Page 16 of His Sacrifice

"Prenup?" Women didn't leave mafia husbands—not alive, at least. I shifted, remembering the knife I had on me. I refused to be a victim, and if my husband was an ass, I didn't plan to stay. I'd disappear. No one would find me. I’d planned for this.

The lawyer pointed to more things to sign, carefully covering the other name on the paperwork. Why all the fucking secrecy? He pulled back the papers and placed them in his briefcase. “Well, looks like I’m done here.”

Both men stood and shook hands. The lawyer left, and I turned toward my stepfather. Giovanni pulled me up from my chair and kissed both of my cheeks.

The sound of grunting and moaning came from the other room, making me spin around. My bodyguard and one of Enzo’s men dragged a body into the room. The large man fought back, but they tossed him in the middle of the room, mere feet from me.

Giovanni took a step back, allowing me to take in the scene. Heavy bruising decorated Dante Moreno’s face, and his clothes were torn and bloody. Deep racking coughs shook his shoulders as he spat out blood. What was this?

“I don’t understand.”

The sound of shoes clanking across the floor caught my attention. When my eyes met his, my heart stuttered as my fight-or-flight kicked in. It was all I could do to remain rooted to the spot.

“My wedding present to the newlyweds.” My stepfather gestured at Moreno. “Everyone else who took part in the attack on your family has been taken care of.”

Newlyweds? When I saw his smirk, I knew it was true. I stood my ground, knowing I couldn’t show any weakness to the man walking toward me, covered in my enemy’s blood.

Thirteen

ENZO

God, she was beautiful. I wanted to undo that stupid bun and make her mine, but she was still catching up, trying to figure out what just happened.

Her eyes darted from me to my father, to the bloodied Moreno on the floor, and back to me.

This morning hadn’t gone as planned. I had contacted a cousin in Italy who was going to help us hide away, but my father walked in while I was on the phone. I should have stayed in bed curled up with her.

He said we needed to talk, and the next thing I knew, I was in the basement of my largest club., where I found Moreno strung up with chains, passed out from the beating he’d already taken.

“What’s this?” I asked, wanting to gut him myself. It was then I noticed our lawyer out of the corner of my eye.

“Figure you could give him as a wedding gift.”

I stared at him.

“Tell me one thing, boy. Is she worth it?”

I raised my brow, trying to gauge what he was looking for.

“You’d leave your family and clubs for Serafina?”

I scrubbed my face with my hand. “You’ve told me to protect her for so long, and now we’re sacrificing her to keep the peace. I can rebuild, but you would see her broken.”

He studied me before gesturing to the lawyer. “I think it’s time you took a wife.”

My fists clenched as I gritted my teeth. We’d fought more and more lately about this. “No.”

My father chuckled. “At least read the damn papers. I feel like you’d be suited quite well for each other. I’d like you to give it a chance.”

Not only was my father forcing me to let Serafina go, but he had the balls to tell me I had to marry as well. What the hell was he thinking? I walked over to our lawyer, who handed me a packet of papers. I grumbled as I skimmed the legal papers and froze when it mentioned the docks and all the nightclubs I’d been overseeing for the last decade.

I glanced at my father—who had a stupid smirk on his face—then back at the papers containing Serafina’s name. “You’re shitting me.”

“You interested or not?” He gestured at the prisoner. “I could always tell the families I changed my mind.”

I pulled my pen out of my suit pocket as I walked over to the metal counter and signed the papers everywhere the lawyer pointed out.

A moan caught my attention. Moreno was waking up.