"And you believed him?"
"He paid me." He glances away. "I am sorry. I know it was wrong; I know I shouldn’t have done it, but—"
"But you did it anyway. What’s your name?" I growl.
"Marcello," he replies. "Please, Consigliere, don’t hurt me; I have a grandmother who depends on me."
"Why is it that none of you think through the consequences before you act?"
"I … I … I am sorry," he whispers.
"That won’t make up for the grief you caused us."
I glance at Massimo, who pulls out his gun. He hands it over to me, and I press the barrel against his temple.
The man whimpers, "Please don’t hurt me, please don’t."
"You should have thought of that before you betrayed us," I growl.
I tighten my finger on the trigger when, "Don’t, Christian." Aurora pleads with me. "Please, don’t do this."
"So, it’s okay for you to want to kill me, but if I want to kill someone to protect my family, that’s wrong?"
"Oh my god! How many times must I tell you? I didn’t want you killed,” she cries. “But that’s beside the point. You don’t want to kill him, Christian," she adds softly.
"Don’t tell me what to do."
She swallows. "I am begging you," she beseeches me, "don’t."
I hesitate, then lower the gun. Why the hell am I listening to her? Why is it that I can’t ignore her pleas? "Take him away," I order Antonio. "I’ll deal with him later."
Antonio turns and drags the man along with him. I hold out the gun to Massimo, and he slides it back into his waistband.
I turn to her, "It’s time for you to leave as well."
"What?" She opens her eyes. "No, don’t say that."
"Be grateful I am letting you leave with your life."
"Christian, please, let’s talk this through. You know you don’t want to do this."
"A-n-d, there you go again, professing to know what I want to do." I drum my fingers on my chest.
"I do know what you want," she swallows, "I am your wife."
"A fake wife. A sham wedding." I raise my shoulder. "None of it counts for anything."
"Hold on, brother," Seb cautions me, "think this one through, will you?"
"Mind your own business, will you?"
"You just married her. Surely, it’s worth the two of you taking this somewhere private where you can discuss things," Massimo adds.
"There’s nothing to discuss," I drawl, "my mind is made up."
"You are already married," Adrian reminds me. "You can’t just decide now that you don’t want to be married."
"Watch me." I yawn.