Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 76222 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76222 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
“Claudia.” I kept my tone soft. “Look at me.”
It was a second before she looked up at me, but when she did, I sure as fuck felt her wrath like bullets shooting from her blue eyes.
“I’m not Father. And I never fucking will be.” I let those words hang in the air between us for a moment. “I would never arrange for you to marry a bastard, someone who’d lay hands on you, or would treat you like shit. I’d put a bullet in his head before I allowed that to happen.”
She said nothing, but her throat worked as she swallowed.
“You’ll get a final say on who it is. If you don’t like him, he’s fucking out. But you know this has to be done. It’s the world we live in, Claudia. It’ll offer you protection too. Things are becoming increasingly volatile between the Irish and the Triad. If something were to happen to me…” I cut those words off as I clenched my teeth again and glanced away. “We know the men in our world have short lifespans.”
I stared at her again. I had my wall erected around me—like I always did—but I could see Claudia was trying to work through it. My body was beaten and tired, but all I did was sit there, the weight of the world suffocating me.
Fuck, I knew how I looked right now. My hair was a wreck after running my fingers through it constantly. I’d just gotten into a brawl hours before and hadn’t bothered changing out of my white button-down shirt that was wrinkled as fuck and stained with blood from the other man.
I noticed Claudia looking at my hands as I drummed my fingers on the desktop. I stared down at the old scabs littering my knuckles and the fresh wounds from tonight.
And when she exhaled and that rage slowly dissipated, I knew she’d listen.
“I have some men who I’ve handpicked. Although I don’t know them personally, they are the best choices of available bachelors.”
She grimaced.
I chuckled softly, knowing exactly what she was thinking. “And no, they’re not decrepit. Older than you, yes, but reasonably aged.”
“I already told you I don’t want to do this.”
I didn’t respond, just kept thrumming my fingers, and stared at her.
“I could just leave, Gio. I could take my inheritance and go.”
“You know you don’t have access to that until you’re twenty-one.”
She clenched her teeth but was smart enough to keep her mouth shut. I was so not in the fucking mood right now.
But then she caved to her desire to argue. “Father set it up. He’s been dead for five years. You’re in charge now. You can release those funds to me. Let me leave. I can change my name and move to a new city.”
I stared at her, feeling a prickling at the back of my neck. There was more going on than what was on the surface.
But I didn't pick that apart right now and focused on the task at hand.
“Claudia, even if I had the power to release your funds—which I don’t because they’re locked in legally—where would you go? You would have to change every aspect of the life you once knew. You would have to pretend to be someone else for the rest of your life.”
I could see on her face that she was mulling over my words.
“You’d never be able to see us again. Never be able to talk to me or Amara. You could never come home.” I leaned forward and rested my elbows on the desk, a fierce expression on my face because I wanted to drill this home.
I needed her to understand my words.
“Let that sink in. Picture it. You would be utterly alone with no protection.”
For a split second, my wall came down as my own words echoed in my head. I felt a flash of fear at the thought of her going underground—or, more accurately, aboveground—and never seeing or hearing from her again.
The tears I knew she tried so hard to keep from falling finally spilled over. Claudia sniffed and wiped them away quickly, then glanced out the window.
“I just want you to be safe,” I murmured. “And although it scares the fuck out of me, you leaving and me never seeing you again….” I shook my head. “I want you happy, sorellina. So… I’ll take whatever repercussions that come about from your decisions because I love you.”
She didn’t speak for long moments, just stared out the window of my office. I gave her as much time as she needed.
My father had pawned Amara off on Nikolai Petrov, and although I’d done my due diligence and found out everything I could on the psychotic Russian before the nuptials, the truth was, Amara could have been tied to a real piece of shit.
But strangely enough, Nikolai wasn’t like that with my sister. I watched the way he was with her and was pleased to find he treated her like his queen. He loved her, and she him, and in this world, that's all anyone could ask for.