Page 57 of Useless Love

My old man flinches and stands. “I said capture this asshole!”

The men don’t budge and I watch color drain from my old man’s face.

“Since you won’t tell me the truth, I’ll just keep you here so you stay out of trouble.” I tip my chin at the guards and that’s all it takes for them to move forward and surround the old man.

“Sal Gaudino is not to leave this house until I give permission,” I command them. “His calls and visitors are now restricted. My old man is unwell mentally due to the crippling loss of his children. A mentally unwell man cannot lead our organization. I now officially take control as the last remaining Gaudino male. A doctor will arrive later to tend to him and give an official diagnosis.”

“You fucking—” he starts to scream before one of my guards grabs him and forces him to sit at his desk quietly.

The old man starts screaming incomprehensible things, which only helps build my case that he is unfit. I may not be able to physically kill him, but I can still make him powerless. As I’m leaving, the soldiers form a circle around him. To protect him from himself.

As if I’d leave him wielding any fucking power to hurt mother or Carla.

With my old man being babysat by soldiers who once feared and respected him, I have a party to get ready for.

Antonio Bencivenga and I need to speak, man to man.

Gaia

Father isn’t happy when I walk into his office to tell him that Carmine will be stopping by Mother’s party.

“And how do you plan on handling that?” he says, setting his whiskey glass down. “I knew this swap wasn’t a good idea and yet your fucking sister forced my hand. I only agreed because you had already made the swap and Carmine has been respecting my wishes to keep you safe and not touch you. Has he finally set a date so we can finish this nonsense.”

I swallow. If only Father knew how much Carmine had touched me… “Um, not yet, Father. But we will in the next two weeks.”

“Well, how do you plan on handling this situation? We can’t turn him away or he’ll get suspicious.”

“I don’t know.” My eyes start to get teary and Father sighs.

“This is all your fucking sister’s fault,” he bites out. “Always meddling where she doesn’t belong. If she had just stayed out of this, Carmine would’ve eventually agreed to the marriage even if he didn’t like her. All that man wants in an heir and for his family not to die. But your sister ruined that plan and got us in this mess.”

As Father sips his drink and stares off into space, a question bubbles up my throat. If I simply asked, would he let me marry Carmine instead? Carmine likes me and…I can handle living with him. The physical stuff has been difficult, but that’s only because I’m not his wife. If I were his wife, everything would be okay. Our families would have peace. Arianna might not be happy because part of me feels like she’s trying to prove something. Maybe she thinks if she’s the one to marry Carmine, Father will love her more.

That’s what all of my psychology research is telling me: she’s the outcast of the family, so naturally she’s trying to win validation.

I don’t want her to lose that or be angry, but she did manipulate me into this situation and…it’s all such a mess.

I can’t stop myself from asking Father, “What if, um…What if I married Carmine instead? We could just tell him tonight and…” I stop talking because Father’s expression has grown hard.

“Why are you asking that?” He stands, smacking a hand against his desk. “Did he touch you? Are you pregnant?”

I shrink back toward the door. “No! I swear he…I’m not pregnant. I’m still a virgin.” At least that’s not a lie.

Father studies my face and then relaxes. “I’m sorry. It’s just with you sister…You and Victoria are my pride and joy. You’re the only ones left upholding our family’s honor. Though with Victoria claiming she loves that boyfriend of hers, it feels like it’s only a matter of time before…” He shakes his head and finishes his whiskey, muttering, “I should’ve only had sons.”

“Arianna is still a virgin…”

Father frowns at me but doesn’t say anything. My stomach sinks. Has Ari been lying about that too? Did she really lose her virginity? Why have we grown so far apart? I don’t know who she is anymore…

Father gets up to pour himself more whiskey. “You can’t marry Carmine. Maybe you think that’ll fix the situation, but I’m in talks to marry you into the Satta organization. You could be the Satta Queen.”

I feel faint. What?

He glances at me. “I was going to tell you after Carmine and Arianna got married. Leo Satta approached me about you recently. Mariano is a widow, and Leo wants the future boss settled with you.”

Mariano. So I finally know the name of my future husband. Not Carmine.

Mariano.

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