Page 45 of Sins of the Son

His brow lowered. “Enlighten me. You insisted on keeping this job. I agreed, and you used it to make me jealous. Despite that, I’m letting you return to it. Now you say you no longer want it, so what am I missing, Milana?”

Fuck. When he put it that way, I sounded like an unreasonable shrew. “Never mind. Go get the car.”

He held me by my shoulders. “Fuck the car, tell me.”

“It’s fine.”

He sighed as his thumbs rubbed circles on my upper arms. “I can stay like this all day.”

I had a flashback to when we were seventeen. He used to stand like this and rub my shoulders just this way when he knew I was upset about something, but stubbornly didn’t want to tell him. Usually it was something my grandmother had done, or something nasty another classmate had said about my mother. Somehow, he always got me to tell him in the end.

There was the time when we were sixteen and Cesare practically put Tito Genovese in the hospital for spreading the rumor that I was a whore, because I had turned him down when he asked me out. I frowned. I had forgotten about that. Cesare had been in a rage. He had torn the school apart, looking for Tito the moment he heard the gossip. The only reason Tito was even alive today was because I was worried Cesare was going to actually kill him and I ran to get Enzo.

It took Enzo and two of his friends to physically pull Cesare off Tito. There was an enormous scandal in the village and cries for Cesare to face jail time that were, of course, quickly hushed up with Cavalieri money.

How could I have forgotten how Cesare had always been so protective of me?

It made the attack that happened later when I turned seventeen that much more confusing.

Could I have gotten it wrong?

Maybe Cesare hadn’t betrayed me?

Maybe it hadn’t been him who set me up… who sent those boys to….

No… I know what they said.

I know what I heard.

They said very clearly that Cesare had sent them to teach me a lesson.

I shook off the disturbing memory. I had enough trouble in the present without borrowing more from the past.

Cesare leaned down to meet me eye to eye. “Tell me.” The dark command in his voice was unmistakable. Matteo had been right. There was no trace of the boy I once knew, only the dangerous man I was playing with fire by defying.

Deciding I had nothing to lose by being honest, I told him. “I wouldn’t expect a Cavalieri to understand, but this job meant something to me. I had a purpose, real responsibilities. I was getting respect. I was no longer the unwanted bastard daughter of a druggie slut.”

His jaw clenched. “No one has ever dared call you that within my hearing.”

I broke eye contact, not wanting to see the pity in his gaze. “Yeah, but I haven’t been under your protection for a very long time, Cesare. Not since—I’ve been on my own for a long time and small-minded people can be cruel.”

“Whose fault is—” He bit off whatever he was going to say with a curse. His eyes narrowed. “You’re under my protection now. And everyone will show you respect, or they’ll answer to me.”

I laughed. “Oh my God, you’re not serious?”

His brow furrowed.

I shook my head. “Damn. It must be so fucking nice being a Cavalieri. Seriously, what color is the sky in your world?”

“Think you can answer without the sass, or should I take off my belt again?”

I sighed. “What do you think is happening down in those offices right now?”

“Well, hopefully, they are doing what I pay them to do.”

“Wrong. They are gossiping about how Milana Carbone is just like her whore of a mother. How I’m fucking the boss. They're probably saying that is how I got promoted so quickly. Never mind all my hard work, or that I’m better at this than most of the people here and freaking deserved that promotion. They are overlooking all my accomplishments in this office over the last month and assuming I did it all on my back! They’re saying I’m just a gold digger hoping to land a rich Cavalieri son. Just like they were saying back in school. And who can blame them when you fucking broke down a fucking door and carried me out of the office over your shoulder?”

He threw his head back and stared up at the ceiling as he let out a frustrated groan. “Dammit, Milana. You know that was not my intention.”

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