Page 120 of Tyrant (The Villetti Chronicles)

“We should get back downstairs.”

I moved back towards my mother and leant down, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

“Ti voglio bene, Mamá.”

She might not be able to hear me, but I needed her to know I would always care for her. That none of this was her fault. If only my father hadn’t found her when she’d left him. If only I’d known what he’d do. Wishful thinking on my part, really. Life had dealt us with a shitty hand. One day, I’d find a way to set her free from my father.

Ari took my hand, and we walked back out into the hallway together. When we reached the bottom of the stairs, Enzo was standing in the lobby watching us.

“Can I do something for you?”

Enzo squared his shoulders.

“Yeah, you can tell me why the fuck you’re pissed off at me this time.”

I frowned.

“Where did you get that idea from?”

“She said you weren’t happy with me.”

I looked down at Ari. She gave me a sheepish smile. My eyes went back to my brother, who gave me a dirty look. I didn’t need his shit right now, but apparently, I wasn’t going to get away without a confrontation with him tonight.

“I see.” I let go of Ari’s hand and took a step towards him. “You promised me you wouldn’t say a word about her to our father.”

“And I didn’t!”

“No, but you told Gil.”

Enzo’s face paled slightly, but he kept glaring as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

“Gil isn’tPapá. And so what? I couldn’t talk to you about this shit you’ve got yourself into without you biting my head off again. I kept it in the family, didn’t I?”

“Keeping it in the family, huh? Some fucking family we have. You can imagine my surprise when I discovered Gil told the one person I didn’t need interfering in my life about Arianna. This is what I mean about actions having consequences, Enzo, something you still fail to comprehend. You should have kept your mouth shut.”

His face fell slightly.

“Gil told him?” He shook his head. “I can’t believe that. He would never. I trust him. He promised.”

Something about Enzo’s tone made me pause. Gil didn’t break his promises when he made them. We’d grown up in a family where your word was law. If you made a promise, you stuck to it under the pain of death.

Before I had a chance to follow that train of thought, my father came out into the hallway and looked at the three of us with disdain written all over his features. He closed the door to the living room, shutting out the noise coming from there.

“Well, if it isn’t both of my wayward sons.” His eyes went to Ari before he waved at me. “And this one’s whore.”

I flinched and clenched my fists. Arianna was not a whore. She was a fucking queen. The fact he called her that made my blood boil.

“What did you just say?”

Gennaro gave me an evil smile.

“What else would she be, Zayn? Not like you would ever make her your wife. You think I don’t know that you were choosing to placate me by insisting you would find your own woman? I’m not a fool. You have no intention of getting married. You never have.”

He stepped closer.

“Whatever it is you’re planning, you should know I won’t standby idly and let you bring this whore into our family. She will never be a Villetti. She will never befamiglia.”

Forty

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