Page 23 of Wanton

"Cazzo," Marcello spits, his jaw clenched. "So what now, Valentino? You punish us for his crimes by holding Callandria? You violate the law you killed him to uphold?"

"Theprincipessais precisely where she belongs," I snap back at him. "She made her choice. Ask her yourself. But if so much as a single hair on her head is harmed, I will rip your family's kingdom apart, Marcello. Nothing but rubble and a whisper of the Genovese name will remain."

"Cristo," he breathes. "You're in love with her."

I don't answer. It's not his business. I'm not even sure what I'd say anyway. I am in love with her. It's inexplicable, irrational, and impossible, yet it beats like a war drum in my chest anyway.

I lift my hand, gesturing for Antonio and Alessio to bring her to me. Marcello and I wait in silence for them to cross the few yards separating us.

"Dio," Marcello mutters under his breath when Callandria walks straight up to me.

I wrap my arm around her waist, pulling her up against my chest. My lips touch the side of her throat where I marked her earlier. Not in a show for her brother, but because she's mine. I'll touch her, kiss her whenever and wherever I damn well please.

She melts against me. And without a single word passing her lips, she confirms exactly what Marcello feared. She belongs to me now.

He eyes her silently for a long moment, perhaps looking for cracks in the facade. But there are none for him to find. Not right now. Callandria Genovese has declared her allegiance, and she's standing her ground.

She's incredible.

"Merda," he growls after a moment, shaking his head. "A Valentino, Callie?"

"They aren't my enemy, Marcello," she says, her soft voice clear. "They don't have to be yours either."

"They killed Grandfather."

"I know," Callandria whispers.

"You know." Marcello shakes his head. "And still you stand here inhisarms?"

"Would you rather me live in misery with Andrea Maceo like an obedient little princess, Marcello?" she snaps. "That's the future that waits for me at home. I'm nothing more than chattel to be sold to the men in our family, and you know it."

"That's not true."

"No? When did you ever step out of line to stop what they were doing, Marcello? You knew long before I did what my future held, but you said nothing." She laughs abruptly. "You told me that's the way it had to be."

Marcello flinches, guilt flickering through his expression. "What would you have had me do, Callie? Kill our grandfather and father?"

"Of course not," she says. "But don't stand here now and act as though I betrayed our family when I was never more than a pawn and a paycheck to the Genovese family."

"And Mom? Grandma? What am I supposed to tell them?" Marcello asks.

You tell them that I'm safe," she says, her voice trembling. "And you tell them that I'm exactly where I need to be."

Need. Not want, but need.Dio. She still isn't sure this is what she wants, that I'm who she wants. Physically, she's ready. But mentally and emotionally, she's still at war with herself.

That's not acceptable to me. Until every piece of her belongs to me, I won't take her to my bed. It's the only choice I have left to offer her.

"And you tell our father that I'm living life on my own terms from now on," she says. "I decide what happens to me and what alliances I form for the family. I'm not property to be sold to the highest bidder. If there's an heir, it will be becauseIchose it. My child will be a Valentino."

"Cazzo," Marcello hisses, shocked.

"Go home, Marcello," Callandria says. "And talk our father out of whatever desperate plot he's trying to form before he gets us all killed. Let Grandfather's God-forsaken war die with him."

Chapter Seven

Callandria

IpacearoundLuca'sbedroom, restless and out of sorts. I didn't expect Marcello to show up tonight, though perhaps I should have. My father may be willing to play by the rules, but Marcello isn't so easily convinced. He's my older brother, my best friend. We've always been close.