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“I love my wife,” Antonio growls.
“I know you do. Now. But you married her for political gain. And it was wrong you had to do that at all. Don’t you understand what I’m saying, Antonio? None of us should have ever been forced to do things we didn’t want to do. You were subjecting me to a life of misery with Salvatore. And you know that wasn’t fair.”
“Life isn’t fair, Cecilia,” Antonio says, shifting away from the wall. Theo tenses beside me, but I hold out my hand, silently letting Theo know Antonio won’t hurt me. “Did you even consider what running away with your bodyguard does to Mia?”
“What about Mia?”
“Her marriage prospects will be slim now. Because of you. Because you couldn’t just do your duty. No man will want to marry her now that your actions have stained her. You’ve doomed her to a life where she won’t have any say because she won’t have a husband.”
I scoff. “This isn’t the 1500s, Antonio. Mia will be fine without a husband.”
“Not in our culture. You know that.”
I deflate a little. Did I really ruin Mia’s chances of a marriage by running away with Theo? Too late now to regret it. “I love Mia. I love all our siblings. But I wasn’t going to marry Salvatore. I would have been raped every day. I would have been miserable every day. I would have killed myself.”
Both Antonio and Theo look at me sharply. I’ve never voiced it out loud, but it’s true. If I had to live my life with Salvatore, I would have ended it before I could waste another minute on this earth with that vile man.
“You don’t mean that,” Antonio says.
“I do mean that. That’s what you were doing to me, Antonio.You. No one else. You were sending me to an early grave. Theo saved me. So, if you think you can just come in here and boss me around, think again. I’m not your employee. You’re not my boss. You’re my brother. And you don’t own me. You tried so hard to not be like Franco, and you fell into his trap. Power is a weakness many men have. It’s one you share.”
Antonio’s eye twitches while the rest of him remains still. “I am not Franco.”
“Keep telling yourself that.”
He lets out a rough breath and turns away from me. “You’ve forced my hand, Cecilia. You’ve made your choices. Your decisions. Fine. I can’t change that. You didn’t want to be with Salvatore. Well, he’s dead now. You’re free of him. I won’t force you to marry anyone else because no one else will have you.”
“Good.” I cross my arms. “Because Theo and I are already married.”
Antonio spins around so fast he’s almost a blur. “You’re what?” he asks in a low voice.
“We’re married,” I repeat, speaking in a tone like Antonio is dumb. Is it petty of me? Sure. But then again, Antonio is still my brother. Some habits are hard to break.
“What the fuck have you done?” Antonio shakes his head. “If you'd just remained single, fine. I could work with that. But marrying your bodyguard … You’re just flouncing my rules altogether. When this gets out, it’ll make me look like a boss who can’t even control his own damn sister.”
“So, don’t control me,” I say. “Let Theo and me go. We’ll run away. We’ll be the disgraces. So, what? All I want is to be happy. All I want is to be with Theo. If we’re gone, then I won’t be around to hurt Mia’s chances. People will forget about me. Mia can still get married in the future. She’s not out of luck. Just let us go.”
Antonio stares at me with a hard expression for some time before speaking. “I can’t.”
I feel all the fight leave me. “Why not?”
“Weren’t you listening, Cecilia? You married Theo. You’ve made me look like a fool to my men.”
“But they don’t know?—”
“But they will find out!” he cuts me off. “If you run off with him, there’s no hiding the truth. You two are married. And I can’t look like a fool. So, there’s only one option to make sure my men respect me and know I’m not a pushover.”
“What?” I snap.
It’s Theo who speaks. “Your brother wants me dead.”
All the life leaves my body for a moment before reality snaps back into place. “No,” I whisper. “No.” I grab Antonio’s arm. “You can’t. You can’t kill Theo.”
“But I have to,” Antonio says in a tired voice. He pulls my hand away. “Theo cannot continue to live.”
“You can’t!” I cry. Before I know it, I’m hitting Antonio. He stands there and lets me do it. “You can’t!”
Theo grabs my arms and pulls me away. “Cecilia,” he says to me. “Stop.”
