Page 55 of Deception & Desire

“Papà,” I greet him with a kiss on either cheek.

His fingers linger on my bandaged arm as I pull away.

“You’re hurt,” his voice catches slightly. “He said he wouldn’t hurt you.”

“I hurt myself,” I say firmly, suddenly feeling oddly protective of his opinion of Leon. “Hazards of the job.”

Marco grits his teeth. “What job?”

I give him a pointed look. “Well, I’m not working at theCandelabraanymore.”

“You swore you would leave that life behind.” He’s gripping my hand now, a little desperately. The pressure of his grip sends a dull pain up my arm. “You’re a wife now, soon to be a mother. He shouldn’t be allowing you to keep playing these games.”

Something akin to dread begins to pool in my stomach. “Allowing me?”

“I only agreed to this because he said he would keep yousafe.”

I feel a bubble of laughter in my throat. “You wanted me to be safe? You shouldn’t have married me off to a mafia don.”

“It was safer than anything Teo suggested,” he says as if that is a valid reason. “He would have had you as the face of his new business venture. At least Leon promised to keep you a secret.”

The coffee in front of me is burning hot. I wrap my fingers around the porcelain anyway, pressing them in tight.

“I’m only going to ask you this one time,” I say softly. “So I’m going to need you to be honest with me. I deserve that much, don’t I?”

My father lets out a long breath and nods firmly, staring at a spot just over my shoulder.

“Who threatened your life?”

He blanches. “What?”

“You said that you’d die if I didn’t go through with the wedding. Who made that threat?”

“Mia—”

“Because it wasn’t Teo.” I can hear my voice raising slightly. “And Leon claims he didn’t do it either. I’ll admit I was hesitantto trust him on that, but you haven’t looked me in the eye since you sat down.”

He cringes slightly as he forces his eyes to mine. “Please, Mia. You need to understand…”

“What? That my own father was the one manipulating me this whole time?” I shoot the accusation out and send up a silent prayer that he’ll deny it.

Marco Chiavari swallows.

“It’s getting very, very dangerous out there.”

I stand up, the scrape of my chair a brutal, deafening sound against our hushed conversation. “Youliedto me.”

“I didn’t lie,” he insists, reaching for my arm.

I snatch it away. “You manipulated me.”

“You are the only thing that matters to me, Mia. Theonlything.” He stands too. “It would kill me if anything happened to you. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself, do you understand that?”

Vaguely, I’m aware that our discussion is starting to garner some attention.

“It’s my fault you’re in this life…mine. That’s on me until my dying breath. I would do anything to go back and change it,” he says, his voice breaking slightly at the end. “You’re my little girl. This is the best I could do for you, and Iknowit will never be enough.”

I can feel tears prickling in my eyes as I take a step back, away from him. This is the man I have always trusted. “You’re right. It’s not enough.”

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