“Milan—” Adriano began, but was soon interrupted by Milan’s raised palm.
“She will be my bride in her sister’s place.”
Dad choked on his own breath. Fiorella’s jaw dropped to the floor. Mom stayed the ghost she had been the entire time, but clutched the arm of the couch until her nails dug in.
“Excuse me?”I exclaimed.
“Do you require repetition? You and I will wed in four weeks from today. I will confirm the details at a later date. If you are in need of clarity, Adriano can arrange this.”
And with that, Milan Lucca stood and walked out of the house, leaving me the fiancée of the most dangerous heir in theFamiglia.
4
SICILY
I launchedthe last of Dad’s whiskey at the wall behind his desk, watching his dark-paneled study walls soak in the scent and amber stickiness.He sat frozen in his leather chair, watching, not attempting to stop me because he knew this was wrong.
I’d known this would happen; of course, I had. It was what wassupposedto happen. Being unmarried at the age of twenty-two, not already being pregnant and useless—it was all a blissful lie, a waiting game.
Women were forced to marry men they didn’t know.
Women lost themselves to men like Milan Lucca.
Butmylife was not supposed to be tied down by a man. I wasn’tsupposedto be my father’s business pawn.
Fiorella stood in the office doorway, clapping and cheering at the sight of my defiance. “Get another bottle!”
Dad waved his hand at her dismissively. “Fiorella, leave.”
There was a small grunt of disapproval before the door clicked closed, and Dad finally looked at me. Ialmostfelt bad; this was my father, the man who had been the best dad theFamigliacould have offered until money and work had hit, and he’d chosen them over me.
It didn’t make sense to feel bad, but I did. A lot of what I felt didn’t make sense.
“You cannot behave this way when you move into Milan’s house. Do you hear me, Sicily?” He warned with a small sigh. He folded his arms, leaning back in his seat as he said, “I allowed it in my home, but he is now my Capo dei Capi. I cannot protect you once you are married.”
“Capo dei Capi?” I echoed, my jaw dropping.
We had multiple leaders, the Dons, who all made their own decisions, but we didn’t have aboss of bosseslike the Outfit did.
If Milan was Capo dei Capi, that meant he ownedeveryone, had a hand ineverything.
Dad nodded slowly, blinking our eye contact away. “We need the help. Our reputation is awful; we have no social standing.”
“That’s not my responsibility,” I snapped, flopping into the chair opposite his desk and closing my eyes. “There are a thousand other ways to make money, andyouchose women.”
He ran a hand over his face, the exhaustion dripping from his skin like the whiskey on the walls. “We all do things we aren’t happy about to get by in this life. This is just something you have to do to get by.”
He spoke as though his hands were as tied as mine, but I couldn’t help but focus on the lie. He was a man; he could have opened any business he wanted rather than keep the one his father opened.We werenotthe same.
I straightened in the chair, the same one I’d climbed onto when I was little and wanted to spend time with him, and whispered, “I will never forgive you if you make me do this.”
Dad smiled sadly. It was a small expression, and I realized in that moment that all the times I’d been a kid and thought he was a happy father were just a lie. Perhaps his smiles had always been sad, but that was the fate he was tying me to; sad smiles and a future that was out of my control.
“Then, I guess in four weeks will be when we say goodbye.”
Four weeks.
I could’ve run, gone to Canada like Matt had always talked of so he could be free with Elena, but nobody escaped theCosa Nostra.
