Page 47 of Corrupted Heir (Mafia Kings: Corrupted 1)

“What do you want, Dominic?” she asked while her eyes darted back and forth from me to the hallway.

“I want this bullshit to stop now,” I said, standing up and taking two steps toward her.

She laughed, but it came out a touch on the maniacal side. She was all fire and fight today.

“Whenever you’re done with me and you’re ready to stop keeping me here against my will, just let me know.”

I clicked my tongue. She made it sound like I’d kidnapped her and was keeping her here for my own depraved desires.

“Do you think I want this?” I barked which made her jolt.

“You’re the one keeping me locked in here, aren’t you?” she spat, loud enough that she couldn’t hide the slight tremor in her voice.

“I’m keeping you here to keep your ass safe. And I’m marrying you because I don’t have a fucking choice. I’m just as trapped as you are, Fallon. Do you really think I want to marry you?”

She flinched like I’d cut her deep.

She opened her mouth but then closed it as if she’d thought better of it.

“What do you mean you’re just as trapped?” she asked, and though she still looked angry, there was genuine curiosity in her gaze.

“I mean this marriage is my father’s idea, not mine.”

She was silent, like she was actually taking the time to process that information.

“But you’re just going along with it?” It came out like a question, but it didn’t sound much like one.

Still, I nodded. “It’s important to my family, and I meant it when I said loyalty was everything. I’d do anything for them, Fallon.”

She winced like I’d hurt her again. “Even take away my choice, my future?”

“Yes,” I said quietly because I wasn’t proud of it. My family needed this, and I would do anything for them, but in the past, it had always been my safety at stake, my life on the line. Not someone else’s. Nothers.

“I thought one day if I ever married, it would be to someone who loved me, to someone who put me first, who didn’t use me. Someone who wasn’t…” She trailed off, leaving the words unspoken, but I could see them in her eyes even as she tried to hide them from herself.

“…like your father?” I finished gently.

“Don’t say that. You don’t know him.” Her eyes flared, but it wasn’t anger, it was denial.

“Yes, I do know him,limone.And I know you deserved better.”

She scoffed. “Better? Like you?”

“No, not like me,” I said, balling my hands into fists.

I thought of how she saved Bullet’s life. I thought of the relief that washed over my father’s face when I told him Bullet was going to be fine. I thought of how Bullet wasn’t the first dog she’s ever saved.

She deserved to be able to do that for the rest of her life. Not be trapped here, constantly worrying if a bullet was out there waiting for her, waiting to be shot through her heart.

But bloodisthicker than water.

“But you’re still going to go through with this.” There was no inflection in her tone, no question in her voice.

“You’ll want for nothing,” I said like it was some consolation prize, but we both knew it wasn’t true.

She would forever want one thing, and it was the one thing I couldn’t offer her.

Chapter Seventeen

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