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“Thank you. You can get dressed again now,” I tell her, walking to the window to allow her to do that in private at least.
I take my seat opposite her after she’s done. “Who did that to you?” I ask, although I suspect I already know.
She’s silent. Years of conditioning have taught her to lie. To cover up the secrets and the shame.
“Your brothers?” I ask.
She nods.
“Does your father know?”
She looks up at me then, her eyes wet with tears. “Does he know?” she snorts. “Who do you think taught them to be the animals that they are, Dante?” she spits out my name, directing her anger at the only person available right now.
Fuck! I suspected her brothers, but her own father too? I knew those dogs were trouble.
“How long has this been happening?”
“I was about eleven the first time,” she says with a shrug.
“And how did they think I wouldn’t find out? On our wedding night, was I not supposed to notice you’re not a virgin?”
“There’s an operation you can have to have your hymen replaced,” she says. “You were never supposed to see me until our wedding. And once we were engaged, my father said they would all stop so that you would never find out.”
“They think I’m that stupid?” She flinches at my tone.
“I know we can’t be engaged now,” she sniffs. “But can you please not tell them that you know. They’ll suspect, but if they can’t prove it, maybe I can convince them. Vito will tell them that you sent him out though. They’ll think that you tried something and saw and then…” She shakes her head and starts to cry.
Then what? They’ll hurt her even more than they already have.
“We’ll get engaged. Today,” I tell her.
She lifts her head and blinks at me.
“As my fiancée, you will live here in my house. You can stay in one of our guest rooms until we’re married. Yourvirtuewill be safe here. Nobody will touch you while you live in this house.”
She shakes her head. “They won’t let me leave.”
“They won’t have a choice, Nicole.”
“Why would you do this for me?” she whispers.
I run a hand over my jaw. “If I tell my father we’re engaged to be married, he might let me breathe a little,” I lie. But the truth is, her father and brothers have been top of my shit list for months now. “Go say goodbye to Vito, and my housekeeper will show you to your room. I’ll go speak to your father and bring back some of your things.”
She sucks in a shaky breath, her eyes narrowed as she stares at me, wondering what my angle is. It’s a fucking sin that the men who were supposed to protect her violated her instead.
“You’ll be safe here, Nicole,” I assure her.
“My name is Nicci,” she whispers. “I hate Nicole.”
“Nicci.”
* * *
I stand outsidethe guest room and take a deep breath. Jimmy Santangelo did not take the news kindly that his daughter was moving in with me. Of course I didn’t tell him that I knew about the vile things he and his twisted, fucked up sons had done to her.
When he spouted off about her virtue, it took every single ounce of willpower in my body not to cut off his cock with a rusty spoon. He could barely contain his anger at me taking his plaything away from him. Sick piece of shit! But he accepted it. He can’t go against me.
The faint noise from the TV tells me Nicci is still awake and I knock on the door.
