AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Prologue
Gia
I opened my eyes to the darkness that surrounded me, nothing but black. Blinking a few times, I refocused my gaze and saw nothing, no one. A blindfold covered my eyes, the material taut against my skin. My head pounded as if a jackhammer was drilling into my skull. Waves of nausea washed over me every time I was rocked from side to side.
I reached up to touch my face, my hands bound in front of me, held together by cable ties. Using every bit of strength I had—which wasn’t much—I tried to break free of my shackles. All I accomplished was to hurt myself even more.
The restraints were nothing compared to the handcuffs Angelo used on me during sex. I still had the scars on my wrists from all the foreplay over the years.
If anyone knew how to handle pain, it was me.
I could do this.
Acting on instinct, I screamed for Angelo, but my throat was so parched nothing came out. It didn’t matter, anyway. No one could hear me through the fabric that covered my mouth. I listened carefully to the sounds outside my cage, a soft whoosh of cars going past. We were driving, stop and go traffic, causing me to roll into something hard.
My shoulder hurt, but I pushed back the pain. I could deal with the hurt. I’d embraced the rough touch of Angelo’s hands for years. Being with a man like Angelo had prepared me for what I was about to endure.
When the car stopped, I said a silent prayer for help. I never prayed. Sinners didn’t pray. But I needed someone to hear my pleas, have mercy on my soul.
Absolve me of my sins.
My father’s sins.
The sins of our past.
Part One
“Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.”
-William Shakespeare
Measure for Measure
Chapter One
Angelo
No matter how much power my father had over us, there was no mistake my mother was the queen in our house. She never wanted to know about the family business. Never let it show how much she cared that she married a man with a heart as black as his soul. Because it wasn’t my father’s soul she cared about, it was mine along with my two older brothers.
I strolled into the kitchen with the admissions envelope from Strickland University in my hand. It was thick and heavy, so it had to be good news. A smile tugged at the corners of my mouth as I made a beeline toward my mother. Ma was hovered over two stockpots on the stove, too busy stirring the gravy to notice me.
Pietro, my oldest brother, sat at the breakfast bar, eating a bowl of Ma’s famous meatball soup, his eyes pointed down with his usual scowl. Even in sleep, he looked pissed off—just like my father. Everyone in the neighborhood knew my brother as Sneaky Pete, and he lived up to the nickname in every way possible. I wasn’t sure if I could trust him, even though he was my blood.
Pete glanced up at me, without even a nod that I existed, as I slipped behind Ma. I clamped my left hand on her shoulder and moved her dark strands off her face to plant a kiss on her cheek. Startled, she jumped, and a plate of chopped basil she had in her hands fell to the floor. She spun around to face me with a disapproving look on her face. But I had something that would replace her frown in my hand.
“Angelo, you scared me half to death.” She smacked me on my bicep, her touch so light I could barely feel it. “Now, look what you made me do.” Holding back her unhappiness, she stared down at the basil and shook her head. “I was just about to add it to the gravy. That was all I had left.”
“I’m sorry, Ma.” I gave her the same puppy dog face which had earned me the nickname cucciolo when I was a child. “I have something that might help you forgive me.”
She smiled and wiped her hands down the front of her red apron. I might’ve been a rotten bastard, but my mother managed to bring out the other side of me that I’d kept hidden from the world.
“More basil,” she deadpanned.
We had jarred basil in the cabinet, but Ma refused to cook with anything other than fresh ingredients. She insisted on picking out the vegetables, a thorough process she’d made my brothers and me endure when we were kids. Ma would take us to the market with her on weekends. Then, she would sit us down at the table and make us chop the vegetables. I was the only one who could peel the tomatoes. My brothers were too rough and usually poked holes through
them with their fat fingers.
“Nope. I have something better.” I handed over the white envelope with the blue Strickland University seal on the front, and left Ma to get the broom and dustpan in the closet.
Sinking to the ground to clean up the mess, I glanced up at Ma. She slipped her finger under the tab and flipped it open, pulling out a stack of papers. Her eyes that were once wide with shock filled with tears. “My baby is going to be a college boy,” she choked out.
I nodded. “I start in September if Dad will allow it.”
While my father had groomed me to become a member of his organization, it was my mother’s dream to see me go to college. She wanted me to be the first Morelli to ever attend, let alone graduate. Most of my family members barely made it out of high school. I killed myself in high school, all while pretending to have no interest in gaining an education. What I did in secret was for my mother. Her sacrifices had to count for something.
“You’re going to this school no matter what,” Ma promised. “I will kill your father myself if he tries to stop you.”
Pete nibbled on a piece of bread, unimpressed by the news. He never gave two fucks about anyone but my mother. And maybe my dad. It was hard to tell if Pete was loyal to my father out of love or obligation. Most people feared my dad and with good reason. He was sicker than the devil himself, with far more demons he needed to address.
I laughed, pushing myself up from the floor with the dustpan full of basil. “No need to kill anyone. Dad said I could go if I got in.”
“That’s because he never thought you could do it,” Pete shot back with a smirk. Asshole.
“Knock it off, Pietro,” my mother yelled. “Don’t ruin this moment for your brother. If you can’t be happy for Angelo, then eat your soup and keep quiet.”
She looked worn out, sweat dotting her forehead. After all the hours she worked during the week at the restaurants my family owned, I felt guilty she still prepared a meal for us, one I unintentionally ruined. We should have been catering to her, not the other way around. But my mother was a proud woman and would never allow anyone to lift a finger in her kitchen. She had no reason to work, yet she refused to take a day off.
Everyone had a place in our family, my father made sure of it. While Ma had a choice, my older brothers and I never had one. The five years which separated me from Pete gave him the right to succeed my father as the head of the organization. Marco was three years older than me, and he loathed the fact that Pete was my father’s heir apparent. Same as our father and almost every man in our family, we were built for a life of servitude.
“I’m so proud of you, cucciolo.” My mother pinched my cheek between her fingers. “We should celebrate. Marco and your father should be home soon. I need to finish the gravy. Would you mind running around the corner to the market?”
“Of course, Ma.” I emptied the contents of the dustpan into the trashcan, set it on the floor, and then glanced down at my watch to check the time. The market was open for another thirty minutes. “Do you need anything else while I’m there?”
She tilted her head to the side, mulling it over. “No, I think that should do it.”
“Get some cannoli on your way back,” Pete growled, sounding harsh and demanding as usual. I hated taking orders from him, but there was a hierarchy in our family I had to follow.
“Mmm… that sounds good,” Ma chimed in, licking her lips. “Get enough for all of us.”
“I’ll be back in ten minutes.” With a quick nod, I walked out of the kitchen, through the small dining room that ran into the living room, and out the front door.
