12
Natalie
I was a terrible human being. A liar who was about to betray the only person in the world who mattered to me. And there was nothing I could do to stop that from happening.
I forced back the nausea as I lay in bed and stared at the coffered ceiling. The scents of frying bacon filled the room from downstairs. Luc had left me a half hour ago with a kiss to my forehead, telling me to sleep a little longer while he made breakfast.
I didn’t want breakfast. I didn’t want anything but him. I wanted him to climb back in this bed with me, for us to throw the covers over our heads, and pretend like the outside world didn’t exist.
But, of course, we couldn’t do that. His House—the evil men who ruled his country and the world—were out there. They were watching. Lurking in the shadows. Just waiting for me to fulfill my end of our deal. And like the submissive, powerless woman they expected me to be, I was going to give them exactly what they wanted.
Bile pushed up my throat. I managed to throw the covers back and rush to the toilet before I lost it. Since I hadn’t eaten very much yesterday, there wasn’t much in my stomach, but my body revolted until I was left weak and shaking on the bathroom floor, trying to figure out what I was going to say to Luc, trying to figure out how I could keep from making him hate me.
Bracing my back against the wall, I drew my feet in close, perched my elbows on my knees, and dropped my head into my hands. I’d been terrified last night when Luc had seen the bruises on my breast. Terrified and desperate to distract him. He hadn’t known what he’d been looking at. He’d thought he’d hurt me. Then to make me feel better, he’d pleasured me all over again. And like the awful person I’d become, I’d let him. I’d let him while I’d been plotting how to return him to the people who’d raped him.
Oh God... I pulled on my hair. All this was my fault. If I hadn’t gone to New York, if I hadn’t stuck my nose where it didn’t belong, if I hadn’t been looking for answers about Elena’s death, none of this would have happened.
A knock sounded at the bathroom door. My head came up, and horror tightened my throat until I realized I’d shoved the door closed behind me when I’d raced in here.
“Angioletto?” Luc called. “Breakfast is ready.”
I scrambled to my feet. “O-okay. I’ll be right down.”
“Don’t take too long.” He hesitated a second, then said, “Are you all right?”
“I-I’m fine,” I lied, hoping he couldn’t hear the fear in my voice. “I just woke up.”
“Okay. It’s getting cold, so hurry.”
I waited until I heard his footsteps moving away, and when they were gone, I closed my eyes as I slumped over the sink.
Nausea brewed in my stomach all over again, but I forced it back as I braced my hands on the counter. I could do this. I breathed slowly, working to bring my heart rate back down. All I had to do was come up with a convincing lie of desperate proportions that would make him think I hadn’t betrayed him.
Desperate proportions...
My brain latched on to one possibility.
It was a long shot. I stared at my pale reflection in the mirror, a plan slowly coming into focus. He’d figure out I’d lied to him eventually. But if I could get Marco and Felicity to help me come up with a cover for that once we were back in Italy, it just might work.
Knowing I was out of time and options, I splashed water on my face, twisted my hair into a knot, and brushed my teeth. Then I took one last look at my reflection and said, “Enough stalling.”
I tugged on a pair of pajama bottoms and found a sweatshirt in Luc’s drawer. It fell to my thighs, and I had to push the sleeves up because they were too long, but I didn’t care. I was chilled right to the bone, and I needed as much warmth as I could find.
Luc was at the stove, in jeans and a loose gray Henley, stirring something in a pot when I entered the room. He looked up when he heard me, and when our eyes locked, I watched a warm, relaxed smile spread across his face, one I hadn’t seen in weeks.
“There you are,” he said as he flipped off the burner. “I was sure you went back to bed.”
If only...
Oh God... I was going to hell. I was about to ruin everything. Take away that easy, happy look. Hurt the one person in the world I never wanted to hurt.
I forced a smile I didn’t feel and moved toward the coffeepot. “Someone wore me out last night.”
Luc’s lips brushed my nape as I reached for a mug from the cabinet. “I think someone liked the way I wore her out last night.”
A shiver rushed down my spine. I had liked that. More than I’d expected. Of course, I loved anything he did to me when he was in domineering-Luc mode. And I was deathly afraid what I was about to do was going to take that Luc from me all over again.
He set a carton of creamer on the counter beside my hand, then stepped away. Cool air washed over me where all his heat had just been, and as the chill sank into my bones, it was all I could do not to turn, grab him, and convince him to run away with me for good.
Except running wasn’t going to save us. Not from his family. Not from his House. Not from what I was about to do.
“This is all ready,” he said as he carried two bowls to the table. “Come over here and eat before it gets cold.”
I gathered my courage and turned toward the table with my coffee. Sinking into a seat by the window, I tucked one leg under me and looked down as he set a bowl of oatmeal near my hand and placed a platter of bacon in the middle of the table.
