“How was he conceived?” She bit into her sandwich once more and chewed again.
I swallowed hard before I spoke.
“I raped her.”
Her eyes widened as she stared back at me, her sandwich falling back onto her plate.
“What?” she rasped.
“You’re familiar with the family tradition.” I scoffed. “The father gets to fuck the bride before the groom does. So he did. He forced me to watch. And I did. She cried out for me. Begged me to help her. You see, Anna was a sweet girl. She was quiet. Caring. Compassionate. This life was never meant for her. She should have married a banker or an insurance agent, had a nuclear family, and lived on a tree-lined street with a white picket fence. Instead, she got me and nothing but hell.”
“Why did you do it?” she whispered, her voice shaking.
“I didn’t want to. I was forced to. A gun to my head, literally. She cried and clung to me. He’d already defiled her. I finished the job while he watched. I told her I was so sorry. She only repeated my name over and over.” I rubbed my eyes as they burned from the memory of that night. The last thing I wanted was to cry in front of her. It had been twenty years, but the pain was still there.
“Dominic was born nine months later. We had a paternity test. He came back as my father’s. My father gloated over it.Rubbed my face in it. Then he forced me to raise my brother to be my heir. In reality, Dominic would eventually take over. He was in the position to because it didn’t matter who his father was. If it were me, my heir. If I died, he would be next in line as my brother. My father knew what he was doing. I hated him before all of this, but that?” I shook my head, the disgust rolling through me. “He took away the love of my life. My children. And years later, I know he had something to do with Del and Gianna’s deaths.”
I stared down at my sandwich, my appetite gone.
I didn’t even realize she’d gotten to her feet, but I felt her near me. I turned to look at her.
“I am sorry,” I said, my voice soft. “For all of this.”
“I believe you are,” she said, staring up at me.
I looked away, but was surprised when she reached out and cradled my face, drawing my attention back to her.
“I hate your father, too,” she said. “ For all the pain we have endured.”
“And me?” I asked, resting my hand over hers as she continued to cradle my face.
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “And that is really starting to scare me.”
I gave her a sad smile.
“Me too, sweet princess. Me too.”
13
ALESSIO
Ishook my head, irritated that Klaus was beating me at pool while we were in Matteo’s study.
It irritated me more when Drake laughed.
I never lost at pool, but Klaus was on his game tonight. I glanced at Matteo, who sat at the bar in the room, sipping his drink next to Alessandro, to see if he noticed how well Klaus was playing. Matteo was definitely keyed into it, as his eyes narrowed at Klaus.
“If I sucked as much as you, I’d never play again,” Klaus said with a soft laugh.
“Sei uno stronzo,” I muttered. He really was an asshole tonight. To be fair, he was most nights, but most nights he wasn’t beating me and taking five hundred bucks as he did it.
Klaus laughed. Drake looked over at Matteo and Alessandro in surprise. I frowned at Klaus. He was definitely not acting like himself.
In fact, if I were to really think about it, Klaus had been in a good mood all week. Whistling. Smiling. Being…odd.
He finished off the game, making me groan. He’d never let me live this loss down.
“Who is the woman?” Matteo asked as Klaus took a long drink from his glass.
