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“You know that you will be nothing more than a whore to him, right?” He steps toward me, the distance between us virtually gone. “He will fuck you and put a baby in you to seal the deal. You are nothing more than an incubator and a means to an end.”

The truth of what he says lodges itself in my throat and refuses to come up.

“It’s a pity your family had to sell you like cattle all because your brother couldn’t dodge a bullet.”

I hear the slap before my palm feels the impact of connecting with his cheek. I stare at him stunned, my eyes moving between my hand and his face in pure and utter shock.

Daniele huffs, but there is no humor in his tone. He turns his head ever so slowly in my direction. I can practically see the steam coming out of his ears. The man’s face is bright red, and his body trembles with rage.

Shit.

“Daniele…” I look around but we are alone in this hallway. I should never have asked to talk with him here. “I think we both need to calm down.”

“So, you’re a tough girl. Funny, I didn’t peg you for much of a fighter.” He leers toward me, his chest rises and falls dramatically as he breathes in heavily. “Let’s see how much of a fight you put up.”

He goes to reach for me, but the roar of a loud voice breaks us apart. I snap my neck to the side and see Matteo storming down the hallway toward us. His face is cool but his steps are deliberate and strong.

He is a man on a mission.

“Oh goody, if it isn’t my daddy dearest come to the rescue of my step-mommy.” The ridicule in his tone is obvious.

“Enough of this, Daniele.” He comes to a halt and drags me behind him, a shield between father and son. “I taught you better than this. Your mother taught you better than to raise a hand to a woman.”

Daniele’s nostrils flare. “Don’t speak about my mother. You went and marriedher.”

“Only because you ran from your commitment, Daniele. Do you have any idea what you did that day?” Matteo is surprisingly soft with his son. He is never this… gentle when he speaks to other people. “You almost screwed everything up.”

Daniele steps toward his father, and they are now toe to toe. The tension in the air is thick and laden with electrical charge. It feels like one wrong move could set this entire thing on fire.

“I didn’t want to clean up the mess that you made, Papá.” There is an edge to his voice. “I think things worked out exactly how they were supposed to, don’t you think?”

The silence that follows is deafening. The two Davacalli men stand in front of each other. The king and his heir in a faceoff. And all I can do is stand off to the side, praying that this does not come to blows.

Matteo huffs. “Learn your place, Daniele. Or I will teach it to you—I am still your father.”

Daniele clicks his tongue. “How could I forget, Daddy Dearest? Forgive me.”

He steps away from his father and then whips his gaze to meet mine. “Careful, Maria. You’re in bed with the devil.”

“Daniele.” Matteo hisses but it’s too late. His son turns on his heel and makes his way toward the ballroom, leaving me with his father.

The air is laden with tension and anxiety. I have no idea what I just witnessed, but the Daniele who stood in front of me is not the same boy I grew up with back in New York. He isn’t the same man who sat with me for hours on the edge of the pool and talked.

I clear my throat. “I think we should head back. People will be missing us.”

I start to walk in the direction of the ballroom but Matteo’s hand whips out and stops me dead in my tracks. I look over my shoulder at him, confused.

“What?” I pull my hand out of his hold and, surprisingly, he allows me to. “I am getting very tired of men just grabbing me when they feel like it.”

“That necklace—who allowed you to wear that?” The force in his voice throws me. He stares at the necklace like he has seen a ghost. “Who?”

I flinch at the anger in his tone. “Emily. She–she said that it belongs to every Davacalli bride. It’s an heirloom.”

“It was my mother’s,” he quipped. “You have no right to be wearing it.”

It was his previous wife’s necklace.

“That necklace holds a lot of sentimental meaning. You can’t wear it.”