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“Like a pet?” I asked, semi-hysterically. “You already feed me like one.”
“In every way,” he clarified, his eyes dark with annoyance. “I want to. All you have to do is let me.”
I didn’t answer him. I didn’t know what to say. His eyes seemed to get even darker as he studied me for another moment.
He turned on his heel and left, the door locking behind him. Not that he needed to lock it. His goons were outside. The house was full of them.
There was no way out of this. This room. This house. This life.
I stood there, staring at the door, for the longest time.
Chapter 17
Antonio
“I want this in her name. In case something happens to me.”
“Nothing is going to happen to you, you loon.”
I gave Mikey a look.
“Nobody can guarantee that. Especially if the treaty ever falls apart. She has to be protected.”
“What about your brother?”
“He has enough.”
“No, I mean, can’t he protect her?”
“He will. He knows this isn’t just a marriage of convenience.”
Mikey stood up, grabbed a bottle of scotch from the bar in his office, and poured us each a glass.
“Congratulations on your upcoming nuptials.”
He clinked his glass with mine and we both drank.
“She hasn’t said yes, yet.”
“She will.”
“How do you know?”
“I have never seen a woman able to resist you. Not once. Young, old, married, it doesn’t matter.” He shook his head and I smirked. He had a point there. Mikey sat back down at his desk. “Do you have a ring yet?”
“I’m going to see Luciano next.”
“I’ll go with you. I have to see this.”
“Fine,” I agreed as he picked up his pen and got back to the prenup. I would agree to anything at this point. Even if I got shit for this for the rest of my days.
“If she ever leaves me, she should have a trust.”
“Let me get this straight—if you die or if she leaves you, she gets the bulk of your fortune?”
“Yes.”
“This is the weirdest prenup I’ve ever written.” He paused and shook his head. “Hell, it’s the weirdest prenup ever written by anyone, ever. You sure about this?”
“I’m sure.”
“You can’t back out if you change your mind. What if she turns out to be a pain in the ass?”
“She didn’t deserve any of this shit. I want—no, I need—to make it up to her. And maybe this will work in my favor.”
“Pretty boy Tony, begging a woman to marry him. I never thought I’d see the day a woman brought you to your knees.”
I smiled. I didn’t give a fuck about the ball breaking. I was very, very close to getting what I wanted. If she said yes, it would all be worth it.
The massive stone sparkled in the sliver of light coming in from the front windows. The privacy shades were drawn, but a little sunlight got in around the edges. People paused to look at the window display now and then, having no idea of the massive amount of money about to change hands inside.
“What about this one?”
Luciano had closed up his shop, just for me. I knew I was acting like a crazy man. Who proposed to a woman he had just met? But we had spent a lot of time together. I’d seen her relaxed and happy, stressed, afraid, asleep, and unconscious. She was fucking amazing no matter what life threw at her.
Literally threw at her.
And we didn’t really have a choice.
Well, I did. I was choosing her. Outsiders weren’t ever allowed to walk away if they saw a glimpse into our world. In most cases, they would simply be bribed, killed, or blackmailed. But Evie was different.
She was too pure to be blackmailed and too clean to be bribed. And far too precious to dispose of. Keeping her as my plaything wouldn’t be fair, either. I’d hate myself as surely as she would hate me.
The only thing I could do was make her one of us. And there was another thing I was supposed to implement. Vincent wanted me to get her hands dirty. Get her signature on a document that made her a part of the machine.
That way, she truly never could walk away.
It made me sick to do it, but I knew my brother was right. If she decided she wanted out someday, we needed something on her. A wife didn’t have to testify against her husband, but an ex-wife could do whatever the fuck she wanted. Blab to reporters. Cops. Feds.
Anyone.
So I had to keep her close. Permanently close. The fucked up thing was, I was glad I had a reason to do what I wanted to do anyway. She didn’t need to know that, though.
Never give a woman too much power over you, I heard my father instruct us in my head. Never show them you can’t live without them.
That had been the only thing he said to us at the funeral. Touching, right? But I knew better. Despite the way he’d treated her, my father had loved my mother. Too much, maybe. He was a shit heel with a cruel streak a mile long, but he had loved her all the same.
