“Then we sever their loyalty.”
Chapter Five
Bianca
I stared out the window as we drove across the Verazzano Bridge in one of the family SUVs. Most of the time, I was in the backseat since I normally went everywhere with a guard, but this time, I was sitting up front next to Lorenzo. I could feel him beside me. His presence was overwhelming and thrilling all at the same time. Nervous energy coursed through me because I was heading to Atlantic City to get married to my brother’s best friend and one of my father’s men.
My mind spun with how fast everything played out. Romeo and Lorenzo made all the arrangements. My only job was to tell Father I was going to Atlantic City for the wedding of one of the girls from my dance class. Romeo made sure our regular guards, Costa, Rossi, and Leone, were not able to be gone for three days, which meant that Lorenzo had to step in to go with me.
Our father bought it, but really, he didn’t care enough about any of us to give a shit what we did as long as when he needed us to do something, we did it without fail and without question.
“You okay?” Lorenzo’s voice broke the silence and the tension that filled the air around us.
I gave a sarcastic, sad laugh at his question before glancing over at him. “I’m being forced into a marriage Idon't want to escape a marriage I don’t want. So, no, I’m not really okay.”
“It’s for your safety, Bianca. You know that.”
“It’s all so unnecessary. This life,” I growled, letting out my frustration. “The danger and the destruction that comes with the lives that you guys live is insane. It’s pointless.”
I watched as Lorenzo’s hands tightened around the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white with the force he was applying. His jaw clenched as he watched the road ahead of us.
“Kind of hypocritical to damn us for our work when you’ve lived a very comfortable life from that work with private dance lessons, schools, and a closet filled with designer everything, Princess.” His snide comment and the use of the nickname ‘Princess’ pissed me off. Lorenzo knew what buttons to push. He was the only one to ever call me Princess, and when he did, it was always because he was annoyed with me, and he wanted to prick my temper.
“What choice do I really have in my life, Lorenzo?” I asked him sharply, letting him see and feel my irritation. “I am not even choosing the man I’m about to marry. It’s a choice that’s being forced on me to save me from another forced marriage.”
Lorenzo quickly pulled the car from the middle lane over to the side of the road and threw it into park. He turned to stare at me with his deep brown eyes that remindedme of smooth, melted chocolate. His clothes hid the tattoos that were beneath the suit he wore, but I could see the ones on his hands and the ones that crept up his neck from beneath his collar. I didn’t need his shirt off to picture the tattoos; I’d spent enough time drooling over them when he swam in the pool with Romeo as I watched from the house or poolside.
“Do you really think I’m as bad a choice as Antonio Arias Jr?” It was my turn to flinch from his irritation. This was how it was with Lorenzo and me. We kept our conversations brief because we would always end up sniping at each other, and now we were getting married.
“No. I don’t want to be married at all. I was almost out, Lorenzo,” I gritted out. “I was almost out and away from here. The recital is also an audition for a dance company. I would have gone on tour and been away from here.” A frustrated tear slid down my cheek, and I angrily wiped it away. “I don’t dance just because I love it. I dance because it’s my way to escape this life.”
The expression on Lorenzo’s face was one of both shock and anger, but there was also a brief flicker of what looked like hurt before he put on his mask of indifference and boredom.
“I know it’s not what you want right now, Bianca, but it’s what you need. You need protection, and I’m a layer of protection to keep you from being married off to a man who has his hands and his dick in the flesh trade.”
I wanted to puke. “You mean he–” I couldn’t even say the words. There was so much to this life that I hatedand didn’t want to know or be a part of. It made me sick to my stomach.
“Yes. Rumor has it that he not only sells the women, but he also uses them before he does. Is he really a better choice than me?” he asked again, but the answer was still the same. No. The man my father picked for me was not a preferable choice to the man that I had secretly wanted for years, but who was only marrying me to keep me safe, not because he loved me.
“No, I don’t prefer him over you. That wasn’t ever a question, Lorenzo. It’s just–” I cut myself off from letting too much slip. I’d kept so many things to myself over the years. There was a reason I didn’t get into friendships or relationships. There was a reason I kept to myself, only seeking out my sisters, my brother, or Lorenzo when I wanted someone to talk to. Keeping myself cut off from people kept them safe. It was a lesson I’d learned the hard way when I was six years old.
“Who broke my computer?” Dad yelled at us. We were all standing in front of him as he shouted at us. I’d begged the boys to play hide and seek with us, and I’d gone into Papa’s office to hide under his desk.
I didn’t mean to hit the computer that was sitting on the edge of the desk, but I did, and it fell down onto the hardwood floor. Fear clogged my throat so much that I didn’t step forward. Lorenzo, Giana, Nicoletta, and Romeo knew it was me.
Lorenzo, who was standing beside me, nudged me slightly back, then stepped forward. “It was anaccident,” he said with a confidence that I didn’t feel when it came to my father. “We were playing, and it was at the edge of the desk. I bumped it, and it fell.”
Guilt ate away at me as I watched fury flood my father’s face; his anger now had a target. Fear squeezed my throat as I stood by and watched my father backhand Lorenzo so hard that he fell to the floor. Dad removed his belt and started whipping Lorenzo’s back. My siblings and I stared and watched in horror as he beat our friend for something he hadn’t done.
I was about to step forward when Romeo pulled me and my sisters against him. “Let it go,” he whispered to us all, but I knew he was talking to me. “He’s sparing you. Let it go,” he whispered again as Giana, Nicoletta, and I cried. Giana and Nicoletta turned to look away from Lorenzo, but I didn’t. I couldn’t.
The shirt he was wearing was ripped from the lashes of the belt. Father continued to yell at Lorenzo as he punished him for the broken computer. My heart broke into a thousand pieces as I watched the blood beading up on his back. His cries and screams of pain were silenced as he passed out from the beating.
When father finished, he walked away from us all and went to grab a drink. “Gino!” he yelled, calling for his right-hand man who was standing just outside the door, watching him beat a child to the point he blacked out.
“Take him to his room. Have Marutta patch him up.” He took another drink before he was calm enough to speak to us again. “You four, go to your rooms, and remember that my office is off limits. Lorenzo has now learned that lesson, and so have you.”
Romeo ushered us up the stairs, following behind Gino, who was carrying a still unconscious Lorenzo in his arms. Tears slid down my face, knowing he took the punishment that should have been mine. He was in pain because of me, because he protected me. Father was right. I did learn the lesson he meant to teach us, but I learned another one as well...
