark–wood bed on the left. Her expression tightened ever so slightly.

55 vouchers

“I’ll get ready,” I gritted out and headed for the en suite bathroom.

I wasn’t even sure what had me on edge tonight. I had been wound tightly for almost a year now. It was getting harder and harder to suppress the flood of emotions. Only once I’d released my frustration, and it had felt good, so fucking good. It had led to this point, and had ultimately cost my children their mother. Trying to stop this dangerous train of thought, I started brushing my teeth and getting ready for bed. A bed I’d have to share with another woman who didn’t want me.

Valentina still hid her resentment better than Serena ever did. Yet, of course she couldn’t feel anything but resentment considering she was forced to marry me. Her feelings toward sharing a bed with me again tonight had been clear as day. Trepidation. She didn’t have to worry. Despite the dark hunger for my young wife’s lovely body, I was a man who could control himself. I hated the idea of sleeping with a woman again who didn’t want me.

The years with Serena had been bad enough. Even when she’d approached me for sex- which only happened when she had ulterior motives- she never wanted to sleep with me. She didn’t even think of me when I fucked her.

A new wave of fury twisted my insides. I spit the toothpaste into the sink then washed my face and changed into my pajama bottoms. My anger didn’t lessen as I stepped back into the bedroom. Valentina had changed into a silken nightgown with tiny flowers all over it. She stared at a picture of the white beach taken from my summer house on the Island on a beautiful spring day. A picture meant to call to the calm within me.

It was unreasonable to be furious over her choice of wardrobe, especially when she looked exceptionally pretty in her gown, but I was. “Didn’t I tell you to get rid of those flower atrocities?”

Valentina jumped and whirled around. Her hair settled in smooth ringlets on her bare shoulders. Her eyes were wide- as brown as the expensive pure chocolate we’d been gifted by one of the underbosses today.

“Excuse me?”

I felt more anger, which wasn’t even directed at Valentina, but still it roared louder inside my chest since I’d seen Stefan on his mother’s bed. Every night, he went there, no matter how often I told him not to.

“I sent you new clothes. I expect you to wear them.”

Valentina raised her chin. “While I understand your need for me to look like a lady in public, I can’t see why I can’t wear the clothes I love in private. Only because I’m your wife now doesn’t mean I’m not still me. I won’t become someone else only because you don’t like who I am. You chose to marry me. You can’t form me into the wife you want. You can’t control everything, even if you think you have to.”

What did she know?

I stalked toward her.

She tossed her head back to meet my furious gaze. Goose bumps flashed across her skin and her nipples hardened, straining against the thin fabric of her nightgown.

“Is that so? I control hundreds of men and an entire city, but you think I can’t control you?” I stepped closer, backing her into the wall.

“Stop intimidating me,” she said, trying to step past me. I thrust my arm out, bracing my palm against the wall

Chapter 26

beside her head, caging her in.

“You will obey me.”

65 vouchers

She regarded my arm then looked up. She stepped closer until we were almost touching, throwing me off.

“What will you do if I don’t obey?”

That goddamn strawberry and vanilla scent filled my nose. Wrapping an arm around her waist, I jerked her toward me and lowered my head for a harsh kiss. She stiffened in my hold, and gasped into my mouth. What the fuck was I doing?