Page 109 of Savage Vow (Mafia Marriages 3)

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ivy says.

“Are you really going to pretend today was a coincidence?” I ask, huffing under my breath. “You can’t be that stupid, Ivy. You know what I do for a living. I’m sure Karina already told you.”

“Yes! She told me that you’re a monster, and now I get to see it firsthand.” Her eyes glint.

There’s a fierce determination behind her gaze.

“Did she happen to mention how I saved her life?” I pull up a stool and pin her with my stare. “I bet she forgot to mention that part, how Don Rinaldi wanted me to execute her, and I saved her life.”

“You’re a liar,” Ivy says.

It’s just the two of us alone in the prison cell. When I want to be released from behind the iron bars, I’ll shout out to Giovan to let me out. It prevents carrying a key inside the holding cell and an inmate from escaping.

“Why would I lie to you?” I ask.

“You want to see your son.”

She isn’t wrong, but I’m not lying. “I do want to see Ashton. He is my son, like you said, my flesh and blood. But I don’t want to hurt him or Karina.”

Her eyes tighten. “You’re a monster. You kidnapped my sister, forced her to marry you, and probably raped her.”

I’m appalled. I stand, the stool squeaking as I push it away. “Is that what you think? Is that what she said?”

I can’t believe her. I never forced myself physically on Karina, ever. I’ve also been a firm believer in consent. I don’t get my jollies off on a woman being afraid or not interested. There are plenty of women throwing themselves at me. I don’t need to be that monster.

“She didn’t have to,” Ivy says. “Just look at you. Your hands were all over me at the apartment. That wasn’t consensual!”

I exhale a heavy sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose. “I warned your sister that I would search her after she went into the apartment if she was leaving me outside in the hallway.”

She snorts. “I don’t believe you.”

I shrug. “Don’t care. I’m telling the truth. You don’t know anything about my relationship with Karina.” Does she know that we had sex this week? I’d guess not. Ivy hasn’t brought it up.

“I know enough. She wanted to get away from you.”

Ivy is right. Karina doesn’t trust me. It’s because of what she saw me do to that man in the prison. I run a hand through my hair, growling.

“Fuck!” I kick the stool that I sat on moments earlier across the prison cell, the wood slamming into the metal bars.

If I so much as lay a finger on Ivy, it’ll prove to Karina that I’m the savage she believes me to be.

Giovan hurries down the stairs, checking on me. I didn’t call him down, but I wasn’t particularly quiet with the stupid wood stool either. The damned thing is now broken, one of the legs knocked off. I toss the broken leg through the iron slat, outside of the prison doors.

The last thing I need is Ivy attempting to grab it as a weapon, although she is still tied up. But I don’t take my gaze off her.

“Tell me where my family is.”

Ivy shrugs. “Upstairs?”

I stalk closer, brooding over her. “I bet you think you’re funny.”

“I’m a riot at parties,” Ivy quips.

She looks so much like Karina. The resemblance makes my stomach knot. If it were Karina, I would want to tear off her clothes and fuck her in the prison cell.

It’s deceptive for her to look so much like her sister, my wife.

“I bet you are,” I mutter under my breath. “I need to talk to Karina. How have you been communicating with her? At work?”

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