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“Let’s get this going. I have places to be,” I say while I fix my collar. I need to fly back to Sicily and deal with my father’s mess. He never should have given those pricks the money. It seemed like a good business deal at first, but if he had any brains at all, he would have realized it was a mistake.
Because of Rolando’s idiotic motives, I am the one who has to go and sort this shit out.
This conversation runs in circles, to the point where I keep tuning them out, hardly retaining a damn thing.
What kind of a father does this man think he is? Kirill attempted to rape his daughter, and he doesn’t even blink at the incident.
“You’re an embarrassment of a man, Rolando.”
Carlo’s head snaps back at mine as if his eyes could shoot me.
I wave my hand at him. Does he really think I give two shits about this man?
“Giovanni, a moment in private?” my cousin asks, but it sounds more like a demand. I don’t listen to demands; I make them.
I think I’ve built some tension in this room, finally. What does it take to knock some sense into a man?
“Later.” I shake my head.
“Giovanni.”
Carlo’s eyes scream business. That alone grabs my attention.
We walk over to the door Max stormed out of earlier. As I close it behind me, I hear Nina arguing with her brother in the entrance of the house. With her high-pitched voice roaring through my ears, my fingers curl into a fist.
“You know that”—Carlo points to the door while taking a cigar out of his pocket—“can’t happen, right?”
“And why not?” I take the cigar from his hand. Normally, I refrain from smoking, but with Nina being so fucking helpless, this is how I’m dealing with it. Maybe notcompletelyhelpless, but she never would have been able to get out of the situation without my help.
I was almost eight years old when I held her in my arms for the first time. She was a tiny thing. Every small breath she took sounded like it was a chore to inhale. She was fragile.
Even as young as I was, I was able to understand the meaning behind my feelings. Nothing would hurt her, not if I had a say in it.
I visited often with my father. To this day I think it was just an excuse to fill the void of our empty family. Sure, I have a shit ton of cousins, but the void that needed filling was the space a mother should have.
Nina’s mother had that effect on me. Every holiday I felt the love in their household. Whether Rolando has good intentions or not, he loves his family. That’s why I’m having the hardest time wrapping my mind around this new marriage.
Carlo doesn’t want Nina to marry Kirill for some reason besides the obvious. Before he even tried anything last night, I already knew the guy was a pig. But there is something Carlo knows that he isn’t telling me, and I fucking hate it.
I don’t even understand why Kirill was at the wedding. Why is Rolando trying to have an alliance with the Russians again? That ship sailed years ago.
My muscles tighten, aching at the thought that if I hadn’t heard her, he would have had his way with her.
Seeing all of her body, claiming her as his.
I clench my teeth at the odd reaction my body just made.
The careless girl drives me fucking crazy, even after all these years.
I bring my eyes back to Carlo as soon as I realize I tuned him out. “Why can’t she marry Kirill, again?”
I don’t want her with him, but I need to know his reason.
My job, I take it very seriously.
“If Rolando does this, the Stepanovs will gain appreciation from many. I don’t want his name anywhere near this family. You understand, I know you do. Nina can’t marry him. You know how the Stepanovs work, don’t you?”
“I do. But you do realize both Ana and Nina will be marrying into different families either way, right? Ana already married you.”
