UNHOLY DESIRE

DAY SEVEN

DEIRDRE POV

Today didn’t go as planned. Having woken up as early as 4 AM to set out without alerting the villagers, it had been thwarted.

The raft we were meant to travel on was damaged beyond repair, and oh, the major parts had been taken as well.

Matteo had flipped, yelling profanities in raw Italian in the air.

Yes, he was still cursing at whoever had done that, and right now, I was back in the room with Matteo pacing around the room nonstop.

“Relax, Matteo. Someone will definitely realize we are missing and send help.”

“Send help?” Matteo scoffed. His eyes narrowed at me as though I was the one who had pissed him off.

“This dratted village is not on the fucking map. It is fucking off the radar, and no, we won’t be getting out easily after the last chance had been thwarted.” He grunted.

I nodded, “I understand that. But I believe something can happen…”

“Something like a miracle?” Matteo cut me off.

As I nodded, he let out a humourless laughter, “Don’t be fucking delusional, Deirdre. We are trapped just as whoever wanted it did. We are fucking trapped.”

Matteo puffed out a breath, plucked out the pack of cigars, and took out a stick.Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

“Matteo,” I murmured.

As he tried to light the cigar, I stood to my feet, walking towards him, “Smoking can’t fix your problem.”

“At least, it’ll give me the ability to be able to think properly, rather than scour the fucking village to look for who had done that and blow off his head.”

When the lighter he had didn’t work, he looked at me, his brows raised, “Got any lighter on you?”

“I don’t smoke,” I rolled my eyes at him. “And that can literally hurt you. You can have lung disease…”

“I’ll be right back,” Matteo said, halting my words, and he walked out of the room.

Groaning, I sighed. I was, as well, affected.

I had been happy to go back to Kendall, and seeing the damaged boat had thwarted all the possible reunion I had in mind.

Yet, Matteo seemed to be taking it far more than Vittorio and me.

He had taken out his anger on Vittorio earlier as well and threatened to pummel his face, but I was lucky to have been there to intervene before a fight ensued.

Matteo stepped in a while later; he didn’t look as angry as he was earlier anymore.

He sat on the couch, pushing a hand through his hair before tugging slightly.

Standing, I walked towards him and crouched before him.

“Hey,” I murmured.

Matteo turned to stare at me, and he shook his head.

“I’m not even worried about the many fucking businesses I might be missing. Kendall is by herself…” Matteo trailed off, shutting his eyes, and took two controlled breaths.

He seemed to be trying to control himself from bursting out.

“Don’t you feel concerned?” He frowned at me. “Or you are enjoying here as much as Vittorio is?”

“What do you mean?” I asked him. His statement sounded accusatory.

“Of course you are. I can see you ready to walk out the door and have a discussion of your life with him. I fucking brought you here to be taken care of, Deirdre. I fucking nursed you to health, but all you can ever think of is to flirt with him under my fucking nose. As if it wasn’t disrespectful enough for you to flirt when you are married, you did that in my fucking presence!”

“What are you talking about?” I questioned, frowning.

I was genuinely curious. He had been mad about the damaged boat and now about me flirting with Vittorio, which I honestly couldn’t remember doing.

Of course, I had kept my distance from Vittorio as he had wanted me to, yet he was accusing me of nothing.

“If you want to act clueless, better do so with a clear intention. I wasn’t blind, I fucking saw you.” He pushed me away from him and stood to his feet.

Matteo returned to pacing around the room.

“You confuse me, Matteo; if you tell me how the hell I flirted with Vittorio, then I’d apologize. I arrived here, yesterday was treated, and you don’t fucking care about my wellbeing. Because if you had, like you said, you won’t drag me out of that damned hospital to the boat when you are not even sure if it’s working or not!” I tossed my hands in the air.

Matteo turned to me; his eyes were narrowed, and he snarled. Moving towards me, he gripped my hand, causing me to flinch.

“Let me help you,” Matteo mimicked Vittorio’s voice.

“Yes, thank you,” he added in a voice tinier, which I presumed was mine.

“Did you remember that?!” He growled into my face.

“Is that your definition of flirting?” I asked him.

After the boat destruction and we were returning back to the village, Matteo hadn’t even spared me a glance. He had walked ahead, not even stopping to see if I was fine or not.

Vittorio had offered to help me climb up a hill, which I was grateful for.

I never thought Matteo had heard all that.

“What would you call that?” He hissed.

“He fucking helped me, Matteo. My so-called husband didn’t even have the courtesy to do so. He stayed and helped me. How the fuck do you expect one with no experience to climb up a hill?!” I snapped back.

“Stay away from him, just a fucking simple statement, you can’t…”

“He was helping me, Matteo, he was fucking helping me!” I yelled.

Matteo pulled me abruptly, and my body slammed into his. “Yell at me again and regret all the decisions you’ve ever made in this life.”

Matteo’s voice was cold, likewise his eyes, and then he pushed me away from him onto the couch.

Striding out of the room without a spare glance at me, I scrambled to my feet and rushed to the door, locking it.

Letting out a deep breath, I gazed at my hand where he had gripped.

It was bruised but barely invisible due to my skin.

I didn’t know what had overcome him, but I didn’t like the Matteo that had surfaced.