Page 41 of Keeping My Bride

He stops and turns, and the look in his eyes scares the hell out of me. In a few long strides, he closes the distance between us, wrapping his hand around my neck. He slams me up against the wall and leans in until he’s only an inch away from my face. “Someone in your family killed my mother. I was only twelve years old when she was murdered in cold blood in our fucking kitchen,” he says, his voice dangerously low.

“W-wh-what?” I sputter.

“Do you know what that does to a boy, seeing his mother die right in front of his own fucking eyes, in his fucking arms?”

“Your mother was murdered?” I whisper.

“I bet your dear old dad didn’t tell you that one, did he? No, you were too spoiled, always sheltered and kept out of the loop on all of that shit.”

“How do you know it was my family that did it?” I dare to ask.

“Because they always killed their enemies in the same way. By slashing their throat three times. The same number of daggers in the Moretti family crest.”

Tears fill my eyes as I realize he’s telling the truth. It all makes sense now. The reason why our families went from acquaintances to sworn enemies almost overnight. I knew his mom died, but I never knew the why or how behind it all.

I swallow hard against his hand wrapped around my throat. He squeezes, and I instinctively bring my hands up, grabbing his wrist.

“But I guess our grandfathers thought this marriage would bring some kind of peace even though I could never truly love anyone that bears the name Moretti.”

My brain is working on overtime, trying to process all of the information. I guess I was kept in the dark, because my father never told me any of this. I had no idea that the Vitales blamed my family for the death of Luca’s mother. No wonder their hatred runs so deep for us.

“Go get something to eat. Starvation isn’t a cruel enough death.” He releases me then, leaving me stunned into silence.

He walks out of the room, and I’m left alone. I glance at the kitchen, but I couldn’t possibly eat anything now. My stomach cramps in protest, but I’ve completely lost my appetite. In fact, I feel as if I could throw up. The fact that Luca witnessed his mother’s death makes me sick. He was so young and innocent. It explains why he grew up into the cold, callous man that he is now. Her murder changed him.

Now that I know the truth behind his hatred for me, it makes me fear for my safety here, for the safety of my father. With me in Luca’s home, right next to the enemy, it makes us all vulnerable.

I decide right then and there that I will go visit my father in the morning and get to the bottom of all of this. If my father really is to blame for the death of Luca’s mother, then that will change everything.

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