Page 69 of Cardinal

This bad idea would bite me in the ass, but curiosity killed the cat—and I was the damn cat. "What are you talking about?" I probably shouldn't have believed a single word that came out of her mouth—or even entertained her with my attention in the first place—but here we were.

Yeah, the way her smirk turned sadistically dark should have been a warning for me to turn and run with my ears covered, but I was too stubborn and stupid to do so. "The only reason why you are not locked up at the lounge is because you are his wife or to be his wife after your parents sold you out to him to relieve some debt." Scoffing and rolling her eyes, Carol muttered something under her breath before addressing me again. "I don't like taking losses, no matter how small, but I am not stupid enough to go against a Syndicate boss and their family. The fact that you are betrothed to him saved you from a lifetime of servitude at my establishments." My hand itched with an ache to lash across her face when her lips turned wild. "But judging by your reactions and questions, he never told you about any of it."

Before I could snap back at her, Evie tersely stepped before me and pushed me behind her. "That is enough out of you. Leave, or we will have the guards drag you away." She threatened Carol with an aggressive growl to her voice.

Evie remarked with a sneer, "Go get your Botox injections. Your face is starting to melt." As Carol left with her head held so high that it was probably up in the skies.

Turning to me, Evie smiled concernedly at me as she rubbed my shoulders. "Hey, don't let her get to you. She's just trying to be a bitch and get under your skin, and Luciano's to get back at you for what happened."

Anger boiled in my blood at Evie's words because she sounded so nervous trying to convince me. Tearing myself away from her, I found my eyes narrowing into slits as I looked up at Evie. "How much of what she said was true though?" Would my friend dare lie to me?

At this moment, her hesitation and silence were as good of an answer as any because it was a confirmation of guilt to me, especially with how crestfallen she got. Then, the fact that she tried to make excuses as I stormed out of the mall didn't help her case or my turbulent emotions.

Whatever good I felt towards Luciano eroded away and flew out the window on the drive home. By the time I made it home, all I could feel toward Luciano was anger, hate, and betrayal.

I wanted to believe that all Carol said was a lie, but her eyes were firm and honest despite how malicious she sounded.

Yeah, the truth fucking hurt like a knife to the gut and chest. All the pain of everything intensified with every step I took toward Luciano's office, every step feeling like a punch to the gut.

By the time I stood before the office door, I felt winded, as if I had gone ten rounds in the ring with Luciano himself.

Not bothering to knock, I kicked the door. Bad fucking idea because the only thing I accomplished was hurting myself. Seriously, they made it look so easy in the movies, and Luciano and his men also made it look simple. Granted, Luciano was twice, maybe triple, my size and packed from head to toe in muscles galore.

Letting out a frustrated shout, I twisted the doorknob and peeped the door open like a normal person before kicking it fully open with my foot, causing it to slam against the wall.

I didn't care about the meeting happening; this matter took precedence—in my opinion. "Everyone out!" I demanded in a booming voice, pointing at the open door behind me without turning around.

"Juliet, where are your manners? We—"

Too furious to let Luciano finish, I snapped at him, cutting him off. "Need to talk about our fucking wedding, the one you failed to mention to me, by the way!"

Yeah, that seemed to get everyone to zip their mouths and leave quickly with their heads down. I'd pick my bones with them later; right now, Luciano would know my wrath.

Marching up to him behind his desk, I shoved at him with all my strength when he tried to stand up from his chair, making him land with a winded grunt. "When the fuck were you going to tell me, hm? Before I walked down the aisle, or after? Or were you going to just force my hand to sign the papers after I say my vows with a gun to my back and let you cuff me with a ring?"

I wanted to strangle him so badly that my fingers hurt from the restraint I exhibited on myself. Of course, strangling him to death should be the least of his worries if I got my hands on him right now. I wanted to grab the stupid pen off his desk and stab him with it repeatedly until he would hurt like me or at least feel a fraction of it. Or maybe I'd toy with him and choke him with the electrical cords and release when he was close, only to choke him again.

No, no. None of that would suffice. He needed to have everything crushed: mind, body, and soul.

"I fucking trusted you, let myself be vulnerable to you, gave you my heart, only to find out from the damn bitch who stole my life from me that you stooped to her level and basically bought me from my parents to relieve some debt they owed you apparently." The volume of my voice slowly died down with my words until it was slightly above a normal volume, but that didn't mean my anger simmered or subsided.

No, I was still furious and ready to blow again with the slightest trigger.

The hurt my heart suffered cracked through my angry voice as I continued to press into Luciano, with both my words and my finger to his chest. "Seriously, what the fuck were you thinking? And why didn't you tell me? Were you ever going to tell me anything? Any of it? Or were you going to play me until I broke, then discard me like trash?"

If only I could punch a hole in his chest and rip his heart out, make him watch as I squeezed the life out of it until he felt as dead as me right now. Or maybe throwing it into a vat of acid would be better; that way, he would feel the slow-burning pain of his heart disintegrating to nothing. Actually, that seemed like a grand idea the more I relished from it.

Luciano's mouth opened, but I didn't give him a chance to spew whatever bullshit he had stewing in his head. "You are despicable. You save me under the guise of some hero only to find out you have your own motives. You are no better than my fucking parents, who sold me to a damn brothel. You are no better than the bitch who auctioned me off like an object and let those men gang-rape me. You did exactly what they did. You bought me for a stupid motive. You really are a fucking devil." Angrily, I shoved at him, making him roll back a bit.

Heavily, his chest rose and fell a few times before his dumbass reply came out, cranking my fury past one hundred. "Well, at least you'll have a handsome devil of a husband."

The callousness in his voice did me in. Whatever hope I had about us sank to the bottom of the endless ocean, taking everything in me with it. "If you think I am going to marry you, then you're fucking delusional." The last of my seething anger faded with my next words. "I can't marry you. I don't love you." Surprisingly, my heart had something left of it to break with those words.

A tick of anger and sadness starkened Luciano's eyes before his hurtful words came coldly, "If that's the silly reason why you're against marrying me, then fine, get ready to be loved so hard that your heart won't have any other choice but to give in." He sounded so chilled and distant and unlike the man I have been with all this time. "I'll make you love me one way or another, even if it means confining you to this house. Hell, I'll lock you in the room, chain you to the bed, all until you melt under me and learn to love me."

Then again, did I really know him?

What he said next answered that question. "We are going to wed whether you like it or not. I saved you from that place under the pretense that you are my betrothed, but now people expect that end result from us now. So, unless you are wanting to go back to being a whore for everyone, I suggest you fix that attitude before I do it for you."

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