With a kiss to the top of my head, he said, “Eat, angioletto. If you keep losing weight you’re going to start looking like those models at Covet. I like my woman curvy, not built like a ten-year-old boy.”
That comment drew a reluctant smirk from me, especially when I remembered all those stick-skinny models who’d flirted shamelessly with him in the Covet halls in New York, and the ones who’d thrown themselves at him at the fashion shows in Rome. “That won’t happen. I like ice cream too much.”
“Gelato.” He smiled as he sat in the seat next to me and stirred his own oatmeal. “I remember. We should have gotten you some when we were in Edinburgh yesterday.”
Just the mention of our trip to Edinburgh made my smile falter. I looked down at my breakfast and knew I needed to eat it, but that sickness was back, swirling in my gut, and I was afraid if I tried, the food would just come back up.
I managed to eat a few bites without getting sick, but for the most part, I just pushed my food around in my bowl as we chatted about the weather and Luc talked about taking a drive up to the Highlands to show me some of the castles.
“You know,” he finally said with a wary voice as I stared down into my bowl for the hundredth time. “It’s not going to magically jump into your mouth.”
“I’m sorry.” Tears burned the backs of my eyes, and I dropped my spoon and covered my face with my hand. “I’m just... I’m really not that hungry, and you went to all this trouble and—”
“Hey.” His hand covered mine on the table. “It’s okay. I was only teasing. Just talk to me. I can tell you’re upset. Was it last night? Did I push you too far? Because if I di—”
“What? No.” I dropped my hand and looked at him. His eyes were locked on me, and there was a fear swirling in those stormy pools I hadn’t seen before. I squeezed his hand, wanting to reassure him. “I liked what you did last night. I loved it, actually.” I placed my other hand on our joined ones on the table. “I’m not upset about that at all.”
“You’re upset about something. Was it the session yesterday? When Abigail asked you to leave? That wasn’t about you. She just didn’t think I’d be honest with my answers with you there. We didn’t even really talk about you or us. We mostly talked about how I was raised, the way I see the world, and the way I see myself in it. I wanted you to be there, but in retrospect, she was right—I probably wouldn’t have answered her questions as freely with you there because my viewpoint has been really screwe
d up until now. It wasn’t—”
“I know.” I squeezed his hand again. “And I’m not upset about that. I promise. I get it. I’m glad talking to her yesterday helped.”
“It did, but what really helped was you opening up to me the night before. That’s what made the difference. The session with Abigail only reinforced the things you made me see.”
Those tears came rushing back, and I closed my eyes and breathed slowly through my nose. His House saw Luc as a pawn, something they could move and manipulate to their advantage. But I knew he was a deeply emotional, loyal man. One I was about to hurt profoundly.
“Talk to me, vita mia.” He placed his other hand on mine, cocooning me in the warmth of his grip. “Tell me what’s going on. I can’t handle seeing you so upset.”
“I want to, I just...” I pursed my lips. “I’m afraid you’re going to be mad.”
“At you?” He brushed a tear from my cheek I hadn’t realized had slipped free. “Impossible.”
“You’ve been plenty mad at me before.”
“Frustrated, maybe. But mad? Never.”
The teasing tone of his voice tugged at one corner of my lips, and I blinked damp lashes and looked down at our joined hands.
“Talk to me, angioletto,” he whispered. “You’re the one who said if we don’t talk about things, they’ll just continue to fester. And you were right.”
Damn him for throwing my words back at me.
I drew in one last breath and looked up at him. “It wasn’t the session yesterday. It was what happened while you were in the session.”
“What happened?” His eyes grew serious. “Did someone hurt you?”
“No,” I said quickly. “It was nothing like that. It was...” I looked down at our hands again. “While I was waiting for you, I decided to check out some of the shops in the area and in one of them...”
His fingers tightened around mine. “In one of them what?”
I exhaled and forced myself to meet his gaze. “I ran into Gio.”
For a heartbeat, he didn’t move. But I watched his eyes darken. I watched his jaw tighten beneath the sexy scruff on his skin. And I watched his entire body shift from relaxed and at ease to tense and ready to attack.
“Did he touch you?” he asked in a low voice.
“No,” I lied. “H-he just wanted to talk.”
“About what?”
The chill to his voice made my stomach contract. My heart screamed for me to be honest, to tell him what had really happened, but my head whispered if I did, things would not end well. A hurricane roared in his eyes. One that told me he would break any rule of his House to protect me. Even if it was to his own demise.
I swallowed hard, hating that I had no choice but to go through with this awful plan. “H-he wanted me to take a message to you. That was all. They—your father found Dante. They’re bringing him home. Gio said that after your”—I forced the vile word past my lips—“ritual, the Knights voted for a stay of leniency for Dante. But your father’s been obsessed with finding him. Now that he has, Gio’s afraid your father’s going to exact his own punishment on Dante. For running,” I added quickly. “I could tell Gio didn’t like having to turn to you for help, but he said that for whatever reason, you were the only one Dante seemed to listen to. He wants you to talk some sense into Dante before Dante has a chance to antagonize your father and make things worse.”
