Unholy Vows: Chapter 12

I woke suddenly, jumping at the sensation of cool night air rushing across my face. I was lying down in the backseat of a car, and Elio stood beside the open door. “You’re awake. Let’s go.”

The previous hours came rushing back. The rest stop and Lucy disappearing. Renato walking out of the shadows like a reaper arriving to take my soul. Sitting in the car with him holding me so tight I used up the last of my strength trying to move him. He hadn’t moved an inch.

I’d fallen asleep? Well, the human body did have limits; I supposed I should know that. There was a strange kind of adrenaline dump now that we’d been caught. The worst had happened. No need to stay awake anymore.

Casa Nera was even more creepy in the dark. Elio picked up a sleeping Lucy and escorted us inside. Armed men strolled the grounds. They watched us from the driveway, their eyes curious as we went inside. I looked around, wondering if this was the last time I’d see the outside of this house. Renato was nowhere to be seen.

If this was just a nightmare, I’d really like to wake up now.

Inside, Elio wordlessly guided us through a maze of corridors, all darkly decorated and reminiscent of a stately house from the 1700s. We followed him up an impressive staircase flanked by stained glass windows that bathed us in ruby-red light as we walked. The stairs continued upward, but Elio stepped onto the first-floor landing and headed along the corridor. He stopped at a massive door near the end.

“You can sleep here tonight. The housekeeper, Carmella, will help you settle in.” Settle in? Well, at least we weren’t sleeping in the dungeon in the basement.

He opened the huge door, effortlessly maneuvering my sister through without so much as brushing a lock of her hair against the imposing wooden doorframe.

“Do you live here, too?” I wondered as I followed them inside.

Elio nodded shortly. “This compound has housed the De Sanctis family for decades.”

Family. My brain hitched at that word.

Elio saw my reaction. “Soon, that’ll be you and your sister, too. Family.”

“Yeah, right. You need more than a piece of paper and a gun to the head to be family,” I muttered, going to a lead-paned window and looking out at the dark woods beyond the property.

“La famiglia prima di tutto. The family before all else. Those are words that Renato lives by.”

“Didn’t he kill his own father? That’s the rumor, anyway.” I wrapped my arms around my chest.

Elio shrugged. “There’s more to family than a name. I suggest not getting on his bad side.”

“He has a good side?”

Elio paused on his way to the door and glanced back at me. “The fact that you’re standing here is evidence of that.”

“Meaning?” I crossed my arms, squaring up for a fight with someone I was pretty sure wasn’t allowed to harm me, as opposed to his boss. My emotions were a whirling maelstrom in my chest, and they needed out.

Elio paused for a moment. “Do you want to die?”

His question threw me, and I scoffed. “Does anyone answer yes to that?”

“You’d be surprised. You’ve been given a pardon from the most merciless man I’ve ever known. You should be grateful for it.”

“A pardon? Becoming a broodmare for a monster is a pardon? You’ve got some really fucked up principles.”

He nodded. “Maybe I do, but guess what? You’re living in our world now. You need to adjust your ideas of right and wrong. Good and evil. I’ve known Ren since I was a boy, and he’s always been precise, ruthless, cunning, and cold. This is—” Elio broke off, his deep voice hinting at his own confusion.

“This is what?” I pressed. I couldn’t stand not knowing what he was about to say.

“It’s different. You’re an exception.” Elio seemed as puzzled as I was, as if he couldn’t really believe his own words. His ruthless, infamously merciless boss was breaking his own rules, for me. Elio’s gaze ran over me, looking for what it was exactly that drove his boss to spare me. He was clearly drawing a blank, as he shrugged and turned to the door.

“But why? Why me?” I stepped forward, the words bursting from me. Suddenly, I needed to know the answer to that more than I needed to breathe.

Elio pulled the heavy door open and glanced at me over his shoulder. ‘Ask him yourself.’

In the morning, I woke at six, as I usually did. Lucy still snored softly beside me. I stared at the elaborately corniced ceiling, taking a second to remember where I was.

Right.

The devil’s castle, in the middle of bumfuck New Jersey.

I need a wife and mother to my children. You’ll be both.

