Page 109 of Mafia Virgin (The Kings of Italy)

“So I should be grateful? Is that it? Sex doesn’t solve this, Giacomo. In fact, it makes it worse. You don’t trust me enough to be a part of your life, even though we’re married and sharing a bed.”

The back of my neck grew hot. “None of this is a surprise. You knew Virga had leverage over me. You didn’t have any problem with letting me fuck you then, still begging me to put a baby inside you. So what changed?”

“What changed is that I didn’t think that leverage would call here and nearly start crying on the phone to me.”

Vivi almost cried? Emma hadn’t mentioned it before, and now I was even more worried. Did this Federico boy know of Viviana’s history? Would he know what to do if she had a panic attack? “Fuck! Why didn’t you tell me that?”

“Do you hear yourself? You want me to tell you everything, yet you tell me nothing. How is that possibly fair? Trust has to go both ways.”

An inferno raged inside my chest, a storm of frustration and fear. I couldn’t think straight. “Fair? This life isn’t fair, little girl. I am the boss andyouanswer tome. And why should I trust you? You didn’t want this marriage, either. You’re trying to leave me the first chance you get. You said it yourself—all you care about is getting back to Toronto.”

“My father is dying!” She stared at me like she’d never seen me before. “I need to be with him. Now, before it’s too late.”

“Why? You can’t save him. Soon he will barely know you’re there.”

Her bottom lip trembled, but she lifted her chin. “True, but I still need to see him before he dies. He is the most important person in my life.”

The words made me even angrier. My come was still dripping out of her pussy and all she could talk about was her precious father. I put my hands on my hips and snarled down at her. “My sister is the most important person in my life—and thanks to you she’s in danger.”

“She is twenty-six! Maybe she wants a life for herself, one where she isn’t locked away. People can recover from childhood trauma to live healthy, full lives.”

My heart stopped beating for a fraction of a second. How dare she say these things to me? The nerve of this woman to presume she knew anything about my family.

My muscles swelled and a red mist coated my brain. “You have no fucking idea what you are talking about. Childhood trauma? She was terrorized by our father for years, screamed at and told she was worthless. Locked in her room. At six, he forced her to watch him torture and murder a man. She woke up screaming every night, catatonic with fear. So do not talk to me like you are an expert ever again.”

Speaking the horrors out loud threatened to send me to my knees, but I couldn’t show weakness. Not even in front of Emma. So I strode over to the wall and punched it twice. The pain did little to dull the anger hammering in my head.

When I turned I found her watching me with disgust. Finally. Now she knew the kind of man she married, brutal and barbaric. Raised by a monster to rule over an army of monsters. If she thought that would change because she whispered a few sweet words in my ear, she was mistaken.

I would never be anything different. I was cursed from birth.

Her throat worked delicately as she swallowed. “You have no intention of trusting me, do you? You’ll screw me, let me live here and give you an heir, but you don’t respect me enough to treat me like an equal.”

“Equal?” I sneered down at her. “It doesn’t work like that here. Do you think Ravazzani treats your sister like an equal? Or D’Agostino with your twin? No fucking way. Even if we both wanted this marriage, which we don’t, it wouldn’t work like that.”

“I know you’re hurting over Viviana and so you’re transferring your anger to me. But I don’t deserve this, Giacomo.”

She was so calm and it made my fury burn hotter. I was nearly shaking with it. “You don’t know shit, Emma! You think you’re smarter than everyone else, but you’re a naive sheltered girl, raised to be a mafia trophy wife and coddled by your father. You know nothing of the real world.”

Her eyes grew glassy, but I didn’t budge. I wasn’t wrong. She’d answered the phone today and put my sister in danger, all because she believed she knew best.

Then a tear slipped down my wife’s cheek.

I stared at the single drop, my insides clenching in regret. At no time in the past month had I seen Emma cry. Not at being forced here, married at gunpoint to a stranger, away from everything she knew—not one tear. This woman had endured it all bravely until right now. Because of me.

“You’re worse than a dog, Giacomo.”

I couldn’t block out my father’s voice, not in this room. Not when I was so fucking tired and heartsick.

And now I was just like him, spouting cruelty at those I should be comforting and protecting. I should be working to win Emma over, reassure her and get her to stay with me, but I couldn’t find those words, only accusations and venom. At this moment I hated myself every bit as much as I hated him.

“Minchia!” I shouted, slamming my fist into the wall once more.

At the sound Emma curled into a ball on the bed and covered her head with her hands. I couldn’t hear her crying, but her shoulders were shaking as she quietly sobbed.

Like my mother.

The realization was a gut punch. My skin felt like it was going to split open at any second, spilling all the ugliness festering inside me onto the worn carpet. This house, this family was cursed.

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