Chapter 38

I lean my head closer to his ear. “I need some air,” I whisper to Alessandro. Dinner is finished, and I can’t wait another second. I either want him to take me back to my room, so I can work out how the hell to escape these people before tomorrow, or tell me it’s all some fucking joke.

He takes my hand, pulling me in close, making it look like we need an intimate moment as he escorts me past the guards and out into a rose garden. His hand runs down my body and he stares at me, and for a second, I see a lost little boy. His lips meet mine, and he kisses me like he used to. Like he needs my lips on his to breathe. His warmth makes me feel momentarily safe. What I wouldn’t give to go back in time and take off with him back there. What would our lives have been if my papa hadn’t walked in on us? He pulls back from me, holding my face in his hands.

Then his face hardens again.

“Why is Geovani here?” I ask the words that have been sitting at the tip of my tongue since we walked in .

Ricky and Maddox move past the guards quickly, joining us, and Alessandro drops his grip on me.

Alessandro gives me a quick once-over, and I anticipate him telling me to stay out of his affairs. “Enzo has been patiently waiting for years to find a way to bring down his brother-in-law. He thinks this is it—working with his children.”

I furrow my brow and look back and forth between the brothers, trying to understand. “His own son? I thought you didn’t trust the D’Amicos?”

“We don’t, but Enzo and Geovani have reached an agreement,” Maddox snips, his normal stoic mask dropping. And I can see by Ricky’s face, he agrees.

“Enzo’s suspicious activities had caught our attention, leading Marco to stay at the main house and keep a close watch on him. Even Marco was unaware of this new alliance until Geovani arrived tonight.”

“Would your mother know something? Or could she be recording us at the safe house?”

“Be careful, princess,” Alessandro warns me, glancing over his shoulder as though he’s worried someone will overhear me talking badly about her.

I get a flutter of annoyance in my chest. She might be his mother, but she’s an almighty bitch. He has to know that. I lean in closer so only he can hear me. “I know she’s your mother, but she’s so nasty to me. She made it clear she doesn’t think I’m good enough for you and told me to enjoy my last night of freedom. What do you think she meant by that?” I snap back at him, not appreciating him sticking up for her. “I have literal claw marks from her.” I show him the damage on my arm.

He tosses a hand through his hair, his eyes narrowing in on me and growing impossibly darker. “Tell me something, Harley. What happened between you and Geovani in the six months you were working out with him?” He watches me like a hawk, waiting for my answer. “Did you fuck him?”

My heart flutters in panic. That’s not a question I want to answer. When his hand lands on my shoulder, I flinch. He’s scaring the shit out of me with his crazy intensity. I take a step back from him, not liking what he’s implying. That I am exactly who his mother said I was. But back then, I had thought that what happened between me and Geovani was special. He was my friend, or so I thought. He helped me. And yeah, I fell under his charming spell. A girl could only resist for so long. But I had no clue who he was.

“So, all that shit earlier tonight was just a fucking show to make sure Geovani knew who I belong to. You don’t really give a shit about me.”

“You know I care about you.” His glare darkens to a scary level, forcing me to suck in a breath. “Answer me, Harley. Did. You. Fuck him?”

“Fuck you,” I spit, bitterness flying off my tongue, before turning hastily to get the hell out of here. I’m not wasting another second of my time before I take off toward the room I’m staying in. I should have known better than to trust him. Any of them. The other two just stand there, letting him talk to me like I’m some cheap whore like their mother thinks. The only person I can trust is myself. I don’t have to tell him shit. What happened between me and Geovani feels like a lifetime ago, and it all took place before I was engaged to Alessandro, so he has no right to ask me about it. By his furious expression, I can see he already knows the answer anyway and he’s jealous as hell.

What the fuck was I thinking tonight, actually doing what he said because I thought he was trying to look out for me. He’s a master manipulator. That’s all his kindness was. A ruse to get me to comply. Well, fuck him.

“It would kill you if she did. Wouldn’t it, cousin.” I hear Geovani’s voice, and I freeze to the spot. Was he listening to our entire conversation?

Slowly turning, I find Geovani and Alessandro squaring up, Marco following closely behind Geovani, along with a couple of the guards Geovani came in with.

“Does it fuck with your head? Knowing I had your sweet little fiancée begging me to show her what it’s like to be with a real man.”

Alessandro thumps him right across the jaw. Geovani doesn’t falter, just spits the blood from his busted lip on the grass in front of Alex. What the hell did he expect, baiting him like that. But something tells me there is more going on here between them.

