“You okay?” I ask gently.
“Fine. Just fine.” He lowers his gaze to mine. “You know I’m dying.”
The words hit me like a stab wound in the heart. Sometimes I wish Dad weren’t so damn brusque about it.
Stage four lung cancer. He was diagnosed six months ago, and he’s been rapidly deteriorating ever since.
“You’re still going through with treatment, right? Maybe that?—”
He cuts me off. “No, little Fio, it won’t. The doctors made it clear a few days ago. I’m dying, darling. I have months left, if I keep up the therapies, but that’s only to give me more time.”
My hands turn into fists. Tears clog my throat. “Papa,” I say, croaking the word. I knew this was a possibility. We all knew when he went in for his first scan and it came back with the worst possible news. But hearing him say it so plainly?—
It breaks my heart.
“Don’t give me your pity yet, little Fio. I told you that to soften you up for what I’m about to ask. You must understand, I don’t have long left to put the family back together. You’re aware of our debts. You know the state of our business. Two more cars were stolen from our garages last week, and we’refalling even further behind. That’s why I’ve been negotiating with Don Marino to bring our organization underneath their family’s protection.” I think of Luca Marino’s mouth on mine, his growls of bliss in my ears, his cock buried between my legs as I unraveled on him. I have to pinch my thigh to get rid of the memory.
Papa keeps talking. “They’ll infuse new life into our business. They’ll keep us financially afloat until we can straighten everything out. Or until your brother can.” He glances at Raf and back to me. “But with an alliance like this, with the stakes as high as they are, Don Marino and I both want more than just a signature and a handshake.”
Fear rattles through me. I lean toward him, my heart racing. “What are you asking me, Papa?”
“You are going to marry an important member of the Marino Famiglia. I believe you met him already, as a matter of fact. His name is Luca Marino. Don Marino’s blood cousin and an important Capo. Now, I know this is a shock?—”
I can barely hear him. The blood’s rushing into my ears. Marriage. Luca. Me and him. Getting married. This has to be some kind of joke. Papa’s got to be messing with me. But he keeps droning on about doing my duty to the family, and I can’t handle this.
There’s no way I’m going to marry that man.
I shove my chair back and throw myself to my feet. “Absolutely not,” I say, practically vomiting the words onto my father’s desk. He stares back, expression pained. “I won’t do it. You won’t make me.”
“Fiorella, please. Think carefully. We’ve asked little of you?—”
“I already gave enough,” I hiss at him, eyes wild and wide, thinking back to that terrible day all those years ago. “I keep myself out of family business. You know that. I don’t want any of this.”
“I know, darling.” Papa wilts slightly. The old Don Serrano of my youth was all thunder and power, but the cancer’s taking so much from him these days. He looks like he’s barely keeping himself together. “But you have to understand that you do not have a choice.”
I take a step back from the desk. “You can’t force me. If you do, I’ll run away. You know I will. I’ll get in one of my cars and I’ll drive far and fast somewhere you can’t catch me. If you try to force me to marry him, you’ll never see me again.”
Papa nods gravely. “I believe you. But you’ll still do it.”
“I won’t.” My heart pounds at the idea of becoming that man’s bride. It was bad enough having sex with him on his desk in a moment of vulnerability. But to actually wear his ring? To become his wife? It’s absurd. It’s obscene.
I never wanted this life. I always planned on leaving one day after Elisa was safe and established. But not like this.
“You will.” Papa stands. His face hardens. “And if you don’t, I’ll make your little sister do it. How will you live with yourself then?”
My mouth drops open. I can barely think. I look at Raf, and he only stares back, looking somewhat bored.
“How can you say that?” I whisper, barely managing the words. “You’re going to blackmail me?”
“I’m going to give you a choice. It’s either you or Elisa, and I know how you feel about your little sister. Elisa would make a much better wife than you, and we both know she’d say yes without a fight. But I’m giving you this chance because I love you, Fio.”
“Fuck you,” I whisper, staring at my father. At my monster. “You don’t love me. I’m just a tool to you. Always have been.”
He flinches. “Don’t say that.”
“If you go near Elisa, I’ll kill you. Do you hear me? If the cancer doesn’t do it, I fucking will.”
“Good. That’s the daughter I know and love.” He smiles, his eyes watery and sad. “I’ll tell Don Marino you accept.”
