Page 11 of The Devil's Fire

No shit. Her father was a complete maniac. Of course, she would do anything to get away from him, even if it meant being with another psycho. Anyone was better than her own father.

“Well, does that mean you trust them now since Cara is being married into their family?”

“No, I don’t trust them one bit. Especially Damiano. He’s the Devil.” He spat out, and I just gaped at him.

“Then what’s the point of her getting married to one of them?” I asked. “If he’s the so-called Devil, then why do you send Cara into their arms, huh?”

“Sometimes you have to sacrifice for the greater good.” He said calmly.

“What greater good? Don’t you even care that they could kill her?” I shot back.

My father just sighed and shook his head.

“Listen, there are things you don’t need to know. This conversation ends here.” He said, leaving no room for discussion.

I wanted to shout at him, to make him realize how ridiculous all of this sounds. Instead, I exhaled slowly as I knew it would fall on deaf ears.

My fatherapproached me, gently resting his hand on my cheek.

“I don’t want to involve you even more in this mess. Just leave it to me and trust me when I say it’s for the best for everyone.”

“You still have some explaining to do.” I said, and he cracked a slight smile as he looked over my face.

“You’ve really become a beautiful young lady. La mia bellissima figlia.” He spoke softly.

I couldn’t help the warmth that filled my heart at his words. I wrapped my arms around him and held him tightly without thinking about it.

No matter how much I wanted to be mad at him for not even trying to be around, the little girl in me who wanted her father didn't care right now. What mattered was that he wasn’t rejecting me as I had feared.

My father chuckled softly when he hugged me and kissed the top of my head. I decided that everything else could wait and just enjoy this small moment with him.

“Awh, look at that. A father-daughter reunion.” Michael said in an almost cute voice.

“Oh shoot, I forgot you were still here.” I laughed as I unwrapped my arms from my father, and Michael just pouted at me.

“I should find Cara and apologize for ruining her party.” I just hoped she wasn’t too mad at me. “Will you give me a ride back to the hotel? I’m assuming there isn’t much of a party going on right now.” I asked Michael.

“Sure thing!”

“You should spend the night here and not in a hotel.” My father chimed in.

“Thanks, but maybe some other time? I feel like my head is about to explode, and I need a little time to myself to process everything.” I admitted. He looked disappointed but was understanding.

I said my goodbyes to my father, and Michael and I made our way out of the office in search of Cara. But I couldn’t help that my mind wandered to a certain golden-brown eyed Devil, going by the name of Damiano, and his promise that we would have a chat soon.

A deadly man that somehow still had me curious about him.

“What a grand entrance you made tonight.” Michael playfully bumped his shoulder into mine.

“Tell me about it.” I chuckled. Michael walked me to my hotel room to ensure my safety, which I was grateful for.

I swiped my keycard and held the door for Michael to enter as well.

“Not bad, Thaia. You got yourself a luxury suite.” He whistled in awe as he looked around.

“Well, I thought I would take advantage of this opportunity and treat myself a bit.” I grinned. I had asked for the biggest suite in the hotel because I wanted it to feel like a real vacation.

The suite was split into two large rooms; a lounge area with soft couches that would swallow you and a huge flat-screen TV, and the other with a king-sized bed. It had to be a king-sized bed because I had this irrational fear that if my arm or leg hung off the bed, some kind of nasty creature would definitely grab me.

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