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She started shaking her head. “What are you talking about? There’s no way-”
“I saw you guys in the library, Fia,” I finally told her. “The last time I visited, I heard you guys arguing, and then I saw…” I shrugged. “Well, you can guess what I saw.”
Her eyes hardened, andI wasn’t surprised. Fia always went on the defensive whenever she was in the wrong. “I love him.”
“Fia-”
“I love him, and he loves me,” she insisted. “We’re…we’re going to get married.” She stood up from her chair, trying to dwarf me with the one inch that she had over me. In her heels, she was actually towering over me by five inches. “I don’t care what Papa says.”
“You should,” I cautioned her. “He gave his word, and we both know how important his word is to him, Fia.”
“You would know,” she practically sneered, my career a perfect example of how important our father’s word was to him.
I nibbled at my lower lip, doing my best not to take the bait. This wasn’t about me, her, or her imagined sibling rivalry. This wasn’t even about Papa, not really. This wasabout Nero Sartori, and how he was the youngest Underboss in history, and he had come into that title honestly. He was deadly, merciless, and nothing was more important to him than business.
“Fia, you can’t really believe that Papa is going to be okay withyou calling off the engagement, right?” I asked, imagining the worst. “He’s not going to let you break your word for another man.”
She lifted her chin, a sly grin appearing on her face. “He’ll have no choice when he finds out that I’m pregnant.”
I felt her words like a kick to the chest.
Pregnant.
“Have you lost your mind?” I hissed. “Jesus Christ, Fia.” I could feel myself actually scared for my sister. “How could you allow yourself to get pregnant?”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but I’ve been withMano for six months now,” she informed me, not sounding worried in the least.
I ran a hand through my dark hair. “How?” I finally asked. “How…after all these years, how did-”
“He knew thatMammi was going to start planning the wedding soon,” she huffed like the whole world was against her. “He said that he couldn’t just stand back and watch me marry another man without telling me how he’s felt about me all these years.”
While it was plausible because Mano had been assigned to Fia since she’d been twenty-one, it didn’t happen often. Soldiers and guards knew their place in this life, and it was rare that they’d risk their lives by stepping out of line. Mano Barone had to have known what pursuing Fia would mean for him. Even if Papa did spare his life, there was no way that Nero Sartori would.
“And you just…what, Fia?” I asked, trying to wrap my mind around the possible fallout. “You justforgotthat you were betrothed to another man?”
“Nero Sartori doesn’t love me,” she shot back like the spoiled brat that shewas.
“Of course, he doesn’t,” Isnapped on a whisper, not wanting to raise my voice, lest my mother or father come running. “It’s an arranged marriage, and love is never part of the equation when it’s an arranged marriage.”
“Well, Mano loves me,” she repeated. “And love is worth taking a risk for.”
I wanted to call her out on her childish ideals, but since I’d never been in love before, I wasn’t exactly an expert on the subject. I’d never dated anyone long enough to fall in love with them, so maybe itreally was worth the risk; I honestly didn’t know.
However, I did know enough to know that love didn’t always win. People weren’t guaranteed their fairytale endings, and this was one of those times. While Fia might be safe from harm, Mano wasn’t, and he was going to die for this betrayal. Yeah, the hearts in Fia’s eyes might be having her seeing things differently, but this was betrayal onboththeir parts. Papa had trusted Mano with his daughter, and Fia had been trusted to keep her word.
“So, what’s the plan?”
“Mammi started talking about making an invitation list tomorrow, so…so, I’m going to announce our intentions tonight at dinner,” she informed me, her voice sounding a lot stronger than I wished it did.
“Fia, you need to think about this-”
“I’m pregnant,Kasen,” she bit out. “What’s there to think about? Do you think that Nero Sartori is willing to raise another man’s baby? Do you think that Mano is going to just stand back and let the woman that he loves marry someone else?” I opened my mouth to talk, but she quickly put her hand up to stop me. “Before you say anything, you should know that I refuse to have an abortion. I will not let them take my baby from me.”
Considering all the sins that were committed in this kind of lifestyle, I knew for a fact that my parents would never push for an abortion. Good Catholics or bad Catholics, we were still Catholics, and for whatever reason, abortion was a bigger sin than murder to these people.
“How about you…take some time to think-”
“You’re notlistening to me,” she snapped. “They’re already going to start planning the wedding, Kasen. I’m not going to…I’m not going to be a part of that when I’m in love with Mano.” She looked at me like I was beneath her. “How could you think that I’d do something like that to him? My heart would be broken if I had to sit around and listen to him plan his wedding to someone else.”
