Page 29 of Wicked Games of Desire

“Because you’re the Havardi princess,” Ricky explains, as if that should mean something to me.

I look at him blankly. The Havardi princess?

“Your family name is imp—”

Alessandro cuts him off. “Our families have been working together since well before either you or I were born. Their ties go back to our grandfathers’ generation, rooted in an alliance forged by shared economic interests and a commitment to mutual protection and expansion of the family names. Did you ever wonder how your papa was so wealthy?”

“My papa didn’t like to talk business with me because I was a girl. He didn’t want to worry me.” And Marco. I’m confused why he wouldn’t have enlightened me about any of this. If my family was really involved so heavily with Alessandro’s, why is this the first I’m hearing about it? But maybe he felt the same, I’m just a girl. The ideasaddens me because I thought my brother was different. “I spent most of my life at boarding school,” I snap back, feeling silly for having to defend myself, but it’s not on me. I had no idea who my papa really was. I glare at him. “Is that why you killed him?”

When our eyes meet, his dark gaze captures mine. “We didn’t kill your papa.”

“What about my brother?” I demand.

His eyes soften a little. “I didn’t kill your brother, princess.” The way he says it with so much sincerity, I want to believe him.

But how can I? It’s the only thing that adds up. I saw Maddox with my own eyes, and I know it was Ricky who had me hostage. Fucking mind games. They won’t admit to anything. “Did my brother work for you as well?”

He nods.

Maddox joins us, placing plates filled with bacon, scrambled eggs, and toast in front of us. He hands me a loaded-up plate, and I look over it like I might be sick again.

“You need to eat,” he demands firmly.

I take it and place it on the table, moving my food around with a fork before taking a bite. It’s delicious, like I knew it would be, but how can I eat with so many questions bombarding my head? I need answers, not food that I might just throw right back up with the next revelation to leave one of their mouths.

“What do you want with me?”

Alessandro raises his head, placing his knife and fork back on the table. “You’re going to be my wife.”

“Why?” I throw back at him. He looks unimpressed with my question, but I think it’s a fair one. If I’m being expected to marry into some mafia family, I want to know why me? He could have anyone, and he should pick some girl who wants this life.

“Because I said so.”

I blink back at him. He has to know that’s not a fucking reason. “And Ian… Geovani, what did he want with me? Why was he there that night? If he really is who Maddox said, why did he help me?”

“He wasn’t helping you. He was making sure we couldn’t protect you.”

“From whom? From what I can tell, the only motherfuckers I need protection from is you three.”

Ricky’s eyebrows furrow, his eyes narrowing in disbelief as he clenches his fists. A wave of tension hangs in the air, accompanied by a deafening silence. The room feels heavy with the stench of wounded pride. I roll my eyes. He has no reason to be insulted, when it’s the truth.

“We made a promise to your brother to protect you, and we all intend to keep it.” Maddox’s voice is low, but I hear the promise in it, he’s deadly serious.

Fury surges through me. They made some promise to my brother, what, before they killed him? I’ve heard about enough of this trash.

Poor pathetic little Harley. Had no idea the life she was born into.

I don’t want their pity.

I want to be seen as an equal that can handle herself. Who is capable of managing all this shit without being lied to or manipulated. Fuck them. Fuck all of them. I shove my chair back and storm from the room, my hair flying out behind me.

No one attempts to follow me. Good. I need to be alone. There is nothing any of them can say or do to make this situation better now. There is a swirling storm of anger brewing inside of me. At Alessandro for keeping this all from me, at my papa and brother for lying to me my whole life. The way they’re all looking at me, with pity in their eyes, makes it impossible for me to stay here any longer.

As I make it to the patio, I hear chairs scraping on the tile floor.

“Let her go.” Alessandro’s thunderous voice reverberates through the walls, shaking the very foundation of the house. He’s angry, but he has no right to be. It’s my life that is a lie, not his.

I plonk myself down on the lounger that looks over the pool, a heaviness I’ve never felt before settling over my body. The morning summer sun breathes some life back into my body as I try to process all the new information. I followed Ricky and Maddox with one thing on my mind: revenge for what they did to my family. But from what I have found out in the last day, maybe I was wrong about it all. I’m in this messed-up situation because of my flesh and blood. Our papa signed us up for a life of crime. I’m not sure what to do now or where to go. All I know is I can’t trust anyone around here.

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