Page 96 of Game of Love
“Wishes, you mean Armand?” I snapped and scowled at him.
“Why are you asking the question you already know the answer to? Fucking hell Jia, I never believed you’d defy me like this. Not when I need you to comply. You saw the shit that’s happening. You’ve seen it and you insist on making life difficult.”
“Pa!” I cried. My voice was more an anguished scream of everything inside me. “Will you listen to yourself? Will you seriously listen to yourself? You’re telling me to be with a man who cheated on me. God knows how many times. I don’t want that.Fuck, we all saw for ourselves that he was with Maria the night of the shootout. You know what he’s like. How can you want me to be with someone like that?”
“So what, you think this Xander blows into our lives and suddenly you’re in love with him?” he growled.
In love…
What a nice thought. What a nice dream to have. Maybe it explained it. The passion, the life force that took over me when I was with Xander. Maybe it explained it all. It would make sense to call it that. I didn’t think time could question things like love. I didn’t think time had a place because you’d end up questioning yourself.
So maybe I did love him.
Only yesterday I’d thought I’d never been in love before. Maybe I was…
Maybe it wasn’t a maybe…
I thought people knew if they were in love or not. I knew it. I felt it. Swirling within me like the passion it rode on. Warming me and filling me with everything good.
Pa looked furious. “This is an outrage. You know nothing about him.”
“But you knew enough to hire him and make him a knight.”
“That is different. A resumé is just a resumé. It doesn’t tell you all about a person. We know nothing more about him other than the fact that he was a marine for years and has the ability to shit on everything I say. A person like that can never be truly trusted. Secrets and lies are up their sleeves. Always an ace up their sleeve.”
“Like you…” My gaze clung to his. “You mean like you? So many secrets and lies. You can’t even tell me why you think I’m in danger. You can’t, can you?”
Pa stood his ground. His shoulders tensed and his face hardened. “Armand knows our ways. He is La Cosa Nostra. Our families go back toItalia bellezza. He is who I chose for you. Not this ace of hearts who defies me every chance he gets. I chose Armand for you. You talk about Europe, well now you get your wish. You can go. Armand will take you next week. You will be his wife, so prepare.”
A tremor lanced through me. It pierced through my body like a sharp knife slicing through my skin. It pierced my soul and shattered my heart.
“No,” I breathed, clutching a hand to my chest and shaking my head. “No Papa.”
“Yes. So, you will end this thing, whatever it is you have with Xander Cage.”
I shook my head and tears spilled down my cheeks. “No.”
“No? Jia, test me and I will be forced to do what is necessary to remove a threat, no matter how useful he is to me.”
I sucked in a sharp breath that nearly choked me. “No Papa, you wouldn’t. You wouldn’t hurt him…”
“Hurt?Bellezza you know I don’t aim for hurt if someone stands in my way. A threat is a threat and you eliminate them. Get rid of them for good.”
He meant he would kill him.
He would do it.
I knew he would.
After all, my father was a monster.
Chapter 24
Xander
I sworeto god if I had the power I would have ended that bastard from the second I set my eyes on him.
I didn’t hear Giovanni come into Jia’s room. I didn’t hear him and that said a lot because I was sharper than that.
