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“So why don’t ya have today be the day that happens, go fight for the girl you really want to marry.”
“I was going to, but some bad shit happened and it made her realize she couldn’t be with me.” It all sounds so fucking hopeless when I say it out loud. Evelyn has it all wrong about her being my weakness. I’ve never felt as weak as I do now.
“Does she love ya the way you love her?” Briella asks simply.
“I’m sure of it,” I say with confidence.
“Well, you surely aren’t about to let her go now are ya?” She looks back at me disgusted.
“No, I’m not.” I look back at her like it all just became clear. How can us being apart be the best option for us?
“This could cause a war, our families have depended on us getting married for years,” I point out to her.
“How about, you deal with your father, and I’ll deal with mine. I’ll tell me da, that I couldn’t bear the thought of marrying ya, and you tell yours that you aren’t to be controlled by the likes of him.”
“You’d have been an excellent wife,” I let her know, kissing her on her cheek before I dash for the door and head downstairs to put the old man straight.
“And you’d have been an awful husband,” she calls after me with a girlish giggle, that I know someday will make a man crazy.
I find my father in his office, practicing his speech.
“Ahh there you are, I’ve had people looking for you.”
“Everyone else seems to have found me just fine,” I point out, walking over to his decanter and pouring us both a drink.
“Good idea, a toast.” He grins at me as I place a glass in front of him.
“Here’s to the newest Burlusconi child,” I raise my glass and watch his face grow cheerful.
“Already? You aren’t even married yet. I knew you’d manage to tolerate the girl,” he chuckles.
“Not mine, yours.” I watch with satisfaction as the smugness falls off his face.
“I know you will have been looking for Damien’s little sister since you found out why he tried to kill Rhett.” I lay my cards out flat.
“Why would I care about the little slut?” He keeps up his pretentious act.
“Because you know that when the child she’s carrying is born, it will be evidence of what you did to her that night.”
“You’re telling quite the tale there, Raoul.” He laughs at me and takes a sip of his drink.
“I have the girl,” I throw him my trump card.
The shock returns to his face, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get pleasure from it. “I know what you did and so will everyone else if you don’t go out there tonight and announce that you’re stepping down.
“You’re being—”
“I’m making a stand and taking control of this family. You know what you could lose if the men out there know you’re a rapist. We need the judges and the senators for our operation to keep running, they may tolerate a lot to have their pockets lined but if they hear that you knocked up a child…” I raise my hands up in the air.
“Blackmail, how noble of you, Raoul. Where’s your loyalty to this family?”
“It’s right here,” I slam my hand over my heart. “I’m protecting everybody I love from your sick, perverted secrets. I’m going to lead this family the way you raised me to, and give the people who trust us the leader they deserve. I am not going to marry the Quinn girl and if the Irish want to hate me for it, let them add us to their long list of enemies.”
“You're being selfish, Raoul, leaders don’t get the privilege of putting their own feelings first.” I’ve had about as much as I can stand. I grab the old man by his collar and slam him into the wall behind him.
“And whose feelings were you putting first when you raped that seventeen-year-old girl? Who were you considering when you had me kill a man whose wife you raped while his children watched?” I stare him down before I release the sorry excuse of a man.
“There will only be one announcement tonight, and it will be that I am the new boss, that those people answer to me now. And if you want your secrets to stay buried, I suggest you start to obey me.”
