“That’s absurd.” Dad is quick to defend, but he doesn’t rise from his chair. “And furthermore, I told you she was staying with our new alliance so she could dig up information. It was hardly useful, but it proves that she does try and can observe the world around her.”
“Yes, and maybe if she’d learned some helpful information, then I’d believe that.” Steffano pulls my phone out of his pocket and starts reading messages between Royal and me aloud from the very beginning. All the while pacing across the space.
I never thought to delete the messages. We were just friends. They don’t even sound like anything is going on between us.
“So, Leticia, what is the Cavanagh family secret?”
“They’re runners. The secret is that for holidays and otherspecial occasions, they all go for runs in the woods together.” I use the first thing I can think of that’s true.
“So the sex cult, dancing naked under the moon, calling the daughter pup like she’s some sort of dog?” Steffano pushes as he steps closer to me.
“A bad joke and a family inside joke that I misunderstood. There’s nothing weird about the Cavanaghs. They’re just a regular family. It’s no different than when Berto went through that phase when we all called him Robbie, and he thought he’d be something other than a made man.”
I should feel bad digging up something from the banks of my memory and using it like that to embarrass Berto to prove a point. But no way am I telling anyone what I know about the Cavanaghs.
“She’s untrained.” Berto defends me, standing from his chair and stepping toward me. “It’s hardly like she’d know what sort of secret to sniff out. Case in point, it’s not like we call anything important a ‘family secret.’ That would be absurd.”
“Mmm, so then about this message?” Steffano starts. “Royal says to Leticia: I’ll have them — he’s referring to her suitcases — packed and ready for the driver to pick them up at the house. But I would much rather have you here with them.”
Dad draws a sharp breath.
Berto narrows his eyes at me, and I wince.
“And our darling Leticia answers: It’s just not meant to be. There’s already a Cavanagh and D’Medici truce in place. They don’t need us to be together too. I’m sorry, Royal.” Steffano finishes. He’s engaging Berto more so than my father in this conversation, but they both turn to me for answers.
“We’re friends, and we were both sad that our Christmas plans had been changed. We’re sad not to be able to spend time together, and it’s not like anyone really needs us to be friends, so I was sorry that we needed to be less friendly.” I’m digging myself a hole, and I know it. I try to stop and shut it down. “We’re just friends.”
“So does your friend know what you look like naked?” Steffano bends at the waist to put his face nearly level with mine. He grips my jaw as he cuts into me with his eyes. It’s bruising and painful against the bone.
“Of course not.” I throw my head back, pulling away from him, in shock that he’d even ask that sort of question.
“Why would he know what she looks like naked?” Dad rises out of his seat in what nearly feels like my defense.
“Well, the nerd can see every part of their territory, can he not?” Steffano makes such a logical leap that my jaw drops.
I look up at Berto, raise a hand to my chest, and turn back to Steffano. “I hardly think he was looking at me in the bathroom while I was changing or bathing. That’s completely crossing the boundaries of friendship.”
“I don’t think you’re just friends.” Steffano’s voice is low. He stalks away again and throws the accusation over his shoulder. “I think you whored yourself out to the Cavanagh tech nerd. You’re not as pure as your father wants me to believe, and now you’re worth less than the agreement we signed on.”
“I didn’t.” I look at Dad, shaking my head, begging him to believe my lie.
The word whore should sting, but with how Royal made me feel, there’s no way I can let a man who buys women influence how I feel about my body.
Maybe I’m not lying well enough because I can’t be made to feel ashamed of what I did.
But Berto looks me over with a frown and shrugs, then turns back to Steffano. “There’s no way to know for sure if she is or isn’t a virgin without consequence. But she’s still an American citizen by birth. Which is what you need in a wife.”
“And? There are Americans everywhere.” Steffano scoffs.
“But they’re not D’Medici.” Berto seems to be the one running the deal. “You can find a different bride who can get you a legal American passport, but will they be able to fence you the kind of merchandise we will? Or are you going to stop with an expansion operation?”
I don’t know if I’m appalled or pleased by how well Berto is keeping me in this arranged marriage and the deal on the table. I’ve never seen him at the helm, and part of me thinks it’s cool, but all I want is an out.
“I can’t even stand to look at her knowing another man hastouched her, and I can’t get rid of her because of the stupid agreement,” Steffano spits and turns back to face me.
The look in his eye sends a chill down my spine, and I sit straighter.
“Allegedly.” Berto corrects. “And that’s fine, we’ll send her back to Chicago. You can come back to Chicago after Christmas and keep the deal on as planned. You’ll live in River North and officially start life as husband and wife as soon as the marriage documents are accepted by the court. You don’t want her here, then fine. But you need her, and you need this deal with us.”
