Mortification shot through me at the vulgarity of his statement. Jerking my head up, I snapped, “Since you want to be crude, you’re right. I am fucking him. But it’s not Marco’s fault. I’m the one who sought him out.”
Horror rocketed through me the moment those words left my lips. My blood ran cold as the amusement faded on my father’s face, only to be replaced by rage.
Oh God. Why had I let myself be baited by Father?
“You will remember who you are speaking to, Andrea. I’m not above lashing you like I did when you were a petulant child.”
The skin on my back prickled in memory of his whippings. “I’m sorry, sir.”
With a contemptuous grunt, Father mused, “And all along I’d thought you were just dumb enough to give in to the first man with balls enough to pursue you.”
“Drea is not dumb, sir,” Marco argued.
“Is that right?”
Marco nodded. “She’s intelligent and witty. With her brains, she’ll go far in life.”
As Father narrowed his eyes, a shudder ran through me. Jabbing his finger at Marco, he snarled, “The only thing Andrea is expected to do is be a good capo’s wife and mother to her children. Nothing else matters.”
Turning his fury to me, he added, “And you’ve already gone and fucked it up for your future marital alliance by fucking around. If you don’t fake your virginity on your wedding night, your groom will definitely annul the marriage.”
Although I knew it was the worst thing to say at the moment, I cried, “I don’t want an arranged marriage. I want Marco!”
“Over my dead body,” Father snarled.
With a defiant jerk of his chin, Marco challenged, “You can fire me, beat me, or send me away, but you’ll never stop me from loving Drea.”
A sadistic gleam burned in Father’s eyes. “I know a way to stop you.”
Although the world around me slowed to a crawl, it also moved at hyper-speed. A gun appeared from Father’s side. As Marco jumped up to shield me, Father aimed the gun at him, causing me to scream in alarm.
At the crack of a gun, I shuttered my eyes in terror. Something hot and sticky sprayed across my face before the sound of a body slamming onto the hardwood floor.
As my body jerked and shook, I forced my eyes open. Blinking, I tried clearing my eyelashes of the stickiness that weighed them down. When I could finally focus again, my vision blurred with my tears.
Marco lay at my feet. The gaping wound in the back of his head had blood and brain matter oozing out onto the floor. My shoes were covered in it.
Guttural sobs tore through my chest, and I feared I wouldn’t be able to catch my breath.
As Father came over to me, I tried to roll into a fetal position in the chair. After grabbing my chin in his fingers, he jerked my gaze up to his. “If you ever think of disobeying me again, you’ll end up the same way.”
And then he left me all alone with the man I’d defied my world to love.
CHAPTER TWO: LEO
Asteady, sultry base thrummed through me as I walked out of the employee entrance and onto the main floor of the club. Multicolor strobe lights lit my way through the teeming crowd. Sweat-slickened couples gyrated on each other while others drained copious amounts of alcohol.
Others slunk away to the gilded elevators to take a trip down for less vanilla-shaded debauchery. One floor below in Sin you could get you a lap dance from high-end female or male strippers.
But my personal favorite was the last level, which required a hefty membership and private code to enter. That was where you found Lust–an uninhibited sex club. You chose between one side that took you to Heaven and the other that led you to Hell. And of course, a self-respecting fuck-boy like myself spent ample time in Hell.
I was so fucking stoked to see the club so packed. Inferno was my older brother’s baby. Raphael had spent the last eighteen months bleeding himself dry emotionally, physically, and financially to see it come to fruition. It was the first thing he owned that didn’t have our father’s dirty fingers in it, and that made me so fucking proud of him.
In New York City, being the son of Alessio Neretti made me a god among men. But it also put a bullseye on my back, and not just from enemy families. Let’s just say Father’s Day wasn’t a favorite holiday for my family. What can I say? Being raised by a psychopathic jackass will do that to you.
It also meant that my brothers and I were always looking out for ourselves. It was cheesy as hell, but we were seriously the Three Musketeers–all for one and one for all. That mantra was one of the reasons Rafe had offered me and our younger brother, Gianni, a stake in Inferno, but I’d refused.
I had my heart set on opening a casino one day. The fact that New York didn’t currently allow casinos made it complicated. It wasn’t like I could just go to the nearest legalized state and open one. As an heir to the Neretti capo, I had to stay within my own territory. Unless I could form a business alliance with one of our allies.