Page 16 of Tainted Ties

Everything clicked into place.

Roman in New York wasn’t a coincidence. It was part of his grand scheme.

Bringing my face close to his, I shook off that dread and replaced it with wrath. “Fuck. You,” I seethed, spitting on the floor in disgust.

Chapter5

Aurora

Iascended the stairs hurriedly and opened the door.

Immediately, the pounding of my heart clashed with the pounding of the music.

Mindlessly walking through the crowd of people, I replayed the last few seconds of conversation as I made my way through the exit.

“Over my dead body will I let this contract carry through!” I was no longer calm.

“Necrophilia isn’t my thing,” Roman said, his mouth set in a thin line.

How could this have happened? Enzo didn’t know about our father’s secret contract and now I was the one being tortured.

If my father thought I would sit pretty and accept whatever came my way, he was in for a rude awakening.

I built a life for myself back in New York and I would destroy anyone who tried to take it away from me.

The tightness in my chest was excruciating.Inhale. Exhale. Repeat.

I couldn’t possibly marry Roman, let alone a MafiaDon. I would become physically ill if I witnessed their cruelty. I didn’t leave this life behind to be sucked back into it because two men said so.

I would not rest until I was back in New York.

The door of the club opened and closed. Turning, I found a furious Enzo walking toward me.

“Dammit!” He paced back and forth, body tense with frustration. I realized then he truly didn’t know about this.

“How does it taste to be a pawn in our father’s game? Pretty fucking bitter, huh?”

Enzo pulled me a few feet away from security. “If I had known our father’s true intentions, I would haveneverasked you to come back home,” he spoke quietly.

“You brought me here knowing Roman would recognize me!”

“I didn’t think he would! You almost fooled me in that photo in the news report. The one where you received the Super Lawyers award.”

My head shook at the horrific turn of events. “Enzo, he can’t force me to marry him. It’sagainstthe law.”

“Thelawdoesn’t matter to us Made men. You bring legality into this, and you’re fucked.”

He was right. They would come after me and anyone I had ever cared about. I would rather endure this than put my loved ones at risk. I felt defeated and helpless.

My brother palmed my face with both hands. “I will get you out of this, Iswearit,” he whispered.

The irony of this moment was that all I ever wanted was to be protected by my brother, but now that he was trying to, it was impossible.

“No, I won’t have your death on my conscious too.”

I glanced over at the security guard who was standing by the door, eyeing us skeptically, and my brother’s gaze followed mine.

We looked back at each other before I embraced him in a hug and whispered in his ear, “We must pretend that we agree to this, for now. I won’t resist and you won’t start another problem.”

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