Page 264 of Merciless Desires

“And I want you to have the wedding of your dreams, amorina. My input is not meant to sway you from having everything you’ve always wanted.”

She sat up further and fixed me with a glare. It took a hell of a lot of willpower not to break her gaze and stare at her incredible tits.

“Everything I’ve always wanted?”

“Yes.”

“So, if I want…a bouncy castle at our wedding…”

“Then we’ll have one, amorina. Would you like a bouncy castle at our wedding?”

“No,” she sighed. “I want…my mamma at our wedding.”

Marcella lay back against the bed and stared up at the ceiling.

I shifted onto my side and practically wrapped myself around her. “Tell me about her.”

A soft smile worked its way across her face. “She’s incredible. Strong, caring, and always smiling. She’s sick right now, and we don’t know what’s wrong with her.”

“I’m sorry,” I said honestly, but that made her frown.

“All of the tests, hospital visits, doctors’ visits, everything came back normal. But she can barely stand anymore. She can barely get out of bed. About two months ago, she seemed like she was doing better, but when she was walking around, she passed out and hit her head. Gave herself a concussion.”

I didn’t want to tell her I was sorry again. My sympathy wouldn’t help the matter at hand. I listened, and tried to think of how I could help. If I could help.

I hadn’t met her mamma. I had stood outside the bedroom door of her mamma’s room when Marcella had told me to clean her sister’s face and then ran.

Annabella had frowned and said she did something wrong. I had asked what she had meant, and she admitted that she’d told Marcella that their mamma had been breathing funny and had to be taken to the hospital.

I had cleaned her face as fast as I could and told her to go play, but before I could go upstairs to be with my bride-to-be, I had to deal with the shit-for-brains staff who wasn’t doing his fucking job. Broke his hand, threatened his life, met Marcella’s middle sister, and then stood outside the bedroom door, listening like a fucking creep.

Marcella had been pissed when she ran into me, and I hadn’t heard enough to know why being there had been such a big deal. So…I had responded like an ass and let my fucking arousal rule my brain.

“I thought I would plan my wedding with her.”

“I know, amorina.”

Whatever was going on with her mamma, I needed to make sure that she was at our wedding. For Marcella.

I stared at Lino Tocci through the hazy mixture of cigar and cigarette smoke that filled the games room.

This was technically my bachelor party. A quiet night of playing poker in my home, because I respected Marcella enough not to go to some strip club where my men would try to entice me to sleep with someone other than my bride-to-be. To get it out of my system.

I didn’t want to sleep with anyone else. Sleeping with Marcella was the only thing on my mind lately, clouding every rational thought.

I wanted to devour her day and night, spend every waking moment discovering her body over and over because I truly was insatiable.

Tocci glanced down at his cards one final time before sighing. He tossed his cards toward the center of the table.

“Fold,” he grumbled around his cigar.

I drew the chips toward me, finding the game wasn’t as entertaining when everyone in this room was betting with my money. Winning wasn’t actually winning when I was the owner of the cash.

“Any word from Dominov?” Ulisse Mazzi asked, shuffling the deck.

He was a recently promoted capo, having been a made man for nearly twenty years under my father’s reign. He had an insatiable thirst for blood, and he wasn’t afraid of getting his hands dirty. He was purposefully single, not wanting any sort of weakness, which made him a near-perfect killer.

I shrugged and opened my mouth to respond, but my papà, who I hadn’t invited, responded for me.

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