“Lower your voice,” I growl.“Sophia has done nothing.She had absolutely nothing to do with her father’s decision to hit our trucks, she offered to come with me until the debt was cleared, had a gun and a chance to use it on me and didn’t.None of what you say about her is true.And like it or not, you should get used to having her around, because I plan to marry her in the very near future.”
He stands, his face red and glowering as he pitches his glass into my empty fireplace.“The fuck you will.We have too much invested in this arrangement.Everything in the future for both families hinges on you sealing this deal, and mark my words, you will seal that fucking deal!”
I seethe, exhaling air through my nose.“Do you think it was Desiree’s family who tried to run us off the road today?”He doesn’t answer, but I’m not taking silence for an answer.“Do you?”
He glares at me and then heads to the bar to pour himself another drink.Maybe this time he can manage to keep from chucking it across the room in a fit of rage.He sighs heavily.“I have it on good authority that it was.”
Her fucking family.“Fine, tell Desiree’s father that he’s voided the agreement on those grounds.Surely an act of war against our family constitutes a reason for cancelling the deal.You save face, and we’re done.I won’t retaliate if he agrees to the change.”
“It’s not that easy, Massimo!Damn it, how am I supposed to leave you the family business if you can’t handle the family business?”
I stand, getting in his face as he reaches me.“Don’t you mean handle the business the way you handle the business?I can handle the business just fine, and no disrespect, but it just won’t be the way you’ve handled it.Some things, yes, absolutely, but other things?Hell no.”
His eyes blink and I know I’ve hit a nerve, said something I didn’t mean to say and hurt him in a way that I didn’t intend.Those dark eyes, so like the ones I see in the mirror every day.Damn it all to hell.
I know the burden of the future weighs heavily on his mind—my future, Leandro’s, Angelo’s, and Renato’s, and Tristano’s, along with the men who are part of our family, even if not our blood.I will take care of every single one of them, but I refuse to be used as a bargaining chip in a loveless marriage to a woman who wants no part of me but has a father who wants the money that my name can bring to their family.
I swipe a hand through my hair and sit back down, gesturing him to take a seat across from me.“Look, all I mean is that I have instincts, damn good instincts, because they came from you, Dad.”
He takes a drink, quiet and sullen, just watching me with those eyes that are always assessing.
“When I told you that rumors were under foot and that our trucks were at risk, you didn’t listen.You put soldiers in places to watch me, to find out what I was doing, instead of outright asking me.I need you to trust me, or this thing between us, it’s going to be more than us, it’s going to be the demise of the family, because I’m only going to put up with it for so long.”
He takes a drink, and at least this one stays in his hand and doesn’t end up splashing in my face.“I can’t run a business with you breathing down my neck at every turn.We’re both adults, we need to set the strategy like our forefathers did and then travel that path without letting anyone get in our way.Together, we set the strategy together, Dad.”
“And your strategy would be without Desiree?”
I exhale.“The bigger question is do I see the strategy not including her father’s territory.Until they attacked us, I would have said yes, let them keep the territory, we don’t need it, we’re strong, and have them as allies in case alliances are needed in the future.But the ball is in their court now.They let me out, or they make enemies of our family after what they did today.”
The indecision in his dark knowing eyes is obvious.“You would have us go to war for the Cassone girl?”
“We would go to war to ensure that everyone, including them, knows that if you put a hit out on one of us, we will bury you in the fucking ground.It has nothing to do with the Cassone girl, she just happened to fall right into the middle of something that was always going to come to a head between the two families.You and her father just couldn’t see it before.”
“Because in our day we agreed to it and it would be done, our children would obey us, not disrespect our wishes, and put their own desires before the good of the family.”
I start to say something, but he puts his hand up.“I’m tired of this conversation.I’ll call him tomorrow and we’ll settle this thing.If it means this much to you, I will get us out of the deal based solely on the attack today.”
“Thank you.I know this meant something to you, and I appreciate your willingness to see my side on this.”
His eyes shift to the door.“Regardless, until this thing is settled, Desiree is intended to be your wife, Massimo.”
I turn to see the look of disgust in Sophia’s dark eyes as she stares at me from the door.I turn back, my eyes burning with anger as my father’s lips turn up in a smile that never reaches his eyes.
25
Sophia
All I want is to flee, not just from this room, or the one upstairs that has been my prison, but flat out flee.My feet move of their own accord, my breath barely even as I turn and walk through the foyer and out the front door.
The minute I’m outside, my lungs almost explode, inhaling a necessary breath that until now I could not take.Somehow the night calms me.Maybe it’s the way the stars twinkle, as though Mamma is watching over me as I run into the night with no specific course of direction, except away.
Away from the man who somehow managed to gain my trust, the enemy that I let into my bed, let ravage me the way no one has ever done, and for what?A game, a bet, a deal, that his father will never let him pay.
The guards in the distance do not follow me into the trees, but they probably should, because no matter their plan, mine is to escape.No matter that the fence line around the property is probably wired, or that they will come.
They may find me, but it won’t be without a fight, because I’m leaving this place.The deal is off, the bet is off.Massimo is engaged.Why would I have not heard that in my circles, why would he not tell me, and why the fuck did I let myself get sweet-talked by the enemy?Remorse for being so naïve and gullible heats my very soul with shame.
My father and sister will be so ashamed.I slump behind a large oak tree trunk hidden by surrounding bushes, and the bunnies who’ve already bedded down scurry with haste, fleeing from their home for the night.
