Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 78811 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78811 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Amadeo swallows the last of his whiskey and stands. “You are very easy to read, do you know that?”
I get to my feet and throw my empty glass at him. He ducks just in time, and it crashes against the wall, crystal shards raining down to the parquet floor.
“Temper,” Bastian says as Amadeo looks at the wall. It all pisses me off. The fact that they can be so casual.
I fist my hands, and it takes all I have not to attack them. It would be stupid. There are two of them, and one of me, and I couldn’t even take on the one, much less both at once. I know physically I’ll lose like I did last time. Like I would every time.
“Stop playing fucking games with me!”
“This isn’t a game, little Dandelion. It never was,” Bastian says, tone dead serious.
“Tell me what you want and what my sister has to do with it.”
“Tomorrow, we will have dinner together,” Amadeo announces.
I blink, taken aback.
“You like Italian?” He pauses as if he’s expecting an answer.
“You’ll get to meet our uncle,” Bastian adds, then turns to me. “Is his cunt wife going to be there?”
“What is this about?” I ask.
“We will arrive arm in arm, a couple in love for all the world to see, including your brother,” Amadeo says as Bastian drinks his whiskey.
My mouth falls open.
“We’ll announce our engagement then,” Amadeo continues.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I ask, my throat dry because I’m sure I didn’t hear correctly.
“We’re going to get married, Vittoria.”
“Married?”
I nod.
“I’m not marrying you, Amadeo.”
“You are.”
“I’m… Why?”
“Because I said so.”
“No. Why would you want that? You hate me.”
“It’s not a love match I seek, Dandelion.”
“I don’t understand. Why would you want this?”
“You sound like a broken record.”
“Then answer my question.”
“That’s my business.”
“But—”
“We can make you, of course, but my brother is willing to give you something in exchange for your cooperation,” Bastian kindly adds, and I note that he specifies it’s Amadeo who is making a trade. Not him. “That’s the point of our meeting. It’s why you’re here now and not in your prison as you mentioned earlier. My brother is too kind.”
My hands unclench, my muscles relax. “You need me,” I say, finally understanding. Neither of them answers. They just watch me, barely even blinking. “And you’ll use my sister to make me give you what you want. That’s what this is.”
Amadeo nods, not bothered by how wrong this is.
“She’s five!”
“You were five, weren’t you?” Bastian asks, drawing my attention. He sounds different. An edge to his tone. “Carrying in all those dandelions. When you’re born into this life, age doesn’t really matter.”
“It has to.” I shake my head. “Why? Why give me anything at all? Like you said, you can make me.”
“Because my brother is a nice guy,” Bastian says.
I look between them, trying to figure out if my gut is right. They’re not quite in agreement on this. If there’s a rift between them, I can exploit it. Divide and conquer, right?
“How would you get her out of the penthouse anyway?” I ask, changing tack. “I’m sure Lucien has it locked down tight.”
“She has a standing appointment with a shrink on Thursday afternoons, doesn’t she?”
I don’t like how he says shrink. “She was trapped in the car with our dead mother for six hours. Anyone would need a shrink, which he’s not. He’s—”
“You’re missing my point.”
My brain works furiously. Why would he want this? What does he stand to gain? I study him, and the thing is, it’s all I have because I’m his prisoner. And he can make me do anything he wants. This is something at least. It’s the only thing. And if he can get Emma out, I’ll do it. I have to.
“How do you know about the appointments?” I ask, realizing what he said.
“Do you think we stumbled upon you at the church by sheer luck?”
No, I’m sure they didn’t. My father’s funeral in Italy was a secret, but word got out, as it does. It’s how they found out. And if I recall the book upstairs, this plot of his, whatever their plan, it’s fifteen years in the making.
Being my father’s daughter, there was always some element of danger, someone unhappy with him and willing to use any weakness to get to him, and for the men he dealt with, nothing was off-limits. Not even children. This, though, it feels different. It’s not about some slight or money. This is much more than that. Amadeo and Bastian have been plotting their vengeance, seeding and feeding their hate, for fifteen years. That’s more than half of my life. And I understand now just how dangerous they are. And how far they’re willing to go.
“I’m not fucking either of you,” I negotiate, my mind wandering to what happened just moments ago. I still have to unpack my reaction to him. To them. But now isn’t the time. I need to get very clear. Make an agreement now. Because they will force me to go through with this insane plan if I don’t acquiesce anyway. And if he’s offering a lifeline to Emma, I can’t let that slip through my fingers.