Page 37 of Wanton

"Watch your fucking tone, Genovese," Rafe snaps at him.

"Or what? You'll murder me in cold blood like you did my father?" Spittle flies from the corners of Emilio's mouth. "Nessuno mi unfungulo. Prove you have honor left and release my daughter."

"You want to talk to us about honor?" Rafe growls. "You sold your daughter into a marriage contract before she was out of diapers!"

"As is my right."

"She doesn't agree."

"She's too young to know what she wants," Emilio says. "If she did, she wouldn't be sharing his bed. She'd have a little respect for herself and this family."

"If you insult her again, I'm not going to stop him when he breaks your jaw," Rafe warns him.

"Don't pretend you care, Valentino," Emilio says. "You two may have her fooled, but we all know the only reason she's in his bed is to punish us for what my father did to yourregina."

"At least you admit Tommaso Genovese was a piece of shit," Rafe growls.

"It takes one to recognize one, yes?"

"I said watch your fucking tone!" Rafe snaps, pounding his fist against the table hard enough to rattle it on the base. "I'm still theCapo dei capi, Genovese. Disrespect me again, and I'll teach you precisely what that means."

He's intentionally pushing us. He wants us to react. He wants to keep us here, screaming at each other for as long as possible. The realization hits me like a freight train.

Why? What is he trying to accomplish?

Callandria.Of course. He's trying to give Marcello time to get Callandria out of there. Except he's not nearly as smart as he thinks he is. The stench of desperation covers him. He needs Callandria back, not because she's his daughter, not because he'd rather die than see her married to a Valentino, but because his plans hinge on having her under his control.

"Enough," I growl, done wasting time with this bullshit game of his. "Cut the bullshit, Emilio. What did you do?"

"Va' a farti fottere," he spits at me, refusing to answer.

"Even if Marcello gets to her, she won't leave with him. She's where she wants to be."

He turns those cold eyes on me, smiling in a way that makes my fucking soul shrivel. "Then you don't know my daughter well, Valentino. As soon as Marcello tells her that your life depends on her leaving with him, she'll walk out of there without hesitation. She'll marry Andrea Maceo and you'll never see her again."

Figlio di puttana.He thinks he can take her from me? Give her to some other man? Is that what this is about? He needs her to wed Maceo? I roar in denial, in fury, rising to my feet so quickly I flip the table.

"Andrea Maceo will put his ring on her finger over my dead body," I growl, pacing toward Emilio. "I'll rip this goddamn city to the ground before I let that happen."

Panic lights Emilio's eyes. He scrambles backward, reaching into a planter along a low shelf, trying to get his hands on what I can only assume is a weapon.

"Watch out!" Rafe shouts to me, making the same connection.

I don't think about it.

I don't even hesitate.

I raise the gun in my hand and pull the trigger, my field of vision red with rage.

Emilio bellows in pain, but I'm already running, racing as fast as I can to go.

No one is taking Callandria from me.No one.

Chapter Eleven

Callandria

"Marcello,"Iwhisper,pleadingwith him for the thousandth time since he brought me back to my father's house. I don't know where my mother is, but she isn't here. I think they sent her away. They're preparing for war. "You have to listen to me. We can pay whatever debt he owes to the Maceo family, but you can't let him go through with this! You have to convince him to let me go. Luca will kill everyone if you don't."