Page 7 of Stained Honor

“No, Carlo, that’s not what this is. I trust you with my life. But something in me changed after Gabriel was born. I knew you’d keep your promise, but that feeling… that instinct I have now, not just toward Gabriel but toward any child, dragged me there before I could even think. And when I saw Fabiano pulling her out of Tony’s arms while she screamed and cried for him—”

The dangerous energy pouring off him cuts me off before I can finish because I realize I’m not making this better. If anything, I’m making it worse.

His massive body shifts fully toward me. There’s nothing left of the careful husband who would’ve burned the world down for me. Not in his eyes. Not in his voice. Not in the way he’s looking at me now.

This isn’t my Carlo speaking to me.

This is Don Carlo. The infamous mafia boss.

“So you saw some crying kid,” he says coldly, “and decided to shove a knife straight through your husband’s back?”

I shake my head quickly, about to speak, but he lifts a finger between us and warns in a low, dangerous voice, “Don’t interrupt me.”

Even though every part of me knows Carlo would never hurt me, the threat in his tone still settles deep in my chest and sends a tremor through my entire body.

He lowers his hand slowly and continues, “From the very beginning, the reason I got drawn to you wasn’t just because you were beautiful or sweet. It was because you were strong. Because nothing and no one could break you. Because no matter what happened, you stood your ground. I thought I could trust you in any situation.”

His jaw tightens.

“But apparently I was wrong.”

There’s absolutely no mistaking the disappointment in his voice.

And something inside me drops hard. Pain floods my chest so violently I almost stop breathing around it. The kind of grief I never knew a person could physically feel.

Tears burn behind my eyes, but I force them back and whisper hoarsely, “I just wanted to help a child.”

His voice crashes over me like fire.

“Whether that kid got help or not was never your decision to make. You had no right interfering in my choices. No right thinking you had the power to challenge me, the Capo of this fucking organization.” His voice grows colder with every word. “I gave you too much freedom, but I thought you understood where the line was. I thought you knew you don’t get to overstep and involve yourself in my business, legal or illegal. I thought you understood that I’m the law in this house. So if I decide a child should grow up orphaned, then too fucking bad. That child grows up orphaned.”

The brutality in his words crushes my lungs until breathing becomes painful.

“She’s just a child.”

His eyes flash dangerously. “You thought about the daughter of the man who threw you to the wolves like a piece of meat, but not about your own child?”

Confusion cuts through the panic. “What are you talking about?”

He drags in a deep breath and squeezes his eyes shut with obvious effort. When he looks at me again, the fury in his gaze pins me in place.

“Pack a suitcase. You’re leaving for a while.”

All the air leaves my lungs at once.

For a second, my heart stops.

I stare at him in shock while he continues in that same cold voice, “I can’t send Maxim with you, but Giorgio will go.”

A tear slips down my cheek before I can stop it, but a bitter laugh leaves me anyway.

“So this is what your marriage vows were worth? In sickness and in health, through good and bad? The first time I do something against your will, you exile me?”

Without warning, he reaches for me, grabs both my arms, and yanks me hard against him. He bends into my face and snarls through clenched teeth, “Between the two of us, you’re the one who broke those sacred vows. You swore you’d never betray me. Did you forget that? Did you forget you swore betrayal would cost you your life?”

I shove my palm against his chest, trying to force space between us. He lets me move back a little, but he doesn’t release me completely.

“I didn’t betray you!” I shout. “I just wanted to help a child. That doesn’t make me weak. It means I have something you don’t. A fucking conscience.”