Page 26 of Where Quiet Hearts Scream
“Why?” I persist.
Cristiano shakes his head. “You said you know him. Maybe he likes you.”
The bitterness in my tone shocks me. “I don’t know that man in there. I don’t know him at all.”
Cristiano breathes steadily through his nose, and I sense he’s waiting for me to come to some conclusion. Instead, I turn my gaze to my father.
“I’m not marrying him, Papa.”
Papa steps forward and tries to take my hands in his but I snatch them away.
“Sera…” His tone is resigned and the sigh that emanates from his chest floods me with guilt.
“You can’t make me. You don’t know him.Noneof us know him.”
“Cristiano is right,” Papa says. “He is Benito’s brother—everyone can see it. They’re speaking together right now.”
A dam bursts behind my eyes. “He didn’t evenlookat me, Papa!” I cry, desperately. “He doesn’t want me. He wants Boston, whatever the hell that means.”
Papa’s eyes narrow, soberly. “A lot has just happened in that room, Sera. Many men have lost their lives, including Beppe. Trilby’s dress is covered in blood. Tess just fired a gun. Everyone is shaken up. Andreas… he was the one who shot Lorenzo Marchesi.”
Marchesi? There were Marchesi’s in that room? The same Marchesi’s who killed Mama?My head throbs painfully.
“And yet,” Papa continues, “in the midst of all that, he claims he wants you.”
“I don’t believe that,” I sob. “I don’t know who he is.”
“Well, he knows you, Sera. And those were his terms.”
I swipe the back of my hand across my eyes and tears drop to the ground. “Terms?”
Cristiano folds his arms across his chest. “He’s taking control of Boston. He’s been making inroads withsoldiers of his own, and he knows it was on our radar once the Marchesi’s were out of the way. And now they are, he’s offered to share that control with us. In return for you.”
“Can’t you just give him control without me?”
“That’s not what he wants.”
Helplessness tugs at my nerve endings. “Do I have any say in thisat all?” I glare at Papa.
My whole body is starting to fizz with a sensation I know only too well. I’ve managed to keep this feeling at bay the whole time I’ve been in the Hamptons, but it’s back. And this time, I don’t want to deflect it. I want to give in to it. And that scares me almost as much as the prospect of becoming a mafia wife to a man who has used me for his own advancement.
“Well?” I demand.
Papa sighs. “No, Sera. It has been agreed. You will marry Andreas Corioni.”
My stomach collapses sending tendrils of adrenalin through my veins. Sweat surfaces through my pores. “I need a minute.”
I start walking to the door but Papa wraps a hand around my arm, pulling me back. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Sera. You need people around you right now.”
I spin around, yanking my arm from his grip. I have never turned on my father but I don’t have anything to lose now.
“What are you worried about? What do you think I’m going to do? Run away? There are mobsters aroundevery corner, Papa. You think I’ll get very far? I don’t think so. You have just given away mylife. The least you can do is give me aminute.”
Papa stares at me, horrified, and for once I don’t care if I’ve hurt his feelings. He’s just done the most despicable thing he could possibly do.
He’sgivenme to a murderer.
I stride past them both and yank open the door. Ignoring Allegra’s wide eyes and tear-stained face, I bolt.
