Page 122 of Savage Ambition

I frowned, sensing I’d missed something crucial. “Do what?”

He shrugged. “He can’t force me to work there.”

The implication sickened me. “What the fuck are you talking about?” I demanded.

“Nothing.”

I maintained absolute control over my reaction. “What aren’t you telling me?”

He shifted and avoided my gaze. “It’ll never happen, so why bother discussing it?”

A sick suspicion formed. “Did Salvatore offer you a job at Gennaro Corporation?” When Shaw tried to look away, I caught his chin. “Tell me.”

His shoulders slumped in defeat. “I told him no.”

The confirmation ignited a furious violence inside my chest. I struggled to keep my expression neutral.

“And you still wonder why I want you to stay away?” Unwilling to relent, I pressed the issue. “Promise me you won’t go back there.”

He sighed, the fight draining from him. “For how long?”

“Three months, maybe. I’ll tell you when it’s safe.”

His scowl deepened. “When will you know?”

“Trust me, I can read him.” Years of survival had taught me to track Salvatore’s moods. “He’s dangerous when fixated on someone. He’ll do anything to hurt me, which paints a big target on your back. You can’t comprehend how ruthless he is. Killing means nothing to him. It’s how he took control of the family.”

He paled. “I’ve heard the rumors.”

“Reality makes the stories sound tame.” My voice remained emotionless as I recited the facts. “He married the previous Don’s daughter to become a Gennaro, taking her last name to legitimize himself in the organization.”

His eyebrows furrowed. “How does an outsider become the head of an Italian Mafia?”

“Once he secured his position as second-in-command, he killed his wife after he decided she’d served her purpose.” Her blood had pooled across the marble floors of our foyer. Salvatore hadn’t hidden it from me. He wanted me to witness what happened to people who no longer proved useful.

“But that’s awful.”

I shrugged, maintaining my indifference. “She was as cruel as her father. Her death wasn’t exactly a tragedy.”

He hesitated. “Because she hurt you?”

“Yeah.” That was the understatement of the century. She’d treated me worse than a dog, laughing while watching Salvatore’s training sessions with me.

Salvatore had killed my real parents, too. Not in a car accident like the official story claimed, but execution-style in our living room while I watched at twelve years old. Raphael had been only six and mercifully asleep when the gunshots rang out.

My father had been Salvatore’s personal accountant, privy to all the Gennaro family’s financial secrets. When he discovered Salvatore was skimming millions from the Don’s accounts, he made the fatal mistake of having a sense of justice. It cost him and my mother their lives. I could still see their blood and brains spraying across our family photos whenever I closed my eyes.

Salvatore and his wife took us in afterward. They spun an elaborate lie that we were their biological children born while they lived abroad in Italy. They claimed they’d kept us at European boarding schools until we were old enough to bring home to New York. It conveniently covered up the truth behind their infertility problems that threatened the Gennaro dynasty.

The organization accepted the story without question, since having children with the previous Don’s daughter cemented the continuing legacy of the family. Those who discovered the truth conveniently disappeared over the years, their bodies never found.

I refocused on Shaw. “When the former boss tried avenging his daughter, Salvatore killed him and everyone loyal to him.” I didn’t mention how I’d been forced to watch those executions. “Murder is an easy solution to unwanted problems for him. That’s why you need to stay away. If hurting you will punish me, he’ll do it without hesitation.”

Shaw bit his lip. “Do you think he’d hurt me?”

“I know he would.” I thought of the others who had disappeared over the years because Salvatore deemed me too attached to them. My first friend at school. The piano teacher who’d shown me kindness. The housekeeper who’d slipped me extra food during punishments. “But if you stay away, he’ll decide you aren’t worth his effort. The challenge excites him. Without it, he’ll move on.”

He frowned. “I hate this.”