Page 24

Evangelia squeaked and dodged his touch, accidentally knocking into my glass of lemonade.

I snatched it before it tipped.

“Telling Iris that she’s only valuable if she gets married,” Evangelia answered, giving her brother a salty look.

Iosif laughed. “Yeah, dangerous is the right word.”

Curious...a woman mobster. That was unheard of in the famiglia, and I would bet other organizations didn’t have women bosses. But this syndicate didn’t operate in any sense of the word normalcy.

Iosif fidgeted with a piece of bread, tearing the corner. He didn’t look like he’d been at sea for the past three days, which was where his sister said he’d been. Weren’t sailors supposed to be swaying and wobbly on land? I didn’t dare ask, not wanting to sound dumb.

“Serena, would you come take a stroll with me?” Iosif asked suddenly and offered me his arm.

The suddenness of his suggestion, the soft tone of the lanky man, and the way his sister had somewhere else to look, her face reddening, sent a peal of warning bells through my mind. He was so friendly, it was hard to see him as dangerous. Yet, I didn’t want to go with him.

Oh, holy mother, what now?

“Where are we going?” I gulped.

“Just a short walk. I want to talk to you about your situation.” His smile was boyish, making him look impossibly young.

There was no good reason to refuse him. Rising, I side-stepped the man and began to walk away from the table. Iosif bounded after me, pulling at my hand.

I ripped it away from his clammy grip.

The whole interaction felt off. There was some detail I was missing. They’d finally decided what to do with me. But...what was it?

My pulse hammered in my throat. I was both hot and cold at the same time.

“Come to the orchard,” he offered, not perturbed at my unenthusiastic participation.

Right before I crossed through the picket fence, a chill slithered down my spine. I turned and searched the crowd, but there was no piercing blue gaze staring at me. Markos hadn’t been at the meal, and I didn’t see him now.

But I could have sworn he was there. That feeling only came in his presence.

“I wanted to talk to you. Alone,” Iosif explained.

There was an adoring reverence in the way he looked at me. Dread pooled in the pit of my stomach.

“Okay,” I said cautiously.

“Your situation here is...tricky.”

I stopped short under an orange tree. “Spit it out.”

“I’ve been chosen to marry you,” he said awkwardly.

The words hung in the air like a grenade with the pin removed. I blinked rapidly, certain I’d misheard him.

“You’ve been what?” My voice came out strangled.

Iosif shifted his weight, his lanky frame suddenly seeming too big for the space between the orange trees. “It’s been decided. I’m to marry you.”

A laugh burst from my lips before I could stop it. “Is this some kind of joke? Did Evangelia put you up to this?”

His face fell, genuine hurt flashing across his features. “No joke. It’s been decided. Your presence here requires....” He searched for the right word. “Legitimization.”

“Legitimization?” I repeated, the word tasting bitter on my tongue. “I don’t need to be legitimized. I’ve been kidnapped!”