The Roman's Woman (A Singular Obsession Book 4)

by Lucy Leroux

  Chapter 17

  A banging sound jarred Sophia out of the light sleep she’d been in since Gio had come in. Still drowsy, she struggled to open her eyes, wondering what he’d dropped to make such a racket. But she was too relaxed to do it quickly. It had been a full day of pampering, and all the massage and specialty treatments had left her body pleasantly drained and lethargic.

  “Hmm,” she hummed when the covers pulled back and Gio climbed into bed with her.

  He must have changed his mind about the shower, because he was still dressed in pants and a shirt. She threw a languid hand over his shoulder, embracing him as he crawled over her.

  Gio must have missed her a lot because he was pawing at her more aggressively than usual. His hand squeezed her thigh painfully before moving up to pinch her breast—too hard.

  Upset at the rough treatment, she made a protesting sound and put a hand up to push him away. But he was rubbing against her so closely, she couldn’t budge him.

  It wasn’t until he kissed her that she realized something was wrong.

  His lips were unpleasantly wet, and he reeked of alcohol. And then she felt him down there—the long thin manhood pressing against her.

  It wasn’t Gio. Someone else had climbed into bed with her.

  Sophia craned her head away from the mouth trying to cover hers and screamed. The noise didn’t seem to bother her attacker. Instead of running away, he tried to remove her panties with bruising force. Panic flooded her and she screamed again, but it was muffled this time.

  Heart pounding uncontrollably, she fought with everything she had.

  For a second, it didn’t make any difference. The person on top of her was tall and strong, but a lucky elbow in the throat caused her attacker to rear back.

  In the dim light from the window she could see who it was—Gio’s teenage cousin Lucca, the one he was mad at. The boy was stinking drunk.

  Her fear catalyzed to anger. Suddenly furious, she struck out with her fist.

  She was strong, but the little shit climbing all over her must have been numb in his drunkenness. He murmured something unintelligible in Italian and pulled back enough to put a little distance between them. With a wrench, she drew back her head and snapped it forward the way her self-defense instructor had taught her long ago.

  The flat part of her forehead crashed straight into his nose. He fell back, crying and clutching his face.

  Using the strong muscles in her thighs, she pushed him away with her powerful legs. He hit the floor as she scrambled away, standing on the other side of the bed.

  No sooner had Lucca hit the floor than a roar filled her ears. Gio came out of nowhere. He took it all in an instant, running toward them to grab the drunken idiot by the collar.

  She had no idea how strong Gio was until he picked up Lucca with one arm, swinging him like a rag doll. He dragged him farther from the bed and started pounding on him. His fist came down over and over, the dull thudding sounds of flesh being beaten filling her ears.

  Lucca was crying and weeping openly, gibbering on in Italian. He was trying to cover his head and face, curling into a ball while pleading for Gio to stop. But that wasn’t going to happen.

  Sophia stood frozen in shock until she caught a glimpse of the cold rage on his face. It was chilling.

  He’s going to kill him.

  Sick to her stomach, she realized it was up to her to save the man who’d attempted to rape her.

  “Stop it, Gio!” she said, running up to him and putting her arms around him.

  But he was too far gone to listen to reason.

  He shrugged her off. She landed on her butt on the floor. Picking herself up, she reached out and took his arm, stopping it from connecting with Lucca’s head.

  “Gio, please!”

  The boy was still conscious, covering his head and sobbing with a harsh wheezing sound. Desperate to stop her enraged lover, she jumped on his back, wrapping her legs around him and squeezing with all her might.

  “Sophia!” Gio yelled, finally acknowledging her.

  “Stop it!” she shouted back. “Stop it now, or you’re going to kill him!”

  “That’s the idea.”

  “No! He’s drunk. He doesn’t know what he’s doing.”

  “I don’t care! He’s dead!” he said, trying to shrug her off without hurting her.

  She wasn’t as gentle. She squeezed harder until she could swear his ribs groaned in protest.

  “For fuck’s sake,” Gio wheezed.

