Page 240 of Merciless Daddy

It wasn’t fair.

Gianni watched me enjoyably.

“Now you understand,” he said. “Families protect themselves. It’s business, cupcake.”

I looked at Donatella. She met my stare without flinching.

“Your people do not love you enough to lose everything,” Gianni continued. “Maybe they don’t love you at all.”

The clock read 11:09.

Fifty-one minutes.

I sat.

I folded my hands in my lap.

Then I looked at the proxy document and decided that if the Carusos had sold me, I would still not sell myself.

Donatella turned coercion into a checklist, which was the most Caruso thing I had ever seen.

“She needs water,” she said.

Gianni gestured. A guard brought a sealed bottle.

Donatella inspected the cap before handing it to me.

“Keep her unrestrained.”

“She is unrestrained,” Gianni said.

“She remains that way.”

His expression cooled. Donatella continued as if he had not spoken.

“No weapons in view of the terminal camera. No armed men reflected in the glass. No one stands behind her. If opposing counsel sees a shoulder, a holster, or a shadow shaped like a rifle, the recording becomes useless.”

“I know how witness protocol works.”

“Learn it from your father? You must have been his favorite student.”

Silence struck the room.

Gianni’s face changed so quickly I almost smiled.

Donatella had chosen the knife well.

He turned toward the guards.

“Outer corridor.”

They hesitated.

“Now.”

Most left. Two remained near the steel door until Donatella pointed at the glass partition.

“I can see them.”