Page 7 of His to Break

Leo and I eat in silence. I get the feeling he’s watching me, but when I glance up at him, hoping to meet his eye, he’s focused intently on his meal.

“Why Aphrodite’s?” he asks eventually.

“What?”

“Why did you ask to meet Antonio at Aphrodite’s?”

“I looked into the bars and clubs your family owns, and it seemed like that would be the last place my father’s men would expect me to go.”

Though I got away from England without being detected, I doubt my absence went unnoticed for long and someone was bound to have informed my father when I entered the U.S.

Leo nods thoughtfully. “You’re never to go there again.”

I had no intention of setting foot in that shithole again, but having Leo forbid me from going back to the club gets my hackles up.

“I beg your pardon?”

“You heard me.” Leo sets down his cutlery. He turns his full attention to me and it takes everything I have not to shudder at the dark look in his eye. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“What? Eat dinner?” I’m being deliberately obtuse because he’s pissing me off with the bossy tone.

“Marry me.”

“No, I’m not.” My reply is an honest one. I pop a forkful of the potatoes in my mouth, savoring the creamy, garlicky flavor, chew it to a pulp and then swallow. “I don’t want to marry anyone out of necessity, but I’ve got few options. It was either one of you, a Morganti, or a member of the Bratva.”

Leo’s jaw clenches. “You’d have gone to the Bratva?”

“If I had to.”

It wasn’t a prospect I’d relished given the rivalry between my family and the Russians, but desperate times require desperate measures and I’d have gone to Boris Reznov as a last resort.

“They’d have skinned you alive and sent you back to your father in bite-size pieces.”

Well, that’s off-putting. I drop my knife and fork onto my plate, not caring about the loud clatter they make.

“I’m starting to wonder if that was a better option.”

Leo snorts. “You’ve got spirit, I’ll give you that. It was a ballsy move looking to make your own alliance.”

That sounds like a compliment. “Why did you agree to marry me?”

He shrugs indolently. “Someone had to.”

“Wow, that’s flattering.”

“If you’re looking for someone to fawn over you, call this off now. I’m not the lovey-dovey stars in his eyes type. I’ll set the terms of our marriage and you will obey or face the consequences.” His eyes bore into me and I shift uncomfortably in my seat. “Still want to go through with it?”

Despite him apparently trying to put me off, I nod resolutely. “Yes, I do.”

“Then we need to establish some rules.”

“Rules?”

Raising an imperious eyebrow, he ignores my question. “If I tell you to stay in the apartment, you’ll do as I say. When you are permitted to leave, a guard will accompany you. You will not question me in front of others, and you will not speak to anyone I do not personally approve.”

“What about Benny, uh, Beniamino?”

Leo’s lips curl into a sneer at the mention of my friend’s name, but to my relief, he doesn’t shut down the possibility. “I will consider allowing the friendship.”

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