Page 51 of Dark Wolf Soul
“I am. How can I help you?”
I flinch. “I’m Lexi—”
“I know who you are.”
“Then you know why I’m here.”
“Actually, I have no idea why you’ve turned up on my doorstep.”
“I was across the street for contract negotiations, and I escaped.”
“Is that what he told you to say?”
My hands flutter at that. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
His brows lift. “You’re a terrible liar.”
“I’m not—”
“My informants tell me you are betrothed to my enemy. Willingly. Do you not realize that makes you my enemy now too?”
“I never agreed to the marriage,” I say. “It was forced on me. Vincenzo Diavolo plans to attack you. He’s trying to use me in his war against you, but I refused.”
“Is that so?” He looks me up and down, clearly unconvinced. “What exactly do you expect me to do about it?”
My temper sparks at that, and my eyes narrow. “I don’t know. Maybe something more decent than having my parents killed and washing your hands of your only granddaughter.”
His eyes flash at that, but I keep going, too pissed to care what he thinks. “Or maybe I expected you to actually give a shit about me. To take me in when I had no one else instead of letting me grow up in shitty foster homes where I had to fight to survive.”
His voice is hard and cold as he says, “Why would I take in someone who is nothing to me?”
My eyes widen, and despite what everyone has tried to tell me about this man, I can’t help but feel shocked at his callous disregard. “I’m your granddaughter.”
“You are your mother’s daughter, that’s clear to see.”
“What does that even mean?”
“Tell me, can you access your wolf, or are you still merely a human weakling?”
“What do you know about my wolf?” I demand.
“I know you can’t shift,” he says, sniffing like he finds the idea of it below him.
“And that’s somehow my fault?”
“No, your mother’s the one whose genes are to blame for this error.”
“How do you know?” I ask. “Was she not a wolf too?”
“She was. But her line wasn’t proven.”
“Proven?”
His expression tightens with impatience, but his voice remains the same even tone as before. If not for the hatred in his eyes, I would think him devoid of any feeling at all. “The Giovanni family line is filled with nothing but powerful alphas. This failure had to be hers.”
Frustration and impatience bubble up in me. “Who cares? You’re treating me like I’m somehow the bad guy in all this when it’s your turf war that dragged me down here in the first place. All I ever wanted was a family, but if this is what it’s like to be related to you, I don’t want any part of it. You and your little suited soldiers can all go to hell.”
When I’m done, the room is completely silent. I know going off on him has only made him more likely to toss me out again, but I can’t bring myself to grovel, either. Not after meeting him face to face and witnessing for myself his lack of remorse or caring about what he did to me or to his own child.
