Page 34 of Vengeful Mafia Prince

"The man you grew up with," he snorts, shaking his head. "You have no idea what I've protected you from, how much I've shielded you. And this is how you repay me? By showing me you care so little that you're willing to sleep with my enemy?"

I part my lips, wishing I could protest, wishing I could argue with him on this. But I can't. I know I can't. Whatever I've done, whatever harm I've caused, there's no coming back from it now. It's happened. My life, as I know it, has fallen apart, and I can't do anything to change it. I've turned my father against me. I've made him feel as though he has no choice but to turn on me like this. If I had just kept my head down, I wouldn't have ended up here, standing before him, wondering if he's going to make me pay.

"And what if I choose his side?" I demand, defiant. "What if I decide I can trust him more than I can trust you? What then?"

He falls silent. The weight in that quiet settles down around my shoulders, so enormous and so heavy that I don't know what to make of it.

"Then you would no longer have my protection," he replies, quietly. "And I would have to get rid of you."

"Get rid of me?"

I know what he means by that, but I'm not going to let him skate by without saying it. His jaw tightens.

"Yes."

"You would do that, to your own daughter?"

"I offer my protection to my family on one condition only," he replies, voice laced with threat. "And that condition is that they stay loyal to me. As soon as that changes, as soon as I've got a reason to think they don't have my best interests at heart... then it's over. Simple as that. They're not my family anymore."

I back away toward the door. He reaches beneath his desk.

"Elena," he murmurs, stilling. "You can still walk this back. You can still tell me that you're loyal to me. If you do, we can forget all of this, and everything will go back to normal. I'll recommend you to Kyra for the post-internship position this summer. You can come work for me, you can make a name for yourself."

It's a tantalizing offer. But if I go back, I can't forget everything I know about him. I can't rewind time and pretend I'm not aware of the person he is.

Can I live with myself if I go back to him? If I just put it all aside and pretend like I don't know about the kind of man he is? I'm not sure I can. I'm not sure I have it in me.

And I'm not sure I want to, either.

"No, Dad," I breathe to him, though the man sitting before me is not my father. "No. I'm not... I'm not going back to the way things were."

I put my hand on the handle and push the door open, darting before he can get out a response. I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know what he's going to do to stop me, but I just know I have to run as fast as my legs will carry me.

I sprint like the wind toward the front door. I'm sure he'll tell his guards to stop me in my tracks before I can go anywhere, but I have to take that risk. I can't stop this. I can't turn back. My breath tears from my lungs, and I hear a raised voice. For a moment, I think it's my father, instructing his men to catch me before I leave so he can deliver the fate he so clearly thinks I deserve.

But it's not my father. No, it's another voice I recognize—the only one I want to hear right now.

Gio!

Chapter Eighteen—Giovanni

I pull the car to a halt outside the large wrought iron gates of the mansion. This has to be the place.

The address that Elena texted me.

I thought there had to be a mistake at first, but then, I realized that this mansion had to belong to her father. And if he called her here, then I doubted he had anything good in mind for her.

I raced over as soon as I could, from where I was licking my wounds back at the apartment. Valentina has been avoiding me like the plague, clearly not ready to contend with everything I've done or the danger I put her in, letting her run into the man who murdered our parents.

But Elena needs me. And no matter how crazy an idea it might seem, I have to get to her. I have to get her out of here.

There are two men on the gate when I step out of the car, and both of them approach me the moment they lay eyes on me. I reach for the gun I stashed in my pants, the one I took from Elena's father. I make a point not to fuck with firearms if I can, but I grabbed it on the way out the door, something telling me that I was going to need it.

"Back the fuck up," I snarl to them, and I brandish the weapon at one. He lifts his hands at once, his eyes widening, and the other makes a move for me.

I twist the gun in my hand, landing a sharp strike to his chin, and send him crashing back toward the gate. He bounces off the metal with a clang, thudding his head hard against oneof the posts, and then slides down, unconscious. I turn my attention back to the other man, who reaches for his gun. I level my weapon at him again.

"Don't even think about it," I warn him. "Now, open those gates."

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