Scorned Obsession (Scorned Fate)

“Sandro.”

“Bee, it’s midnight.” I woke up annoyed because I hadn’t slept in three days staking out a mark. I was not in the mood for idle chatter.

“Can you come get me?”

That was when I came fully awake, my heart slamming against my rib cage. “Where are you?”

“I didn’t want to call Matteo or Nico or Dad.” She stumbled over her brothers’ names and her voice sounded like she was on the verge of tears. Meanwhile, I was about to have a panic attack.

“Where. Are. You?”

“Ninety-First near Jamaica Avenue.”

“You’re in Queens?” I knew where that was. It was close to her friend’s house and a popular nightclub. I put her on speaker and threw on clothes. I kept her on the line and hustled out of my condo and got into my GT4. She’d been dating, but I didn’t know which boy it was this time. I didn’t think it was anything serious. I’d been busy keeping up with the jobs the Rossis threw my way rather than keeping tabs on Bianca. The jobs kept my mind off what Raffa had told me about my father.

The thirty minutes it took me to get to Queens felt like an eternity, and after blowing past the speed limit and cutting through cars, it was a wonder I didn’t get pulled over. When I arrived at the location she’d given me, I immediately spotted her. My vehicle slowed, and she recognized the Porsche. Red hazed my vision when I noticed the way she was walking. Gingerly. As if she was in pain.

I squeezed the GT4 between two vehicles, jumped out of the car, and rushed to her side.

“Sandro,” she cried and limped toward me.

“Whoever hurt you is dead,” I growled, wrapping her protectively in my arms. I was having trouble regulating my breathing. “Who do I kill?”

“No one. I wanted it to happen, but…”

It. What it? But I knew even if my mind rejected it. I struggled for composure. A volcanic rage misfired inside me. A faulty trigger. I inhaled sharply, exhaled, and then put my hands on her shoulders in a painstakingly measured effort to draw her away and look her in the eye. “Was it consensual or not?”

“Can we go, please?”

She was evading, but I had my answer. That sorry-ass was never gonna stick his dick into another woman again.

“Where is he?” I demanded.

“Sandro!” she shrieked, almost hysterical. “Can we leave?” Every cord of muscle running through me wanted to hunt that fucker down. I would go house to house if only Bianca gave me a name, but she was clinging to me like I was a lifeline and she was drowning. I had to take care of her first.

“All right, all right.” I was gonna figure this shit out later.

I scooped her up and carried her to the vehicle. When I set her down to open the door, I noticed a dark streak on my right forearm.

Blood from the back of her thighs.

I couldn’t breathe and the words came out flat. “You’re bleeding.”

“Virgin,” she mumbled.

My chest cracked wide open when it really hit me. Bianca was no longer a girl, but a young woman. How did this happen? There was anger at myself for not watching over her and being more present in her life. I knew she went out on group dates. Her older brothers were overprotective, but what the fuck happened?

I asked her if she wanted to go to the hospital and she said no and said if I asked her again, I could drop her off at the corner.

As if I would.

I didn’t know how we got back to the condo. I’d been on autopilot. I asked her once more if the fucker forced her, but she insisted it was consensual. That was when I called Griselda because I knew jack shit about how to console a girl who’d just lost her virginity, and from the looks of it, it was an unpleasant experience.

My mental state was far from pleasant. I was murderous. Delirious with rage that I feared I might frighten Bianca with the look on my face. I couldn’t hide it. Someone hurt my Sunlight. I thirsted for their blood, but I didn’t have a fucking name.

“Really, Sandro?” Griselda accused the second I opened the door. “You avoid my calls and you expect me to come running for her?” She was not my girlfriend and she should have known better than to complain. And I would have set her straight, shut down her delusions, but I needed her help with Bianca.

“Lower your voice,” I hissed. “Whoever the fucker is that did this to her is going to pay!”

“She was raped?” She turned rigid.

