Page 61 of Vengeful Vows
The business Alessandro inherited was supposedly a mess, though I was too young to understand what that meant.
“When he got into financial difficulty, he borrowed money.”
The room starts to swim. It can’t be…“Nico?”I whisper, scared to hear the answer.
His eyes are stark, and his words are even more so. “Behind a shield, yes.”
Chilled to my bones, I wait for him to continue.
“A few years ago, I restructured the loan and took out more funds to grow the business.”
Oh God, no. This can’t be happening.Can’t.
“And he’s Giancarlo Fontana’s business partner.”
My mind reels as I struggle to make sense of everything.
“Moretti owns us, Bella. And he owns Adriana’s family.”
Feeling physically ill, I press my palm against my stomach. Nico wasn’t satisfied with manipulating my emotions until I fell in love with him? Not happy with humiliating me with the truth in public? Now he’s poised to crush my brother and his future in-laws?
The depth of his obsession is unending.
“I’m so sorry, Bella.” His eyes fill with regret. “He issued an ultimatum last night. You have to marry him.”
Shell-shocked, my shoulders fall, and I slowly blink. “You can’t be serious.” I shake my head. I can’t do this. Can’t look at Nico every day for the rest of my life, realizing I’m a pawn in his grotesque game.
“He owns it all, our businesses, homes…” He seems to force the words past a lump lodged in his throat.
My mind races. “There has to be something we can do.”
“I didn’t find any of this out until my engagement party. And Fontana still doesn’t know.”
Nico is a cold, calculating bastard.
“If you don’t marry him, he’ll see to it we’ll never recover. No one will give either of us a loan ever again. We’ll lose it all.”
Again.
I can’t stand to see my brother like this, and Adriana doesn’t deserve any of this. Maybe she could save herself, but I know she’s madly in love with Alessandro. Like me, she’s an innocent.
“He’s given me until the end of the business day before destroying me.”
A stubborn slice of my heart wants to believe that Nico won’t actually go through with this.
Maybe stupidly, I want to think I mattered to him, at least a little.
“If you want to save me and Adriana?—”
The drone of Alessandro’s voice drags me back to the present moment.
“Pay attention,” he snaps, making me shake my head back with disbelief.
Instead of standing by me, he’s issuing demands?
“I was saying that if you want to save me and Adriana, along with the Fontanas, you need to marry Moretti.”
Hysterically I laugh, and a few nearby patrons turn to look at me.