  Coughing raggedly, he stopped struggling, so she relaxed the muscles of her legs. They stayed like that for a long moment, their breathing fast and ragged.

  “Are you going to get off me now?”

  Still holding tight, she craned her neck, trying to look at his face. “That depends. Are you going to stop?”

  He didn’t answer, so she held on and waited.

  “All right,” he finally ground out.

  She slid down, clinging to his shoulders with shaky hands.

  In front of them, the teenage boy curled into himself and cried harder. He was saying something, but her Italian was too poor to understand properly.

  “What is he saying?” she asked, grimacing at the pathetic sight.

  Gio passed a hand over his face. “That you wanted him. She told him so.”

  His voice was full of disgust.

  So she hadn’t misunderstood. “What the hell does that mean? Who is she?”

  Gio didn’t answer. He snatched up the phone on the bedside table and barked something into it. One long terrible minute later, Enzo, Gio’s security chief, came into the bedroom at a dead run. He was followed by two other men she didn’t recognize.

  “Get him out of here,” Gio ordered, pointing to his sad heap of a relative.

  Face ashen, Enzo nodded abruptly. He and one of the other men stepped forward and took hold of Lucca, one at each arm. They hustled him out, his groans and the sound of his heart-wrenching weeping carrying back to them.

  “Stop!” Gio called out.

  He ran over to Enzo and hissed something in his ear, pointing and waving his hand back and forth, slicing the air with quick abrupt motions.

  Sophia wrapped her arms tight around her middle, mentally transported to her one fraternity party in college. Her roommate had convinced her to wear a tight V-neck sweater, one that had displayed her cleavage. The outfit had attracted the attention of a large drunken frat boy. After less than a minute of incoherent conversation, she’d been grabbed and pinned to the wall.

  It had happened in full view of everyone, so it hadn’t been long before someone noticed she was being mauled against her will and pulled the guy off her.

  Intellectually, she knew it hadn’t been her fault. She put the incident behind her and moved on, but the same irrational feeling of shame was back. She felt dirty.

  You are dirty.

  Glancing down at her breasts, she saw red spatters. Sophia reached up to her chin and flinched when her fingers came away with blood. It must have been Lucca’s.

  Nauseated, she turned on her heel and marched into the bathroom, stripping off her nightgown and throwing it on the floor. She stepped into the shower and turned it on full-blast.

  She was still scrubbing herself raw when Gio came into the bathroom. He was fully dressed in his suit and tie, but that didn’t stop him from walking into the shower stall with her.

  He pulled her hands away, stopping her compulsive washing by wrapping his arms around her. He held her to him, letting the water run over them both, ruining a suit that probably cost more than her car.

  “I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “I don’t know how this happened, but I swear from now on no one will ever touch you. Not even me. Not if you don’t want me to.”

  Tears stung at her eyes and despite all her resolve to be strong, she threw her arms around him and started crying.

  “What is wrong with that kid? Does he have menta
l problems?” she asked, hiccuping, her face buried in his shoulder.

  “Yes. It’s called terminal stupidity.” He pulled her away and held her at arm’s length. “Look, this is my fault. My doorman took my open door policy with my family too literally. I never dreamed Lucca was this messed up, but he’s going to pay for this. I promise you. This is it for him.”

  Only half listening, she nodded listlessly. He took her in his arms again and held her until the hot water finally made her feel warm.

  Chapter 18

  Gio had never been so furious in his entire life. His suspicions had been correct. Lucca didn’t decide to attack Sophia on his own. In fact, he’d been so drunk he could barely walk last night.

  Enzo had pulled the security footage from the front of the building and they’d seen what happened.

  A car with tinted windows had dropped off Lucca a little after Gio had arrived home. His cousin had staggered out of the back and started walking to the building before turning around. Lucca had tried to climb back into the car, but whoever was in the rear seat had stopped him. Lucca had bent, listening at the window before nodding and lurching into the building.

