Page 89 of Merciless Queen

“I know he’s a bad person, but I’ve been curious too…what was he like?”

Something pounds behind my eyes, infecting my mind with a headache. Fuck, I can’t answer that. Zeno would have my head, and truly, there’s not many positive things I can tell her.

“I mean...” Pink tinges her cheeks. “You were the planned daughter, so he must have been different with you. He would have been around, so what was it like to have a father?”

Oh.Instantly, my heart aches for her. This is less about Papa and more about having that second parent: a male figure in my life. Zeno mentioned that his parents split around the time Serafina was born, which means she probably hardly knew him, if at all.

There’s that saying: the grass is greener on the other side. Sometimes, I dreamed of not having a father at all. Meanwhile, I’m certain at points in her life, Serafina mourned not having one.

“Um,” I glance down, unable to directly look her way, “honestly, I can’t really answer that. Having a father and havinghimas one was very different, and he wasn’t good, Serafina. He was cruel, and there’s times I wish he was never my father.” I pause, spotting a flash of disappointment lower her disposition, and I don’t know what comes over me with my next question. What wall cracks and allows a bit of openness to slither through. “But I could ask the same to you, about your mother, because mine was killed when I was two.”

She opens her mouth to reply, but Venus’ abrupt rise of her head and low whimper has us both turning toward the door, seconds before Zeno rushes through with such a flurry, the doors nearly fly off the hinges.

He charges at his sister, twisting her toward the door and placing himself between us, as though being a barrier changes anything. With a jab toward the door, he demands, “Leave. Go with Nero.”

Serafina digs her heels into the carpet and shoves her shoulders toward him, trying to break his hold. “No.”

Despite her statement, he glares at me before his arm snaps toward the door again.“Serafina, lascia. Non è tua sorella, a prescindere dal tuo DNA.”

While the translation goes right over my head, given his tone, it didn’t seem pleasant.

Serafina rests her hands on her hips and jerks her chin out. “Sheisn’t her father.Shedidn’t do it. And if you need another reminder,you’rethe one who put us together, so fucking deal with it! Madre would be ashamed of you.”

His tan skin flushes to the point it looks sunburnt. “I’m doing what I have to, even if you don’t understand.”

“You’re right, Zeno, I don’t. You treat me like I’m five and can’t handle this, but I can. I’m an adult now, who can make adult decisions.”

Even from feet away, I can hear the click of his jaw as he snaps, “The fact you think that says otherwise. You’re not the average eighteen-year-old, Sera. You’re not like your friends.”

All her gentleness from earlier falls into an expression resembling cold death. “I’m not because ofyou. You and Madre keep me so protected, like you think I’ll break if a bit of real life touches me. All I did wastalk to her.” She gestures toward me. “Yet you’re acting like I’ve committed a crime.”

The two siblings end up in a silent standoff until she sighs, breaking some of the tension.

“You know I love you,fratello, but I couldn’t leave without talking to her, and if you don’t understand why, then that’s something you need to deal with.”

With a final peek at me, she spins on her heel and storms out of the bedroom, disappearing down the hall while Venus jogs after her.

A tense five seconds pass before Zeno slams the door shut and whirls toward me, his presence forcing me back. We complete this dance, me walking backward and him thundering toward me until my back hits the window. If he’s aiming for menacing, to spook me, he’ll be sorely upset soon. His anger will never match Papa’s, so there’s nothing Zeno can do to me that hasn’t already been done.

He presses close enough I can see the green flames sparking to life in his eyes. “What did you say to her?”

“Ask her. I’m not involved in this.”

His hand snaps out and fingers firmly pinch my chin, forcing my face toward him. I don’t fight him this time because I don’t need to. He looks halfway to madness himself without me doing anything.

Zeno may call me a broken queen, but he’s well on his way to becoming a ruined king.

It’s not onlythe fact that Serafina decided to break into my room to visit Vanessa; it’s everything she said once I found her here. Everything she countered with. Andhowshe said it. It reminded me too much of Vanessa, and the way she fights with determination and authority.

Vanessa’s refusal to fill in the blanks about their conversation strokes an anger in me that has me reacting before I realize it. My hand snaps out and grasps her chin, forcing her eyes on me so she can see for herself, I’m not playing anymore.

“Do whatever you want with me, Mancini. Makes no difference.”

Oh, I plan to.

I release her with a hard jerk that forces her head to thump against the window pane and retrieve the envelope from my back pocket, shoving it into her hands.

With a cautious pace, she opens the envelope and slides the single document out. After only a brief pass of the certificate—the contract is safely hidden away in my office for the day I possibly need it—her skin goes pale white. Even though it’snot in English,Certificato di Matrimonioisn’t a challenging statement to translate, so I know she’s figured it out.

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