Chapter 17

Alessandro sits at the head of the table, waiting impatiently for me. And by the way he’s glaring at us, I know Maddox has filled him in on the rest of our conversation. He looks like he’s about to blow a gasket. Either that or he knows what Ricky and I got up to last night. That thought bothers me less. Part of me wants him to find out and cause a scene, just so I can prove he doesn’t own me like he thinks. But that feels like the least of my problems now.

He pulls out the chair beside him, and I sit. He’s on the edge of snapping, and I know now’s not the time to push him.

Ricky sits beside me.

“Start talking,” Alessandro demands.

“What do you want to know? Since you worked out where my car was and had my wallet and phone all this time, I’m sure you know just about everything you need to about me.” His glare intensifies, the vein in his neck looking like it’s about to pop. So, I go on. “Did you want to hear about how you three left me with fucking nothing? How I was so petrified you would come back and do to me what you did to the rest of my family that I had to start from fucking scratch with not a cent to my name. That instead of going back to take my classes in Paris with my friends like I should’ve, I had to stay here and work at a dingy diner because I couldn’t get a legitimate job when I was going under a fake name so you fuckers wouldn’t hunt me down. Is that what you want to hear?”

His hand lands on my arm, and I look up at him, waiting for him to answer me. “How do you know Geovani?” He pushes the words out through clenched teeth.

I sigh, not wanting to get into this shit again but knowing he’s not going to let it go. “He was there that night. When I ran… He was there, and he helped me.”

“How?”

“He told me he was an undercover cop investigating underworld criminals targeting the wealthy side of Ravens Hollow. He said this wasn’t a targeted attack, but one of many.”

“And you just believed him,” he snaps, his angry voice bellowing through the room. I don’t see how any of this is my fault, but he’s certainly acting like I’m the one who’s done the wrong thing here.

Tears prickle at my eyes, but I bite the inside of my cheek to stop them. I won’t cry in front of this asshole.

Ricky takes my hand under the table and laces his fingers with mine in a silent show of support. He doesn’t seem worried about Alessandro seeing him, and that seems odd to me. “We’re trying to understand how Geovani could manipulate you and hide you so well.” Ricky’s voice is calm and more understanding. “He must have known we would be there. Someone tipped him off,” he says to Alessandro more than me.

Tipped them off about what? They keep skating around the truth but not telling me anything. “Maybe because no one cared to fill me in on what the fuck I was coming home from college to. It’s pretty clear my papa wasn’t some luxury car salesperson.” My attention returns to Alessandro.

“Your papa worked for the Moretti family. He owned Havardi Motors, but it was a front for the less legitimate business he was conducting for Enzo.”

Finally, something that makes sense. “And your family is… what? Gazillionaire casino owners? What exactly do you all do for work? I haven’t seen any of you do anything, except Ricky operating on me after your goon shot me. So, what exactly does working for your family mean?”

His glare intensifies to threatening. “I think you’re smart enough to work that one out, princess.”

“Why do you call me that?” I seethe, my temper getting the better of me. I’m so sick of this shit.

“Because you’re the Havardi princess,” Ricky explains, as if that should mean something to me.

I look at him blankly. The Havardi princess?

“Your family name is imp—”

Alessandro cuts him off. “Our families have been working together since well before either you or I were born. Their ties go back to our grandfathers’ generation, rooted in an alliance forged by shared economic interests and a commitment to mutual protection and expansion of the family names. Did you ever wonder how your papa was so wealthy?”

“My papa didn’t like to talk business with me because I was a girl. He didn’t want to worry me.” And Marco. I’m confused why he wouldn’t have enlightened me about any of this. If my family was really involved so heavily with Alessandro’s, why is this the first I’m hearing about it? But maybe he felt the same, I’m just a girl. The idea saddens me because I thought my brother was different. “I spent most of my life at boarding school,” I snap back, feeling silly for having to defend myself, but it’s not on me. I had no idea who my papa really was. I glare at him. “Is that why you killed him?”

When our eyes meet, his dark gaze captures mine. “We didn’t kill your papa.”

“What about my brother?” I demand.

His eyes soften a little. “I didn’t kill your brother, princess.” The way he says it with so much sincerity, I want to believe him.

But how can I? It’s the only thing that adds up. I saw Maddox with my own eyes, and I know it was Ricky who had me hostage. Fucking mind games. They won’t admit to anything. “Did my brother work for you as well?”

He nods.

Maddox joins us, placing plates filled with bacon, scrambled eggs, and toast in front of us. He hands me a loaded-up plate, and I look over it like I might be sick again.

“You need to eat,” he demands firmly.

I take it and place it on the table, moving my food around with a fork before taking a bite. It’s delicious, like I knew it would be, but how can I eat with so many questions bombarding my head? I need answers, not food that I might just throw right back up with the next revelation to leave one of their mouths.

“What do you want with me?”

Alessandro raises his head, placing his knife and fork back on the table. “You’re going to be my wife.”

“Why?” I throw back at him. He looks unimpressed with my question, but I think it’s a fair one. If I’m being expected to marry into some mafia family, I want to know why me? He could have anyone, and he should pick some girl who wants this life .

“Because I said so.”

I blink back at him. He has to know that’s not a fucking reason. “And Ian… Geovani, what did he want with me? Why was he there that night? If he really is who Maddox said, why did he help me?”

“He wasn’t helping you. He was making sure we couldn’t protect you.”

“From whom? From what I can tell, the only motherfuckers I need protection from is you three.”

Ricky’s eyebrows furrow, his eyes narrowing in disbelief as he clenches his fists. A wave of tension hangs in the air, accompanied by a deafening silence. The room feels heavy with the stench of wounded pride. I roll my eyes. He has no reason to be insulted, when it’s the truth.

“We made a promise to your brother to protect you, and we all intend to keep it.” Maddox’s voice is low, but I hear the promise in it, he’s deadly serious.

Fury surges through me. They made some promise to my brother, what, before they killed him? I’ve heard about enough of this trash.

Poor pathetic little Harley. Had no idea the life she was born into.

I don’t want their pity.

I want to be seen as an equal that can handle herself. Who is capable of managing all this shit without being lied to or manipulated. Fuck them. Fuck all of them. I shove my chair back and storm from the room, my hair flying out behind me.

No one attempts to follow me. Good. I need to be alone. There is nothing any of them can say or do to make this situation better now. There is a swirling storm of anger brewing inside of me. At Alessandro for keeping this all from me, at my papa and brother for lying to me my whole life. The way they’re all looking at me, with pity in their eyes, makes it impossible for me to stay here any longer .

As I make it to the patio, I hear chairs scraping on the tile floor.

“Let her go.” Alessandro’s thunderous voice reverberates through the walls, shaking the very foundation of the house. He’s angry, but he has no right to be. It’s my life that is a lie, not his.

I plonk myself down on the lounger that looks over the pool, a heaviness I’ve never felt before settling over my body. The morning summer sun breathes some life back into my body as I try to process all the new information. I followed Ricky and Maddox with one thing on my mind: revenge for what they did to my family. But from what I have found out in the last day, maybe I was wrong about it all. I’m in this messed-up situation because of my flesh and blood. Our papa signed us up for a life of crime. I’m not sure what to do now or where to go. All I know is I can’t trust anyone around here.

They all have their agenda. Now I need my own.