Keeping his bride

Verona

A

FTER DANTE AND I are settled in our separate rooms, Benito offers to take us on a tour of the mansion and property. I try to memorize the rooms, which include a gym, a vast library, two formal living rooms, a den, an enormous dining hall, a billiards room, and a huge state-of-the-art kitchen. Lastly, we pass Luca’s private office, which is off limits. Benito didn’t have to tell me that, but he didn’t so much as even knock or open the door when we passed, so I know it’s not a place I’ll be welcome in anytime soon. In fact, I’d wager money that the door is locked and only Luca is privy to the key.

Benito then takes us outside. The hot summer sun is beating down on us as we walk across the large patio with outdoor furniture. And then we stop at…the swimming pool.

Instantly, I can feel sweat beading on my face, but it’s not because of the heat. It’s because the pool looks so similar to the one I had at my childhood home.

“You’re welcome to swim anytime you want,” Benito suggests, perhaps noticing my discomfort.

I shake my head vehemently. No, I won’t be swimming or getting anywhere near that water.

“What? The pool isn’t big enough for you?” comes a strong, demanding voice from my right.

I can’t tear my eyes away from the water, but I would know Luca Vitale’s voice anywhere. A cold shiver runs down my spine as he approaches.

“Can’t swim?” he asks, but I can’t even answer him. I’m glued to where I’m standing, unable to move or speak. Suddenly, Luca grabs my arms and turns me towards him. “I could always throw you in and find out.”

Terror runs through my very bones as I snap out of my traumatized state and beg him with tears in my eyes, “No, please, no!”

He has a serious look on his face, and I’m so scared that he’ll actually go through with his threat that my fight or flee instinct kicks in. Quickly, I tear out of his grip and run back into the house like my life depends on it.

I don’t stop running until I’m safe and sound in my new bedroom. Panic seizes my lungs, and I go to the bathroom to splash some cold water on my face to try to calm down.

Every time I’m near a body of water, I’m instantly brought back to that horrible day in my childhood that scarred me for life.

My mother overdosed on sleeping pills and decided to end her life by drowning in the family’s swimming pool. I’m the one that found her body floating face down in the water. I knew how to swim back then, so I jumped in and desperately tried to save her. I almost drowned in the process, because I was only nine years old and not strong enough to pull her out.

I remember the burning sensation of the water inside of my lungs and how hard I coughed, but it still felt like I was drowning.

And it still feels like I’m drowning to this day every time I think about it.

It was a traumatic experience that I’ll never get over. I haven’t been able to go near a body of water without sheer panic setting in.

After several minutes, I’m able to calm myself down. I know I’ll have to explain my dramatic reaction to Luca, but a part of me isn’t ready to tell him yet. I feel like it’s too personal, like he’ll know an intimate part about me when I know next to nothing about him. I figure over time we’ll get to know each other, but I have a feeling Luca will always be an enigma, keeping his most guarded secrets close to him, never letting them out. And maybe I should do the same.

Luca

I

WATCH ON the security monitors as Benito takes Dante and Verona on a tour of the property. For some fuckedup reason, I want Verona to like it here. But I watch her indifferent reaction to each room, and it pisses me off. I don’t know what I expected really. The girl grew up mafioso royalty and in opulence. She’s used to this. It just doesn’t impress her.

The three of them pass by my office, and Benito doesn’t so much as try to reach for the doorknob, which is what I expected of him. He knows my boundaries, and this room is off-limits to everyone except myself, him and whoever we are having a meeting with. This office will be my sanctuary, the place I can go to when I need to clear my head or escape the world for a little while. Once I have the keypad installed, no one will be able to bother me here, and I like knowing that fact.

Standing, I leave my sanctuary and follow them silently outside.

“You’re welcome to swim anytime you want,” Benito offers Verona.

She emphatically shakes her head like the very idea of getting in my pool disgusts her. And the look of what can only be described as revulsion on her face sets me off.

What the fuck is her problem? Is the pool not good enough for her? Is it not clean enough? I hired a pool guy. And if he didn’t do his goddamn job, heads will roll.

“What? The pool isn’t big enough for you?” I ask, stepping forward. I walk over to the edge and inspect the pool and the attached hot tub situated in the middle of a huge pad of stamped concrete. It looks clean to me, and it’s the standard size, if not bigger than other pools, so what is her deal?

I turn to her. “Can’t swim?”

Instead of answering me, Verona stands there, not moving or speaking. Angrily, I grab her arms and turn her towards me. “I could always throw you in and find out,” I threaten. I’m not truly serious…or maybe I am. I don’t know. This girl has me so riled up that I am tempted to throw her in and give her a lesson in respect.

Tears fill her eyes as she stares up at me and begs, “No, please, no!”

And while I normally like it when women beg, this is not turning me on. I can hear the tremor in her voice and see the fear in her eyes. But why?

Before I can even ask, she tears out of my grip and runs inside the house like her ass is on fire.

Standing there, feeling confused, I turn to Dante for answers. Even though it pisses me off, I understand he knows Verona much better than me. “What’s her fucking problem?” I demand. I know for a fact that her family had a swimming pool. I remember her bragging about it as a kid.

I didn’t have one, so it always made me jealous.

“You don’t know?” Dante asks with a cocked brow.

I shake my head, internally seething because he obviously knows something I don’t. “What is it?”

“Her mother drowned. Verona is the one who found her floating face down in the pool. And she almost drowned trying to save her mother.”

My eyebrows crease in confusion. I knew Verona’s mother died when she was young, but I never knew the details. “How old was Verona?” I have to ask. “Nine.” Fuck.

Suddenly, Verona and I have a lot more in common than I had originally thought. At least my family wasn’t responsible for the murder of her mother, though. I can’t say the same for her family and my mother.

Curling my hands into fists, I give him a nod before I turn and make my way back into the house and towards my office.

Verona is terrified of water. And while normally I would use that little tidbit of information against someone, I know I never will with her. Her fear of water runs much deeper than simply not knowing how to swim. She was traumatized that day. Probably never got in the pool or any body of water after that.

That’s what death does to children. It scars you so deep that you never forget, always remember…and you never, never forgive.