Page 256 of Cara & Gian: The Guzzi Duet

She was a snake.

Just like her father.

Elena winked. “Hiss, hiss, Gian.”

All that rage that had been beating at Gian’s surface finally spilled over. The control he thought he had was gone, just like that. There wasn’t a single part of Gian that was able to be rational in those few seconds. He took the greatest pleasure in seeing Elena’s eyes water as he choked her against the bathroom wall—how her words struggled, and her body tensed with the urge to fight. It was one of the most beautiful sights he had ever seen, where she was concerned.

“You deserve to rot in hell, Elena. He almost killed them! Because of you.”

“We’ll be free,” she croaked out under his hands. “Don’t you get it?”

“You’re—”

“We’ll be free, Gian.”

He wasn’t quite sure what it was that sent him jerking back from Elena. Partly, her words. Partly, her blue-lipped smile and happy eyes.

“You’re fucking crazy,” he said, pointing a finger at her. “You’re insane.”

“Why, because I figured a way out of this for both of us? All you have to do is get rid of the problem, Gian. He gave you a reason to do it, didn’t he? A reason to justify all the problems that might come of it. You’re angry, remember, he nearly killed Cara and the baby—your precious things. So, kill him.”

“You think that’ll fix this?” Gian asked, waving between them. “You think that’s enough?”

“Shouldn’t it be?”

“This is for life, Elena! And not because of your father’s rules, but because of the ones I am forced to live by. You stupid, silly woman.” He laughed darkly, taking another step back from his wife and shaking his head. “You’re so blinded by your need to manipulate and control and gain by hurting others that you don’t even realize how fucked you are. Killing him isn’t going to get you the divorce. It will never get you the divorce!”

She stiffened, clutching the towel against her body with suddenly shaking hands. “But … but—”

“And the biggest problem is that I can’t even kill you for what you’ve done this time,” Gian snarled at her. “We’ve made such a fucking spectacle of this sham of a marriage—how unhappy you are, how distracted I am elsewhere. Killing you would do nothing but turn everyone against me when I need them the most. But Jesus, it might just be worth it, Elena.”

Finally, a spark of fear lit up her gaze. “You can’t kill me. I’m your wife, Gian.”

Exactly.

And it had nothing to do with her, but everything to do with him. He was a made man—he chose this life, he lived by it, he spoke the rules, and he enforced them even when he hated them. No one could ever possibly understand the struggle it was to be him, and he wouldn’t ever be able to explain it unless someone walked in his shoes.

No one ever would.

“The only reason I would ever give you a divorce, despite how it would ruin me,” Gian said, “is so that when everyone finally stops looking at me, and you think you’ve finally gotten what you wanted, I could take it all away from you. I could kill you and no one would ever look to me, Elena. That is why I would divorce you, why I would sacrifice my name and legacy, because that is what you deserve. How badly do you want to be free? You’ve already taken everything from me. When is it finally going to be your turn?”

Elena only continued to stare at him, seemingly horrified and in disbelief, all at the same time. This was their life—he couldn’t help the fact that she ignored things that were right in front of her face simply because she figured she could manipulate her way out of them.

That might have worked in her father’s Camorra world.

It did not work in Cosa Nostra.

“You’re going to get dressed,” Gian said quietly, “put your makeup on, cover those marks on your neck with a scarf, and do your hair. Then, you’re going to call your father, and tell him whatever you need to so that he comes over here tonight. You’re going to sound pleasant and sweet and whatever else he needs to hear so that he doesn’t think for a second that anything is wrong. And once he is here, you’re going to do the same thing, and you’ll look away when you need to, you’ll say nothing to anyone about what happens here. Is that understood?”

Elena’s hands trembled more. “Yes.”

“Yes, what?”

“Yes, I understand, Gian.”

He tipped his hand toward the bathroom door. “Hurry the hell up. I won’t be far behind, so don’t think I won’t hear if you try to fuck me over, Elena.”

Gian did exactly as he said he would, following behind his wife while she readied and then called her father. He said nothing as she convinced Gabriel to come to her, and Elena kept her act up the whole time.