Five
Someone was watching me.
I knew it wasn’t Billy or Giovani because they were both with Laura at her art history class. I was sitting in the library when I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I looked across the way, and I saw Cesare talking to the librarian. He had leaned up against her desk like owned it, said something that made her laugh, and then she pointed in my direction.
Damn it.
I had spent all of freshman year worrying that he would find me again. Now, I was a junior, and he would be graduating in the spring. Of course, he would find me in his last year…
My eighteen-year-old self would have given anything for him to notice me. But my twenty-year-old self knew better. Cesare Luna wasn’t the kind of guy that you wanted attention from. He was the kind of guy you thought you wanted attention from and then when you got it, you regretted it immediately.
Cesare strode towards me like he was the master of the universe. He slid into the seat across from me. “Hello, Emillia.”
I looked up from my book. “What do you want, Cesare?”
“Do you know that whenever I fuck a girl, I take a picture of them?”
I tried to keep my face neutral. “That’s gross.”
He smirked. “I consider it art. Most girls usually ask me for copies. I oblige. I take pictures so that I never have someone trying to say that I got them pregnant when I didn’t. With a family like mine, you won’t believe the kind of things women try to pull.”
“Are you implying I’m trying to pull something?”
Cesare shook his head. He took out his wallet. Inside, where people normally kept their family photos, he took out a picture. He slid it across the table. It was me, sleeping soundly, half-naked with bed sheets covering me. I could see Cesare in the reflection of the mirror that was on the wall next to his bed.
“Why did you lie, Leprotta?” he said.
Italian for bunny. Like a tiny animal that could easily get caught in a hunter’s trap, which I definitely was. I blushed. “I….um…I…”
“I know it wasn’t that I didn’t satisfy you. So why pretend that you didn’t know me?”
“I was embarrassed,” I confessed, “and I didn’t really remember that night. I wasn’t sure what we’d done. It was the first time I’d gotten drunk. The first time I’d…”
His eyes darkened. “I was your first?”
I bit down on my lip. “Yes. You were my first.”
He reached out and grabbed my arm. “Has there been anyone else?”
I shook my head. “I have to keep my nose clean if I want to keep on going to school. My uncle pays for things. If I get into trouble, he won’t pay for it. I need my degree so I can get a good job after school and get away from my family.”
Cesare licked his lips. “You snuck out on me. I remember. I wanted to come back for another taste, and when I woke up, you were gone before I could go back for seconds.”
“I know,” I said, “because I know your reputation, Cesare. You don’t have girlfriends. You only do one-night stands. I’m…I’m not that kind of girl. I’m not going to be with someone again until I’m in a serious relationship. Maybe not even until I’m married.”
“No boys,” he told me.
I stiffened, aware that he still had my arm in his grip.
“You heard me, Leprotta. You live with my sister. She’ll tell me if you’ve been naughty. You’re not going to fuck anyone else on this campus. If I find out that you have, I won’t be held responsible for the things that I do to them. You want to be fucked, you come to me.”
I stared at Cesare. “You’re crazy. Anyway, I’m never going to want that.”
His lips twitched into a smile. He took his hand that was holding my arm away and slid it underneath the table. I had worn a dress that day. A stupid choice on my part. My legs were firmly closed. He pushed his hand in between them.
“Aperto,” he told me.
Open.
I bit down on my lip harder. We were in the middle of a library. There were people that could walk by and see. Not a lot, but it didn’t matter.
Cesare locked eyes with me and the glint in them said there would be consequences if I didn’t do as told. Reluctantly, I opened my legs. Cesare cupped my pussy and stroked in between my panties.
“Ah. Just as I suspected. A wet spot.” He grinned. “Keep on denying it, Princess. But I’ll get what I want. One way or another.”
He pulled down my panties.
“Cesare,” I whispered, “please….”
He kept his gaze steadily on me as he put a finger in between my folds and started to stroke. My whole body tensed and I had to grip the chair and bite my lip to keep from crying out. I whimpered. He kept on stroking, and I could feel myself getting wet.
Finally, he put his finger out. It was covered in my cum. He stuck it in his mouth and licked it. “Just as good as I remember.” He licked his lips. Then he pulled my panties down the rest of the way and tucked them in his pocket.
“If you want these back, you know where to find me,” he told me.
I actually didn’t have any idea where to find him. But I wasn’t about to say that. He got up and walked away, whistling. I hated him.
Six Not all of the family was back in the Old Country. I had an aunt named Thalia who came to visit at least once a month. She lived in New York, with her three sons, and her husband. I hadn’t met any of them. I wasn’t exactly invited to family events. But, because the family knew my secret, my uncle liked to send people to check in on me. I was unsurprised when I got a call from my Mama on Saturday morning. “Are you working today?” she asked. I sat up in bed. “No. Why?” “Your aunt is coming. She wants to have lunch with you.” I froze. “What? Why?” “I’m not sure,” said Mama, “but dress nicely, and get here before noon.” I groaned. “Okay.” I got up and showered. As I was in the middle of getting dressed, the door to my room opened. A low whistle made me jump. I turned around and was surprised to see Cesare standing there. He smirked. “You look gorgeous. Who are you seeing?”
Seven“Emmilia!”Outside of Laura, I had one friend, Gemma Blake. She was a pretty brunette with blue eyes. She sat up front in my International Business Class, and gestured to the empty seat next to her. “Hi, Gemma!” I smiled. Gemma smiled back at me. “Did you get the e-mail?” “What e-mail?” I asked. “We’re having a guest speaker today. The professor is apparently old friends with Octavious Luna. He’s going to give a presentation on his internship program and his life in business.” The hair on the back of my neck stood up. “Octavious Luna?” Gemma nodded. “Do you think I can convince him to get an internship?” I forced a smile at her. “You’re Gemma Blake. I’m sure that you could do anything you want.” She laughed. “I appreciate the vote of confidence. Why don’t you seem happy about this? I thought you wanted do something with international hotels or whatever. I would think this would be right up your alley.”
