Page 38 of Tortured Hearts (Marchesi Empire #2)

“What did you do?”

“You were an outsider with inside information, a threat the Authority wanted silenced. So, I did the only thing I could do… I made you untouchable.”

“How?”

“By convincing them to accept you as my wife.”

“Are you crazy?” When I don’t answer, she shakes her head and shuffles backward across the cushions. “No, Gianni, absolutely not.”

“That wasn’t a proposal.”

Her jaw drops. “Are you demanding I marry you?”

“Yes.”

She blinks, speechless from my audacity or authority. Either way, I don’t give a shit. This is one argument that big words and fancy degrees won’t win her.

“So you can have even more control over me?” she sputters finally. “I don’t think so.”

“Fucking hell, this isn’t about control. I’m trying to keep you safe.”

“By trapping me into marriage?”

“Yes, goddamn it!”

“Did you clear this with your other option?” she says, her lips flattening.

I grit my teeth. “I get that you’re upset, but I’ve already explained about Cathalina. I won’t do it again.”

All that righteous indignation deflates. “There has to be another way. No one should have to choose between vows and bullets.”

I rake my fingers through my hair, irritated I’m having to pull this card, but she’s leaving me no choice. If she wants a reason to bind herself to me, I’ll give her one. “Becca, come here.”

“Are you seriously ordering me around right now?”

Yes. Because that’s the only fucking thing you respond to.

“That’s exactly what I’m doing. Now, come to me, or I’ll come to you, and I promise you, it won’t be as pleasant.”

I see the moment the switch flips in her. Her muscles relax. Her jaw slacks. Her eyes glaze, that frenetic fire dialing back to a heated simmer. Then, she’s moving, inch by inch until she’s so close I could easily pull her into my lap.

Instead, I glide my hand up her neck and take her throat in a light hold. “There are other reasons, Doc. The Authority demanded I eliminate all of Marcello’s links to Providence. ”

She doesn’t speak for a moment, then her eyes widen. “You mean…?”

“Yes, I’m talking about your father. They know about him.”

“Gianni,” she whispers, her voice shaking. “You can’t kill my father.”

“I don’t want to, which is why I made the deal I did. I stressed how taking him out would make you even more volatile. They agreed to a stay of execution?—”

“Oh, thank?—”

“As long as you’re bound to La Cosa Nostra ,” I finish, my addition wiping the short-lived relief from her face. “If you’re not a Marchesi, Becca, you’re a problem, and I have no recourse in protecting either of you.”

We sit in silence for a moment. I sit back and let her process everything, knowing there’s only one conclusion waiting at the end. Eventually, resignation pools in those baby blues as she bites her lip. “You promise you’ll make sure no one hurts my dad?”

“I promise.”

She swallows hard. “If I agree to this, I have one condition.”

“I’m listening.”

There’s another beat of silence, then that resignation hardens. “When you find the man who killed my mother, I want to be the one to pull the trigger.”

Goddamn, I didn’t think my dick could get any harder for this woman.

I was wrong.

I stare at her, the air between us taut with tension. “He’s all yours.”

She jerks out a stiff nod while slowly rising to her feet.

“Then, okay, I’ll marry you.” Without another word, she crosses the room and climbs halfway up the staircase before coming to an abrupt stop.

“You know, I always thought of you as the hero-laced devil who brought color into my world.” She glances over her shoulder, fear and confusion locking her behind familiar thick glass.

“But now, I wonder if you were just another monster waiting to stain it red.”

I don’t stop her as she runs the rest of the way up then disappears behind a slammed door. There’s no point. Nothing we could say will change things. Plus, we both know me following her up those stairs will either end in us fighting, or us fucking and then fighting.

Neither option is worth agitating her more than I already have.

So I sit alone in a house that doesn’t feel like home and find solace in the shadows. It’s nearing dawn. The sun will be up soon, and a new day will begin.

My wedding day.

I fire off a quick text to Anton.

I want you in my driveway in half an hour, or I’m using you for target practice.

Not really, but if I have any hope of this wedding going off without fireworks, I’m going to need him to smooth the edge of the blade I just pressed to Becca’s throat.

Tossing my phone, I pick up my glass and drain it, hoping the answer to this mess will be at the bottom. It’s not, of course. The only thing there is a shitload of guilt and Becca’s barbed accusation.

As much as it stung, I can’t fault the truth buried in it. I am a monster. Marcello was a shitty father, but he never sugar-coated the reality of this life. Even as a young boy, I knew that while all monsters dwell in the dark, the most dangerous ones walk in the sun.

A lesson Becca Brennan is about to learn all over again.

Thank you for reading Tortured Hearts.

Gianni and Becca’s epic love story concludes in Tormented Diamonds , Marchesi Empire Book 3, releasing October 6, 2025.

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