Page 4 of Cage of Thorns and Blood

I’m going to manipulate the situation in her family’s best interest, so they push her to date me. I’m intrigued to see whether or not she’ll betray me a second time by sharing the dodgy information I will be feeding her to feed to her family.

All the while, I’ll have her where I want her. With me. And the most beautiful part of it is she will be with me at her family’s insistence. Then, when she discovers it’s all a ruse, she’ll try to leave, but at that point, her options will be narrowed. She’ll have screwed over her family by giving them false information, and she’ll be very unsafe. Except with me.

She might hate it at first, but I have no doubts I can win her over. Her body at least.

Her mind … well, that might be a different matter entirely.

Chapter 2

Renata

I stare at my mother as she leaves the room. I’ve been called to a family meeting where my world has been turned upside down.

My parents want me to insinuate myself with the one man I never wanted to see again. The only man to break my heart. Matteo Mancini. He’s my kryptonite. My weakness. He’s the only man to ever get under my skin, and now my parents want me to become a spy in the Mancini camp.

I admitted that Matteo and I have a past, but Mother insisted I use that to my advantage and seek revenge by manipulating Matteo. They simply see Matteo as the scion of a rival family. The head of the Mancini empire. To me, though, he’s the boy who broke my heart. My first crush. My first love. My first hate.

Now they want me to be with him.

Of course, that means my parents are using me. Like always. They hated the Mancinis, and now they want me to ingratiate myself with them? Fuck them.

They always did see their children as expendable little commodities, though. Even Nico, the son and heir, was forced to marry recently. We might as well be living in medieval times as far as my parents are concerned.

Of course, their suggestion has led to an almighty row, and now Mamma is sulking with me and Babbo is fuming.

My father gets up and follows Mamma out of the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts. I sip at my drink and stare dully out the window.

I replay snippets of the conversation.

Mamma’s face was stone when she said, “We want you to get into the Mancini camp and worm your way into their family, their business. Gather information. Become our spy. Take them and either become their queen, or ruin them for us. For the Andrettis.”

Ruin Matteo Mancini. It holds a certain appeal.

Control him they said blithely. Might as well try to control a tornado from what I’ve heard about Matteo these days.

Mamma says she has one of his closest people as a friend now. She swears this Angela character is telling her the truth. So maybe it is the truth?

Maybe the Mancini family is in trouble, but why does Mother assume Matteo will want me? After all this time? Even if he did, why would he ever give me any information on his life and his business?

Stretching it even farther, say I do get into his life; there’s the risk I fall for him all over again.

I don’t know if I can pull this off.

I stalk over to the drinks cabinet and mix myself a strong martini. As I sip at it, more of Mamma’s words come back to me. “He’s not handsome now,” she claimed. What did she call him? A brute.

She saw my lack of confidence in my ability to do this utterly crazy thing they’re asking of me, and put it down to a general lack of belief in myself. She smiled at me and gave me a pep talk.

“Daughter, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. You make movie stars seem ordinary. Models, drab. God didn’t make you this way for nothing. It can’t be. We made your brother marry for the family, and now we are asking you to do this. It’s not even a marriage we ask for. Just an affair of the heart. Make him fall for you. Then destroy him.” Her words were determined and strong, but I have no issue with knowing my worth.

I’m not like little Cindy, Nico’s wife. She’s a very pretty girl who seems to suffer from an ability to make herself drabber than she ever needs to be. Cindy doesn’t understand how gorgeous she is or know how to use her looks. I don’t struggle with either of those things.

I understand that I’m beautiful. That’s not being conceited; it’s a simple fact. I am beautiful, and I have a very good figure. I’m not Helen of Troy, the way Mamma seems to believe, but I do know how to make the best of myself. I wear feminine clothes, which flatter my curves. My hair is blow dried at a salon twice a week and has turned heads all by itself.

My feet are pedicured, my nails short, but not bitten or ragged; I just prefer them shorter in length. I nearly always wear my favorite deep red nail polish when I get my gels done. Very Pulp Fiction inspired, I think to myself as I admire my hands.

Top to toe, I’m waxed, massaged, toned, tanned, and frankly, spoiled. I treat my body and face like a work of art. The canvas I present to the world. Will it be enough to make me irresistible to Matteo? I wasn’t enough before; will I be enough now?

My mother’s challenge, thrown down like a gauntlet at my feet before she left the room, rings in my mind. “Of course, you might not be able to pull this off. It’s a very difficult thing we are asking of you. Making a man fall in love with you is about more than pure beauty. Maybe the challenge is too much.”

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