Eight “I don’t think you should go.” Laura’s response to being invited to a party surprised me. Normally, Laura was always the one that was trying to get me to do something rash. The two of us sat on the couch, eating the remains of the brownies we’d baked the night before. I glared at her. “Come on. You’re the one that is always telling me that I need to get out more.” Laura sighed. “I know. But that was before.” “Before what?” she’d been acting weird since her fathers visit yesterday. After the lecture he’d given my class, apparently, he’d showed up at the apartment and told her some family news. Since then, Laura had been strangely quiet. When I got home from class, she’d begrudgingly joined me to bake. I tried getting her to talk but mostly she just hummed along to the music I played in the background. Laura made a face. “I just…I mean…” she shoved the rest of her brownie into her mouth. I squinted. “You are h
Nine My phone wouldn’t stop vibrating. That was unusual for me. I only had a few friends and my first thought was that maybe Gemma had been worried about where I was. I got up from where I had fallen asleep on my couch, my head in Laura’s lap. She had fallen asleep using the sofa armrest as a pillow.“What the hell?” I stared at my phone.The first few messages were from my cousin, Nero. The second was Gemma. And the third was my uncle, Titus. I also had a bunch of pictures from Instagram that I couldn’t understand. I barely posted on there.The first message from Nero said FUCKING CALL ME.If my older cousin, who was twenty-one, and lived in New York was calling me, I was in deep shit. He was an extension of my uncle. He handled the family business in the U.S. When I got into trouble freshman year, he was the one who helped me hide everything. He convinced my uncle to let me come to Italy and take care of the situation I had found myself in.I called him. “Nero, what’s wrong?”“Are
TenA lot of the people I tutored were usually athletes. At the moment, I was sitting at a café, with one of the quarterbacks. A shadow fell over me. “Another conquest, Emmi?” I looked up and standing there was Nero.He was tall with jet black hair and had a scar over his eye. I sighed and glanced up at Carter, the blond football player I’d been helping. “Hey, how about I call you later and we can try this again?” I said.Carter raised an eyebrow. “Boyfriend?”I made a face. “Gross. Cousin.”“Ah. Family business.” Carter stood up and packed his things. “No worries, teach. I’ll see you later. Let me know when you’re free.”He left and Nero slid into the seat that Carter had been sitting in.“Tell me that’s not someone else you’re fucking,” Nero said.I shook my head. “No. I’m not fucking anyone. I’m not even fucking Cesare. I told you; I’ve been good.”“Then why is Cesare Luna suddenly posting pictures about you?” Nero asked.I sighed. “He’s obsessed and delusional. I’ve never done any
ElevenAfter I talked with Nero, I didn’t go to the apartment. Instead, I took a bus home and texted Laura that I would be staying with my mom. When I got there, I told mom everything. She hugged me, pulled me inside, and then made me some Ribollita. I sat with her on my old bed and cried into her arms.“You know, your father wouldn’t have wanted this,” said Mama, “you going after that boy…”“I know,” I said, “I shouldn’t have done it…I shouldn’t have been with him. But I was so angry after he died…nothing made sense anymore. That accident took away the last part of my senior year. It should have gone so differently. When I saw Cesare at that welcome back party, all I could think about was revenge.”“So, you let him take your virginity as what? A consolation prize?” Mama said.I glared at her. “I didn’t plan on getting pregnant. I’ve been on the pill since I was a teenager because of my acne. Tori just…happened.”Mama sighed. “I know. I love my granddaughter too, don’t for one second
TwelveI stayed at my mothers for a few days. When she went to work, I studied, and did work online. I cleaned up a little. I cooked and made her dinner when she came home. It had been almost a week and I hadn’t answered any calls or messages from anyone. Finally, one afternoon, there was a knock on the brownstone’s door.I flinched at the sound of it. “Shit.” I went to the door and I peaked through the hole. I opened the door and realized that it was actually Nero. “What are you doing here?”“You wouldn’t answer,” he said, “I’ve been trying to get in touch with you for days.”I gripped the door tightly. “I’m sorry. I wanted to stay away from the drama. I thought that it was better that I not be around the two of them right now.”“Call Laura,” he told me.I blinked. “Um…okay. Why?”“Because she’s worried about you, and just because her brother is an asshole, that doesn’t mean that you should be pushing her away. She’s good people.”I glared accusatorily had him. “Did you do something
ThirteenI was in a moving car. That was the first thing I noticed when I woke up. I looked out the window, trying to figure out where I was. I heard music playing on the radio, a song I didn’t recognize. I glanced over to the side and my heart pounded against my chest when I realized that I was with Cesare.“Hello, Emmilia.”I shivered. “Cesare…” I blinked. “What happened?”Cesare smiled. The kind of smile that made him look like the devil come to collect. “You’re running away from me, Emmilia. I can’t let that happened.”I groaned. “I already told you…I don’t want you.”He laughed. “You’re lying.”“I’m not,” I insisted.He reached out and traced my arm. I shivered again. Fuck. He smiled even wider. “I barely did anything that time. Imagine all of the noises that I could have you making if you let me.”“Where are you taking me?” I asked.“I’ve already taken you there.”“What are you talking about?”“I wanted alone time with you to talk. So, I took you to my family’s house in The Hamp