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Fine. I’d send the family flowers. “Okay, Daddy. I’ll do what I can.” What was the point in arguing with him?

“There’s something else.”

There almost always was. “What do you need me to do?”

“An alliance has been formed between the Santorelli family and ours. It’s a tremendous step in advancing our territories and our hold on the East Coast.”

“You’re sharing your regime with a monster?”

I could tell by the twinkle in my father’s eyes he was amused by my comment. “I believe you’ve called me that more than once in your life.”

He was right about that. “You know what I mean. Why would you do that? Why would he agree?”

“Because there are several organizations vying to take control of what belongs to us. We can’t and won’t allow that to happen.”

Understandable, but I had no clue how the two men, no matter how powerful they were, could stop the future. “I hear you, Dad. First, you need to concentrate on getting better. You were very lucky.”

“Lucky? My men saved me. We lost two of them. Two! I will not allow any additional lives to be lost.” His blood pressure was increasing, the beeping sounds indicating he’d moved to the redline level.

“Calm down, Daddy. Please? I don’t know how I can help you.”

“It’s simple,” he managed after another coughing spell.

“Okay, how so?”

His grip on my hand was even stronger than before. He looked me directly in the eye, his expression turning stern. “Youwillmarry Dion Marcini, combining families and creating an impenetrable tether.”

“Not a chance, Daddy. I’d do almost anything for you, but not that.”

He tilted his head, his eyes searching mine. “I truly don’t want to require Amber to marry a man twice her age, but I will do so if necessary.”

I was horrified. “She’s a child!”

“She’s seventeen. I married your mother when she was that age.”

My stomach was twisted in knots. “No, I will not do it, and if you dare try and force my baby sister into living some insane family responsibility, I swear to God I will find a way to keep that from happening.” I jerked up, more disgusted with my father than I’d ever been.

For him to even suggest something so repulsive was completely out of character for him. Or maybe I was fooling myself and had been my entire life. He didn’t care about his family. He only cared about money and his goddamn power.

I headed for the door, shaking all over.

“You will do this, Carmella, or I will have no choice.”

“I won’t let you force Amber to marry that pig.”

“Perhaps not, but I’m certain you’ll reconsider if you fully understand that I have the power to control your destiny, including Gabriel.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” I spun around, hissing for the first time at the man. “What are you insinuating, Father?”

“That I’ll have no choice but to give Derek what he wants.”

Derek. My ex. The man who’d abandoned me when I’d needed him the most. “And what’s that?”

“Your son.”

CHAPTER5

Alejandro