Page 54 of Savage Enemy

“Would she help him?”

I sucked air through my teeth and shook my head.

“No, probably not. He set her aside for me. They planned to get married two days after he found out about Enzo.”

“So no love lost?”

“She couldn’t have avoided the scandal, not completely.”

Truth be told, I didn’t like the idea of Stefano anywhere near Benedetta. I didn’t know her well enough to know if she would help or try to take my place.

I couldn’t even be sure what I might do if I were her. It wouldn’t be hard for her to tempt Stefano away from me. She came with a lot of power. A lot of influence, money, and men. Everything Stefano had ever wanted.

Would he now let her into the home he intended to share with me just a few days earlier? Would he let her sleep in my place beside him?

Would she embrace Enzo as her own, or would she become his evil stepmother?

I didn’t know how far she might go to get Stefano back or if she even wanted him back. I wouldn’t put it past her having been the one to tell my family about the newspaper article.

“I don’t think he has any allies here,” I added. “His family honored the treaty practically to the letter. Is there any way to get him a message or… would it matter even if we did?”

Marco twisted his mouth the way he always did when he was working through something heavy.

“Father’s rash, but he can be reasoned with when promised something he covets. If the Russians back away from their claim, and Vignali is there to approach him with a lucrative offer around the same time, something Father expected back when you were first out… maybe you can go home to your boy.”

A moment of excitement flashed through me.

“Can we make the Russians back off?”

“Don’t know yet, but assuming they did, Vignali’s offer would have to be incredible. Too good for Father to pass up. That’s the only way I see him letting you go back to New York.”

“Okay, so we come up with an offer. What’s the going rate for a woman these days?”

A caustic taste of the whole idea coated my tongue and sharpened my next words.

“Lower than average because I’m not a virgin, right? Or higher because I’ve proven I can bear sons? Do we trade in goats, or is US currency also acceptable?”

A flash of a smile warmed his blue eyes.

“For Christ’s sake, sorellina. I’ve protected you since birth, believe it or not. I gave you a chance to live a normal life. Itwasn’t forever, but ten or eleven years is still a long time. No one else in this family got a chance like that.

“I’ve always had your best interest in mind. Why else would I give our nonna the resources she needed to get you out? Trust that I have your best interest in mind now, all right?”

I blinked at him. “You?”

No, it couldn’t have been.

Nonna had told me she wouldn’t stand by and watch what happened to her daughter-in-law, my beautiful dead mother, also happen to me.

Marco nodded. “Me. I made sure the old woman who took you in gave you a good home and a job. When she passed, I transferred the deed to you.”

“Why?” I asked breathlessly.

“That’s not important.”

“Well, it’s important to me.”

He shrugged as he swiped the pizza crumbs off my bed.

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