“It was work,” she insisted.
God, oh god. Please don’t let Nico have killed him.
“Is this what you call work?” Dante closed the distance between them, and held up his phone. She grimaced when she saw a picture of Nico and her kissing outside her apartment building in a way that could not even remotely be construed as businesslike.
“It started off as business,” she said quietly.
Red-faced and shaking with rage, Dante rounded on her. “You betrayed the family with the enemy. He wants Papà dead.”
“Technically, he wants you dead,” she murmured, quietly enough that only he could hear, annoyed that Dante would dare to give her a lecture. Yes, she’d crossed the line, but it was her father’s line, not his.
Dante lifted his hand as if to strike her, and anger flared through her. If he dared to touch her, she would unleash a hell like nothing he’d ever experienced before. She had suffered through years of abuse from her father; she was not going to accept it from him.
“No, Dante,” Papà said. “She’s too stupid to see that he’s using her to get to me. Hitting her isn’t going to teach her anything.” He motioned to Rev and the guard nearest the window. “Put Kat over the table.”
“What?” Mia made a move toward her sister, not realizing two guards had come up behind her. They grabbed her arms, holding her back.
“You are done with Nico Toscani,” Papà growled. “You won’t see him again. I promised the Toscanis a Cordano bride and I won’t have the family honor smeared by going back on my word. You will marry Tony, as we agreed. And then Nico will pay for what he has done.”
“I’m not marrying him.”
Papà laughed. “Oh, I think you will. You’re a strong girl, but you have a weak heart.”
Mia watched in horror as Rev and the guard dragged Kat to the large meeting table at the side of her father’s office. “Leave her alone.”
“Dante.” Papà’s gaze didn’t leave hers. “Remove your belt. Beat Kat until Mia changes her mind.”
“No!” Mia struggled against the guards holding her, realizing too late why her father had so many in the room. “She doesn’t have anything to do with this. This is between you and me.” She looked to her brother. “Don’t do this, Dante. You can say no.”
“No, I can’t.” With grim determination, he unbuckled his belt and tugged it off while the two guards pinned Kat face down on the table.
“Dante!” Kat’s soft voice rose to sob. “Please. No.”
“Hurt me.” Mia thrashed in the guards’ arms, kicked and twisted to get away. “Whatever you’re planning. Do it to me. Hurt me.” She struggled, tried to reach her knife, but the guards were too strong, their hold too firm.
“That’s the problem.” Papà leaned back in chair and sighed. “I can’t hurt you. No one can hurt you. The more I beat you, the stronger you got. Even when I broke your fucking arm, you packed your bag with one hand and walked away. So I thought to be done with you. Leave you to the wolves. And what do you do? You bring dishonor to the family. You spread your legs for a man who issued a vendetta that has cost us many lives. A man who wants to kill your father. And when I tried to end the war, arranged a good marriage, you refused to obey. You refused to do your duty to your family. Until I threatened Kat. That’s when I realized I was giving you the wrong kind of pain.”
He nodded his head, and Dante whipped his belt across Kat’s thighs, striking just below her floral cotton skirt; the crack of leather on flesh as sharp as the shot of a gun.
Kat’s scream echoed through the room, speared through Mia’s heart.
“No.” She stared at Dante aghast. “Dante, don’t do this.”
Dante’s face tightened, and he turned away, but not before she saw darkness in his eyes. If there had been any bit of goodness left in her brother, it was gone now, destroyed just as her father had destroyed so many.
Dante struck Kat again and again. Her screams filled the room, her calls for Mia, their mother, for mercy. Bile rose in Mia’s throat, anger and frustration and hatred twisting her insides, but she couldn’t say the words to bind her to Tony for life, because if Kat was now fair game, who would protect her if Mia was gone?
“Stop.” Her father lifted a hand and Dante dropped his belt, chest heaving, a sheen of sweat over his brow. “I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this but Mia obviously needs another form of persuasion. Rev, give Dante the poker from the fire.”
“No.” The word dropped from her lips in an agonized whisper and she watched in horror as Rev lifted the poker.
