"You will be," the Uncle reassured her, ignoring the glare Matteo shot him. "She is merely a passing fancy. You know how men are."
"The ring on her finger tells a different story," she spat, eyes darting to my left hand where Matteo used it to drag me into his side. "Such a pity. Come daddy, I believe we've been misled enough for one day." The other man followed his daughter out the door.
"Lino, take Ivory into the dining room," Matteo said, and my eyes turned to him. I wanted to argue that my place was beside him, but the menace on his face communicated that this was exactly one of those moments where I just needed to get the Hell out of his way.
"Of course," Lino agreed, holding out an arm for me to take. I stepped away from Matteo, letting him guide me to the door at the back of the room.
"Not one more step, son," Gabriele snarled with a vicious bite that made me want to shrink into Lino for protection. "If she's so worthy of being your wife, then she will need to get familiar with situations like this. Will she not?" he turned to Matteo.
"Don't you dare," Matteo returned, and his hand went behind his back.
Both men moved so suddenly that I couldn't possibly follow the movement. All I knew was one moment they glared at each other, the next they each had a gun in hand and pointed at the other. I gasped, and Lino cursed under his breath.
"She is a weakness. I should have gotten rid of her the first time she distracted you from what's important." He shifted his gun to the right, taking his aim off Matteo and leveling it on me where Lino guided me to the door.
I winced, feeling Lino shove me behind him so I wasn't staring down the barrel of the gun. "Killing her now would be a mercy compared to what they'll do to her to hurt you."
"She's not mama, father," Lino begged. "Matteo won't let anything happen to her."
"Put down your fucking gun before I kill you," Matteo threatened, and the quiet rage in his voice sent fear through me.
What the fuck had I gotten myself mixed up in?
Gabriele huffed. "You'd shoot your own uncle? For pussy?"
"I'd shoot you for calling her that. I'd make you suffer if you hurt her," Matteo growled. Gabriele lowered his gun, tossing it onto the coffee table and raising a hand as if he was no longer a threat.
I exhaled a sigh of relief, releasing the desperate grasp I had on the back of Lino's suit. I didn't even remember grabbing him, remembered nothing aside from the terror that I'd lose Matteo.
I couldn't lose him.
"She had better be fertile," his Uncle grimaced, staring down Matteo's fury. I had to admit, it took a brave man to push his luck in the face of all that was Matteo.
Matteo's features twisted, and the sound of the gun going off was deafening in the living room. My hands flew to my ears, covering them instinctively. "Fuck," Lino grunted, staring at where his father clutched his arm in agony.
"You fucking shot me."
"You ever threaten my woman again, and it will be far worse than a flesh wound. Come Ivory," Matteo demanded, and I rushed into his side. Even though I was terrified of the glimpse I'd gotten into that beast that lurked under the surface, I knew Matteo wouldn't hurt me.
I felt that in my soul.
It didn't stop me from trembling as I burrowed into him though. He guided me out of the house, and I resisted the urge to ask questions. I got into the car, Matteo in the driver's seat, and didn't even argue when he pulled me over the center console and crushed me to his chest. "Teo, what—?"
"When we get home. I'll explain everything when we get home." He set me back to my seat, and I buckled up.
"Why not now?" I asked when he put the car in gear and started down the driveway. The gate opened at the end, and we escaped Gabriele's manor in one piece.
Or two.
"I can't have you trying to run. I need you locked down first," he admitted, and my heart clenched.
"It's bad, isn't it?"
"Do you love me?" he asked.
"You know I do."
"Then that's all that matters."
I hung my head, tears threatening to fall. Matteo had shot someone.
His own uncle.
And he didn't seem the least bit remorseful. "That's not the first time you've shot someone, is it?"
"When we get home."
I released a quiet sob, turning my attention to stare out the window.
I was so fucking screwed.
✽✽✽
The door to Matteo's office closed behind him with a quiet click. He turned to face me, a thousand emotions flitting across his normally impassive face. "You need to understand that what I'm about to tell you will change nothing."
"Teo, you're scaring me," I whispered, stepping back as far as the space would allow when he prowled toward me. He caged me between him and the desk, touching my cheek so gently I might have thought I imagined it had my eyes been closed.
"Anyone but you would be right to be afraid. Anyone but you would have to be stupid not to be, but I'll never hurt you, Angel," he whispered. "I wish I could be a better man for you, but I'm not, and I can't be."
"Why can't we just leave? Go somewhere and be someone else?"
"This is all I know. They raised me to run the family businesses, and I can't abandon that legacy. I'd always be a threat to whoever tried to take over, and we'd never be safe. Not really."
"I don't understand." I shook my head, staring up at him with glassy eyes.
He sighed, touching his forehead to mine. It felt final. It felt like he knew, no matter what he demanded, that whatever came next would cost him.
That it would cost him me.
"My family has run this city since my grandfather was in charge. Nothing happens here without our say so."
"You make it sound like you’re some kind of mob boss." I shook my head with a dark chuckle, my smile fading when his eyes caught mine. He didn't laugh. Didn't flinch. "No. That's ridiculous."
"We call it more of a syndicate, but the premise is the same," he said, voice low.
Quiet, as if waiting for me to scream.
"But mobsters deal drugs and sell weapons!" I whisper hissed. "They sell women, and you told me you didn't do that."
"I told you I didn't take part in sex trafficking. The women who work for me are willing and very well compensated—" The sound of my hand striking him across the face echoed through the otherwise silent office. I stared at him in horror, waiting for the beast to strike. But to my amazement, he only nodded. "I deserved that."
"You think?" My eyes went to the ring on my finger, staring at it as tears slid down my cheeks.
"Don't even think about it," he snarled at me, pulling my attention away from the ring that suddenly felt like a shackle to a life I didn't want.
"I don't want to be a mob wife."
"Too fucking bad. I told you, this changes nothing," he stressed, pressing into me tighter. "I do what I can to keep innocent people from getting caught up in this world, Ivory. I'm not a good man, but I'm not the worst there is. Me in charge is what's best for the city."