Page 73 of The Red Queen

“Si,” she agreed, nodding emphatically. “And we shouldn’t have children while we’re working on this… relationship.” It felt weird to say out loud, but also right. They were in a relationship.

“No,” he said, his voice hardening. He looked at her, a combination of lust, determination, and despair in his gaze. “Neither of us is getting any younger, and I want children from this union.”

The despair blossoming in her chest matched his expression. “Until you let me to choose for myself, or at least have a voice in this marriage, we will never be happy together.”

He nodded, but something else crept into his gaze, a glint of pure steel. “Perhaps you’re right,bella, but I won’t change my mind. I may feel things for you that I hadn’t anticipated when I brought you here, but that doesn’t change my wishes. I want children and I want them with you.”

“Then we’re at an impasse,” her voice cracked as she spoke. “I won’t stop fighting you, Gio.”

“Si, I understand.” He pushed away from the bed, standing, his suit now disheveled. “You want control? I can give you control over this fight. Come with me.”

He turned and strode away.

Desi watched him in wary silence, then slid from the bed and followed him, curious about his abrupt change in mood.

Chapter Thirty-One

“Hit me,” Giovanni ordered her.

Desi stood opposite him, amusement warring with annoyance.

“I can’t.” She held her hands up. “You taped these things to my hands.”

He chuckled. “They’re called boxing gloves, Desi. Have you never seen a pair before?”

“Of course I have,” she answered, looking at her hands in disgust. “But I’ve never worn them. I can do a lot more damage without these.”

“You can still do a number on your opponent with those, but your hits won’t be quite as damaging.”

“Then what’s the point?”

“Your husband gets to walk away with his nose intact and maybe a little pride too.”

She laughed, eyeing him. “It is a rather handsome nose. I would hate to reshape it into something grotesque.”

Giovanni had brought her to the estate gym. It was filled with workout equipment, including cardio machines, free weights and machine weights, boxing bags, and a boxing ring that took up most of the center of the room.

“What’s the point of this, Gio?” she asked him. “This won’t change what’s wrong between us.”

“I know,” he agreed, then tapped his gloves together and assumed a boxing stance. “But it’ll allow you to relieve some of your frustrations and speak to me in a language we can both understand.”

A language they could both understand.She liked that. They had grown up on different continents, surrounded by different languages and customs, but they lived and worked in the same world. The underworld. He was right; the fight, the blood and the climb to power were a common language they both spoke.

“I don’t know how to hit with these,” she admitted. “What do I do?”

He flashed her a grin, the lines around his eyes crinkling in pleasure. “Curl your hands into fists inside the gloves and hit me the way you would if you weren’t wearing gloves. Defend yourself the way you would normally by bringing your hands up for cover. Block your head and your sternum.”

She nodded; the basics of fighting were universal with or without huge unwieldy gloves attached to her fists.

“What about takedowns?” she asked. “They’re a big part of my fighting style.” She was usually smaller than her opponents. Taking the fight to the ground made it easier for her to use her opponent’s body against them.

He shook his head. “No takedowns for now. We’ll practice with the gloves and work on takedowns after.”

She smiled a mischievous smile and nodded her excitement. Where he might excel in the boxing ring, she would waste his ass when it came time to take the gloves off.

One sweaty and satisfying hour later and they were both laying on the boxing ring mat, breathing heavily and nursing their wounds. Desi’d had some trouble blocking his punches with the boxing gloves and had taken a hit to her sternum that had sent her flying into the ropes. Horrified, Giovanni had rushed to her side, which earned him an elbow to the throat and a gloved fist to the side of the head.

The fight had evened out as Desi learned how to work with the gloves, dancing around him on the balls of her feet and sneaking jabs in whenever he left himself open until he cried mercy and suggested they move on to takedowns.

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