I resisted the urge to turn over and try to sleep again, hiding in dreams. I needed to figure out exactly what the deal was before Lucy woke up and freaked out. My sister usually slept late, and given how she’d missed her usual routine night after night – thanks to Miguel’s murder and her being drugged with something – I’d bet she’d be out for even longer today. \

I got out of bed, dressed quickly, and crept from the room. The door wasn’t locked. Renato was confident in his security. As soon as I stepped outside, I saw why. Two men in black suits stood in the hallway. Their gazes fell on me as soon as I appeared.

“Good morning, Miss Burke. Do you need something?”

I thought for a second. “Coffee.”

“I’ll take you to the kitchen. I’m Sonny, by the way.”

“Charlie,” I mumbled in response, eyeing the other guard who seemed like he’d be staying outside the door to watch over Lucy.

“Don’t worry about Vinny. His job is to make sure your sister is safe. Nice to meet you. Welcome to Casa Nera.”

Make sure my sister was safe. Safe? Did Sonny really not know that we were here against our will? He didn’t seem to, as he walked cheerfully through the hall, leading me around corners that all looked the same. He was downright chipper, which felt rude considering I was still half expecting Renato to change his mind about us and kill us anyway.

When we got to the first floor, Sonny explained the layout of the house and then took me to the kitchen. It immediately became my favorite room. It was cozy and had a lived-in feel. Warm ochre walls flowed into terracotta tiles, and white Carrara marble with delicate veins adorned the long wraparound counters and island. Potted plants with herbs and bottles with different oils were scattered around the space, and the air smelled faintly of lemons. Pans hung over the island, lovingly shined and well taken care of. Someone spent a lot of time in this room and was proud of it. That someone stood by the sink when I walked in.

“Carmella, this is Charlie. The boss’s woman.”

So, Sonny was under the impression that I wanted to marry his tyrannical boss?

“You do know that it’s not by choice, right? I mean, we’re going to all stand here and pretend that this is a cause to celebrate and not the start of a lifelong prison sentence?”

Silence met my blunt statement. Sonny shifted his eyes from me to the older lady by the sink – the housekeeper, Carmella. Silence stretched for a long moment before he spoke again.

“The boss is going to have his hands full with you. But don’t worry, he’s used to handling difficult women.” With that, Sonny pulled out a chair and sat, just in time for Carmella to hand him a plate with a fat, buttery pastry on it.

I grabbed her hand as she passed me. “Me and my sister are here against our will. Will you help us?”

She turned to me, eyeing me critically. “I will make sure you are fed well.”

“That is not the kind of help I’m talking about.”

“But that is the only kind of help you’ll get from me, ragazza. I don’t go against Renato, and I don’t support anyone who does,” she said and stepped away, her face showing how pained she was from having to interact with me.

So, it seemed if I was banking on help from this corner, it would be a slow time coming. Renato clearly knew how to surround himself with people who were just as insane as he was.

Carmella set a plate in front of me with the same type of pastry she’d given Sonny. As soon as the smell of chocolate and butter hit me, my stomach growled loudly. I debated the wisdom of refusing to eat out of protest. My thoughts were clearly easy to read.

Carmella tossed her head. “Why do women these days never want to eat?” she mumbled.

My tummy rumbled emptily.

Figuring I might as well eat the damn thing – seeing as I hadn’t eaten much the night before at the gala, and I was going to need my strength to survive all this – I pulled out a chair and sat, taking a bite of the pastry. It was still warm and melted against my tongue.

Sonny chuckled. “Thin is in, Carm, didn’t you hear?”

“In the magazines, maybe, but not in real life, and not with men,” she replied confidently.

I wished I’d ever been that confident about men. The other sex remained a mystery to me most of the time.

“Maybe not all women care that much about what men want,” Sonny continued, surprising me as he shot a look my way. “Charlotte is a nurse, right? From what I hear, she’s dedicated to her work.”

I blinked at them, suddenly included in the conversation with a mouthful of pastry.

I nodded, not able to elaborate with food in my mouth, but he was close enough. I was an aspiring nurse, and I worked more hours than anyone else I knew. If that wasn’t dedication, it was at least desperation, but there was no need to go into that with two strangers.

