Undressed By The Maf Chapter 99: It’s Worse Than It Looks

Chapter 99: It’s Worse Than It Looks

A bruise blood along her cheekbone, darkening into deep violet. Her lower lip was split slightly, swelling faintly.

His hands curled at his sides.

It would have been worse without Nonnina. He knew that.

And there were injuries he had not even seen yet.

She was studying herself in the mirror, tilting her chin slightly. She saw him in the reflection before she heard him fully step inside. She turned imdiately. "Luca," she stood there, facing him fully. Guilt was etched plainly across her features.

She knew.

Of course she knew she had f’ed the hell up.

He took in the sight of her slowly.

Luca’s anger did not cool when he saw her up close. Instead, it intensified.

The image replayed in his mind with rciless clarity.

Inferi would have been dead already. The second Luca saw him hitting her, he had imagined driving a blade straight through his throat.

But there had been witnesses. A place of business tied to Veronica’s na.

Killing a man in that space would have splattered more than blood.

So Luca had done what he rarely did.

He had swallowed his rage.

"Luca, I’m fine, really. It’s worse than it looks. Nonnina did a fine job. I don’t even feel any pain." She spoke quickly.

He stepped closer. His eyes moved slowly, thodically, cataloguing every injury. He morized them. He was going to stab Inferi in exactly those places. He would mark him with the sa map. "I told you what would happen if you lied to ," he said.

She lifted her chin. "I had to."

"You had to lie to ."

"Yes, Luca," she shot back, a flash of heat in her eyes. "Because I knew what you would do."

She did not intend to shoulder all of the bla. Not entirely.

"So you decided to what? Take matters into your own hands?"

"I thought I could handle it!" Veronica snapped back. "I had a plan!"

"You should have told ! God fucking dammit!"

"I would if your default setting wasn’t to kill," she shot back. She planted her hands on her hips, standing defiant. She wanted him to see she was a storm in her own right.

"And what did your little stunt achieve?!" Luca snarled, stepping closer. "He is still going to die—in the most grueso way possible!"

"See what I an!" she yelled, frustration cracking into desperation. She shook her head, hair tumbling across her bruised cheek.

"Are you seriously sitting on your stupid high horse right now?!" he demanded. "If you hate who I am so much, why did you try to leverage my reputation? You used !"

"No less than you are using !" she shot back. Her eyes narrowed, the intensity of her gaze burning into his.

"I fucking bought you, for fuck’s sakes!" he shouted. "It’s what you do with things you buy!"

The fight drained out of Veronica’s eyes instantly. The color fled from her face. The truth slamd into her: of course. She was just a property he owned. A possession purchased—ten million dollars’ worth. Her stomach twisted, a bitter taste of reality she could neither swallow nor spit out.

"Don’t look at

like that!" Luca snapped. "You don’t want to hear the truth. Don’t poke the bear."

"I’m sorry. I really am. I thought...I allowed myself... I can’t believe that I..." Her eyes, wide and luminous shimred with unshed tears. Her hands fidgeted at her sides.

"That you what?"

"Never mind..." she murmured, biting back the words, trying to retreat into the safety of silence. She wanted the mont to vanish.

"That you what?"

"Luca..." she tried, but he was relentless.

"Answer !" The punch to the mirror behind her shattered the fragile calm of the room with a deafening crash.

"That I fucking love you!" she shouted. Luca froze, the impact of her words hitting him, his eyes widening slightly. He shook his head slowly. "And I am ashad that I do," she whispered. Her gaze dropped to the floor, the intensity of the mont bending her shoulders forward.

"Okay..." he said slowly. "You’re... you’re ashad?"

"Yes," she admitted. "How can I love you? For starters, you are married. Second, you kill people like it’s your first instinct. You are not a good man. And I am ashad that if I can love you, it ans that maybe, just maybe, I am... just like you."

Luca stepped back, giving space yet unable to tear his gaze from her.

"Luca..." she whispered again, trembling, reaching for him with hands that shook. Her fingers stretched out.

"I understand, Veronica. You should get so more rest. Heal..." That was all he gave her.

Just distance.

He did not look at her again when he finished the sentence. He turned and left the apartnt.

She stood there for a long mont, staring at the space he had occupied seconds ago.

"Fuck!" She dragged her hand through her hair. That was the most twisted love confession in the history of confessions. "’I’m ashad’? What the fuck!"

She sank onto the edge of the bed, elbows on her knees, staring at the floor. Of all the things she could have said, she chose sha.

Because it was true.

And because she wanted to hurt him back.

*****

When Marco gave Veronica the details of Luca’s usual Tuesday guests, he had not expected her to show up.

Marco spotted her the mont she stepped through the entrance.

She wore black. A fishnet bodycon dress that clung to her curves. The sh revealed skin strategically. Matching arm warrs extended from wrist to mid bicep. Her hair fell loose down her back.

Even Marco nodded appreciatively before he caught himself.

He knew Luca would probably kill him for even looking.

Veronica did not acknowledge the attention she drew as she walked through. She passed Marco without slowing. She reached Luca’s office door. She had ssed up last night.

Okay. They both had.

They had cut deep. Said things ant to wound.

But soone had to move first.

(Brought to you by: Jennifer Willard)