CHAPTER NINE

DALIA

He holds me tight against his chest, "Let it out."

I know he thinks I'm crying about what he just did to me, and maybe that's part of it. The fact is, never once after I was rescued, did I cry. I moved on like it never happened. My brothers forced me to go to therapy, but I never truly opened up. I never dealt with what I went through, or my mother's death. I blocked it all out of my mind other than when I slept, and was back in that awful place, going through it all over again.

I glance up at Aries, who watches me with a pained expression, "That won't happen again."

"Will you let me go?"

He sighs audibly, "No, Wife. I can't. The plan hasn't changed, but I won't do that again unless you ask for it."

"I thought you liked my fear."

Aries shakes his head, "I do. The pretty tears also make me hard, but seeing you cry like this? No, this isn't what I want."

He presses his hand to my cheek and I can't stop myself from leaning into his touch, "It wasn't terrible. It just-"

"Just what?" he asks.

I close my eyes tightly, "It took me back to the traumatized eight year old girl."

"What did they do to you?"

I've never talked about it with anyone, not my brothers, therapists, doctors, absolutely nobody. Why I tell him now I don't think I'll ever understand.

"First they made me watch while so many men beat and raped my mom. She cried over and over again, begging them to not hurt me. Never once did she cry for herself or ask them to stop. Her only request was to spare me. I didn't even know what sex was, as I watched these men slam their penises inside her viciously. It was confusing and terrifying."

"Jesus," he says quietly while clenching his fists against my back.

I continue, "Then they made her watch while they did the same to me. They didn't care that I was eight. Their brutality was not lessened by the fact that I was a child, and a virgin. We were brutally raped every single day multiple times. Then came the beatings with metal rods. We were given one meal a day, a single slice of bread, and a shot glass size glass of water."

Opening my eyes, I find Aries staring at me intently with a clenched jaw, he grits out, "I assume they're dead?"

I nod, "Yeah, my brothers and my father made sure of that."

You would think that experience would be the worst thing to ever happen, and losing my mother was probably the most painful thing I've been through. However, my father killing himself after her funeral is a close second.

"My dad killed himself after her funeral. For years, I thought it was my fault."

Arching an eyebrow in confusion, he says, "How could that be your fault? He killed himself, that was his choice."

I shrug my shoulders best as I can while he's holding onto me, "They sent videos of both my mom and me. The rapes. The beatings. I truly believed he was so disgusted, by what he saw me doing, that he couldn't live with the images in his brain."

He groans like he's in pain, but I know I'm misinterpreting it because I know he doesn't care about me, or my story, which is why I have no idea why the hell I've chosen to open up to him, of all people.

"It wasn't your fault, Dalia. None of it. I only wish they were alive so I could tear them limb from limb."

Leaning down, he kisses me on the forehead, "Go take a shower and I'll order us some food."

Aries ordered food while I took a shower. Feeling refreshed, I step back into the living room of the large suite he must've gotten for us. I don't remember everything from last night but slowly images are flashing in my brain. How much did I drink? The memory of him approaching me in the bar is a little blurry. The wedding itself is a little more clear, but there's still blank spaces. If he threatened my brothers, it doesn't come as much of a surprise but still, it'd be nice to know how it happened. And his sister. What's the story there?

I find him sitting at a table on the balcony overlooking the Las Vegas strip. It's beautiful and sunny, much more so than I ever see at home. I take the empty chair and sit across from him, and glance down at the overflowing plate. Everything looks delicious, but it's far more than I'll be able to eat. Glancing at his plate, I ask, "Will you be able to eat that much?"

He grins, "Yes. And then probably half of yours."

"How did we end up married? I don't remember everything."

His eyes narrow in on me, "I told you if you didn't marry me, I'd sic the FBI on your brothers."

Yeah, that'd do it. I would do anything to protect Domenic, Damian, Drake, and Dante, as well as their wives.

I take a bite of the stuffed French toast, not having a clue what it's stuffed with, but am delighted when I bite into strawberries and cream. Without thinking about it, I moan from the sweet flavor on my tongue. Aries clenches his jaw, "Careful, Wife. You moaning with food in your mouth only makes me wonder what you'd sound like with my cock stuffed in your throat."

Glancing out through the glass wall at the strip, I swallow my food and try to change the subject, "Tell me about your sister."

He sets his fork on his plate, "Sierra is fourteen going on thirty. She has been hanging out with an unsavory crowd, but I know who has her, I just don't know where."

My eyes dart from my plate to his gaze, "Who?"

He shrugs like I should know, "The Aiellos."

I know of the different families and I do know they are the worst currently, but I don't know much about them, because my brothers keep me far away from the business.

"I would've helped even if you hadn't forced me to."

Aries swallows hard, that neck tattoo shifting with the movement of his throat, "I know. I also know your brothers wouldn't have agreed to it. We both know family is everything to the De Luca brothers. This was the only way."

I giggle, "You do realize when I tell them you forced me into a marriage I never wanted, by threatening them, they will probably kill you?"

He chuckles softly, "I'm well aware. That's why you're going to tell them you fell madly in love with me."

Aries spots my shocked expression, and grins while chewing his bacon. I shake my head, "I'm not lying to my brothers."

He grins like a cat who ate the canary, "You have two choices if you want to keep them out of prison. Either you fall madly in love with me in twenty-four hours, or you put on the show of your goddamn life."

I push my plate away because I've lost my appetite, "I couldn't fall in love with you if I had twenty-four years, twenty-four hours is not going to happen."

He runs his fingers up my bare arm, I try to ignore the tingles skittering across my skin, "That's fine, sweet Dalia. I'm not the man you want to fall in love with, it's not what I expect or want. My only expectation is that you fool your brothers. After we find my sister and eliminate the Aiellos, you are free to divorce me and carry on with your life as if we had never met."

There's two sides to Aries, and they are polar opposites. The domineering asshole that takes what he wants with no consideration for other people. Then there's the caring man that held me while I cried. The same one that said he'd never force himself inside me again. I want to keep him at arms length because I can't afford to let any man into my heart, especially not one that isn't sticking around. Keeping men away from me has always worked to protect myself, but I'd be a liar if I said I wasn't attracted to him, even though I don't want to be. Aries Lombardi is the most dangerous man I've ever met. Not because he'll physically harm me, but because he's destroying everything I've ever known like a house of cards.

I glare at him from across the table, "Fine with me, considering I already wish I had never met you."

"I said I won't fuck you again without your consent. Please don't mistake my kindness for weakness. Until the day you are set free you'll speak to me with respect. I have no intention of tolerating a disobedient brat."