“We need to discuss this,” my father comments and tries to smooth over what he just did to me, even though my cheek is burning and the pain radiates across my face. “We need to discuss Zane Maverick. I need to know the job will be done.”
“Okay, let me tell you how this will go. Zane is mine.” My comment is bitten into with conviction and hatred and I care for nothing but giving my father a piece of my feisty attitude to appease him. “I will kill him when I’m ready. Leave it up to me. It’s my job.”
***
I’m woken to my sheets being ripped away for my body. The chill hardly sets in when I’m yanked from my position in the middle of the bed and trapped in the arms of someone. I don’t see much of my captor, but I don’t need proof with the way he holds me.
“Papà wants to see you,” Giovanni whispers into my ear. His breath heats my skin, the feeling rolls down my neck and goosebumps rise on my skin.
“Let me go,” I grind out, yanking away from him as much as I can. However, Giovanni’s hold only tightens.
“No way,” he tells me and pushes me out of my bedroom and into the hallway that runs across the back of the house. “Daddy’s princess has to get there quickly. I know how you love to drag your feet, Amelia. I’m not allowing you to get me into trouble.”
I snicker. “Scared to piss Daddy off?”
“Shut up,” he sneers and gives up being nice. He all but drags me through the darkened house.
I’m still struggling for freedom from his hold as we enter the grand room. When I stop, I look to the grand meeting room of my father’s to find him standing before a gang of menacing-looking men. Immediately, the hairs rise on the back of neck and all the sleep that didn’t want to leave my body is quickly replaced with the terror that I had suppressed when I was rudely awoken. Pushing me further, even though my feet have seemingly cemented themselves to the ground, I see the greediness in all the men’s eyes – my father’s included.
“So, I’m sure you’re wondering why you’ve been woken up past midnight, Bambina?” my father asks as Giovanni closes the distances between all of us in the room.
“Well, yeah,” I snap back, trying to hold onto the ferocity I met my father with earlier. It’s only a bravado; my smart-ass behavior is meant to shield the fear.
“These men are here to see if you’re worth as much as I seem to have you priced at,” my father announces, and he’s all smiles. The aggression I fired up in him earlier is diminishes, and he’s here for showmanship. He’s presenting himself as the businessman. The face of the Dio Lavoro is full of omnipotence and supremacy. The Dio del Sangue is here with intent now more than ever. “One of them will be the lucky man to walk out of here tonight with you, Princess. After all, you’re clearly not prepared to respect your own father and the life he sets at your feet. Why would I want such a delinquent in my house, in my family, when I can sell her? Sell her, might I add, to someone who would give you a far more horrifying lifestyle than this one!”
The realization hits me like an icy cold bucket being thrown over me. Hell, I think I would rather the latter! I feel the dread boil in me, my heart clenches, my lungs lack the ability to inhale air, and I find fear wrapping around me like tiny snakes, rendering me useless and ready for a suffocating death. My own father is prepared to sell me to men who find great delight in trafficking defenseless women to whatever hell will pay the most. In that instant, Giovanni’s hold onto me tightens, and I fruitlessly fight him. I pull down, bearing down with all my weight and then start to yank away, vying for my release. As every male’s eyes land on me, I feel violent panic rip through me and I’m alarmed at how they all stare at me with such want.
“It’s good you dressed up for the occasion,” Giovanni remarks and I loathe the sound of glee in his voice. He’s happy this is happening. He’s pleased I’m the one being presented and hopefully gotten rid of before sunrise. A few men laugh with him, and my brother’s ego gets a stroke. “Gives them an idea of what you’re prepared to wear when you’re theirs.”