“You and Kat are nothing to me,” her father said. “Nothing but property that I will use to gain an alliance that will increase the power and wealth of this family and end this ridiculous vendetta that has gone on too long. Once you are in Tony’s hands, he will get rid of Nico for me, and you will not be distracted from your duties as his wife.”
Horror turned to rage, and she bit one of the guards holding her. He released her with a yell, and she managed to use the distraction to twist away from the second guard. But he was fast. Before she could move toward Kat, he grabbed her hair. Heedless of the pain, Mia scratched and clawed and kicked in a bid to get free. Statues toppled. Vases shattered. If she needed to break her arm to save Kat she would. If she lost a handful of hair, so be it. And if they killed her, at least she wouldn’t suffer the pain of watching Dante destroy the only good, beautiful thing left in their twisted, ugly family.
“Basta!” Her father yelled, spittle collecting at the corner of his mouth. “Che cazzo fai—what the fuck are you doing? Why won’t you stop fighting me, and accept you will never win?”
“Because this will destroy Dante as much as it will destroy Kat and me.” She felt another pair of arms around her, ropes twisting around her ankles and wrists. “I’m fighting to save us all.”
Dante’s lips twisted in a snarl. “You’re too late to save me. I was destroyed the night I was made.”
Rev blew on the poker and it glowed bright red.
“Mama!” Kat screamed, struggled on the desk. “Mia! Help!”
“Shut up, Kat. She won’t come.” Dante yanked up her pink T-shirt. “You should know that by now.”
“I’ll do it,” Mia yelled. “Whatever you want. I’ll become a Toscani. You’ll have your fucking alliance. You have my word. Just let Kat go.”
“Excellent.” Her father motioned to Rev. “Give Dante the poker.”
“What?” Mia sagged in the arms that held her. “No. I said I would do it.”
“I want to make sure you honor your promise,” her father said. “Because if you don’t show up for the wedding, this will be the least of her suffering.” He looked over at her brother. “Do it.”
“What’s happened to you, Dante?” Mia’s voice was hoarse, thick with defeat as he raised the poker. “What have you become?”
“I’m the monster Papà always wanted me to be.” He pressed the burning poker against Kat’s lower back, and Mia sank to her knees, drowning in her sister’s scream.
SIXTEEN
Mia smoothed down her bright pink Chanel dress as she walked up the stairs to the private dining room of Bella Via, a new ultra-modern Italian restaurant on West Flamingo Road. Her matching pink heels tapped softly on the hard wood. Her mother had given her the ridiculous outfit years ago when she still had hope Mia would accept her role as a Mafia princess, but Mia had never even taken it out of the dress bag until tonight. She wobbled slightly on the last stair and chipped one of her freshly painted nails as she grabbed for the railing.
Damn. She knew it wouldn’t last. She was just not cut out for couture. Well, she’d better get used to it. If everything went according to plan, she would do what she had vowed never to do—marry into the mob. But she would do it on her own terms.
“Ms. Cordano.” A waiter in a formal tux bowed when she crossed the landing. “Your party is waiting.”
“Grazie.” Mia forced a smile, prayed it wouldn’t crack the thick coa
ting of foundation Jules had applied for her before she left her apartment. How did her mother wear this stuff every day? With the high-necked shirt, the fitted skirt and the tight jacket, she felt trapped. If any of her father’s goons found her here, there would be no possible way she could run. She’d have to hang herself with the strand of fake pearls around her neck. She almost wanted to hang herself now. Although she was perfectly made up on the outside, inside she was screaming, desperate to be free.
“Okayokayokayokay.” She took a breath, tried to calm her thudding heart. This wasn’t such a big deal. People asked for help all the time. It didn’t mean she was weak, just that she had finally come up against a problem that she couldn’t solve on her own. And it wasn’t like she was asking for help from a stranger. She knew Nico. Liked him. Sure, it was a little unconventional to ask someone to marry you after one date, but hadn’t he said he liked that about her? And it wouldn’t be forever. Just until Tony found someone else to marry and she found a way to keep Kat safe. They wouldn’t even have to live together. They could get on with their separate lives and just make the occasional family appearance so their union looked legitimate. Although how Nico would stand in a room with her father and not want to pull the trigger, she didn’t know.