  None of the camera angles caught the driver, who kept their head down, or the passenger in the back. But his cousin had been seen at a local club with Maria Gianna and her entourage just an hour before. Enzo was still trying to trace who the car belonged to, but Gio already knew whose it was. Vincenzo had a car just like it.

  He could imagine what happened. After that begrudging attempt at an apology at the party, Lucca had run straight to his ex-wife to blab about Gio’s new woman. Once Maria Gianna knew there was someone else in his life, she lost her drug-addled mind and plied his idiot cousin with booze. Then she sent him back to assault Sophia.

  “Find her,” Gio hissed at Enzo after watching the footage.

  He wasn’t a violent man, but right now he wanted to break every bone in his ex-wife’s body. But since he could never hit a woman, he was going to have to settle for Vincenzo’s head on a platter.

  In light of what happened, Enzo had offered to resign, but Gio wouldn’t accept it. He couldn’t. What had happened was his fault. He’d avoided dealing with his ex-wife, preferring to keep the peace than doing what he should have done in the first place. He’d been too nice. For all his life, he’d been conscientious and proper, a dutiful son and nephew.

  He’d even been a good husband. But despite all the effort he’d made, the gifts he’d showered on her, it had never been enough for Maria Gianna. The jewelry had always been wrong, the diamonds too small or the settings too old-fashioned. She wanted to go to parties and travel to the latest hotspots at the drop of a hat—things he couldn’t do with his job.

  For a long time afterward, he believed the divorce was his fault. He was too boring and dull for someone as bright and exciting as Maria Gianna. She had said as much herself—taunting him about his prowess in bed when he’d caught her fucking Vincenzo.

  His was a world of numbers and keeping up with tax codes. Sex was scheduled. It happened at night three times a week—four if it was a special occasion like a birthday or an anniversary. When his ex-wife cheated on him, he blamed his own rigid rules and quiet lifestyle. Now he knew the truth.

  Maria Gianna was spoiled and vindictive. She’d targeted his friends for her affairs to try and hurt him as much as possible. But he hadn’t been hurt. Embarrassed, yes—even repulsed. His ex had been infuriated that he didn’t care more. But now she had found a way to hurt him that was far more effective.

  He’d been dragging his feet about the libel suit because he didn’t want to make waves. Now she and Vincenzo thought of him as a pushover, someone who’d take their crap without complaint because he didn’t want to upset anyone. Well, fuck that.

  Last night had been a step too far. Sophia had been targeted. He was going to find that bitch and her lapdog, and he was going to make them pay.

  Unfortunately, Maria Gianna and Vincenzo had skipped town. Enzo had three of his men trying to track them down, so whatever he was going to do would have to wait. In the meantime, he was going to take Sophia home.

  ****

  Sophia held onto her patience with effort. “I’m fine, Gio.”

  She had been saying those words a lot recently.

  “Humor me, please.”

  She rolled her eyes at Elynn. Alex’s wife was waiting in her extra office chair as Sophia talked on the phone with her overprotective Italian lover.

  “Enzo doesn’t mind driving you,” Gio continued, trying and failing to hide the possessive concern in his voice. “He can be there in five minutes.”

  “Tell him I have my car,” Elynn stage-whispered.

  Since Sophia had already mentioned that she had her car, she didn’t think Gio was about to be reasonable. He wasn't about to give up the idea of an armed escort to her girls’ night out with Elynn and her friends. He certainly hadn’t when she pointed out the pub they were meeting at was only a few blocks away.

  Since their labs were fairly close together, she and Elynn had met up on their lunch hour several times since first meeting. Tonight they were also seeing Maia again. The little redhead and her husband Calen had been traveling in Spain, checking on some of his clubs on the Costa del Sol. She would also be meeting Eva Stone for the first time. Sergei’s partner had been on an extended business trip for his company—part of which he’d joined her on with their new son. But they were back in town, stopping for a week before heading to their home in Manhattan.

