Page 59 of His Fantasy Bride (Things To Do Before You Die)

“Fuck off.”

“What did she actually do that was so bad?”

“I asked her to marry me. She said yes, and all the time she was working for you. Fucking asshole.” The scotch was loosening his tongue.

“You asked her to marry you? No wonder you’re pissed off. No man likes to be made an idiot of.”

“Thanks for those words of support. But she’s a very good actress.”

“Yes, she is.” He gave a small smile. “You know, she tried to seduce me when she was eighteen.” He kissed his fingertips. “Mama-mia, but she was a beauty.”

“You’re lying.”

“Nope. Unfortunately, I was about to get engaged to a nice Sicilian girl at the time. Otherwise…”

Vito remained silent.

“I’m divorced now. Maybe it’s time to take her up on that offer.”

Red hot fury flooded his veins. “Don’t lay one slimy finger on her.”

“Well, clearly you don’t want her now and why would you? She made a fool of you. Mind you, she did look hot in that red dress the other night. Maybe a man would overlook a little bit of humiliation for some of that.” He sipped his drink. “Okay, alotof humiliation.”

“Go to hell.”

“I asked her to dinner.”

She’d better have said fucking no.

“She said no. But I’m sure once she’s got over you, she’ll be more receptive, and it would make my sister very happy.”

“There’s nothing to get over. She was acting.”

Luca sat back, resting his arms along the back of the booth, watching him, a mocking expression on his face. He was trying to wind him up, but Vito had no clue why, or what the other man wanted.

“Did she tell you why she agreed to do it?” Luca asked.

“A hundred and fifty thousand fucking pounds.”

“But did she tell you why she needed the money?”

He’d presumed that she’d just liked the idea of all that money. Maybe he’d leaped at the idea she was mercenary, latched on to it because it made her easier to hate. And hating her was easier than loving her, when he’d told himself he couldn’t have her. Now his curiosity was piqued. What did Scarlesi know? “No.”

“She cracked a bone in her arm a month before. Couldn’t dance, and lost her dream job. She has a brother—half-brother actually—my aunt is his mother. He’s a little bastard.”

“Must be the Scarlesi blood.”

He grinned. “Yeah. Anyway, he’s only seventeen, but he lost a shit load of money to people he should have had the sense to stay away from. Gabby used her savings to bail him out, but still owed more, with no way of paying.”

“So she did it for her brother.”

“Hold your horses. There’s more. Her mother got some sort of tumor thing. I never got the details, but she needed treatment she couldn’t get over here. Had to go to the States and pay an arm and a fucking leg. That’s where the money went.”

Vito sat for a moment digesting the information. His anger was rising again, and without giving himself time to decide it was a bad idea, he raised his arm, bunched a fist, and punched Luca Scarlesi in the nose.

The punch carried little power; it was difficult with a table between them.

“Hey, what the fuck was that for?” Luca said, glaring.

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