Page 6 of Don't Break My Heart
“Don’t ask questions, just do as you’re told and keep your hands to yourself,” he snips, annoyed, bringing my attention back to him. His voice holds a more serious edge to it than I’m ready for in my groggy state.
I slump back in my chair, trying to wake up and get my shit together before I have to face the devil.
I feel a quick tug on my wrist when I haven’t moved, and Orlando pulls me to my feet as I try to sort out my now out-of-control hair and make sure I don’t have dried drool on my face.
He looks me over. “Stop fussing, you look perfect.”
I sigh heavily, feeling like I have weights pressing down on me. Every step toward their papa I feel heavier. Hasn’t he already destroyed my life enough today? What the fuck could he possibly want with me now?
As we approach the back of the plane, his two guards rise from their seats, creating space for us to sit across from him. They look me over with cold calculation, not moving too far away, close enough that I can still feel their beady eyes on me. And they should be watching me. Just because we’re up in the air doesn’t mean I won’t try and kill this vile human if I get the chance.
Emilio grins at me, in that way where the joy doesn’t resonate in his dead eyes. “How are you enjoying your first flight on a luxury jet, darling?” he asks like this is a special treat he’s gifted me.
I gape back at him, my sleep-foggy brain not able to form a sentence to say to this man. Not one I can say without getting myself in more shit, anyway. I would like to tell him to shove his fucking plane up his ass, but you know, the threat of being killed is kind of stopping me.
Orlando squeezes my hand, I think to try and force the words from my mouth. I glance at him, and his glower is damn obvious. “Answer him,” he says under his breath, and I know he’s losing his patience with me.
I force a tight smile. “It’s an expensive way to transport your prisoner.” Fuck, the words spill out before I can stop them. But for whatever fucked-up reason, they wanted me. I’m not polite or well spoken, I can’t help but say it how it is. And this is what they get.
“Ava,” Orlando growls, his disappointment clear.
“It’s lovely, thank you,” I correct myself, but I can’t help the bitchy edge to my voice. I’m not a sit-and-look-pretty kind of girl. And they know it. My face hurts from forcing a fake-as-fuck smile onto my peachy lips.
Emilio’s eyes lock with mine, and his chuckle vibrates through the jet, as if I amuse him. “I’m sure you will get used to the expensive toys. You’re not a biker chick anymore. Our women are taken care of, given the very best of everything. All your wildest dreams can come true, Ava, my son will make sure of it. All we ask is that you’re loyal to the family.”
A cold shiver comes over me with the way he says it. I sit forward a little, locking my stone-cold gaze with his. “If I do as I’m told, right?”
“A good wife is always obedient,” he agrees, as if this is the most normal type of relationship ever. And I guess to him it would be.
I huff out a laugh. “I thought you liked me because I had a little fire in me.” My brow rises in question.
“You will need it living with my son. But you step a foot out of line and you will know about it. When we arrive in Rome you will meet the rest of my family. My other son’s wife, Margherita, will show you how to act. She is the perfect example.”
I glance at Orlando as if to say what the fuck. But he nods along with his papa as if he agrees, so I throw him a death look that saysgo fuck yourself. It earns me an unimpressed blank stare, so I know he got the message loud and clear.
Emilio reaches across and takes my hand in his, forcing my attention back to him. His grip is firm but not unkind, even though I get the impression it could change at a second’s notice. My palm goes all clammy, not wanting him to touch me. “There are also a few important details you need to know before we arrive. Now that you’re married to my son, you’re not just a wife but a vital part of ourorganization, and in the spirit of welcoming you to our family and joining our family names, I have rewritten my will and made you the sole heir to my entire fortune and businesses.”
I sit up taller, feeling like I’m about to puke as the blood drains from my face. “What?” Wave after wave of nausea washes over me, and my skin goes all clammy. My attention shifts to Orlando, and I see the truth. This is the fucked-up reason they’re all playing along. I’m not just trapped in a marriage to this family, I’m tied to everything. “What the fuck, Orlando?” My head spins with the terrifying possibilities of what this really means.
Emilio clasps my hand tighter, almost too tight, so that it feels like he’s about to break a bone. “See, darling, you think you’re smart, but I’m more cunning and I know how to control my sons. It became very apparent to me over the last six months that you’re their weakness. They will do anything for you, even come home if your life is under threat.” He stares me down as he lets that settle in. I’m being punished because his sons fell for me!
I glare back at him, trying to process what this means. Why he would do this to me? He has three sons, he could have left any one of them in charge of his businesses and fortune. I don’t want any bit of it.
And like he knows what I’m thinking, his grin widens to psychotic. “You can’t walk away or you will die without my protection. My enemies are now yours. And they’re lurking around every fucking corner, darling, trust me. You’re about to be one powerful woman. Think of the next few months as your internship into the Moretti family business. We will teach you everything you need to know about our media and entertainment endeavors, and Orlando will be by your side to make sure you don’t step out of line while you’re learning. Tomorrow I will hold a press conference announcing your newposition within my family and the media and entertainment sides to my operations. After, we will gather with the other families within the Moretti organization and announce Orlando as my successor, our next don. It’s time for me to step down.” He chuckles darkly. “There won’t be a name in Italy who won’t know who you are, darling.”
I keep staring back at him, and my mouth opens and closes to say something, to put up a protest and fight him on this madness, but the words won’t leave my mouth. With all the shit I have already experienced today, you would think nothing more would shock me. But this… this is insane. And stupid, right? Why would he put me in charge of anything? To make sure I’m so scared to leave, because without his protection, I could die at the hands of his enemies. It’s insane.
I glance at Orlando and see he looks pale. This is why he’s been complying with his papa’s fucked-up instructions. He knows I’m tangled up in this mess far more than he can control. “No,” I tell Orlando.
His hand moves to my knee, and I feel the pressure of his fingertips pressing into my thigh as he slowly runs his fingers up it. “Yes.”
I keep staring at him, dumbfounded. I’m never going home. If this is true, I’m fucking stuck in Italy with them. “W… why?” I stutter out, not sure why anyone would do this to me. If he wanted his sons to take over, why not just make them his heirs?
Emilio’s lips twist up at the sides as his eyes run over Orlando. “It was time you all came home. This war needs to be fought with my sons at my side. And now it will be.” Emilio tugs at my hand so I’m looking back at him. I can already tell he doesn’t like it when all the attention in the room isn’t on him. “What’s the best way to catch a lying little rat? Find out what he likes to eat and trap it.” Emilio’s grin widens, but this time it’s for his son. Is he the lying little rat in this scenario? I guess that makes me what he likes to eat. “My sons lied to me for you,let me down, repeatedly in your name. Kept you hidden from me for years like their little secret, and now they pay, knowing you’re suffering a life sentence because of their bad decisions.”
He’s punishing all of us. The boys for protecting me and me for being the object of their obsession. I have to get the fuck out of here. Have to run as soon as we touch down on land. I don’t give a fuck if we’re in another country, I won’t stay here and be told what to do by him.
Emilio pats my hand as though I’m a silly kitten, but his expression is anything but kind, like he’s reading my inner thoughts, and when his cold eyes lock with mine, an icy chill comes over my skin. “You never turn on the family, or we will hunt you down and make you pay.” There is no hiding his threat. This little talk was all about making sure I know exactly who is in control here. Him.
