Page 19 of Sins of the Son

I grabbed her ankles and pulled, flattening her onto her back. Before she could react, I straddled her hips. The moment she raised her arms to strike out, I snatched her wrists and stretched them over her head. I then slid my body over hers, pushing my thigh between her legs, pinning her to the bed with my weight. “Listen to me, la mia piccola gattina selvaggia, because I’m only going to say this once. We didn’t have sex. Sex is a meaningless biological function. We didn’t even fuck or make love. There isn’t a word for what we did tonight. The second my cock entered your body, I claimed you for my own. In that very moment, I knew you were my fate. You became a part of me, part of my blood. The fact that you were a virgin only reaffirmed it. You were meant for me, and only me. There isn’t a single part of you or your life that isn’t now my business. Do you understand me? You can run, bite, fight, yell, and scream all you want, Milana. It won’t change a thing. You’re mine now. Mine to take care of. Mine to protect. The sooner you realize that, the easier it will be for you.”

“I’ll never be yours.”

“You already are. You just haven’t accepted it yet, but you will.”

She pulled on her wrists. “You arrogant, sonofabitch, prick…”

I tightened my grasp. “Skip to the part where you explain what happened tonight.”

She let out a long, frustrated sigh. “There is nothing to explain. It was just a nightmare.”

I lowered my brow as I stared down at her. “That was no goddamn nightmare. You were terrified and I want to know of what.”

“Why?”

“Whatever has you so frightened, I’ll take care of it.”

Both her eyebrows rose. “You’ll take care of it?”

My lips thinned. “That’s right.” She didn’t need to know the details. My family had ways of dealing with problems that weren’t exactly legal.

She tilted her head to the side, observing me. “So, what? You’re now my knight in shining armor, come to save me? Come to slay the scary dragons that plague me at night?”

I knew she was being sarcastic. I knew this was her way of protecting herself. From me. From everyone. From the world. It was no secret she didn’t have it easy growing up. Her mother was trash who’d slept with anything that moved in exchange for a drink or drugs. She abandoned Milana when she was a toddler. Milana grew up with her religious zealot of a grandmother, who seemed intent on punishing Milana for her mother’s sins. It was anyone’s guess who her father was, although the village gossips had opinions on the subject, none of them good. Milana had learned from a young age to fend for herself, to be independent. It would take time for her to realize she had me to fight her battles now.

A warmth filled my chest at the thought of being this beautiful creature’s knight protector. “Just tell me who brought the fear to your eyes, and I swear to God, I’ll see to it they never take another breath.”

Her gaze hardened. “It’s you.”

The force of her words struck me like a fist. “What?” I could barely choke out the word past the bile rising in the back of my throat.

“You’re the terror from my dreams.”

* * *

Why do you hate me so much?

You know what you did.

CHAPTER 7

CESARE

The sharp edge of the blade sliced through the vine. I grasped the ashy, deep purple bunch of grapes in my hand and laid them in the basket at my feet. Moving down the row, I snatched at the next vine and aggressively sliced my knife through it.

“Damn, what did that vine do to you?”

I placed the grapes into the basket and turned to watch my father approach on horseback down a path between the vines. An icy mist hung low in the air, waiting for the sun’s warm rays to burn it away. While it was better to harvest the grapes in the cool of the early morning when their sugar levels were at their highest, it was still several hours before dawn.

I sliced through another vine and added the bunch to the basket. “I couldn’t sleep.”

My father slid down from the saddle and pulled off his leather gloves as he approached me. “Anything you want to talk about?”

I glanced at him over my shoulder. His brow was lowered and creased with worry. I knew what he was alluding to. Enzo informed me of Renata’s outburst a few nights ago. God, that wife of his was a fucking bitch. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that the trouble she'd caused with Dante Abruzzo’s criminal enterprise wasn’t the first or last fire we would have to put out because of her. Right now, though, her petty meddling was the very least of my concerns.

I bent and rested another bunch of grapes on top of the others already in the basket at my feet. I folded the knife I was holding closed and turned to approach Papà.

He had taken an old stainless steel thermos out of his saddlebag, along with two tin cups. As he unscrewed the cap, a waft of steam rose, sending the comforting rich, yet bitter scent of coffee into the air. Despite my inner turmoil, the corner of my mouth lifted. It was one of many things I loved about my father. Despite all our wealth, he still wore my great-grandfather’s Panerai Radiomir watch with its worn leather band that had been replaced countless times over the years. Despite the fact that it no longer kept time and couldn’t be fixed because it contained dangerous radium, he rarely took it off. And no harvest was complete without him riding around on his big black stallion with this scratched and dented thermos in his saddlebag.

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