Page 67 of Wicked Games of Desire

Both guards pull their guns on Alex, backing Geovani up. He straightens his shoulders and glances my way. “Have you told her yet?” He raises a bushy brow in my direction.

“Told her what,” Alessandro snaps, his apprehensive gaze also turning to me.

Geovani walks around him like a predator assessing his prey. “Why you want to marry the poor girl so desperately, you had to move the wedding forward before she worked it out.”

Ricky pulls a gun on Geovani. “Keep your fucking mouth shut,” he snaps. I should have known there was more shit they were keeping from me. More shit that even Ricky would kill to hide from me.

My chest tightens. I’m not sure if I can handle anything more. What does Geovani know that I don’t?

Geovani chuckles darkly, completely unaffected by his threats. “Daddy Moretti wouldn’t think too kindly if you shot me. Not with how much money he’s going to make, accepting my deal.”

Ricky’s breathing is crazy ragged, and I can see he’s on the edge of losing it, but he drops his gun, backing off, and I know how serious this is. Geovani has all the power here tonight. What the actual fuck.

Geovani moves toward me, and my heart kicks up a beat, panic taking off inside of me, telling me to run like the fucking wind. Nothing good can come from staying here with these thugs. But I’m frozen to the spot, transfixed by his hungry green eyes, eating up every bit of me in a way that makes my skin prickle. Why did I ever trust him?

“Thinking you were going to be marrying into the D’Amico family, Stephano had his entire business shifted into your name.” He raises a brow so I understand exactly what he’s saying to me. “Everything… A little insurance policy for my father. But Marco got wind of it, didn’t you?” He turns his attention to my brother, who’s come around beside me.

My bottom lip quivers as I glance his way. I don’t even recognize him anymore. My brother, the one I loved so dearly, would never let any of this happen to me. But here he is, standing by while my life is destroyed right in front of him.

“You made a deal of your own with the Morettis so they would protect you and your sister.” Geovani’s voice cuts through the cold night air again, forcing my attention back to him. Marco made a deal with the Morettis knowing what I was now worth?

All eyes come to me, but Alessandro is the only one I’m fixing my attention on. He and my brother set all this up. And he needs to start talking, because from where I’m standing, all I can see is they set me up so they could take my inheritance. If I was married to Alessandro, it would all be his as well. The Morettis would be the most powerful family around because he had the businesses that now belong to me. This is what Maddox was hinting at the other day taking me back past my papa’s house. He wanted me to ask who owns the land nowbecause it’s me. I glance toward him, but his face gives nothing away. He couldn’t go against the family because it’s a death wish.

“Marco, please tell me this isn’t true.”

My brother drops his head, and I know all I need to. A dull ache pulses within me, igniting a fresh surge of anger. I hate them. All of them. How dare they do this to me. Over fucking money. Money, I didn't even know anything about because they all kept it from me. Even when they promised me they would come clean about it all.

“Princess.” Alessandros voice cuts through the air like a plea for me to understand the position he was in. I understand alright. Money is more important than I am.

I meet his dark gaze with my own piercing one. If looks could kill, he would be a burning pile of charred remains. He can’t talk his way out of this, manipulate me again. “No,” I tell him, backing away slowly. His eyes darken, and before I know what’s happening, he’s attacking Geovani, flying across the rose garden and knocking him to the pebble walkway below. Geovani throws a right hook. And I’ve seen all I need to.

Enzo runs from the venue. “Alessandro,” his voice booms in warning. Arms fly every which way, and I hear a gunshot go off. But I’m not sticking around to see who’s going to come out of this fight alive. I don’t fucking care. It’s pretty clear this life is every man for himself, and I’m not dying tonight because of whatever fucked-up deal my brother made with the Morettis or my papa made with the D’Amicos. I take off for the room I’m staying in with one thing on my mind: getting the fuck out of here while they’re all distracted.

Slamming the door and flicking the lock, I lean back into the door while I catch my breath and wipe the tears from my cheeks. Pain radiates through my chest. I was just a meal ticket all along. To my brother, to Alessandro, and whether Ricky and Maddox were in on itor not, they knew. They fucking knew and they didn’t tell me. I want to fall apart but I don’t have time. All I need is a set of their keys and I can take off while they’re preoccupied with killing each other.

But the air is sucked right from my lungs when I come face to face with the imposing dark figure looming before me.

He takes a step closer. “Princess Havardi, not enjoying your party?” He chuckles darkly, and my blood turns cold.

Chapter 39

I want to scream,but no one will hear me over the brawl. My heart races wildly as panic takes over. More shots go off outside, and I know I’m running out of time to escape this hell. “Who the fuck are you?” I spit back at him, but the sinking feeling in my chest and the jagged scar over his left eye tell me exactly who he is. Carlo D’Amico.

“A friend of your father’s,” he sneers, rubbing a meaty hand over his stubbly jaw. The moonlight catches the silver of a blade clutched in his hand, causing it to glisten, and my blood runs cold.

“W… what do you want?” I stutter out.

His thin lips twitch into a malice-filled smile. “What I was promised.” He reaches out and clasps his hand around my throat, shoving me back into the door with a force that knocks the air from my lungs. His other hand brings the knife up to my face. “You scream, I will slit your throat and take what I want anyway.”

My eyes widen, but I don’t say a word. He’s not messing around.

He backs off, seeing he has me terrified and rendered unable to make a sound. “Here’s how it’s going to go. You’re going to put thison.” He throws me a dark hoodie. “We’re going to walk out of here together, get in my car, and take off while they are all distracted.”

With shaky hands, I take the hoodie and throw it over my head.

“Hood up.”

I pull the hood up and tuck my hair inside of it.

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