Page 298 of Sinfully Savage Mafia

She nods toward the empty couch cushion next to me. “Mind if I sit?”

“You’re kind of my guest, so…” I shrug.

“Thanks,” she says, sinking down next to me. I expect her to speak but she just sits there, quiet, a pensive look on her face. “I shouldn’t have been such a bitch to you before. I know you were just coming to make sure I was okay.”

I shrug. “I didn’t deserve the welcome wagon.”

“True,” she agrees, a hint of a smile on her face. “I just…look, it’s been a rough year for me. Way worse than anything we dealt with back in Sicily. I have a lot of things swirling through my brain on a daily basis, things that haunt me every day. Sometimes they decide to destroy my nights, too.” She toys with her hands. “I guess all of the stress from today triggered my mind, making it spin out of control.”

My lips stretch into a straight line. “You have every right to be pissed off at me,” I mutter. “No need to apologize.”

“You have to understand how fucked up this is, Roman. You’re planning to keep me here like I’m a bird in a gilded cage until my brother delivers for you. And based on what I know of mafia families, there’s no out for Frankie. You’ll never let him go. You’ll never let me go. Because guys like you are too concerned with watching your backs. You can’t have weak links floating around, threatening your livelihood.” She rubs a hand down the front of her face. “Believe me, I know,” she whispers.

“Your dad?” I ask. I assume she’s talking about his prison sentence. He was always a fucking loose cannon. It didn’t shock me that he finally got caught, not that I paid too much attention to the news. He was always the guy who went overboard more often than not. He never followed instructions, always thought he could do things best without anyone else’s guidance. He had his own way of doing things and if he didn’t like someone else’s plan, he cut them out of it. It made him a lot of enemies back in Sicily, aside from my father, and I’m sure he made plenty here over the years.

She nods. “I know how you guys operate,” she says softly. “I know you don’t allow risks to impact your businesses. You crush liabilities. Frankie is a definite liability. Why would you ever let him walk away once he does what you ask?”

I grab my beer bottle and take another gulp. I can’t argue with her. You always handle liabilities. It’s part of the job. Eliminating threats to the kingdom is the only way to survive and thrive.

It’s why my father got rid of the Amantes.

“I never told you I was gonna kill him,” I say. This is true, primarily because I really don’t want to kill him. I want him to hand over the schmucks whom he’s working with and let them kill him. He can be bought, I already know that. It’s his weakness.

But I also know I’m opening myself up to a lot of hell if I don’t ice him.

The truth is, if I kill him, I’m gonna have to admit to Matteo that I fucked up and that I let our family get taken for a second time by an Amante. It’s gonna tell him I don’t know how to handle a situation without using brute force. And leaders need to figure out different ways to get what they want.

He’ll never take me seriously if I can’t fix this without bloodshed.

I thought by sparing Frankie’s life I was being strategic, but the jury’s still out on that.

I don’t trust him, and if he crosses me, there will only be one way to fix this.

I can’t risk another blow to my authority.

“You didn’t have to say anything,” she murmurs. “I know he’s a live wire. He’s always been that way. I think that’s why he and my dad were always so close. He’s exactly like my father.”

“And you’re your mother. I mean, from what I remember.”

A faraway smile brightens her face. “Yeah, I definitely am. We both loved so many of the same things, we shared so many of the same personality traits. We were incredibly close. She was like my best friend.” She sighs. “I miss her so much. I felt like once she was gone, I’d lost that parental connection. My dad and I don’t exactly mix. And now that he’s in jail, it’s like we’re not even part of each other’s lives anymore. I feel like I’ve lost them both.”

“You don’t go and visit?” I ask.

She shakes her head. “No. I can’t.”

“Why not? I’m sure he misses you.”

“I don’t miss him,” she whispers. “I mean, he’s the reason I’m trapped here with you.”

“Ouch,” I say, clutching a hand to my heart. “That’s cold.”

“Well, it’s true. If he hadn’t gone to jail, I wouldn’t be scraping together pennies to pay all of our bills and support what’s left of our family. But he made a mistake, the biggest one, and now we’re all paying the price.” Marchella lets out a humorless laugh. “I had a life, Roman. It wasn’t extravagant but it made me happy, as happy as I’d been in Sicily. And then everything came crashing down around me like massive dominoes. Sometimes I wish they’d have just crushed me when they tumbled. Then at least I’d be out of my misery. Trying to keep your glass half full is fucking exhausting.”

She hugs her arms around herself, dipping her head low. My fingertips tingle with the urge to pull her close and trace a path over her bare skin.

“I’m, ah, sorry about all of that,” I murmur. “I didn’t know.”

“How could you?” she says, turning her head toward me. The pain flickering in her gaze makes my chest tighten. “How could you possibly know that my life is in shambles right now? She gives her head a quick shake. “I don’t need your pity.”

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