Page 73

Dante

Asharp paincracked through my head, forcing me awake. The room around me was still blurry and hazy, I couldn't see a fucking thing.

A loud ringing pierced the inside of my head, blocking out the sounds around me, and putting the world on mute.

A voice was grumbling off in the background, the words all jumbled together as I tried to shake my head clear.

“I thought I told you!” Another thud of something hard as cement hit the side of my head. “Get the fuck up, you stupid fucking idiot!”

Shooting up in the bed, I felt Ivy jerk, gasping in fear. Instinctively I positioned myself in front of her, making sure whoever was raising hell on my skull right then couldn't get to her.

No one was going to hurt her. I meant that when I said it.

I didn't give a shit who was here for me, but they wouldn't lay a finger on her.

“Fuck!” I yelled, holding my arms out to block the intruder from her. “What the hell!?”

“I warned you, I fucking warned you.” My father's voice shattered my eardrums, his tone enraged with more anger than I had seen since Sesto screwed us over. “Get up.” Grabbing my arm, he yanked me from the bed and let me drop to the floor.

“Dad, what are you doing here?”

“How dare you question me.” His eyes swelled, lids disappearing into the sockets as the white of his eyes took over. “What the hell are you doing? I knew I shouldn't have listened to you! I knew I should have just killed her!”

“No, you can't kill her! Dad, Remo is going to pay, he's going to.” Waving my arms side to side, I shook my head no.

“Yeah, you're right, he is. He did already, last night. I tried calling you, but obviously you were too deep in her cunt to see that.” Scraping his hand over his head, he rubbed his forehead. “What the fuck were you thinking?”

Climbing off the floor, I stood inches from my father’s face. “Does it matter? So I got laid, so what? Is that such a bad thing? It doesn't change anything. You didn't care if Tony wanted her, so what the hell is the difference?”

I needed to calm him down, I wanted him to think it was just sex. But even as the words came out, I felt how wrong I was.

It wasn't just sex, I didn't just fuck her. She had claimed a piece of me just as much as I claimed her. I hated that she even had to hear me say it that way. I didn't mean it all, but this was the game. All I could hope was that she knew I was playing a role, feeding him lines to help settle his anger.

I had to keep him from killing her. If my father thought that for one second I was weak, that she had wiggled her fingers around me and was using me to her advantage . . .

Ivy would be done.

And I didn't fight this hard to make her mine for him to end it right here like this.

“Is that right?” An ominous chuckle rolled through the room as he clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “Do you think I'm stupid?”

“No, I—”

Cutting me off, he growled. “Shut up. I didn't give you permission to speak.” Thumbing the side of his gun, my father eyed me through thin lids. “Do you think I don't know what you did? Did you really think that your little stunt wouldn't find its way to me?”

Looking at Ivy, she tilted her head in confusion. Her lips drew in, growing razor sharp, brows furrowing deep into the bridge of her nose. “What did you do, Dante?”

Raising a finger in her direction, my father spoke low and firm. “I don't want to hear you say another word.” His face stayed on mine, voice bubbling with delirious rage. “You really thought you could change the rules in this? That you could throw your weight where it didn't belong?”

“No.” Balling my fists, I couldn't hide how fucking pissed I was. My father wasn't right this time, he was playing with an open flame that he kept dousing with gasoline.

I've always done what he said and never asked more questions than I deserved. I've moved the freight through barred doors and pulled the trigger so many times I couldn't count.

But this time I couldn't do it.

I won't do it.

“You asked Remo if you could buy her. You want to purchase his slut, Dante?”