“My father.”
“Why?” He could tell she was exhausted and frightened. Her whole body shook, and she tried valiantly to hide her fear with a stiff back and a raised chin.
“He was going to marry me off to Gabriel Rizzo.”
Graham’s stomach tightened, and he knew he looked shocked. Everyone had heard about that bastard because he was a sick fuck. He was a sadist to the extreme. “I’m going to assume your father, like everyone else, knows what the man is like?”
Her chin trembled as she nodded.
“Why would he do that?”
“To bring the families together.”
Jesus Christ. This just kept getting worse. Having the Moretti family against them was terrible, but it would be disastrous having both them and Rizzos.
“Can I go now?”
“What would you do?”
“I would hide to the best of my ability.”
“And what will happen when they find you?”
She looked down. “If I’m caught, I’ll kill myself.”
He gasped. What the fuck? “You would just give up?”
She tried to laugh. “If I’m caught, my father will take me to the Rizzos that same day to prevent me from running again. Gabriel already warned me if I disobey him, he’ll start torturing me right away to kill my defiance and to punish me. As an extra treat, he’ll rape me and then let a few of his guys at me. So, yeah, I’d rather be dead.”
“I’ve heard about some of the shit he does.”
“Then why the hell doesn’t someone do something?” she yelled, surprising them both. “You know what he does to women, and then he kills them so they can’t talk. He’s a serial killer. Everyone knows that, but they’re too chicken to do anything about.”
He couldn’t dispute her because it was true, and Graham wondered why no one had.
“Listen, if you give me a gun, I’ll shoot him myself.”
“And then what would you do?” he asked sarcastically.
“Shoot myself.” She said it so matter of fact that he believed every word.
“Listen, I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
“You can’t promise me that.”
His hand slapped down on the top of his desk. “I don’t fucking care what you believe. At the moment, we have to keep you hidden until my brothers and I decide what our next step is.”
“Where are you going to hide me?”
“In my room. But, first, I need Alastair in here.”
Someone knocked on the door.
“Get in the bathroom,” he whispered. When she was hidden, he called out, “Come in.”
He looked up to see it was Clarice. “What do you need?”
“I brought your lunch.”
He grinned. She didn’t like it when they missed a meal, so she would track him and his brothers down with a tray of food.
“Thank you, Clarice. I promise to do better.”
She snorted and set the tray on one corner of his desk. “I’ll come to get it later.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
After the door closed, he walked to the bathroom and knocked. “You’re okay to come out.”
Faith opened the door and looked around.
“Clarice, our kitchen lady, who’s more a part of the family, tries to feed me all the time. There’s plenty of food, and I’m guessing you haven’t eaten for a while.”
She shook her head.
“Okay, come with me.” He pulled a chair up to the desk where the tray sat. “Come and sit. Eat as much as you want. I’ll get more for you later.”
He watched her look at the tray with wide eyes before reaching out for part of a sandwich.
“How long have you been in hiding?”
“Thirteen days, I think.”