Page 3 of Intrigue
He doesn’t stop me. Doesn’t even come after me.
I make it three steps before my fingers shake too hard to be fists anymore, before my throat closes around the ache building there.
I love him. I loved him. And now I’ll bury that love so deep even he won’t find the ashes.
Sandro was my secret rebellion, my stupid lifeline, and he has cut it all like it meant nothing. I need out, and I know where to push.
I storm up the hill to the villa, chest heaving and tears stinging my eyes. The Marconi estate looms ahead with marble steps, heavy doors, and the weight of my father’s name etched into every corner. I storm through the entrance, boots slapping the tile, and find him in his study, cigar smoke curling aroundhis chair. Don Marconi looks up, gray hair slicked back, eyes narrowing as I barge in.
“Selene,” he says, voice gravelly, setting his drink down. “What is this noise?”
“I’m leaving,” I say, planting my hands on his desk, my blood smearing the polished wood. “Tonight. I want out of this city, out of your world.”
He leans back, regarding me with cool indifference. “You’re not a prisoner.” He takes a slow drag of his cigar, then exhales. “You were already set to leave soon. Your aunt Valeria is expecting you.”
I scoff. “That’s not leaving. That’s being shipped off like a problem you’re sick of handling.”
He studies me for a moment, his eyes narrowing slightly, then exhales another plume of smoke. “Valeria has been instructed to train you because she sees what I’ve struggled to find. A potential worth shaping. She’ll mold you into a woman fit to stand beside powerful men, a woman capable of wielding influence, not wasting herself chasing childish fantasies.”
“You think this is punishment?” He almost smiles, dark amusement beaming across his face. “No, Selene. I’m offering you purpose. Your mother never understood that. She was always weak, soft, and worthless. I refuse to let you follow her pathetic path.”
“So you’re selling me off like cattle to one of your allies? Another chess move?”
His expression doesn’t change, but contempt seeps into his voice. “Valeria will ensure you’re ready. She’ll harden your edges, smooth your flaws. I won’t allow you to disgrace the Marconi name with your reckless impulses and misguided youthful exuberance.” He taps ash into the tray, eyes piercing mine. “Perhaps you should take notes from Sandro, seeing as he is like a brother to you. He wouldn’t mind giving you a fewpointers. He understands loyalty, duty. He embraces the life he’s been given, rather than running from responsibility.”
I ignore the ache I feel when I hear his name. “What if I don’t want any of it? What if I just want to leave for real?”
He lets out a short, dry laugh. “Where would you go? You think the world outside this house is any safer? That you can live without the name that’s protected you your whole life?” He shakes his head. “You’d last a week before someone tried to use you as leverage against me.”
“Then maybe I’ll learn to protect myself.”
His smile is humorless. “You can learn that, too. Valeria will make sure of it.”
I want to scream. I want to flip his desk and shatter his crystal glass against the wall. Instead, I force myself to breathe, to swallow the rage burning up my throat. “And if I refuse?”
He sighs, like I’m being exhausting. “Then Imakeyou. You might hate me for it, but you’ll thank me one day, when your place is secured beside someone worthy of our empire.”
I shake my head, stepping back. “You don’t get to control my life forever.”
“No,” he agrees. “But today, I still do.”
Silence stretches between us. I despise him, I despise how effortlessly he maneuvers me like a pawn. But confronting him now would be useless.
So I nod slowly, forcing steel into my spine. “Fine.”
He studies me a moment longer, then gives a curt, satisfied nod. “Good. I’ll arrange for your flight to leave at dawn. Do not disappoint me.”
I turn sharply, boots echoing loudly against marble as I stride from his study. He believes he’s won, believes I’ll bend to his twisted will. But he’s wrong. I may be going to my aunt Valeria, but I won’t be another puppet.
I am going to become something else entirely.
Chapter 2
Alessandro
Present Time.
I’ve done a lot of fucked up shit in my life. I’ve killed men with my bare hands, maimed and twisted their limbs until they begged. Fucked their wives, their daughters, then slit their throats when they came for revenge.