“I must go, but remember, you need to find someone to talk to.”She had no doubt he had plenty of people he could use, and there were times she was sure he took pity on her.
At most parties, she stood in the corner, as far away from everyone as physically possible.This was not her decision.This was just where she had been placed when she was sixteen years old, and where she would remain indefinitely, well, not indefinitely anymore.
She would be dead in six months, but with the way Diego was looking at her in distaste, he might bring her death down to three months.
****
Massimo Salvatore stormedinto his father’s home and immediately went to the office.Even though this was his father’s residence, he was the one who had complete control over it.
No one knew about his father’s accident, the duel he had got himself into, and that had rendered a scar down his face.Rather than embrace the mark, his father had become a recluse in the house, leaving Massimo to handle everything else.
His father was sitting behind his desk, working.The man was always working.
Massimo had taken care of the man who had scarred his father.The plastic surgeons had only been able to do so much, but the truth was, his father was incredibly vain.The man who had scarred his father was long since dead.He had killed that bastard and made him suffer.It was one in a long line of deaths that had secured his legacy.Only, that kill had nothing to do with the Russo Mafia and everything to do with his family’s honor.
He was not going to allow some fool to take the Salvatore name and thrust it into the mud.Unlike his father who had been able to get through life on his good looks and intelligence, Massimo had worked on the third—his strength.
He knew he had his father’s good looks and intelligence.However, he had never allowed a woman to cloud his judgement, at least until now.Right now, it was really fucking clouded, and he couldn’t seem to get past the look on Adelina’s face as she approached her fiancé.
Diego Bruno was bad news.He was a fucking coward, as most of his kills came from the women he tortured and murdered.He was a piece of shit.
Adelina didn’t deserve that.He didn’t know why her parents were marrying her off to that ...filth.Anger consumed him.
“What’s the matter, son?”his father asked.
He looked toward him, and there was only one solution he could come up with.
“Were you aware of the engagement between Adelina Ferri and Diego Bruno?”he asked.
“Of course.The wedding ceremony is here.”He rummaged about on the desk.“Ah, here it is.Yes, three weeks’ time.”
Massimo thought about Adelina.He had never meant to start up a friendship with her.The truth was, he hated most of the families that were part of the Russo Mafia.The Ferris were bloodsuckers.They were not well-off.They were poor and inconsequential.Everyone thought they were a joke, but they had been riding anyone and anything that would get them power.
Diego Bruno had wealth.He had power.He was a piece of shit who preyed on the weak.He’d gone through so many wives and mistresses.There were even rumors that he used the women who worked for him, beating them up when the need arose inside him.He was a brute.
Massimo knew he was not one to judge, seeing as he himself was a monster.There had been few women he killed, mainly because he was not afraid of men.
Running a hand down his face, he couldn’t forget the sadness of Adelina’s eyes.This could be one of the last times he saw her.The only reason he continued to go to those fucking parties was because of Adelina.He didn’t not want to go to them.This pissed him off.There was just no way.There was only one solution.
“I need you to arrange a union between me and Adelina Ferri,” he said.
His father burst out laughing.“That is a good one, son.I don’t know what has gotten into you tonight, but you’re funny.”
“Do I look like I’m laughing?”Massimo asked, and the laughter died instantly on his father’s face.
“But Massimo, she is completely out of your league.She is not even within your station.You could do better.She is a horrible, fat bitch.”
Massimo reacted, by grabbing his father around the neck and pressing him against the nearest wall.In all the years of dealing with his father’s mess, he had never lashed out, never hurt this man.He accepted him for the fuckup he was.When his mother was alive, his parents had been very much in love.He was aware of the story of their love.It was one that had been admired by everyone within the Russo Mafia.
Arranged marriages were often fraught with fear and hatred.Not his parents.From the moment they met on their wedding day, it had been love.That love had bloomed into a very long marriage.They were the odd couple.They were strong.People hated them, yet wanted to be them at the same time.They had two children together, and Massimo believed his mother was pregnant with the third when she was taken during a gang war at a damn petrol station.She had stopped to go to the bathroom.On the way out, she had gotten shot.
It had killed his father, who had gone on a warpath, killing anyone associated with either gang, and none of them had anything to do with the Russo Mafia.It had been a dark day.
His father, broken, had succumbed to alcohol and women.Lots of women.One of those women had been the cause of his facial deformity.She had been the wife of some dodgy businessman.
Deep down, Massimo knew his father had been playing with fire, and it had cost him greatly.He could not allow that mark to besmirch the Salvatore name, so he had taken care of it.
“Do not ever say that shit about her again.Do you understand me?”