“She denies that’s what happened.”

Griselda relaxed. “It’s unpleasant the first time. That’s normal.”

“Can you check on her? She’s in my room. In the bathroom right now.”

“She has a mom and older brothers.” She pushed past me. “Why did she have to call you?”

“I don’t know.” But I was glad as fuck she did.

We both approached my room, and I rapped on the door. “Are you decent, Bianca?”

“Yes.”

When I opened the door, Bianca stood there wearing the T-shirt I’d given her. She looked so frail and lost right now, I wanted to hug her. But when she saw Griselda, a weird, almost angry expression crossed her face. “What is she doing here?”

“Apparently, Sandro thinks we need some girl talk.”

The mocking in Griselda’s tone made me second-guess bringing her here. Among all my girlfriends, Griselda was the only one Bianca seemed to despise, but short of calling Ava, which Bianca adamantly didn’t want, I was out of options.

“Do you want anything, Bee?” I asked.

“Blueberry soda.” It was her comfort drink.

“I’m out of it in the fridge, but I’ll get it at the bodega.”

I might have exited the room too quickly. Talk about comfort zones. I hated getting in between women’s drama, but I had a nagging feeling about leaving Bianca with Griselda. I was almost at the elevators when I remembered I didn’t have my wallet. I already racked up a bill with the bodega owner since I’d been busy. Might as well settle it.

When I returned to the condo, I heard raised voices.

Shit.

“Why won’t you just die or disappear!” Griselda screamed.

What the fuck?

I slowly closed the door and stealthily moved to the bedroom.

“Oh, believe me, losing my virginity was like dying,” Bianca shouted back.

Griselda scoffed. “Oh, spare me. It always hurts the first time.”

“I know.”

“But what do you do? You call Sandro to pick you up the second you lose your virginity. Just because I told you he likes experienced women and not virgins, you think simply losing it will make him finally notice you as a woman? It takes more than that, little girl.”

Bianca didn’t answer, but I’d heard enough.

I stepped into the room, clenching my fists to keep from throttling Griselda. Women and children were a no go for me, but I had the oddest desire to make an exception. “Get out of here, Griselda.”

She whipped around. “Sandro…”

“Get out! Before I toss you out the window.”

She gasped and quickly left the condo. I slammed the door and returned to the room. Bianca was sitting on my bed and seemed to have shrunk into the smallest version of herself.

But it wasn’t that she was afraid of me. I think it was more from the humiliation that I’d heard.

“Oh, baby.” I was torn between my fury at Griselda and my heart breaking at the price of what my friendship with Bianca had caused her. Of course I recognized hero worship. I couldn’t say I didn’t like it. I enjoyed doting on her, but I was ashamed that it was when it suited me and I missed the memo that Bianca was now a young woman. Her crush on me was no longer innocent and had repercussions.

“I want to go home,” she mumbled.

“No.”

“Sandro.” She averted her gaze to stare at the headboard. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Funny, I didn’t want to talk about it either when it came to feelings, but I was all over it when seeking retribution. “I want a name.”

“No.”

“Fine. I’ll find another way.” And I would have it before noon.

“Don’t hurt him,” she said, still talking to the headboard. “It was consensual. I was just too embarrassed to stop him. I wanted to get it over with.”

I didn’t know how to talk her through the horrible experience, but she needed to know one thing. “Sunlight, look at me.”

She huffed and met my eyes. They were big and luminous, and I’d never seen them more steeped in despair. She lost something tonight. Something precious that she should have given to a man who cherished her.

“I don’t know much about these things,” I admitted. “About a girl’s first time, but this much I know…don’t ever be afraid to say no. No means no. Got me? Anything else is rape.”

She didn’t say a word, but nodded.

I clasped the back of her head and brought her close.

I kissed her forehead, and when I drew back, I asked, “I’m going to go get that blueberry soda. Want anything else?”

“Can we watch a movie when you get back?”

“You got it.”