  Sophia had been looking forward to this evening all week. Ever since they returned from Rome, Gio had gone into overdrive. He checked on her ten times a day, and she was pretty sure he’d assigned her a security detail without asking. It would have been sweet if it wasn’t so insane. She knew he was still beating himself up for what happened, but being monitored twenty-four-seven was going to drive her batshit crazy.

  “Gio, I’m hanging up now. I’ll see you at home later,” she said firmly.

  Pulling the phone away from her face, she took a deep breath and pushed the end button on her screen with a little wince.

  “Be strong,” Elynn said, amused.

  Slumping in her chair, Sophia wrinkled her nose at her new friend. “Gio has lost his mind since Italy. Did I tell you Enzo followed me into the ladies room at the restaurant last night? It’s too much.”

  Elynn giggled before growing serious. “He’s worried. Trust me, it’s better to let them have their way when it comes to security concerns. I speak from experience. I’m pretty sure my husband still has me followed around and my stalker is never seeing the light of day again. Not if Alex has any say about it.”

  Sophia shot her a commiserating look as she put on her coat. Elynn had told her all about her experience with Stephen Wainwright, as well as the terrifying situations both Maia and Eva had faced in the past. Compared to those experiences, the thing in Italy seemed like small potatoes.

  Except it still bothered her…which was why she needed to go out tonight. All she wanted was to have four or five margaritas with some ladies so she could bitch a little. Kelly had done her best to console her over the phone, but she was out of town at her in-laws' again, so Sophia was leaning on Elynn and Co. tonight.

  “Bodyguards are unnecessary in this case,” she said as they left the building to walk the short distance to the pub. “It’s not like I’m in danger now. Gio’s drunken cousin is drying out in some sort of high-security rehab center, and even if he wasn’t, I doubt he’d come within ten feet of me.”

  Once Lucca had sobered up, he’d been horrified by what he’d done. At least that’s what his mother had told her. Both she and Gio’s father had flown out to beg them not to press charges against the boy. Sophia hadn’t even known that Gio had been determined to prosecute him until they arrived.

  The rehab issue had been a source of contention. Gio didn’t think it was a severe enough punishment. Part of her agreed, but she was
conflicted about the whole mess.

  “It is a good idea to set limits now,” Elynn said, distracting from her troubled thoughts as they reached the restaurant. “Our men are a little too powerful—too used to having their way. But in this case, there’s a bit more to it than you may be aware of. I’ll tell you after we order. You’re going to need alcohol for this.”

  She waved her inside where they found Maia waiting for them with a pitcher of mojitos. Sophia gratefully accepted a glass and sat down.

  “I didn’t think this place made these in pitcher form!” she said in appreciation.

  “I asked for it specially,” Maia said, sipping her own glass. “I figured you were going to need it.”

  She frowned. “So you heard too? About Lucca and the rehab drama?”

  Maia smiled apologetically and shrugged. “The guys are gossipier than a bunch of hens. We all know everybody’s business. I hope that doesn’t bother you, because I don’t think it’s going to change anytime soon.”

  “Amen to that,” Elynn muttered, staring longingly at the pitcher. Sighing she waved over a waiter and ordered a virgin piña colada, patting her pregnant stomach absently.

  “I don’t mind it, really,” Sophia said with a laugh. “I’ve been looking forward to venting for days now. God knows, I can’t talk to Gio about it. He just goes nuts—simultaneously apologizing to me and ranting in Italian about puttanas. I'm not sure what that means, but it doesn’t sound good.”

  Elynn winced. “Yeah, it’s not. That’s what I wanted to tell you. Gio thinks his ex-wife may have had something to do with the attack. She’s the puttana he’s talking about. She’s some kind of minor celebrity in Italy, and Lucca is a groupie of hers. Gio thinks she loaded him up on booze and sent him your way on purpose to get back at him for the divorce. Alex agrees with him.”

  It took a second to process, but once Sophia understood what Elynn was telling her, she was incensed. “Are you fucking kidding me? What kind of woman does that? I mean, I knew she was a piece of work—that whole tabloid thing totally messed Gio up—but seriously this? Christ.”