Page 8 of Coerced Wife

Stefano turns his crooked digit toward the vase, his eyes bulging in his head.

“That’s the urn with his wife’s ashes,” Luigi says to no one in particular. “Yes, Stefano.” He gives his brother a patronizing pat on the shoulder. “We know.”

Stefano goes red in the face, but Luigi is already ignoring him to shake Michele’s hand.

A nurse in scrubs enters. She goes to Stefano and wheels him out of the room.

Someone must’ve pressed the button to alert her that her patient needed her.

Dante makes big eyes at me.

Feeling Raphael’s gaze on my face, I turn my head in his direction. He studies me quietly while I measure him right back.

My smartwatch buzzes with an incoming message.

I break our eye contact to check the screen. It’s one of the men I stationed outside.

I go rigid in a second flat.

I read the message before I’ve even stepped to the side.

Rachele is talking to Anya. It’s not looking good.

Fuck.

Giorgio watches me, no doubt reading my expression. He gets to his feet, but I don’t give him time to ask what’s wrong.

“Excuse me,” I say, inclining my head toward Luigi. “I have a matter that needs my attention.”

Dante raises a brow, quietly asking if I need help with kicking someone’s ass.

I give a single shake of my head as I go to the door.

Pushing people out of my way, I stride briskly to the garden.

My man waits at the sliding doors.

“Where is she?” I ask, my voice tight.

He nods in the direction of the bar. “Where you left her.”

I turn my head in that direction and easily spot Anya’s fiery red hair in the crowd. And I don’t like what I see. Not one fucking bit.

Rachele has taken up a challenging pose in front of Anya. She says something, and by the bitchy expression on her face, I can just imagine what that is. Anya stares at her, aghast, her pretty peach-colored cheeks turning ashen.

Fucking Rachele.

I make it to them in a few long strides, just in time to hear Rachele say…

CHAPTER

THREE

Anya

His wife.

The words punch me straight in the gut, stealing my ability to breathe.

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