“Are you okay, miss?” The waiter looked back over his shoulder, and Mia nodded.
“Yes, thank you. Lead the way.”
She followed him down the hallway, paused as he opened the door. She had left a message for Nico through the casino the day after her father had so brutally branded Kat. When four days passed and she hadn’t heard from him or seen Big Joe or any of his crew parked outside her office or apartment, she began to worry. Had she just been a conquest to him? Had he lost interest after he got what he wanted from her? By the time Vito called to let her know Nico would meet her on Friday, she had almost convinced herself her plan had no hope. But it didn’t mean she wouldn’t try.
Taking a deep breath, she walked into the private dining room. She had picked Bella Via for its mix of warm contemporary and cool minimalism. Industrial padded chairs surrounded long, rustic wooden tables. Stark white walls contrasted with a polished wooden floor, seamlessly blending traditional and modern. She hoped Nico got the message.
She drank him in as she entered the room. His suit tonight was midnight black, deep and lustrous, and his tie was a mix of burgundy and blue. He had cut his hair since she’d seen him last, and she missed the wayward strands that hinted at the wildness that he hid inside.
I’ll always keep you safe.
God, she’d missed him. The urge to run into his arms and beg him to make the monsters go away was almost overwhelming.
He rose from the table to greet her, and she quickly crossed the room and held out her hand, hoping to set a businesslike tone for the meeting. “Thanks for coming. I was beginning to think you didn’t want to see me again.”
“Things have been busy.” He stared at her outstretched hand and frowned. “What the fuck?”
What the fuck, indeed. Her father had promised the Toscanis a Cordano bride. And since Tony wasn’t the only Toscani bachelor, she just had to make Nico an offer he couldn’t refuse.
“It’s nice to see you, too.”
“This isn’t you.” He gestured to her clothes, and his nose wrinkled. “You don’t dress like that.” He gestured to the bun on the top of her head. “You don’t wear your hair like that.” He waved his hand as if in distress. “You don’t look that. What the fuck is going on?” He seemed agitated tonight, angry, and not the Nico who had kissed her passionately in her doorway and whispered sweet things in her ear.
“I have a proposal for you.” She took her seat, and dug her newly manicured nails into her palm. If this was going to work, she needed to maintain the facade of a cool, composed businesswoman who had come to discuss a merger and acquisition, and not let him see the shaken, desperate woman who had no other way to save her sister except by doing the one thing she had vowed never to do. “Please, Nico. Hear me out.”
Saying his name seemed to break through his angry agitation, and he took his seat on the other side of the table. “What business proposal?”
Mia reached into her briefcase and pulled out a contract she had drawn up at her office earlier that morning. “A … merger. One that would serve both our interests, and that of our families as well.” Hand shaking, she handed him the contract. Nico placed it on the table in front of him without even reading the first line.
“I don’t like legalese. Talk me through it.”
Her stomach clenched. It would have been so much easier to just sit and watch him read, but to explain it all to his face … See the rejection instead of hear it.
She folded her hands on the table. “I know you and your cousin have both declared as acting boss of the family. Obviously, there can’t be two acting bosses. I’m offering you a way to come out on top. An alliance. A merger, of sorts.”
“Did Don Cordano send you?”
She cringed inwardly at the sound of her father’s name, the memory of Sunday night still fresh in her mind. “No. This is just between you and me.”
“There is no you and me. I heard about you and Tony. Congratulations.”
Ah. So that was why he hadn’t returned her calls. Taking the plunge, she said, “I was hoping it could be you instead.” Her cheeks heated under his scrutiny, and she had to force herself to meet his gaze.
He stared at her aghast. “You want to marry me?”