Carmella’s eyes narrowed, and something changed in her expression. Her tight lips loosened a touch, and her forehead smoothed. She nodded to herself a little.

“Va bene.”

Carmella’s quiet words and softer expression made me feel like I’d just passed a test of some kind. The expression on the housekeeper’s face had changed from wary contempt to something closer to respect. I didn’t know how to feel about that.

“It’s good, isn’t it?” Sonny prompted, grinning down at my rapidly disappearing pastry. He’d finished his in three big bites and now sipped coffee.

I nodded reluctantly.

Carmella placed a cup of coffee before me. “Let me guess, you like black coffee?”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “Don’t tell me you’re some kind of coffee psychic who can tell what a person likes just by looking at them.”

She flicked her gaze over me, and I suddenly wished I hadn’t invited her scrutiny. I hadn’t washed my face, and it had to be a mess of the makeup I’d worn last night. My hair was tangled and fuzzy. My eyes felt gritty. I was in absolute shambles.

“You look like someone who doesn’t have time to take care of themselves. Someone who works too hard and survives on scraps here and there, and a whole lot of caffeine to power through.” Carmella’s voice told me she knew she was right.

Bullseye.

Sonny snorted. “Just like the boss when he got back from Napoli, no?” he addressed to Carmella.

She nodded.

Renato had once been as tired and pressed to a sharp point as I was on a regular basis? I couldn’t imagine it. The man seemed too collected. Too in control of everything and everyone around him.

“You look after your sister, don’t you?” Sonny continued, again making me wonder how much he knew about me. “Kids are tough.”

“She’s not a kid. Well, nearly not. She’s nineteen.”

“Nineteen is a kid in some ways, and not in others. You don’t seem that much older yourself, if you don’t mind me saying.”

“I’m twenty-six,” I muttered and took a sip of coffee.

This conversation wasn’t making me feel good about myself. I usually worried that I was getting haggard and old before my time, thanks to my stressful life and taking care of Lucy. Now, it seemed my lifestyle wasn’t as aging as I’d worried it was. It was an odd relief. But why did I even care? The day I cared about whether Renato De Sanctis, self-appointed dictator over my life, thought I was pretty, would be the day I jumped off the roof. It would be a clear sign I’d been body-snatched.

“Buongiorno tutti,” a deep voice spoke from the door, sending nerves flaring through me.

Renato walked into the kitchen, passing behind the counter to kiss Carmella on the cheek. It was like a tiger had strolled into the room with no sign of a handler or collar. It was too much. He was too much.

The older woman smiled at him, patting his hand, and they conversed in Italian. I took the chance to study the man holding me captive. Casa Nera clearly had a gym, because he’d been working out, judging by his gym wear and the sheen of sweat on his bare arms.

Those arms were something else. I couldn’t stop looking at them. His body was a monument to strength and beauty, hidden until now beneath his designer suits. His arms bulged with muscle when he moved them. No wonder he could toss me around like I was a kid. Compared to his size and strength, I practically was one.

“Good morning, Charlotte.”

Renato’s words jerked me out my inspection, and I met his warm, dark eyes. “Why are you calling me that? I thought I was Miss Burke to you?”

He nearly grinned as he leaned his elbows on the counter, bringing his face closer to mine. “Now that you’re going to be family, I’d say it’s time to drop the formalities.”

I wet my lips, the conversation turning my mouth dry. “Maybe I liked the formalities.”

Renato shrugged his well-developed shoulders nonchalantly. “Too bad. I don’t. What you’ll come to learn about this house, and this family, bambina, is that I make the rules. My word is law, and I’m the judge, jury, and executioner here. Don’t forget that, and behave accordingly.”

I nodded. “Right, note to self: Don’t piss off the dictator, or he might change his mind about killing you in cold blood, like he nearly did last night.” The words flew out of me before I could stop them.

The kitchen fell silent for a long moment. Sonny broke the tension by slapping the counter and letting out a hearty laugh. “Boss, we’ve got a live one here! I’m sure you’ll enjoy teaching your new little wife how to behave.”

