Chapter 29

No one came to find me. I sulked in the bathroom until the sun went down and the sky was black. I feel so helpless and out of control, so small in a world I don’t understand. What I wouldn’t give for some internet access so I can research the fuck out of this family and actually know what I’m up against. Parts of my training with Geovani come back to me. He taught me to fight, to shoot, how to protect myself. And he never once tried to control me or lock me away. He taught me how to look after myself. Why would he have done any of that if he wanted to hurt me, wanted to take me for his own? He wouldn’t. The only conclusion I can come up with is that these fuckers are lying to me and he’s not really the threat they all want me to believe. They’re all just trying to scare me so I’ll stay here with them and marry Alessandro. What would have happened if that guy was able to take me today? Would I be with Geovani right now? Free? Or would I be trapped right into another mess, all control stolen from me all over again ?

A light tap sounds at the door. “Lana, can we talk?” It’s my brother’s voice, but I don’t even want to talk to him. What’s the point when he’s clearly one of them now?

“Fuck off, Marco.”

He sighs heavily. “I’m not leaving until you talk to me.”

“Well, you’re going to be waiting a long time.” I smile smugly to myself. This is one place I can lock them all out, and I might just stay in here forever.

The jingle of keys on the other end of the door has the hairs rising on the back of my arms. For fuck’s sake. The handle turns and he appears in the space, closing the door again with him on the same side as me. He comes to sit beside me on the cold tile floor leaning against the vanity.

For a while we just sit in silence, him trapped in his thoughts, me in mine. “Are you sleeping with all of them?” he asks, eventually.

My gaze narrows in on him. That’s what he wants to talk about? If his buddies are all doing his sister. “You didn’t just ask me that,” I snap, frustration welling up inside of me.

“Lana, you have three men out there who all care about you. They are willing to go to war in your honor. They wouldn’t do that for just anyone. I know you mean something to them.”

“What war? It seems like the only conflict here is a matter of ownership between the Morettis and the D’Amicos. Alessandro is determined to gain control over the entire family, and he believes that by having me on his side, he can accomplish it. It’s fucked up, Marco, and you’re letting them get away with it.”

He closes his eyes and rubs his temple like I’m giving him a headache. “They’re going to war for you.” He raises his voice, losing his patience with me. “Our fucking papa sold you to the D’Amicos. He signed over all your fucking rights to Geovani. You think you know what you’re going on about because you met him and he was nice to you? But you have no idea what he’s capable of. That family is cruel and ruthless, and Geovani himself has been known to kill a man with just his bare fists. He does it for a fucking living, Sis. They’re sick sons of bitches, and they will destroy you. He will use your body up and discard you when he’s done, just like his last wife, and I wasn’t going to let you be his next victim.”

His last wife? I had no idea he had been married before. I blink back at him, unable to fathom we’re discussing the same person. “He helped me. Got me a job, a place to stay. He taught me how to protect myself and gave me freedom. Didn’t lock me up and demand I marry him.”

“It was all bullshit. I don’t know why he was pretending to help you. What the sick game was, but he was never going to.” He takes my hand in his. “Sis, you have to believe me. I know the D’Amicos better than most. They’re fucking psychos. The only reason our papa traded you off to them is because he was desperate. They were about to skin him alive. Literally. It was his life or yours. The selfish prick chose himself. That’s why I killed him.”

The rest of his words blur to nothing when he says the last part. He killed him. “It was you?” I gasp.

He nods, and I can see he’s not proud of it. “He took our mother from us. I wasn’t going to let him take you as well.”

I swallow the lump in my throat, not sure how to process what he’s telling me. Tears well in my eyes, and I try to sniff them away. My brother is so different from the man I thought he was, but if all this is true, then he did what he had to for me. To protect me.

Hugging my knees up to my chest, I bury my head and cry. I’m exhausted and overwhelmed, every new detail of this situation stripping away my soul. Marco sits silently beside me; he doesn’t try to comfort me like yesterday when I was upset, but he doesn’t leave me either.

“How am I supposed to trust any of you?” I whisper, finally glancing back at him. “You’ve taken all my rights away from me. You don’t know what it’s like to be a girl, Marco. Am I just supposed to live my life for someone else? All to serve Alessandro? What about what I want?”

“You will be alive. You will get to live a full life, and I won’t apologize for doing whatever I could to protect you. Alessandro is a good man, and I know he will do anything to take care of you. But you need to play your part. For once in your life, do what you’re told and fall in line.”

I stare back at him like he’s lost his fucking mind. Me. Fall in line. He knows me better.

“Please, Lana. Just do what they say.”

I offer a tight smile. “Okay.” I nod. I’ll play along. Be the girl they want me to be.

He pushes off the ground, seeing his job is done. Manipulate the sister and get her to do what you say. Check. He holds out his hand, and I take it, letting him pull me up to standing. “Dinner is ready. I’ll eat with you all, then I need to get back to the city.”

“I just need to grab a sweater, then I’ll be there,” I tell him, not quite ready to face the others yet. He makes his way toward the living space, and I head into Alessandro’s bedroom to find something warm to put on. Finding a dark hoodie, I slip it on over my T-shirt and pull the hood up protectively. I’m not sure how I can face the three of them again.

Eventually I make my way out to the living space and find them all sitting on the couch casually. Ricky looks like he hasn’t moved all afternoon, his eyes glazed and cheeks flushed from how much alcohol he’s consumed. There’s pizza boxes open on the coffee table, and they all sit around eating like this is a normal Tuesday.

“We had to start without you,” Alessandro mutters, raking his eyes over me.

I glare back at him, a deadness inside of me I’ve never felt before. Taking the first thing I see, a slice of Hawaiian, I find a seat on the rug, staring out the window at the forest, as far away from them all as I can. Biting into the cheesy slice, I’m not able to taste the rich tomato, juicy pineapple, and smoky ham flavor that I know should be there.

I’m numb.

I eat the entire slice in silence while the others chat amongst themselves. They think they have their way because I’m here doing what I was told. But they have nothing. I know all three of them have a thing for me, and what they don’t know is what happened today has seen all my protective walls shoot right up. I don’t trust them. And men I don’t trust don’t get my body.

When I have stared into the night’s darkness so long that I have seen the low fog drift over the shrubs, swallowing them into the night, I stand and make my way toward the bedrooms.

“Where are you going?” Alessandro’s dark voice fills the room with its normal domineering edge that he saves just for me.

“To bed,” I mutter, not even bothering to turn around. Does he even need to ask? He can see where I’m going with his fucking tracker, can’t he? When he doesn’t respond, I keep walking until I’m out of view, then I stop. And listen.

“After everything that happened today, it wouldn’t hurt to attempt to be kind to her,” Ricky murmurs with an icy tone to his brother.

“What’s the point of giving her false hope?” he huffs back.

“She hates us,” Maddox adds, and I hear the emotion in his voice. As strange as it is, I think he actually cares that I do, but that’s on him .

“She’ll get over it,” Alessandro replies, like he couldn’t even give a flying fuck that I’m upset.

I’m tired of hearing this garbage. I quietly enter his room and uncover the bed without changing my clothes. I position myself on the far side of the bed, as distant as I can be from his sleeping spot, and gently close my eyes, patting the knife in my pocket for reassurance. If he lays a motherfucking hand on me tonight, I will make sure he regrets it.