“It doesn’t have to be forever,” she blurted out. “Just until everything settles down. My father will be enraged, but once the deed is done, there’s nothing he can do. We’ll be married in the sight of God, and the New York bosses won’t approve a hit on you because the alliance will end the war. Our marriage will also fulfill the agreement between the families—a Toscani marrying a Cordano. You will have the power to secure your position as boss of your family. After a year or so, when the alliance is running smoothly, we can get the marriage annulled and go our separate ways. I have no desire to trap you, Nico. I just…”
She couldn’t bring herself to tell him about Saturday night. Lessons about keeping her mouth shut had been drilled into her head from her earliest years. Given Nico’s protective nature, she had a feeling he wouldn’t agree to an alliance with her father if he knew what he had done to Kat—or at all, if he still wanted to avenge his father. But more than that, she didn’t want him to agree because he felt sorry for her—that would just lead to resentment later on. She wanted him to agree because of the benefit he would get—the best outcome in any business arrangement.
Silence.
“I can be everything you need a mob wife to be.” She waved her hand over her sickly pink outfit, even as bile rose in her throat. “I learned from the best. I can dress the part, act the part, and be the part. I can be the perfect adornment, the perfect hostess, and the perfect wife. I can dye my hair back to its original color, put the punk stuff away.” She gave a wan smile. “I can learn how to cook and keep the house tidy. I’ll even listen to Sinatra…”
She trailed off when he didn’t respond. “Nico?”
A desperate ache formed in Mia’s chest as he stared at her, his face an expressionless mask. She’d considered all her options, and this was the best she could come up with. If he refused, she’d have to get Kat and go on the run. Although she was tech savvy, she knew there was nowhere to hide if the Mafia really wanted to find them. Kat was young. She didn’t deserve a life of fear, a life where she was constantly looking over her shoulder.
“I’m sorry, bella,” he said, finally. “But I have to decline.”
“Why?” She didn’t want to know, but she did.
“I’m engaged.”
“Ah.” Her breath left her in a rush. Of all the scenarios she had imagined, of all the responses she had prepared for, she hadn’t even considered that he might be with someone else. But why wouldn’t he be? He was rich, powerful, devastatingly handsome, charming, protective
and utterly compelling. She had been a fling for him, but nothing more. Her world fell out from under her and for a moment she couldn’t breathe.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t even consider … I thought when you … when we … that was wrong of me.” She pushed her chair away, and her napkin fell to the floor. “I feel so stupid. I mean, it’s not like we were in love or anything, or I thought it would be real, but I was desperate … my sister … I needed help, and … of course, you can’t—”
“Mia.” A pained expression crossed his face, the first hint he felt anything for her at all.
“No. It’s okay. You don’t have to say anything else. I knew it was a bad idea anyway. I don’t want to be married into the mob. My whole life has been about escaping my Mafia roots. I’m sure I would have made your life a living hell in the short time we were together, even if it wasn’t real. I would actually be a terrible mob wife. I can’t cook. I’m awkward in social situations. I always use the wrong fork at the table. I’m not easy to live with. I’m very messy, listen to loud music, dress weird, eat a lot of unhealthy food, and I never screw the top on the toothpaste. I’m glad you found someone who does want the life, though. I’m sure she’s perfectly lovely.” Her bag fell off the end of the chair as she slid off her seat. Hand shaking, she bent to pick it up and rose too quickly, snagging her stocking on the rough metal piping of the chair.
Her face flamed, and her pulse beat so hard all she could hear was the frantic pounding of her heart.
“Mia. Wait.” Nico stood, his chair making a high-pitched shriek as it scraped over the floor.
Suddenly the enormity of the situation hit her in a rush, and she began to unravel. For five days she had focused on this meeting, hope giving her the courage to carry on. But now there was nothing to hold her up, no one to catch her as she fell. She stepped back to get away, stumbling on the uncomfortable, unfamiliar heels. She grabbed the chair for balance and tipped it backward to the floor.
No. She was not going to humiliate herself further by falling on her face. She steadied herself, took a deep breath and then turned and walked out the door as the run in her nylons zipped up the back of her thigh.
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