Renato sent a dark look at Sonny, who spluttered into his coffee. “No disrespect, of course,” he added hastily.

The teasing sent blood to my face. I stood, my chair scraping loudly over the tile. I turned around and got one step before Renato’s voice lashed out and held me in place. “I didn’t give you permission to leave, Charlotte, nor did you ask for it.”

The painful silence drew out. If I left now, like I wanted to, I was going against Renato’s explicit command. He wanted me to ask him for permission, and I just couldn’t bring myself to. But I also didn’t want to make a scene and then lose. He could do anything he damn well wanted to me here, and there was nothing I could do about it. He could probably do anything he wanted to me anywhere and get away with it. The idea made me feel powerless and weak, and I hated it.

“Lucy will wake up soon and be scared. I don’t want her to be alone when she comes to.” My voice was full of pride, and I couldn’t bring myself to turn around and meet the tyrant’s eyes. My skin was hot between my shoulders, right where I imagined Renato’s eyes were staring.

“Very thoughtful of you. Sonny, stay and finish your coffee. I’ll escort Charlotte back to her room.”

I nearly changed my mind and sat down again. After last night, I really didn’t want to be alone with Renato. The whole thing was seared in my mind, and yet it was hazy in a way, too. Maybe all trauma ended up feeling like that – and thinking you’re about to die in a parking lot or shooting someone point-blank definitely qualified as trauma.

I left the kitchen, walking quickly to try to keep ahead of Renato.

He chuckled at my first wrong turn. “It’s this way,” he pointed out.

I stopped and spun back. He waited for me at the bend I’d just hurried around. When I reached him, he gestured to a different hall, and I started forward. This time, Renato’s hand circled my wrist and jerked me into him, forcing me to slow my pace.

“Not so fast. There’s no need to go racing around. I’m sure your sister will sleep a little more.”

“What did you and your henchmen give her last night?” I demanded. I’d been worrying about what they’d drugged Lucy with all night, though her vitals had seemed steady.

“Nothing more than a responsible doctor would for someone in her condition.”

“Her condition?” I arched a brow at him.

“Overwrought…not thinking straight. You know exactly what I mean.”

“Of course, because it’s so unreasonable to freak out when your boyfriend is shot dead in front of you and your life is threatened.”

We stood nose to nose. Well, not really, seeing as his nose was so much higher than mine. He stared down at me with an undecipherable emotion in his eyes. This wasn’t like me. I didn’t challenge authority figures or rock the boat. I didn’t get up in people’s faces, ever, but something about this man made me forget the woman I’d worked so hard to be. Sensible, hardworking, and an expert at avoiding attention.

Nobody had ever paid such close attention to me. Not until Renato.

This dangerous killer.

A ghost of amusement passed over Renato’s striking face. “Be careful, little nurse. You’re in my house now, and like I just told you – I make the rules. I won’t tolerate temper tantrums or accusations. You gave me your word, and I expect you to honor it.”

“Or?” It was like someone with a death wish had possessed my mouth and was now running the show. My brain couldn’t seem to overpower my anger and frustration.

“Or there will be consequences.”

“So, every time I do something, or Lucy says something that you don’t like, we have to be scared of being taken out to the garage and put down like dogs?” There it was. A core fear that couldn’t be ignored. How long would the ax of death hang over our heads? I didn’t know if I could take it much longer.

Renato studied me for a long moment, his gaze tracking across my face, from my splotchy old makeup to my lips, lingering there, and then returning to my eyes. “You’re really not afraid of anything, are you, Charlotte?”

I wet my lips, my mouth dry as hell again. How did this man use up all the space in every single room he was in? “Not true. I’m scared of you. I just want to know what to expect. I need to know.”

“You need to know so you can try to control it. You need to exert some kind of power over the situation so you can feel safer, because you need to be in charge, isn’t that right?”

Renato’s words slid over me, prickling my nerves. I didn’t like that he was psychoanalyzing me. I didn’t like that he was seeing all my soft, unprotected parts.

