Page 39

“My hair. I don’t know, you gave me that choice. What if they start asking me questions? I’m not a liar. I’m not...” She looked panicked.
He took hold of her hand and pulled her in closer. “You’re not what?”
“I don’t want to ruin what you’re doing.”
“I know, and you won’t. I won’t be leaving your side.”
“But the wives are always left alone.”
“Not with me,” Boone said. “I won’t let you leave. I’ll keep you by my side. This could be kind of fun.”
“Fun?” She was going to throw up.
“Yeah, fun. Your family and the whole Bonaldi family are big on women being submissive, right? You live for your husbands?”
“You know that.”
“Yes, so that means I can have a little fun with you.”
Lucia frowned. “I don’t know if I like the sound of that.”
Boone smiled. “You don’t at the moment, but trust me, you’re going to.”
He stroked her cheek. “Did you have fun today?”
“Yeah, I did. I like coming here. I like seeing the families. It’s fun.”
He moved her so she was sitting between his thighs. “Is it a family you’d like?” he asked.
“One day I’d like a family, but I don’t...” She suddenly stopped.
“What is it?” he asked.
“It’s ... silly.”
“Nothing is silly.”
“This is.” She sighed.
“You know, I can’t help you if you don’t tell me about it.”
“Do you think you can fix everything?”
“I’ve been doing a pretty good job of it so far. Don’t underestimate me.”
She laughed. “That’s true. Fine, here it goes. If I have a family one day, then I don’t want them to be at the mercy of my dad, or this world. I don’t want them to witness someone getting murdered at the dinner table.”
He felt her tense up between his thighs.
“Did you witness something like that?”
“Yeah, and not just once.” She told him the story about one of the women that served them. How she had become her father’s favorite, and her mother didn’t like it. An insult led to this woman being killed right in front of her.
“I’ve got you,” he said.
“It’s fine. It wasn’t the first time and it probably won’t be the last.”
“Why do you say that?”