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I pressed a kiss to the side of his head as I chuckled. “If I do it right, then, yes.”
He pretended to glare at me before kissing my shoulder. “Then you did it really, really right.”
I knew it was a joke, but something inside me puffed up at the praise. My omega was pleased. I’d satisfied him. At least, that was how I was choosing to interpret his soreness.
“Are you sure this is okay? Maybe you should meet with him without me.” Joey trembled in my arms as we walked up the steps to the front door.
“We’re in this together, sweetheart. You’re my husband now, and my father either accepts that or he doesn’t. I don’t fucking care either way.”
At some point, my priorities had shifted. Instead of caring only about taking over as head of the family, I now cared more about keeping Joey happy and safe. If that meant Orsino took over, that was fine with me. Not that my father would ever do that. And Orsino wouldn’t take the job anyway.
Father had insisted I be married, and now I was. I wouldn’t be entertaining any complaints from him.
The fact that my choice of husband was an enemy of ours was a perk.
The other perk was that I’d saved Joey from life with his abusive, ridiculous family. If it just so happened that I took on a side project of dismantling his family’s businesses from here on out, so be it.
We walked right into the house. Normally when I arrived, I parked in the garage that held the majority of our vehicles, and I came in through the kitchen in the back. But today, we went in through the front so the household staff had a few moments to let my father know we had arrived.
Orsino and Louie had told my father to expect a meeting with me, but they hadn’t told him why.
Joey clung to me as we made our way through the grand hall to my father’s study. I knocked on the large oak door. It hadseemed larger than life when I was a child; behind the door was the unknown. But looking at it now, as an adult on the cusp of being head of the family, it was just a door. Nothing special about it.
I vowed that my own children wouldn’t fear this door like I had. I would welcome them into my space–as long as the timing was appropriate. There was some business the children would never be present for.
Joey’s grip tightened on my arm when my father’s voice echoed from the other side. “Come in.”
I pushed open the door and stepped into my father’s office. The room was large, with a table for larger meetings on the far side. It was the desk that commanded the most attention, though. My father sat behind the oak monstrosity that was carved with intricate designs–with a secret compartment or two built into it. The front had our family’s crest carved in the center.
It was hard to miss, for sure.
“Andro.” My father’s gaze was on us for only an instant. He gave away nothing. “I suspect you have an explanation for why that Santoro brat is here.”
I stood up straighter. “Now, Father, that is no way to talk about your newest son. I’d like you to meet my husband, Joseph.”
My father stood fast, his desk chair flying backward and smacking loudly against the bookshelf behind him. “What?” His shout echoed through the room.
Joey winced and moved behind me, his fear palpable.
“Calm yourself, old man. I won’t have you scaring him.”
“He should be scared! You dare to disrespect this family by marrying an enemy? Santoros are scum on the bottom of our shoes. Not fit to be a part of our legacy.”
Joey cowered behind me, his hot breath on my back. I raised my voice to match my father’s. “That may be true of his father and brothers, but Joey is different. He is mine now, and that’s the end of the discussion.”
“You know nothing of where his loyalties lie. He could be spying on us. Reporting back to his father. He will betray you and–”
Joey pushed me to the side and stepped forward. “I would never,” he said without a hint of fear in his words.
My father stopped suddenly, too stunned to speak.
“My loyalty is to Andro and the Ferrini family now. He saved me from… the situation I was in.” I squeezed his hand. He didn’t need to tell my father just how awful it had been with his family. That wasn’t anybody's business.
Father sat back down. His eyes narrowed as he took in the sight of my husband. “You say your loyalty lies with us?”
“With Andro.”
Father nodded. “With Andro. How can we trust you?”
