Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 77359 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77359 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
“But it doesn’t concern you.”
For a long moment, he stared me down. He didn’t often challenge me, but every once in a while, it happened. For the most part though, he stayed out of my business, and I stayed out of his.
Usually that worked for us.
Stefano’s gaze switched to Carmine, and a look passed between them. Then Carmine nodded.
That pissed me off more. Was he entreating Carmine to handle me? Was Carmine assuring him he would?
Maybe they both needed a lesson in who was in charge.
I brushed past Allegra, who was frozen on the spot, as I retrieved the other whiskey.
Stefano crossed over to her and squeezed her hand. “I’ll be upstairs.”
She gave a small nod, her head tilted down.
I downed my whiskey, feeling it attack my throat. Unlike my brother, I hadn’t been drinking on the job. I wanted another, but I didn’t take it.
Finally, Allegra looked up. “I—”
“Wait for me upstairs in my room.”
She visibly gulped. Normally, I didn’t like the way she flinched when I spoke. But tonight, she had good reason to be scared.
It looked like it took effort to make her feet move, but she finally took a few steps forward.
But not toward the bedroom.
“Go upstairs.”
“I will.” Her voice was small, but clear as she walked over to Carmine. “But I have to say something first.”
My anger grew. “It’s not going to do any good to throw yourself on his mercy. It’s me you need to be worried about.”
“I know.” She stopped in front of my brother. “I’m sorry. Sorry for ruining a lovely afternoon. I ... I wish we’d been able to have our dinner.”
What a load of crap. “Then you shouldn’t have dashed out the back door the first chance you got.”
“I didn’t.” It was irritating that she said it to him, not me. “It was an accident.”
Carmine stared down at her for a long moment, and the difference in their sizes struck me as absurd. They looked like two different species.
Finally, Carmine nodded. “Thank you for saying that.”
Fuck. He didn’t actually believe her, did he?
I glared at Allegra as she walked past me, but she didn’t look up. There was something different about her, but I couldn’t put my finger on what.
Or maybe I was the one thinking differently. Because I was still pissed. She could’ve gotten in all kinds of trouble tonight—both from that asshole with his roofie and from others who might have done worse.
But ... she’d done the right thing in apologizing to Carmine. It couldn’t have been easy, either.
I dismissed that thought though, because she’d fucked up.
Carmine had, too.
I waited until her footsteps on the stairs receded before I addressed him.
“You believe her.”
“Yes,” he said simply.
It blew my fucking mind. This was a man who had training in how to torture the truth out of very reluctant people. Yet a mere girl says she didn’t do it on purpose, and he believes her.
Probably thinking with his dick, though he usually was pretty rational.
Allegra’s presence seemed to have fucked up both my brothers’ brains.
Couldn’t they see how stupid she’d been? Every year, thousands of women were picked up off the street. They were forced into the most inhumane situations imaginable. And Allegra had run around downtown alone, as if offering herself up on a plate. She’d had a choice. Plenty of women didn’t.
“This ends now.” I poured myself another whiskey, not offering him one.
“What ends?” Carmine asked, politely. Which meant he was pissed, too.
“This crap. The wedding dress shopping. Taking her to a fucking restaurant. She’s my wife, not a visiting dignitary to escort around town.”
“Fine. I’m sure one of her sundresses will work for the wedding.”
That almost wasn’t worth answering. “You know I can get any designer in town to come here—which is what I wanted to do in the first place.”
“So you’re just going to keep her locked away, like her father did?”
“It’s not my fault he did that.”
“But you could offer her something different.”
“Why?” I slammed my glass down on an end table. “She knows her role.”
“Right. Be your wife. Pop out a few kids. Who cares if she’s miserable?”
“She doesn’t have to be. She’s choosing to be.”
Carmine scoffed. “Like she gets to make her own choices.”
“Mom never did.”
“And she was fucking miserable most of the time,” Carmine snapped. “Is that what you want for Leila? Because I don’t.”
His use of that silly name pissed me off. “It’s Allegra. And it doesn’t matter what you want, she’s going to be my wife.”
“Then act like it.”
“I will. Starting now, you don’t take her anywhere unless I order you to. And talk to Stefano. He’s probably filling her head with nonsense during the day.”
“Fine.” Carmine’s voice was curt.
“And starting tonight, she’s sleeping in my bed.”
“She— What?”
The look on his face was annoying as fuck. She was my fiancée; what did he expect? It wasn’t like we both hadn’t slept with dozens of women. That was what men and women did.