Page 56 of Immoral

When the time is right,I remind myself. I project that sometime soon, the reality of our situation will hit Cara again. She'll do something to try and push me away. And since I'm a total bastard, I'll use what I did to reinforce that she's mine.

"Damn, brother. I thought you knew what year it was," Massimo taunts.

"Buying women isn't in our business model," Tristano adds.

"Shut up, you dumbasses," I order.

"How much did you pay?" Massimo asks.

"None of your fucking business," I spit.

Papà growls, "Since when did all my sons become idiots?"

"Calm down, Papà," Dante states.

Papà points at him. "If you believe your brother is making good choices for our family, then you're not ready to lead."

"Once again, Dante is incapable," I mutter, over the constant opinion my father tosses out whenever things go wrong. Dante is nothing but capable of taking over. I believe in him, and Papà should, too. And the constant assertion that he's not is getting old.

Papà waves his hands in the air. His cheeks turn redder. "You have no business speaking right now. You've jeopardized Luca!"

"I've done no such thing. Luca has always done whatever is needed to make a quick dime. This will look no different," I insist.

"Stupid fool. You've put him in a compromising position," Papà states.

The more Papà speaks, the more my wrath grows. I sniff hard then belt out, "I don't believe I've put Luca in harm's way. If I have, then it had to be."

"It had to be?" Papà explodes.

"To make sure Cara wasn't sold to some Abruzzo? Yes! And I'll be damned if I apologize for doing what I had to do to rescue her."

"But how does she feel about it?" Massimo interjects.

"Shut up," Dante orders, slapping him on the head.

Papà motions to my youngest brothers. "You two. Out! Now!"

Tristano whines, "Again? It was just getting good."

Papà's cheeks turn purple. Daggers fly out of his orbs.

"Get out of here," Dante reiterates.

"Whatever. This conversation is getting stale anyway," Tristano claims.

"Agreed. I have more important things to do with my time," Massimo adds.

"You better be referring to your business dealings," Papà warns.

Arrogance rolls off Massimo's expression. "My business is always in order."

"Sure it is," I mumble.

"What the fuck does that mean?" Massimo fumes.

I almost tell him it means he should stop fucking the librarian and open his eyes. She helped the Abruzzo thug Donato gain access to the library basement. He kidnapped my sister and held her hostage there. Massimo can claim all he wants she was an innocent pawn, but I don't believe a word she says. She's bad news, and he needs to stop thinking with his dick.

Instead of outing him to my father, I lock eyes with him. "You know what it means."

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