“What you need to understand, and soon you will, is that you’re never going to be in charge of your life in the same way again. You’re never going to go somewhere or do something without rules. You’re never going to be the one keeping you and your sister off the street. You’re never going to be the one paying down huge student loans and struggling to put food on the table. You’re never going to be the one whose shoulders bear all the burdens…even the ones you never asked for. Soon, that’ll be your husband’s job. My job.”

His words sunk through me like stones, hitting the bottom of my heart with odd thumps. They both infuriated me and perplexed me. I didn’t know what to make of those promises. I was a modern woman. I didn’t need a husband to take care of me and make decisions for me.

Fuck him.

Renato reached out and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “You’re not alone anymore, Charlotte. You’re no longer the only adult in the room. The grown-ups are here now, and you will never be alone again. It’s time to let go now, bambina. It’s okay to just stop worrying about everything. You have no choices here. You’ve surrendered…it’s over.”

His hand abruptly left my hair and cupped my chin, and my pulse rate shot up, thundering through my veins. Why did I keep antagonizing this dangerous man? What the hell was wrong with me? He could have killed you already; there’s a reason why he hasn’t. Stress had burned out my survival instincts, and now I was just a crazy person who didn’t mind swimming with sharks, or something else as equally dangerous as talking back to the capo dei capi of New Jersey.

“I’ll never stop worrying about Lucy, and I’ll never let you make every single decision for our lives without a fight.” I snorted softly.

His thumb brushed over my lips, and my face was caught in his firm grip. I couldn’t look away. I couldn’t move an inch. Last night and the oddly comforting feeling of falling asleep with his fingers in my mouth returned to me.

“You know, anima mia, Sonny was right. If you prove to be too much of a handful, we’ll have to remedy that.”

His finger brushed over my lips again. It felt good, sinfully so. I hadn’t been touched by a man who actually knew what he was doing for longer than I could remember. Not until this man first touched me at La Leonora.

My love life had been one of the dullest, most disappointing parts of my life. I’d started to think it was me. I was the common factor on all the dates I’d been on with perfectly nice guys. There was something broken inside me that couldn’t be fixed, or maybe it just wasn’t in my genes. I didn’t get the shivers when someone messaged me or feel growing excitement to see a boyfriend after time apart. I had never fallen apart in a man’s hands and wanted to repeat the experience with him. In twenty-six years, I’d had sex with a grand total of three men, and each one was less memorable than the last. I’d never come close to an orgasm with any of them, and lately I barely bothered masturbating.

Maybe it was the nurse in me, but understanding the mechanics of stimulating certain areas with high nerve density and why it was pleasurable really took the fun out of things. Either that, or the patina of shame that coated my skin at a stranger’s touch – shame instilled in me at Mercy House – was simply too thick to wash off.

And yet, as Renato ran his thumb over my lips, he might as well have been touching my clit for how good it felt. I remembered the heat inside me when half his fist had invaded my mouth. I’d never been as wet as I’d been with his fingers in my mouth, controlling my ability to speak. Shame flooded me at the memory.

“You tell me to let it go, and I don’t have to worry about paying the bills. Do you think seriously that’ll comfort me? A woman who has worked her entire life to be independent and free? You think I’ve just been waiting for a man like you to come along and save me?”

“I told you already that I’m no white knight, Charlotte. I’m the villain in your story, and no one is coming to cut you free from the belly of this beast. No one.”

His finger still touched my lips, and impulsively I opened my mouth and rested my teeth on it, debating the wisdom of biting him. There was no glove there to stop me now.

“I wouldn’t, if you value being able to sit this week.”

His warning sent heat curling through me. What was he warning me about, really?

“I’m a heavy-handed disciplinarian,” he added, a slight smirk curving his lips as he took in my flustered expression. Just the thought had me squirming, and from the satisfied look on his arrogant face, he knew it.

“Fight it all you want, but we both know it’s true. I own you, and your sister, and I can do whatever I want with you. I didn’t have to let you live. If you understood how unlike me that was, you would be getting down on your knees and opening this smart mouth for something else entirely.”

His thumb sat between my teeth, confident that I wouldn’t draw blood.

