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Leo sits across from me on the couch in my cozy living room, but it doesn’t bring me any warm fuzzy feelings this time. Not anymore. He’s completely unaware that my papà is waiting for us in the study to rip him a new one. I’ve been waiting for this moment—I already talked to my father—and I’m hoping that this means I’ll get my freedom back. Well, I guess I’ll just get freedom, I’ve never really had it. It’s been the one unattainable thing in my life.
“I’m sorry,” Leo says hoarsely. “I should’ve never broken into his house and put you in that position. I also shouldn’t have spoken to you that way.”
“You’re not sorry for the right reasons,” I tell him, and he frowns, clearly confused. “You should be sorry for getting my brother killed, yet I don’t see you apologizing for that. Instead, you blame others for your mistakes.”
“I didn’t?—”
“Spare me the bullshit, Leo.” He rears back as if I’ve slapped him. “You used him as a human shield.”
“I made a mistake,” he snaps. “I just…reacted.”
“You and I…” I gulp, “I can’t marry you. Not with this knowledge.”
The sneer on his face is bone-chilling. “We’ll see about that, Camilla. Stop being such a weak bitch already, and get the fuck over it.” My face must show my shock because he smiles. “You’re the only one living in the past. Nothing is changing, and you’re still going to marry me.”
“I…” I’m stunned into silence, momentarily hurt. But I force myself to speak. “I can’t forgive this, Leo.”
“I don’t give a fuck if you don’t forgive me, Cam.” He grabs my hand and I flinch. “We’re getting married whether you want to or not. You know the rules. I know I hurt you, but you need to move on and learn how to live with it. You’ll be in for so much worse than this when you’re my wife.”
“Papà is waiting for us in the study,” I tell him.
Leo’s face morphs into horror-stricken features, and he audibly gulps. “He is?” he whispers in a scared voice, rightfully so.Asshole.
“And he wants to talk to you.Alone.”
Papà clears his throat from the hallway and motions with his head to follow him. I get up reluctantly, and it takes Leo even longer, but he eventually follows me out of the living room. Our feet shuffle all the way to the study and my heart drops when my father doesn’t say a word. Just motions for us to sit yet again.
I don’t know what’s going through his mind, which is the scariest part about Matteo DeLuca. The silence is more terrifying than the screaming.
“I’m disappointed.” My stomach drops and I feel like throwing up, even though it’s not directed at me. He’s talking to Leo, whose face is as white as a sheet. “You said Nikolai Pavlov was lying in front of the Elite Table, yet here you are,the liar.”
“Please understand?—”
“No.” My father shakes his head, “You need to understand. You lied about my son’s death, and that will not go unpunished.”
“I’m sorry, Mr. DeLuca.” At least he has the decency to not call him by his first name right now. My father and he have been on a first-name basis since Leo learned to speak. “It was an accident.”
“You’re weak.” I flinch. “And now we must go to the Table and decide on a suitable punishment.”
“Papà, I don’t want to marry him anymore,” I interject.
Leonardo looks at me like he might pass out, his face blanching once more and his mouth agape.
“That’s not your choice, Camilla,” he dismisses. “Youwillmarry him.”
Fuck.
Okay.
There goes my freedom.
I look at my hands once more, a submissive gesture I’ve learned over the years when it comes to my father. Women are worthless in his eyes, and though he can be loving in some instances, he can also be the opposite of it. I’ve mostly been on that side of the spectrum, and his cold and ruthless demeanor is scary. My mother was the only comfort in my life when he acted that way, especially since I was the only one who suffered his wrath. Only because I was a girl.
“You may go,” my father says as he stares at me.
I about trip on my way out as I run to my room. Getting dressed, I make a choice. I cannot marry Leonardo knowing he was the one responsible for my brother dying. Nik may have fired the shot, but it was never meant for Andrea.
That’s all that matters right now.
