Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 91238 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91238 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
I stop myself, unable to continue. Thinking about her like that, like she’s being passed around my brothers, makes me want to murder someone. I’m so angry I have to shove my hands in my pockets and turn them into fists, my nails biting into skin. The pain helps keep me from losing my mind.
Saul runs his fingers through his hair. He looks sympathetic, which doesn’t help. “I’m sorry you’re still carrying this, but there’s nothing I can do about it. Like I said—”
“Turn her down.”
“I can’t.”
“Then we’re going to have a problem.”
“Gian, there’s got to be another way. You’re my brother.”
“Exactly, I’m your brother, and you know how I feel about her.”
He hesitates. I can see what he’s about to say in his expression. I step toward him, gripping the back of a chair so hard I think my fingers might break through the leather.
“Still?” he asks quietly. “Even though you haven’t seen her since college? How long has it been? Nine years? Nearly ten?”
“It doesn’t matter. I still feel it.”
The words hang between us. He doesn’t move. I can tell by the set of his shoulders that he won’t back down. It’s either kill him now or live with this pain, and I don’t know if I can handle either option. He rubs his face with both hands.
“I didn’t want this. If that makes it easier at all. I really, really didn’t, but we’re in a bad spot, and we need the Rinaldo Famiglia. If I thought there was a way to get out of this marriage without jeopardizing their alliance, I’d do it. But we fucked up one arrangement. We can’t fuck up a second.”
I nod slowly. That’s exactly what I expected to hear from a man like the hero but I had hoped that he might’ve changed, or at least that he’d understand me better.
Now I can see there’s no hope.
“Good luck with your new wife then.” I turn away, too sick to keep meeting his gaze. “I hope she gives you plenty of children.”
“Gian—”
I leave the library. I do it fast before I change my mind and make an even bigger mistake. When the door shuts behind me, it’s like cutting off a piece of my history. I’m close with Carlo, but I always looked up to Saul in a lot of ways. Yeah, he was the hero, the ass-kisser, the brown-noser, but he’s smart and he’s strong and he does the hard stuff even when he doesn’t want to. I’ve always respected that about him.
Now all I can see is some sniveling piece of trash willing to do whatever his boss tells him, no matter what the consequences are.
“You okay?” Carlo asks when I come back downstairs and pour myself another drink. He looks concerned. “That conversation didn’t go well?”
“Saul’s a prick.” I throw the alcohol back.
“What’s new?” Carlo grins and pours for himself. “You getting drunk now?”
“Yes.” I throw back a second. “You?”
“Fuck yes. Might as well.” He downs his own, and I do my best to ignore the nervous, worried look he gives me, and focus on blacking out the pain.
Chapter 3
Allegra
“You’re going to be fine.” Sophia adjusts my hair and brushes the sleeve of my dress. I’m standing in front of a floor-length mirror in my room at home, dread filling my guts like spoiled wine. “Honestly, you look amazing. Any guy would cut off a limb just to go on a date with you.”
“I definitely wouldn’t love that. Imagine all the blood.”
“You’d be bathing in it like the freaking empress you are.” Sophia pulls me into a hug and I squeeze her back.
My cousin’s the only person in the world that can make me feel better. We’ve been close since we were little and even roomed together back in college—she was a year ahead of me at Blackwoods. She doesn’t know the full extent of why I’m upset, but hey, a girl’s got to have a few secrets.
Especially when those secrets could completely ruin my life.
Sophia’s a little taller than me with thick dark hair and big brown eyes. I’ve got more curves, but otherwise we have a strong family resemblance. About as Italian as it gets.
“What do you know about him?” I ask as we leave my bedroom. She walks with me toward the stairs like she’s marching me to a funeral. He’s already down there in the sitting room with Papa waiting for me to show up and I’ve delayed as long as I can, but there’s no use in putting it off. It’s our first formal meeting, and I’m pretty sure my father wants to make sure I’m not going to run away. I catch sight of Amadeus lurking in the hallway nearby with a few more soldiers.
“Not a whole lot,” Sophia says. “He’s pretty serious. Nobody has anything bad to say about him, at least not from what I can remember.” She shrugs a little. “He’s older than us though.”