After all… he was born to be this way, to rule with an iron fist.
You couldn’t be weak and be capo. When he exhaled roughly, I saw his expression falter. I let my sigh escape and sat down in the chair across from him.
“Please, fratellone. You cannot force me to marry somebody I don’t love, somebody I don’t want to.”
And still he said nothing. It infuriated me. I felt like crying, but I refused to let the tears fall and would let no one see that weakness in me.
So I tipped my chin and pulled my shoulders back, glaring at him with so much animosity I hope he felt it.
“So stubborn and strong,” he murmured and rubbed his eyes. “Just like Amara.”
He exhaled, and for a split second I felt guilt for making this harder for him. I loved my brother and knew he didn’t want to make me unhappy, that there were rules he had to follow even if he didn’t want to.
“I don’t want to, sorellina, but I’m getting pressure from the higher-ups. They want another alliance. They want security.” He rested his head on the back of the chair and stared at the ceiling. The sound of the fire crackling to the left would have been relaxing in any other circumstance.
I shook my head and squeezed my eyes. “Let them pawn off one of their daughters.”
“Claudia,” he said in a softer tone, “look at me.”
It was a second before the murder I felt in my veins dissipated slightly enough to where I could stand to look at Gio. But I made sure he saw my full wrath when I opened my eyes.
He exhaled again and ran a hand over his face. “I’m not Father. And I never fucking will be.” He let those words hang in the air between us for a suspended moment. “I would never arrange for you to marry a bastard, someone who laid hands on you, treated you like shit. I’d put a bullet in his head before I allowed that to happen.”
I didn’t know how to respond. I swallowed, my throat so tight, the lump lodged in the center making it hard to breathe.
“You’ll get a final say on who it is. If I don’t like him, he’s fucking out. But you know this has to be done. It’s the world we live in, Claudia.” His gaze softened as he gazed at me. “It’ll offer you protection, too. Things are becoming increasingly more volatile between the Irish and the Triad. If something were to happen to me…” He cut off those words as he clenched his teeth again and glanced away. “We know the men in our world have short life spans.” Gio stared at me again.
I wanted to tell him repeatedly that I wouldn’t marry anyone I didn’t love, but I bit my tongue. As I stared at my brother—really stared at him—I could see the wall he erected around himself when he was in anyone else’s presence slowly lower.
I noticed the slight darkening under his eyes from lack of sleep and the way his hair wasn’t as polished as it normally was. His white button-down shirt wasn’t as crisp and pristine but showed wrinkles, as if maybe he’d slept in it. Well, the couple of hours he probably got.
I looked at his hands as he kept drumming his fingers. His knuckles were scabbed over and red and swollen. But that was something I was used to seeing on him.
He’d always been brutal for Father, and instead of delegating it to others now that he was in charge, I had a sick feeling that he kept doing the dirty work.
The weight of the world rested on Gio’s shoulders, and I could see it reflecting physically.
So I let him think I would listen, that I would be amicable. But I knew there wasn’t a rush. Arranged marriages took time and planning.
As if he read my mind, he ran his hand over his jaw again. “I have some men that I’ve handpicked. Although I don’t know them personally, they are the best choices of available bachelors.”
I grimaced. If Gio didn’t know them personally, then I certainly didn’t.
I could envision that they were old, crusty men, and once again, as if Gio read my mind or maybe I just wasn’t hiding my distaste over all of this clearly enough, he chuckled softly.
“And no, they’re not decrepit. Older than you, yes, but reasonably aged.”
“I already told you I don’t want to do this.” Although I told myself I wouldn’t say anything, the words slipped out. All I heard for long seconds was the thrumming of his fingers as he stared at me. “I could just leave, Gio. I could take my inheritance and go.”
“You know you don’t have access to that until you’re twenty-one.”
It was my turn to clench my teeth together, grind my molars.