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CHAPTER 10 – MARCO
“What do you mean thatI have to marry her?” I ask in disbelief.
“Marco, you are undisciplined and unruly, and you’re becoming a threat to this family!”
“A threat?”
“More like a fucking disgrace to the DeLuca name! You can’t control yourself, and it’s getting harder for others to control you. It’s time to settle down and learn some discipline. Along with the responsibility of caring for a family comes discipline.”
My heart constricts in my throat. I’ve never been particularly close to my father. As an eleven-year-old boy, I’d caught him fucking my mother’s sister, my aunt Contessa, when my mother was in the hospital giving birth to Niccolò. He saw me watching, and I’d run, only for him to finish fucking her. I could hear her moans. Later, he found me and told me that a man has needs. He’d said I wouldn’t tell her the truth if I loved my mother.
I never did because I didn’t want to hurt my mother, but I always wanted that bastard to wonder when I might say something. We’ve been at odds since. He only tolerates me.
“What is it that you want from me?”
“To redeem the name. Redeem yourself by doing this one thing.”
“Marrying Graziella isn’t—”
“It’s what you need. She loves you, Marco, and I know you care greatly for her. She’ll be what you need to strengthen you and prepare you for your position of power in the family when it’s time.”
“I won’t do it.”
My father’s jaw clenches.
“Very well. We’ll be visiting the don.”
“For what?”
“It is his wish that you marry Graziella. Forging the Moretti empire with the DeLuca empire will give us unlimited power in areas we aren’t as strong as we’d like. The don has spoken. If you’re man enough to disobey a direct order, you should be man enough to tell him why. You will do that in person.”
My heart sinks because I’m loyal to the family. There isn’t anything that I won’t do for this family.
“And Maria?”
“Maria is married to your cousin, Johnny. Didn’t she tell you? She must have written to you while you were in Spain.” He’s now animated and happy, and I want to puke.
She didn’t. I was in hiding after going on a murder spree, and I was still angry with her for aborting our child. I thought that going to Spain on my father’s orders would be the distance Maria and I needed to find healing.
