Page 33 of Vengeful Mafia Prince

"Don't keep your father waiting," he warns me, voice low.

I yank my arm out of his grip. "I can walk on my own. I don't need your help."

I stalk toward the door, trying to convince myself that this is going to be okay. This is my father, after all. No matter what, I still have that connection with him, don't I? He's not going to hurt me. Well, he's not going to kill me.

Right?

I head straight to his office. I know that's where he's going to be waiting for me. He's always kept his office very modern, almost sterile. There's something about it that always makes me a little uncomfortable, though I know I should be cool with it by now.

Closing my eyes, I wait outside the door, gathering myself, and then I lift my knuckles to rap on the wood.

"Come in."

I open the door, and there he is, sitting in his chair. He looks up at me, and there isn't a hint of the warmth or even care that I have so often seen in his eyes.

"Good girl. You came. Now, sit."

I do as I'm told at once. I feel as though I'm under some kind of spell here, as though he has me completely and utterly wrapped around his little finger and there's nothing I can do to change that. It terrifies me. I don't know what he'll do with this level of power over me, and I really, really don't want to find out.

"What do you want, Dad?" I demand, squeezing my hands into a bunch in my lap.

"I want to talk to you, Elena. Because there's something we need to discuss. Namely, the matter of whether you're going to choose this family..." He pauses, his lip curling up into a sneer for a moment. "Or his."

He spits those words out. I stare him down, trying to prove to him that he can't just roll over me like this.

"And how much of a choice do I have here?"

He leans forward, clasping his hands in front of him, slipping with ease into business mode.

"Tell me what you're going to choose. Then, we can talk about your options, Elena."

I roll my shoulders back. "Alright," I reply. "Well, I need to know what I'm being offered here before I make my choice. Read all the contracts before you sign them, right?"

"And what do you need to know?"

"I need to know how much... how much criminal shit you're involved in."

I barely ever curse in front of my father. Even now, it feels like something I'll get in trouble for. His lips briefly curl up intoa smile, though it doesn't reach his eyes. Is he proud of me, negotiating like this?

"Trust me, Elena," he replies smoothly. "Unless you're going to get involved with it yourself, you're better off not knowing. Don't worry your pretty little head about it."

I bristle with anger. "Dad, I'm not just... I'm not just some little girl. I'm a grown woman. And I don't want to be kept out of this any longer."

"Oh, now you want to be a grown woman, do you?" he snaps, making me jump. "Trust me, you don't want to be that in my eyes. Because seeing you as my little girl is the only thing keeping me from dealing with you the way I would any other traitor."

"And what does that mean? What would you do to me if I wasn't your daughter? What you did to Giovanni's parents?"

His face twists up into a smile that sends a shiver down my spine.

"Worse."

I feel like I'm seeing him for the first time. Not my dad, no, not the man I've known my whole life, but the man who is capable of doing terrible harm to the people who wrong him. I feel like I'm seeing him through Giovanni's eyes for the first time. And all at once, his campaign against my dad makes perfect sense. How could he handle this man being out there, knowing what he did to his parents, knowing that he would do worse to him and his sister if he got the chance?

"You pulled a gun on his sister," I remind him bluntly. "And you want me to trust you? Really?"

"I did what I had to do to keep myself safe," he snarls back. "She was waving a knife at me. And, what, you expected me to just let that pass?"

"I expected you to handle it like... like the man I grew up with."

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