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“Vittoria.” I’m not sure how much she can hear through the window, so I raise my voice even louder than before. “Turn the car off!”
My wife will learn to do what she’s goddamn told.
She shakes her head again. Her face is bright pink and tear-stained, her hands on the wheel in a grip so deathly tight her knuckles whiten. If she hits the gas, my father will shoot, but maybe not if she throws him off first.
Without thinking, I draw my own gun from the harness, cock the pistol, and shoot. The bullet slices through her rear tire with a pop. I shoot the front tire, the only other one in my line of vision, each bullet hitting exactly where I mean it to. I empty the cartridge, tearing the tires to shreds. In seconds, the car sinks to the ground like a deflated lawn decoration.
Vittoria’s covered her head with her arms.
“Now she won’t get away.”
My father frowns at me.
“Papa. Gun away, please. You won’t solve anything this way.”
This will be the last fucking day I use the world please with him.
He snarls like an angry dog, his lip curling, but while he utters every Italian curse word known to man, he finally puts his gun away.
“Get her in the fuckin’ house,” he growls at me. “Before I hurt her.”
“I’ll get her in the house,” I tell him, my own anger lashing out. “But you’ll keep your hands off her.” I take a deep breath and gentle my voice. It might work to play nice until I secure her as my wife. “Let me deal with her, Papa. It’s been a long day. You won’t get anywhere with this one making threats.”
“Not a threat, Romeo,” he growls.
And I’m fucking done with his nonsense. I’ve had it with the power he wields over this family with the weight of an anvil. I’m over his tyrannical ways, and I make the decision right then and there that this throne will be mine tonight.
I open the car door and grab Vittoria by the arm.
“Hey!” she protests, but I ignore her, yank her out of the car, then swing her straight up over my shoulder. If she doesn’t get her ass in the house, my father will be at her, and I’ll have to hurt him.
That could complicate things.
“Let me go!” she screams. “Put me down.”
Ah. So cute. “No.”
I ignore her and march toward the house. My men and servants flee, vacating my path.
“I just saved your fucking life,” I say over my shoulder in a low voice. “He’d have killed you.”
She stills. She doesn’t protest anymore as I carry her in.
“Then put me down,” she says in a more subdued voice. “I can walk, Romeo.” She sighs. “Please.”
She’s shaking like a scared little kitten. I hate that he did that to her.
I’m the only one who will make her shake, and I’ll fucking enjoy it.
I shake my head and continue to walk with her over my shoulder. “No. If he sees you’re getting your way, I’m afraid he’ll come after you again. I’ll put you down when we get inside.”
She doesn’t say another word of protest. My mind reels with what I have to do next, what has to happen. I need witnesses, a dress, a ring…
Marialena stares from the side. “He’s at it again, is he?”
I don’t respond. I’m used to her rhetorical questions. She mutters and curses as I walk past her, but when I reach the first landing, I slide Vittoria down so her feet hit the carpet. She’s lost her shoes along the way.
Why does that make me feel sympathy toward her? I shouldn’t feel anything at all. This is a business transaction, no more, no less.
“I want you in my room. We’ll talk in private there.” It’s one of the only rooms in the house that has no surveillance access. The only room in the house where everything I own is at my disposal.
“Oh, how nice,” she says, shaking her head. “The head of the crime family will take me to bed, will he?”
“Vittoria,” I warn. My temper’s reached maximum capacity. I will absolutely take her to bed, but I won’t be taunted or disrespected.
“What?” she snaps. “You think I don’t know who you are? Huh? Why do you think I tried to leave?” Still, she walks by my side and doesn’t try to run again, but she’s no fool. She knows my father’s nearby.
Ahhh. So that’s why she left. She knows who the Rossi family is now. It was only a matter of time.
“Be quiet,” I say as evenly as I can. “This is a conversation we’ll have between the two of us in private.”
She laughs mirthlessly. “Oh, that’s rich. So what are you? Boss-in-training? A made man? Hmm?”
“Not now,” I say, and this is my last warning. “Do you not care at all that I just saved your life?”
