Page 25 of Morally Gray Daddies

I was brutally confused.

I didn’t love Gio, though.

Then again, Hailey certainly hadn’t loved Jack on her wedding day. She’d just met him at that point.

Stop it. I’m not marrying Gio.

“Help me,” I whispered, tugging on the leather again, ignoring the small pang in my heart at the thought of escape.

“I’m trying to.” She stared at me, lips pursed, like she was thinking. Then she shook her head. “I think you have to marry him, Clara. You stole from the Family. If you run now, they’ll hunt you, and I don’t think they’ll let you live.”

“So, it’s better for me to marry Gio?” I ignored the little flutter in my pussy and the way my heart pattered in my chest at the idea. Part of me was getting way too used to the idea, and I needed to take a step back because it wasn’t happening.

“And live and be my cousin-in-law?” She gave me a crooked smile. “Would it really be that bad?” Then her smile faltered, changing her expression into something harder. She didn’t look like Hailey anymore, she looked colder, sterner, more like a mafia wife. “Besides, Clara. I told you to stay away from him. Instead, you stole from us and taunted him. One might even say that you made the bed you’re currently lying naked in.”

Wow. That was cold. And yet, I didn’t blame her. In her shoes, I might be saying the same thing.

I had made a series of bad choices, and they’d landed me in a place where I had very little choice.

Something about my expression must have made her take pity on me, though. She sighed and turned her head toward the open door.

“Gio, I’m taking Clara with me to my room to get her decently clothed so she can come to breakfast.”

He scowled, clearly unhappy with her statement, and I beamed, but her next statement had our expressions reversing.

“We can talk about your wedding while we eat.”

Chapter Eleven

Gio

“Another wedding! How exciting.” Aunt Serena beamed at Clara, who looked far more disheveled than usual since she was wearing clothes that didn’t quite fit her. She was a good bit shorter than Hailey and quite a bit curvier, which meant Hailey’s clothes were simultaneously too big and too small for her. She looked absolutely miserable, and not just because of the abuse her bottom had taken last night.

I couldn’t help but grin and wink at her when she glanced at me, causing her to glare. It seemed like just punishment for stealing from us and putting me in such an awkward position. Strangely, the more annoyed she was about having to marry me, the more I relaxed into the idea.

“I am not marrying him.”

Clara shot me another lethal look.

Aunt Serena’s smile took on a harder glint.

“Of course you are, dear. Otherwise, you’re a liability. A thieving one.” Aunt Serena took a delicate sip of her coffee. “You do not want to be a liability who stole from the Familias.”

My aunt might come off soft and sweet, but that covered up a spine of steel and a ruthless streak that showed up at inopportune times.

“Don’t worry, Aunt Serena,” I said. “I’ll keep her in line.”

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about.” Clara glared at me again. “I’m not a liability. I would never do anything that would endanger Hailey.”

“You’d just steal from me,” Hailey muttered.

I couldn’t help but be amused at how personally she was taking Clara’s thieving—personally, I thought it was the fact that she hadn’t known about Clara’s evening activities that bothered her the most. If Clara had confided in her, she might have cheered her on. Being excluded was making her bitter.

Or who knew? Maybe she was becoming more and more like my Aunt Serena and did see it as stealing from her.

Clara said something low, which I couldn’t hear, and I didn’t think Aunt Serena or Jack could either. He and I had both been silent during the entire conversation, letting Aunt Serena take the lead. My uncle had already left to go do some work, giving me a look before he went. It was my job to help Clara reconcile herself to her fate.

I almost hoped she would act up again and give me another excuse to punish her.

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