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“Because it’s your best option.”
“Mybest option?” I stare at him and shout an ugly laugh. “You’re insane. You seriously think marrying you would be better than marrying your brother? At least he didn’t ghost me after taking my—” I clench my jaw shut, seething with rage.
If Gian feels bad about what he did to me, he doesn’t show it. “Saul will treat you well, you’re right about that. He’d be a decent husband. But you don’t want to be a wife.” He steps toward me, coming around the desk.
I hiss a breath between my teeth as I look at him. Gian’s still so handsome, even after all this time, and he still has a power over me. My stomach’s a twisted mess and the migraine’s getting worse.
“You don’t know me anymore,” I say and it’s hard to speak. This is so absurd. I should turn and walk away, but every time I try, Gian draws me back.
“I remember what you said back then. Do you? All those big dreams and huge plans?”
“I wanted to work for a freaking high school. That’s not exactly shooting for the moon.”
“For a mafia princess like you, that’s basically going for the impossible. You’ve always known that, right? I think you knew it back then too. There’s a reason you only ever told me about what you really wanted to do with your life when we were completely alone.”
He’s right. I hate him, but he’s right.
It was never going to happen. A real, normal job, for a girl like me? I was always going to marry a mafia guy, which meant staying at home with the kids, raising them to be little mafia boys who would one day grow up into big mafia men, find their own wives, start the cycle all over. That was my destiny, and it’s exactly what’ll happen when I marry Saul.
“Stop talking about what happened between us. You don’t get to do that anymore.”
“You’re right. I shouldn’t. But it happened, and now you’re going to make the biggest mistake of your life. If you marry my brother?—”
“No, the biggest mistake of my life was following you for coffee. I should’ve let you cheat then forgotten you ever existed.”
His face twitched as if that hurt. I hope it did. I hope he feels an ounce of the pain he caused me back then. I was a freaking mess when he ghosted, and the worst part was, I couldn’t tell anyone. Sophia thought I was having a mental breakdown. My parents thought I was just having trouble adjusting to school. None of them knew my heart was completely shattered.
I had to pick up my own pieces, one by one, all alone. It was the worst time of my life.
Now he thinks he has the right to do this.
But he shakes his head as if I don’t understand exactly what he wants. “Saul’s not going to let you have a job. You know that. He won’t mean anything by it, but that’s just how things are. You’re just a partner to him, that’s all. He’ll have expectations. A nice little box for you to fit in. Your entire life planned out in advance. You might as well die now.”
“Fuck you, Gian.”
“Marry me.” He comes closer. “For one year. After that, I’ll divorce you. I’ll set you free.”
My mouth opens. I’m about to tell him to fuck off again. But nothing comes out.
Divorce is unheard of in the mafia families. It only happens when someone’s abusive—basically always the husband—or if there’s infidelity—again, basically always the husband. Wives can’t leave their families just because they’re unhappy. That’s simply not done. My father, my cousins, everyone I know and love, they’d never let me if I tried. They’d never forgive me if I actually went through with it. I’d lose everyone I love.
And Saul won’t ever let me go. Why would he? Sticking around to raise the children is part of the deal. Sure, there’d be comforts, plenty of perks. Nice cars, vacations, that sort of thing. But I’d still be trapped.
Gian’s offering me freedom. As a divorced woman, no other mafia guy’s going to want me. I’d be tainted goods. I’d be ruined. Which means I’d be free to make my own path in life.
I could get a job, an actual job, maybe even my dream job if I get lucky. I could meet someone else, a guy outside of the Famiglias, someone not connected with the life. Papa would hate it, but what could he do about it?
All I’d have to do is marry the one person in the entire world I hate the most.
“Why?” I ask him, still stuck to the floor. My legs don’t work anymore and my brain feels numb. He takes another step closer and I want to bolt.
“Call it penance. Call it a misguided sense of ownership and jealousy. I don’t care what you call it, but the offer’s real. Marry me. Don’t marry Saul. We’ll stay together for a year, long enough for our families to solidify an alliance, then I’ll let you go. It’ll be hard, but it’s your only chance.”
“What the hell do you get out of this?”
He stares at me, lips twitching into a smile. “I get you for one year.”
I finally move. I walk toward him, rage flowing down into my fingertips like molten lava. My arm cocks back and I punch him as hard as I can right in the chest.
