Page 52 of Hostile Cravings
“She’s not yours yet and if you disrespect her, I’ll hunt you down and start a territory war if I need to.”
“You think you’re so bad, don’t you, Tony Donelli? Well, maybe if you’d bothered to show any interest in daddy’s business besides the booze and drugs it provided, I’d be worried about your threats. But since you didn’t, you don’t scare me. You’re nothing but a bratty little boy, just as bratty as your sister is. And I’m going to enjoy watching you fall while I’m pounding the brains out of her.”
He shoved Tony out of the way, grabbed the panties from the floor, and stomped out the door. “If I see another pair of panties under that dress, I’ll bend you over and fuck you in front of everyone in that church.”
The door slammed, and the tears pushed behind my eyes, threatening to escape. Tony turned his gaze to me, the hurt, thepain, the wound to his pride burning in it. We’d done this to ourselves, neither of us taking our lives seriously, ignoring our father’s attempts to train us, to bring us in, and pretending we were in an insulated bubble that no one could pop. But they had, and now we were both precariously teetering on the thin line that remained.
Tony stormed out of the room, and I dropped my head to my hands, wishing I could turn time back and take back my words and actions with Tyson. To return to yesterday and not have gone down that hall, not have said the horrible things I’d said to him, not have fought with him. Not have left. Wishing I could be in his arms, safe and secure, even if he didn’t love me. But there was no going back. I had made my choice and now I had to deal with the consequences. My family’s survival depended on it.
My father had pulledstrings and booked the church. The priest was close to my family and my father contributed to the church regularly in more than just monetary ways. I didn’t understand why we couldn’t just do it at the house, but Tirenti had insisted we use the church, saying it wouldn’t be right not to. As if Joey were a religious man. There was a special place reserved for his kind when he died.
I nervously clenched the bouquet of roses Tony handed me when he and our men had escorted me to the car. They were from my father’s rose garden, his pride and joy aside from me and Tony. I peeked through the church doors as I stood in the vestibule, keeping my sore ankle lifted slightly as I waited for my father. Joey was standing at the front of the church in a tux. If he hadn’t been such a scumbag, I would have thought him handsome, but I knew the man below the suit, below the put together façade. He stood proud, his head held high as he looked down the aisle. Tonystood on the other side, scowling at him. Both had their henchmen, hands on their guns, and I noted the tension from where I stood.
There were no bridesmaids, no pretty flowers to line the pews, no guests but the handful Tirenti had brought and he’d given my father time to invite. This wasn’t the dream wedding I’d always envisioned with the white carriage, the princess dress, the tiara I’d always wanted. No ring bearer or flower girl to drop rose petals down the aisle. Not even an organist. I wanted to cry, to run and stop this. My father’s hand on my shoulder calmed the panic.
“The jackass is taking you to his house as soon as the wedding is over,” he grumbled.
I looked up at him, seeing the sadness in his eyes. He turned me to him, his eyes lighting as he brushed his thumb softly over my cheek.
“I missed these,” he said. “You look so much like your mother, sweetheart.”
I turned my eyes down, saying, “I thought that made you sad.”
He tilted my chin up. “Never. Seeing how you hid them as if you didn’t want to remember her made me sad.”
The pressure behind my eyes built, and I struggled to keep my tears hidden from him.
“Your mother was beautiful, and you have her beauty.” He touched my birthmark, leaning in and giving it a gentle kiss. “And this, the mark of the gods, your mother used to call it.”
I laughed through the tears that slipped free.
“She loved how special you were. She loved you both very much and this would hurt her. I’m glad she’s not here to see what’s become of me. Selling you off to Tirenti, knowing what he’s like.”
He tipped my chin, tracing the tenderness that Joey’s grip had left on my neck. His eyes grew a shade darker. “Did he do this? Or did Raines?”
I shook my head. “No, it wasn’t Tyson. He never hurt me physically.” But I couldn’t say he hadn’t hurt me emotionally.
“Joey?” The word came out tersely, his teeth gritted.
“I’m fine, Daddy. Let’s get this over with.”
“I’m sorry, Angela.” I could see the tears welling behind his eyes and I took his hand, pushing my shoulders back and holding my head high.
“Nothing to be sorry about. It’s a business arrangement. Just like what you had with Tyson. It’s for the family, for our legacy. Now walk me down the aisle in this sorry excuse for a wedding gown while I pretend I’m dressed in high fashion.”
His smile made what waited for me easier to bear, and he took my arm in his, nodding to our men to open the doors. Three of our men led the way, not bridesmaids in lovely dresses, not a maid of honor to lift the long train I wished followed me. When my father reached Joey, there was a tense moment when I thought he would back out or pull his gun and shoot him. Joey took my hand, my skin crawling at his touch, and jerked it from my father.
“You hurt her, and I don’t care what kind of deal I have with your father,” my father muttered low enough for only Joey to hear before he kissed my head and walked away, his head held high.
I couldn’t help that sense that something was going to happen. My father was emotional, but still too calm. He was marrying his only daughter off to a scumbag who treated women like shit, and he was making some kind of deal with Tirenti to keep him appeased and off his back. Not to mention there was no sign of Mason. Three bosses may have ruled this province, but they all deferred to Mason, even Tirenti. But Mason had left before I arrived. It may have had to do with Tyson and what had happened between us, but that still didn’t explain the strange foreboding sensation I had.
Joey jerked me against him and licked my ear.
“Get the fuck off her! You’re not married yet,”Tony said, moving toward me. The tension grew like a heavy fog that sat ready to envelop us all.
“She’ll be mine in a matter of minutes,” he said. Then, lowering his mouth to my ear, he said, “And I plan to use every inch of that body. My cuffs and rope are ready.”
My heart thudded in fear, but I pushed him away. “You wouldn’t know how to handle someone like me, Joey. I’ve been telling you that for years.”
