Page 49 of Borrowed Bride

Then I heard the engagement announcement.

My world crumbled that day, and her memory turned to ash in my mind. Leonardo and I have been warring over territory for over a year with no end in sight. As far as I’m concerned, that engagement signed his death certificate.

Deep down, buried under all the hurt and the anger, my love for Gianna still lives on. There’s something about her going tohim that I can’t settle with. It doesn’t feel like something she would do, and there’s a part of the puzzle I’m missing.

I’m sure of it.

“Marco?” Dante snaps me out of my turbulent thoughts and I lift my head from my desk to eye my father where he stands by the door.

“What?”

“We lost fourteen more men today,” he says, sighing deeply. The war has been tough on everyone, but it seems to affect my father especially. He tells me it’s because he’s watching men he nurtured die for something pointless, and then we usually argue. I want to kill Leo. I want to crush his family name into dust. In my father’s opinion, I’m draining the family because I can’t let go of a woman who doesn’t care for me.

Part of me knows this is the truth. The rest of me won’t believe it until I hear it from Gianna herself.

“Send flowers,” I say, then I return to the plans on my desk. While Leonardo gets married, I plan on burning down every warehouse with even a remote connection to the Simone family.

“Half of them don’t have family to send flowers to,” Dante says. He walks forward, scanning the plans on the desk. Then he snatches up a photograph of Gianna from near my elbow. The picture is of her in front of a window at Simone estate, and if that place wasn’t some kind of fortress, then I would have taken her back already.

“How many more,” my father says with a bite of disgust as he tosses the picture back down. “How many more will die before you concede to Leonardo’s demands and bring an end to this war?”

“You would have me give up?” I glare up at him. “And spit on all the respect holding up our family name?”

“If you keep going this way, there will be no family name left,” Dante says. “Marco, please. You have to pull us back from this path before it’s too late. No one is worth this much carnage.”

“Do you think fucking Leonardo has people telling him to bow tomydemands?” I snarl, standing so abruptly that the chair tips back against the wall. “No. He has men who burn down the schools our children attend, flood the market with contaminated drugs, and pay the cops enough that half our men end up locked up on bogus charges. He doesn’t back down, so why should I?”

“You are both fighting different battles,” Dante mutters. “Why can’t you see that?”

“You know what I see?” I prod him firmly in the chest. “I see acowardwho wants to turn tail and give up everything we have ever worked for.”

“Am I a coward?” His bushy brows knit together. “Your path is destroying my legacy.”

Hislegacy? “I am your legacy.”

I push past him, unable to stomach another round-robin argument, and leave the room. I stride through the mansion, intent on seeking out my sister but on the way there, I run into Tara.

She is the only other person who has a chance to understand my turmoil over Gianna.

“Sir.” She greets me with a tight smile and holds out a small piece of card. It’s no bigger than a business card. “This arrived for you.”

I take it and eye the gold swirls across the surface, then I glance at Tara. “You know what day it is?”

She meets my eyes and nods. “Yes, sir.”

“Have you … heard from her?”

Tara shakes her head, then speaks softly, “I would tell you if I had.”

We part, and I resume striding through the estate. I don’t stop until I find myself in my sister’s greenhouse.

She greets me with a paper-thin cough and a wide smile. “Marco,” she says, taking one of my hands between both of hers. “I have been waiting for you.”

“Tell me Emilia, tell me I’m not throwing this entire family into the fire.” I drop into the seat across from her and place my other hand over the tops of hers. “Tell me I’m doing the right thing.”

Emilia tilts her head. “I can’t tell you that because I don’t know what the right thing is.”

“Father thinks I’m blinded by rage, that I’m obsessed with only killing Leonardo.”

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