“Next time I hear an outburst like today’s, that’s what I’ll expect. Soon, by your own agreement, you will be my wife, and this won’t be a sham marriage. I want more than that from you.”

I released his finger, silently acknowledging that I was bluffing.

“How much more?” I asked in a whisper, panic building as he leaned in and pressed his forehead against mine. I could smell him. Leather, amber and vetiver, with a hint of clean, male sweat. My body hummed at the scent.

He ran his nose down my cheek. He wasn’t even holding me in place now; my own body was doing it for him. I couldn’t have run away if I tried. I was spellbound. My brain wasn’t in the driving seat anymore, my body was, and it wanted to be touched by this man. That was the sobering truth I couldn’t deny. The call was coming from inside the house. Who needed enemies when your own body was hot for your captor? The shame of my reaction was crippling.

Renato’s gaze tracked across my face, seeming to recognize the conflict there. He saw my resistance, and he also saw my want. I couldn’t hide anything from him. I’d never felt so vulnerable. His lips ticked upward, making him blindingly handsome for a moment, and his lips brushed over mine.

“Everything.”

His whisper sent a gale of heat billowing through me, and when he captured my mouth in a hot kiss, sliding his tongue between my lips, I lost all ability to think.

For me, kisses after a date were dry cheek pecks. Real kissing was to be done in bed behind a locked door, with the lights off, followed by a shower. Wash away your sins. It wasn’t in full view of anyone who might walk past, in the hall, right after breakfast. The same heat that had fogged up my brain in the bathroom at La Leonora hit me, and I couldn’t help but melt. After all, what was the point in fighting it? I’d given him my word, and now, he could take what he wanted from me. I shouldn’t have felt so excited by that.

His lips moved against mine, his tongue hot and wet and obscene in its languid thrusts. He kissed me like he was fucking my mouth with his tongue. The pleasure was intense; it was ungodly. The indoctrination of my youth played on an endless loop in my head. I’d tried time and again to push it out, living my life like other young women my age, but I’d never quite managed it. Even the ones who went to church regularly had happy, functioning premarital relationships, without the shame and guilt that dogged me. I envied them. Another sin to add to the list of my transgressions.

Renato tugged my bottom lip between his teeth and bit down. I moaned, heat radiating through me in waves. I rocked my body against his. I couldn’t help it; an instinct I had no control over was tugging at my strings. I was lost. Powerless. Out of control. Free.

An involuntary moan left me when he pulled back and cool air danced across my overheated skin. I could feel his smug satisfaction at how I’d lost myself to his touch. I was depraved. I was shameless. I was wet as hell.

“You have one thing wrong,” I panted, attempting to claw back a shred of dignity to hold before me like a shield. “When all this started, I never agreed to marry you,” I bit out.

“No, you didn’t. You agreed to worship me. To pray to me. To follow my every command.” He brushed my stray hairs away from my flushed forehead.

I still had on yesterday’s makeup, and I hadn’t washed my hair this morning. I had to be a shiny mess, so why was he watching me with such hunger?

“Think of yourself as a sacrificial bride for the Devil, if it makes you feel better…Trussed up in white silk, captive in my kingdom, mine for the rest of time.”

I had no response for that. I only stared at him, aghast.

He brushed another kiss onto my lips, sending heat curling through me.

“You promised me your soul. Don’t forget that. I’ll settle for your hand and a couple of heirs. Now, go upstairs and see your sister, before I decide to drag you to our room and start making our firstborn.”

When I got back to the hallway outside our room, heat throbbing in my face, my body traitorously warm and needy, a loud smash met my ears, just as Vinny, the guard outside the door, spoke into a discreet radio clipped to his shoulder. A piercing scream filled the air, muffled by the heavy wall and thick door, but unmistakable. Both me and Vinny turned and stared at the wooden surface.

“I think your sister is awake,” Vinny quipped.

“You think?” I muttered as I approached the door. “Let me calm her down.” I tried the handle, and it refused to budge.

“It wasn’t locked before.”

“That’s only if you’re together. If she’s on her own, the boss is worried she’ll…have trouble coping with her new situation.” Vinny’s voice was carefully devoid of emotion.