Both guards pull their guns on Alex, backing Geovani up. He straightens his shoulders and glances my way. “Have you told her yet?” He raises a bushy brow in my direction.

“Told her what,” Alessandro snaps, his apprehensive gaze also turning to me.

Geovani walks around him like a predator assessing his prey. “Why you want to marry the poor girl so desperately, you had to move the wedding forward before she worked it out.”

Ricky pulls a gun on Geovani. “Keep your fucking mouth shut,” he snaps. I should have known there was more shit they were keeping from me. More shit that even Ricky would kill to hide from me.

My chest tightens. I’m not sure if I can handle anything more. What does Geovani know that I don’t?

Geovani chuckles darkly, completely unaffected by his threats. “Daddy Moretti wouldn’t think too kindly if you shot me. Not with how much money he’s going to make, accepting my deal. ”

Ricky’s breathing is crazy ragged, and I can see he’s on the edge of losing it, but he drops his gun, backing off, and I know how serious this is. Geovani has all the power here tonight. What the actual fuck.

Geovani moves toward me, and my heart kicks up a beat, panic taking off inside of me, telling me to run like the fucking wind. Nothing good can come from staying here with these thugs. But I’m frozen to the spot, transfixed by his hungry green eyes, eating up every bit of me in a way that makes my skin prickle. Why did I ever trust him?

“Thinking you were going to be marrying into the D’Amico family, Stephano had his entire business shifted into your name.” He raises a brow so I understand exactly what he’s saying to me. “Everything… A little insurance policy for my father. But Marco got wind of it, didn’t you?” He turns his attention to my brother, who’s come around beside me.

My bottom lip quivers as I glance his way. I don’t even recognize him anymore. My brother, the one I loved so dearly, would never let any of this happen to me. But here he is, standing by while my life is destroyed right in front of him.

“You made a deal of your own with the Morettis so they would protect you and your sister.” Geovani’s voice cuts through the cold night air again, forcing my attention back to him. Marco made a deal with the Morettis knowing what I was now worth?

All eyes come to me, but Alessandro is the only one I’m fixing my attention on. He and my brother set all this up. And he needs to start talking, because from where I’m standing, all I can see is they set me up so they could take my inheritance. If I was married to Alessandro, it would all be his as well. The Morettis would be the most powerful family around because he had the businesses that now belong to me. This is what Maddox was hinting at the other day taking me back past my papa’s house. He wanted me to ask who owns the land now because it’s me. I glance toward him, but his face gives nothing away. He couldn’t go against the family because it’s a death wish.

“Marco, please tell me this isn’t true.”

My brother drops his head, and I know all I need to. A dull ache pulses within me, igniting a fresh surge of anger. I hate them. All of them. How dare they do this to me. Over fucking money. Money, I didn't even know anything about because they all kept it from me. Even when they promised me they would come clean about it all.

“Princess.” Alessandros voice cuts through the air like a plea for me to understand the position he was in. I understand alright. Money is more important than I am.

I meet his dark gaze with my own piercing one. If looks could kill, he would be a burning pile of charred remains. He can’t talk his way out of this, manipulate me again. “No,” I tell him, backing away slowly. His eyes darken, and before I know what’s happening, he’s attacking Geovani, flying across the rose garden and knocking him to the pebble walkway below. Geovani throws a right hook. And I’ve seen all I need to.

Enzo runs from the venue. “Alessandro,” his voice booms in warning. Arms fly every which way, and I hear a gunshot go off. But I’m not sticking around to see who’s going to come out of this fight alive. I don’t fucking care. It’s pretty clear this life is every man for himself, and I’m not dying tonight because of whatever fucked-up deal my brother made with the Morettis or my papa made with the D’Amicos. I take off for the room I’m staying in with one thing on my mind: getting the fuck out of here while they’re all distracted.

Slamming the door and flicking the lock, I lean back into the door while I catch my breath and wipe the tears from my cheeks. Pain radiates through my chest. I was just a meal ticket all along. To my brother, to Alessandro, and whether Ricky and Maddox were in on it or not, they knew. They fucking knew and they didn’t tell me. I want to fall apart but I don’t have time. All I need is a set of their keys and I can take off while they’re preoccupied with killing each other.

But the air is sucked right from my lungs when I come face to face with the imposing dark figure looming before me.

He takes a step closer. “Princess Havardi, not enjoying your party?” He chuckles darkly, and my blood turns cold.