Chapter 0073

A few minutes later, Fay and Daniel are curled up on her bed, sharing a bottle of white wine and a box

of donuts that Daniel swiped from the kitchen. The rest of the room is still a complete wreck – furniture

overturned, clothes and books thrown everywhere – but the bed they were able to set to rights pretty

easily.

Fay ignores the mess as she bites into her second powder donut, overlooking the dusting of sugar that

falls all over her shirt and comforter while she chases her food with a sip of wine.

“So,” Daniel says, holding his still-full glass of wine uncomfortably in his hands, “you’re seriously okay?”

“Yeah,” Fay says, shrugging one shoulder at him. “Seriously, I mean, it was scary. But it didn’t hurt.”

“And he just chained you to floor and yelled at you? And then hit you on the…butt? Once?”

“No, he chained me to the table first,” Fay says, taking another bite. “To interrogate me.”

Daniel stares at her, shocked that she’s being so blasé about it. Almost as if she didn’t mind it.

And considering Kent’s expression when he had stormed up from the basement, it certainly seemed as

if Fay had come out of the situation with the upper hand.

Daniel sighs then, looking down into his glass. “It sounds like the sort of thing he does pretty often,” he

says, letting her in on a few family secrets. “That’s why he has the chain in the middle of the floor. He

uses it to…initiate people. Into the trust of the family.”

Fay raises an eyebrow at him, seriously doubting that Kent’s previous interrogations have gotten…well.

That hot.

But she doesn’t say that to Daniel. Instead, she asks another question. “Does that mean I’m like…

made now? A made man? Officially in the family?”

Daniel scoffs. “No way,” he says with a little laugh. “If you were made you’d be way more shaken by it.

He makes you take all kinds of oaths, lets you see the sort of stuff he’ll…do to you. If you go against

the family.” He grimaces a little at this.

“How do you know,” Fay says, cocking her head to the side curiously. “Are you made?”

“I’ve been made since I was born,” Daniel murmurs, looking down.

“But you didn’t go through like…a ceremony.”

He shakes his head no.

“Then how do you know what it’s like?” she asks.

Daniel pauses before answering. “He made me…watch. A few times. Made me…participate, a little bit.

So I’d know what to do when the time came for me to do the same.”

“Oh,” Fay says, raising her eyebrows. Then, she considers for a moment. “I think I’d actually like to see

that.”

“What?!” Daniel exclaims, looking at her with a little disgust on his face.

“What?” she replies, frowning at him. “This is my world now. I’m curious.”

He narrows his eyes at her. “I thought we were leaving,” he says.

Fay pauses a second. That conversation in the back yard – was that seriously just two hours ago? But

it seems like a lifetime ago now.

“Yes,” she says slowly. “But in case we figure out that we…can’t. Like if we can’t get passports or

something. Then I guess I want to know everything I can about this life I’m marrying into.”

It’s Daniel’s turn to shrug now as he turns to look out the window. Fay studies him, considering that

Daniel has done everything he can to avoid learning more about this life. That he actively avoids it.

So why was she, who was his match in so many ways, so curious?

After a moment, Fay clears her throat. “Daniel,” she says slowly, quietly. “Why do you think it is that you

don’t want this life. I mean, I know why I don’t. But you were born into it. Do you think it’s something

about like…who you are, intrinsically, that makes you a mismatch? Or is it something else?”

He turns to glare at her then. “Are you asking if I don’t belong here because I’m…”

Fay blinks at him, not understanding, before the pieces snap together. “No!” she says, genuine surprise

on her face. She certainly hadn’t been thinking about whether it was because he’s gay. “No, not at all.

But…” she pauses a moment and takes a sip of wine. “Well, that’s where your mind went. Do you think

that’s why?”

Daniel shakes his head ruefully. “No,” he says. “I think it’s impossible to be in this life and not be

married, not have a family – family, lineage, is…everything. But,” he looks her in the eye then, “it’s not

possible that I’m the only mob heir to have certain…desires. Predilections. Preferences.”