Reluctantly, my father dragged his eyes away from Enzo. “He raped my daughter.” One fat finger jabbed the air in Enzo’s direction. “He raped her and ruined her for any other man.”
My own embarrassment forgotten, I threw my arms in the air. “For God’s sake, Daddy! No one raped me!”
Furious eyes swung my way. “Then you allowed him to do this? You whored yourself out to him just like your mother? Who else here has fucked you?”
I shook my head, and I couldn’t keep the contempt from my voice when I asked, “What does it matter?”
He turned back to Luca. “I demand that you marry her. He is your man. I demand that you restore my daughter’s honor and the respect of the family by making an honest woman of her.”
Oh, my god. A maniacal laugh rose within me, and I had to press my lips together to keep it inside. Sothiswas his game.
But Luca didn’t even crack a smile. “I cannot marry your daughter, Ciro.”
“Your father might disagree with you when I call him to tell him what happened to my daughter while under yourprotection.”
“My father does not run my life,” Luca countered. He did not bring up Veda, and I didn’t blame him. If my father found out about her, he would use it to his own advantage.
I expected him to push it further, but something in Luca’s expression must’ve told him it would be of no use. “Fine,” he said. “Then I demandhemarry her.” He indicated Enzo with a lift of his chin, crossing his arms over his ample chest in a gesture of stubbornness I knew well.
My heart sped up until it was racing so fast, I had to grip the back of a chair.
“Who Enzo marries or does not marry is entirely up to him,” Luca told him.
My father turned to Enzo. “Well? What is your answer?”
Enzo hadn’t moved or said a word since I was examined in front of everyone. But now, he looked at me down the length of the table. Even though I’d originally wanted nothing but my freedom, I couldn’t stop the flood of hope from rising in my chest that he would agree to this. Hope that surprised me as much as it did him when he saw it on my face.
As I watched, something changed with him. Something that made my heart drop into my stomach. So subtle that I doubted anyone else would have noticed. But I did.
He turned back to my father. “No,” he told him. “I will not.”
My father’s face turned blood red, and his eyes bulged beneath his heavy brows. Before I knew what was happening, he reached over to the man beside him, yanked his gun out of its holster, and pointed it at Enzo. “You will marry my daughter, or I’ll shoot you right fucking here.”
CHAPTER21
Enzo
Slowly, I reached up and removed my sunglasses from my face. It was a risk to remove that barrier and allow this man to see me.Reallysee me. I couldn’t allow him to see the pain immobilizing my limbs. The heartbreak cracking open my chest. I needed to be cold. Distant. Unfeeling. And if I pulled this off, it would be the greatest fucking performance of my life.
The barrel of the nine-millimeter rose a notch until it was pointed directly at the center of my forehead. Dust motes danced in the sunshine streaming in from the single high window on my left, and the muted sounds of techno music rose up through the floorboards from downstairs. Otherwise, the room was completely still and silent.
I watched them drift through the air for a moment before I refocused on the piece of shit holding that gun. He narrowed his eyes on mine, trying to put on a tough facade, but I saw the flash of uncertainty cross his jowled face when he noticed no fear staring back at him. After all, what did I have to be afraid of? Death? I wasn’t afraid of death.
I was more afraid of being the only one left alive.
He stepped closer until I could smell the stench of spicy sausage oozing from his pores and hear the labored breaths fighting to put air into his lungs as he tried to contain his temper.
I sighed heavily at his dramatics, and once again told him my answer to his ultimatum. “My answer is no. I suggest you come to terms with it before things get ugly. For you.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw Luca raise his hand, indicating for him to lower the gun as he stepped closer to me. Ciro did not follow his directive. “Enzo,” he said in a low voice meant for my ears only. “Think about this.”
Never taking my eyes from the man in front of me, I told him, “No. I’m finished with her, and we’ll have no need for her after today. I’m not going to let this mezzo di merda,this piece of shit, bully me into marrying his daughter so he can run around bragging that he conned you into it.” Then louder, “I don’t want her.” I emphasized my words so there would be no confusion. The conviction in my voice rang clearly through the lies falling off my tongue, echoing off the bare walls of the clubroom where we had agreed to meet this fuckingstronzo.
A strangled sob sounded to my left, and every muscle in my body ached with the effort not to look at the “her” I spoke of, or to acknowledge her in any way. Because if I did, this day wouldn’t end well for either of us. I was taking a huge risk by sending her back to her father, but this was the only way to keep her safe…
From me.
I saw the way she looked at me just now. The hope that lit up her perfect face and shone from her bright eyes. Hope for a happily ever after I could never give her.