I met his eyes. He wasn’t a bad-looking guy, and I’d put him around my age. He had sandy-blond hair and faded blue eyes. He met my gaze unflinchingly. This was a man who had locked a nineteen-year-old girl in a room and then stood guard outside it. A man who knew we were both here unwillingly. How did someone become like this? A person capable of such cruelty? I really had stepped into another world, one where up was down and right was wrong.

“Wow, it seems like the boss has a lot of experience holding innocent women hostage. Thank God he has good guys like you to do his dirty work for him and keep them in line,” I snapped at Vinny and headed to the door.

“Lucy? It’s me,” I said, knocking at the same time.

“Charlie?” Lucy’s voice sounded ragged.

Shit. I should never have gone exploring and left Lucy to wake up on her own.

“Let me in,” I instructed Vinny, and to my surprise, he complied without arguing.

It seemed the De Sanctis men really didn’t know what to do with Lucy. Overwrought women weren’t their area of expertise, after all. Maybe they usually just killed them. The thought wasn’t comforting in the least.

Inside the room, my sister had worked her magic and completely trashed the place. She was uniquely qualified to make a mess, so she was in her element. She’d cleared off every surface and broken the mirror. She’d stomped the feathers out of the pillows. She’d even torn down the curtains. Carmella and Lucy really weren’t going to get off on the right foot.

As soon as she saw me, her eyes filled with tears. Our fight roared back into my mind, breaking my heart all over again. Was she still upset over what I’d said to her? Was I still upset at her cruel words? Maybe a little, but it didn’t matter now. That was how it was with sisters. Every word could cut a new scar on your heart, but when you needed each other, no one else compared.

“Charlie!” Lucy cried, stepping over the wreckage on the floor and flying into my arms. “I thought they’d done something to you. I thought you were dead.”

I was surprised by her emotion, and my battered heart warmed at the display. Despite our differences, we were sisters. We could get over anything.

“So you thought you’d piss them off some more by being the most annoying houseguest?” I was going for teasing to lighten the mood. Maybe I’d lost my mind, too. I certainly deserved to at this point.

“It’s not funny. Where are we?” Lucy demanded. Her eyes suddenly widened. “Wait, did we go to the cops? Is this a safe house?”

“I hate to break it to you, but safe houses don’t rival five-star hotels.”

We both looked around the ruined room.

“This is the De Sanctis family compound.”

Lucy turned pale, her angry flush fading as reality hit. “Why?”

Blowing out a sigh, I turned to the bedding on the floor and began to pick it up. I couldn’t face her while I told her about our predicament.

“Because we’re going to be staying here, for a while, until the heat with the cops blows over and—”

“You said they’d kill us. Why did they bring us here?” Lucy cut me off.

“Why? Are you so eager to die?” I challenged instead, only delaying the inevitable.

There was something shameful about the truth, and I couldn’t wrap my head around why I was embarrassed to tell my sister about Renato’s terms. He hadn’t really explained why he was doing this, only that he had decided on me. He didn’t seem like the romantic type, so maybe it had something to do with the cops. I couldn’t make sense of it, even in my own head.

“Of course I’m not. But tell me why we’re here?”

“Well, there weren’t a lot of options, so I went with the least painful one. The cops can’t compel family to give evidence, so we’re becoming family. By this time next week, I’ll be married to one of the De Sanctis men, and then this will all just be a distant, unpleasant memory.” That explanation made more sense, so I decided to run with it. It felt better to imagine that there was a concrete reason for why the master strategist mobster had chosen me to be his bride. It made me feel safer, somehow, for reasons I couldn’t consider too closely.

Silence fell in the wake of my bright, chipper tone, so brittle and fake one wrong move would shatter it to pieces.

“You’ll be married to a De Sanctis man? Married?”

“Yes, married.”

“Which one?” Lucy’s voice was careful. I could hear in her tone that she feared my answer.

I simply held her gaze, and she started to shake her head.

“No. You’re kidding?”

My face was pretty easy to read.

“I’ll be married, and we’ll both be alive. That’s all there is to say about that, unless you have a time machine. Help me clean up.”