Luc stared at me without flinching. And in the silence, my heart beat hard and fast because I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. Or if he could see right through my lie.
“When?”
“I’m not sure what you mea—”
“When are they bringing him back? To Tuscany?”
“Oh.” I licked my lips. “Today, I think. Gio was a little vague. I’m not sure wh—”
He let go of me and pushed back from the table.
“Where are you going?” I said as he turned for the hall.
“I need to call Marco and find out what’s going on.”
Oh shit...
I lurched to my feet. “I can do that for you. I know you don—”
He turned to face me from across the room. But it was his eyes that cut off my words. Hard, cold, as deadly as I’d ever seen them.
“Did he say anything else? How long he’s been watching us? What he’s going to do if I don’t do what he wants? Who fucking sent him?”
I swallowed hard and twisted my suddenly shaking hands in front of me. Yeah, he said he and his sick friend were going to rape me in front of you if I didn’t bring you back. Probably torture and murder me as well.
“N-no,” I heard myself say. “Nothing.”
He was silent for a moment, then said, “And why didn’t you tell me this last night?”
My hands grew damp as I searched for any excuse that would make sense. “I-I wanted to, but... Yesterday was so emotional and complicated, and I didn’t want to make things worse when you seemed to finally be feeling… better.”
It was a terrible excuse. One that made me want to vomit all over again. And it wasn’t even close to the truth. I hadn’t told him because I was a coward.
His gaze held mine. I wanted to shrink into nothing under that withering stare. Without another word, he clenched his jaw and turned for the stairs.
I didn’t try to stop him. I didn’t know what I could say that would make anything better.
All I could do was sink back into my chair, close my eyes, and pray that somehow Marco cued in to my lie before Luc grew suspicious. And that he would help me get Luc back to Italy before our world imploded around us.
Don’t miss the exciting conclusion to the House of Sin Series
The Choice - Book Six
No one escapes the House of Sin…
They tried to destroy us. I almost lost him. But our connection was too strong. Our passion, too powerful. Together, we are unbreakable.
Which means we are in more danger than ever.
The dark forces in this world will stop at nothing now to get Luc away from me. And while I’m trying to remain brave, to be the woman Luc needs so we can find a way out of this nightmare, in my heart I fear this might be the end. Because this time the threat isn’t only from them. It’s from me. In lies and secrets made to keep him safe.
In a betrayal my heart screams he will never be able to forgive.
After all this time, after everything we’ve been through, it’s finally come to this.
To living or dying in the House of Sin…
Books in the complete House of Sin Series:
THE SECRET - Book One
THE FALL - Book Two
THE BETRAYAL - Book Three
THE VOW - Book Four
THE PRICE - Book Five
THE CHOICE - Book Six
SURRENDER - A House of Sin Novella
Thank You!
Dear Reader:
Thank you for reading THE PRICE! Stay tuned for exciting conclusion to Luc and Natalie’s story in THE CHOICE, the final book in the Forbidden series.
If you enjoyed THE PRICE and any of the other books in the Forbidden series, I would appreciate it if you would help others enjoy them as well by doing one of the following:
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~Elisabeth
Also by Elisabeth Naughton
House of Sin Series
(Romantic Thriller)
THE SECRET
THE FALL
THE BETRAYAL
THE VOW
THE PRICE
THE CHOICE
SURRENDER
Deadly Secrets Series
(Romantic Suspense)
REPRESSED
GONE
PROTECTED
UNSPEAKABLE
Aegis Series
(Romantic Suspense)
BREATHLESS ESCAPE
DANGEROUS PROPOSAL
DEADLY ENCOUNTER
EXTREME MEASURES
LETHAL CONSEQUENCES
FATAL PURSUIT
Against All Odds Series
(Romantic Suspense)
WAIT FOR ME
HOLD ON TO ME
MELT FOR ME
Stolen Series
(Romantic Suspense)
STOLEN FURY
STOLEN HEAT
STOLEN SEDUCTION
STOLEN CHANCES
Eternal Guardians Series
(Paranormal romance)
MARKED
ENTWINED
TEMPTED
ENRAPTURED
ENSLAVED
BOUND
TWISTED
RAVAGED
AWAKENED
UNCHAINED
HUNTED
ENSNARED
WICKED
Firebrand Series
(Paranormal romance)
BOUND TO SEDUCTION
SLAVE TO PASSION
POSSESSED BY DESIRE
About the Author
Before topping multiple bestseller lists—including those of the New York Times, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal—award winning author Elisabeth Naughton taught middle school science. A voracious reader, she soon discovered she had a knack for creating stories with a chemistry of their own. The spark turned into a flame, and Elisabeth now writes full-time.
The Price: House of Sin - Book Five Page 19