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“A what?” I asked, confused where he was going with this.
His raised eyebrows had me swallowing any type of attitude that I might have blurted out.
“You’ve arranged a marriage for Carina?” I repeated. “Why?”
“You should be asking me ‘to whom?’ ”
I straightened my shoulders. “Then to whom, Father?”
“Luciano Romano.”
The second the words slipped from his lips, my eyes widened in curiosity and my gut clenched then in fear for my sister. I could feel anger beginning to grow as it replaced the fear knotted in my stomach. He couldn’t possibly be serious. They were the enemy. I wouldn’t, not now, not ever allow Carina anywhere near Luciano.
“You would have Carina, our sweet, gentle Carina marry the son of the man who killed my brother?” The tenseness in my body grew worse as my blood grew hotter, threatening to boil over. “They killed your only son, aren’t you forgetting about that?”
“Yes.” He said nothing more, like my brother’s death meant nothing. “I plan to tell her as Luciano expects her to be delivered tomorrow morning,” Father said, pulling out some paperwork, including something that said ‘marriage contract’ across the top.
“Delivered? She isn’t a parcel for postage, Father,” I said as respectfully as I could, even though a bit of a bite slipped out.
All of the emotions that I normally kept hidden, I could feel slowly slipping through the cracks in my calm facade.
For years, I had stood beside this man, in gunfire and more, but today he was a stranger. He was going to deliver his daughter, his naive, innocent daughter to the slaughter house and he didn’t show an ounce of care or remorse.
I thought I would be sick. I swallowed my pride, and imagined my sister's face. I could envision her crumbling when my father told her what she would be required to do. What I wouldn’t do for her?
“I will marry Luciano,” I said.
CHAPTER2
Luciano
The knocking grew more insistent,and I found myself growing aggravated when it didn’t stop.
“Sir!” a deep voice rang out. “Your father has stated that he would like to have you come to him immediately.”
Stated. Not requested. Of course he hadn’t fucking requested.
“And what have I said about not being disturbed when I am in this room?” I growled to the voice on the other side of the door.
“Your father asked that we disregard any of your wishes and insist that you be in his presence immediately.”
My fists clenched and I buried down my anger before I could lash out. A man of my position always needed to be in control.
It wasn’t a question of whether I would come when he called, it was a matter of when. Yes, Angelo Romano was my father, but he was also my don. I was his underboss, second in command. I had no need to disrespect my father because I knew how important my obedience was to him. Together we were a force to be reckoned with, and that made us stronger.
“I’ll be there once I finish wrapping up my current task,” I said as I picked up a 3 inch paring blade from the knife set I had unrolled in front of me and walked past the four men waiting for another command. I stepped up to the bastard who previously had the balls to sell my family out and glared him straight in the eye. I smiled at the fear I invoked. That was a power not many knew how to encapsulate.
“He insists that you be there now.”
Fuck. It was serious then. There would be no arguing when it came to my father. He was stubborn and relentless. What more could be expected from the don? He was the most powerful man in this city, in this state, and probably the country. I had to come when he called.
I kinked my neck from side to side to pop from each angle. Without other options, I let out a deep breath and relented. “Then I’m coming.”
I slid the blade in at the correct angle of his chest just two of the three inches needed to almost kill him, but not quite yet. He let out another groan, but due to blood loss our friend wasn’t so animated anymore. He was slowly bleeding out, but I trusted no one else to take this final step. I pushed the blade in the one last inch and his head fell forward and the shallow breathing stopped all together.
“Clean this up,” I ordered the men standing around me as I grabbed a rag and wiped my hands.
“Then what?” one of the dumbest motherfuckers I had ever had the displeasure of knowing asked.
