Now, my potential death has become quite an inconvenience.
Winning this war is dependent on an alliance between the two Italian factions. An alliance I am willing to consider for the sakeof my sister, who decided to endanger herself once more by marrying the don of the Guild.
Then again, I’d be willing to consideranythingif it kept her and my niece safe.
They’re the only family I have left in the world.
“And you’re okay with this arrangement, are you?” Mia yells at me, emerald eyes screaming louder than her voice ever could.
The Guild needs my support, but they’re worthless without me. I’m a risk. If I die at the wrong moment, it could endanger everyone else.
They need an insurance policy—an heir to my throne—as soon as possible.
A wife was the simplest solution.
And if it meant the alliance would become viable…if it kept my sister safe…
“Yes.”
It’s the first words I’ve spoken out loud to her since that fateful day all those months ago.
I thought she was nothing more than Teo’s feral bodyguard. Entirely too sure of herself, judgmental, mindlessly loyal. Though her little party trick of toppling men three times her size was, in fairness, a useful one.
Thinking about it now, of course, it would make sense that she was Marco Chiavari’s daughter.
The oldest surviving member of the Guild was perhaps the most respected man at the negotiation table. When he made me the proposal, it had felt like something akin to an honor.
At leastthisI could get right. I could marry a respected woman. I could sire an heir. I could save my family.
But all my plans will fall to the wayside if Mia doesn’t make it down the aisle.
“You’re okay with marrying a total stranger, so that, what? You can knock her up at your earliest convenience? Force her to bear you an heir she doesn’t want? Own her like some kind of…dairy cow?”
Mia storms forward relentlessly, leaving her father behind.
“Yes,” I inform her. “This union will save lives.”
She comes to a stop right in front of me, long hair tipping down her back so that she can look me in the eye. “This union might killme,not that any of you bastards give a shit about me.”
“It is as your father said. I will keep you safe.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
I can see the resentment in her gaze, all her pain bubbling to the surface of her expression.
I’m taking away her future. All her plans, her goals, her dreams, ruined by the monster who is the don of Manhattan. In her eyes, I was her greatest adversary, the enemy she would have to whore herself out to for the greater good.
Once, it might have pained me to be perceived like this.
But these days, I don’t have much time for sentimentality.
“I will not force you to marry me. You can walk out that door right now, and I will not let a single person come after you,” I tell her truthfully, ignoring the way Teo and Rocco seem to bristle at my words.
Mia swallows again, her gaze beginning to waver.
“But you know what the consequences will be if you do that.” I keep hold of her gaze. “It’s your choice.”
She manages to fight through a few more seconds of rage, before closing her eyes completely. She’s simply breathing in and out, gathering herself now.
