Page 201 of The One
I can’t tell Mateo.
I can’tNOTtell Mateo.
Either way, everything changes.
I grip my head, as if pressing hard enough could stop Father’s words echoing in my mind.
I’m trapped by an impossible choice.
Tell Mateo the truth, and I sign my family’s death warrant. Keep it to myself, and I condemn him to be their puppet, whoevertheyare.
Father thinks Mateo is weak and easy to control, but he’s wrong. Mateo would never bend. He’s fire and steel, stubborn and unyielding. He would fight. And they would kill him for it.
I know this as surely as I know Father doesn’t make empty threats.
Oh my God.The attack in Rome.
That must have been Father’s doing too. He wanted to eliminate the next De Marco heir before killing the Don.
Merda.
And he didn’t care that I was caught in the crossfire. He didn’t care if I lived or died.
Despite the hot water, an icy shiver runs through me. The horror of that night still lingers in my bones.
What do I do?
WHAT. Do. I. Do?
Damn you, Father.
Even if, for a moment, I entertained the idea that Mateo could spare me, my mother, my sisters, and anyone tied to us by blood, how could our relationship survive this?
It’s fragile as it is. Untested, new.
What chance does it stand against a century-old legacy he’s spent his life upholding? Mateo is loyal to a fault. I could never ask him to betray that for me.
Loving me, choosing me, the daughter ofla famiglia’sbiggest traitor, would make him look weak. Especially now, when he’s establishing his power.
He must be ruthless. Unforgiving.
He has no choice.
He would have to kill me.
Even if it broke his heart.
I press a hand over my mouth, choking on the weight of it all.
My father has been playing the long game, shifting pieces into place for years. And now, he’s won.
I hate him. I HATE him.
He destroys everything good in this world.
I won’t let him.
He will not get away with this.
