Page 53 of Leave Me (Touch of Death 2)
“I believe I made myself clear. If you don’t do as I wish, I can make your life…unpleasant.”
I laugh. “You still need me to stand at the front of that church and speak those vows. Trust me; there is nothing you can do to force me into that.”
“No?”
“No.” I hold his gaze, refusing to back down. “I agreed to marry you to form peace. If you can’t uphold those terms, then we’re done here.”
He finally snaps, shoving to his feet so fast that his chair collides with the glass behind him. “I fucking own you!”
I lean closer, and I can’t help the smile that pulls at my lips because he’s ruffled. “They saved my sister so easily. How many times do you think they could have saved me? Don’t you think they’ve already tried?” I tilt my head to the side, flicking my eyes over him. “I chose to stay. I can choose to leave.” I see the rage building in him as his face turns red. It’s satisfying watching him come undone.
“I will kill you both.”
“That’s a whole other world of problems for you. Politically, killing Gabriella might fly, but to take me out without a marriage, you have no claim to anything my family owns. The other families will all want their piece. And…if I know my sister, she’s probably already signed all the assets over to someone else.”
He reaches for me, but I step back. When he rounds the desk, I mimic the action, keeping the slab of glass between us. I know I can’t outrun him forever, but just long enough to negotiate Gabriella’s safety.
“This is a brave move, principessa, and for what? All so your precious sister lives? She’s weak. She’s ripe for the picking.”
“If I marry you, you leave her alone. Do we have a deal?”
A small smirk works over his lips. “You would marry me, knowing I plan to take your family’s business?”
“Business means nothing to me. I only care about Gabriella.”
“Then she’s safe. Once we are married.” My heart sinks. “Until then, I can’t make any promises, especially if she moves against me again.”
“And when is that?” I don’t even know the details of my own wedding, not that any of it is my choice. I know he will pick everything, down to the dress I wear.
“Two months.”
“Move it forward.”
He laughs. “These things cannot simply be moved.”
“Then cut all the bullshit. It’s not like we’re truly some happy couple to be celebrated.”
“Everyone likes a party.”
“You and me, a small ceremony. Why not tomorrow?”
He laughs harder. “No.”
“If Gabriella dies, I’m not marrying you.” I throw down.
He moves again, and we circle each other like sharks in the water, though realistically, he’s a shark, and I’m just a small fish hopelessly out of my depth.
“I can make your life a living hell, Adelina.”
“Then, so be it. Those are my terms.”
When he’s once again on his side of the desk, and I’m on mine, I back toward the door. He watches me go but makes no move to follow. My fingers clumsily grab at the handle, and I keep my eyes fixed on him until the very last moment. Then I open the door, and I’m gone. All the breath leaves my lungs the second the door clicks shut. My hands tremble, and adrenaline pulses round my body. I feel like I just took back a grain of power. I have leverage—me. My hand in marriage is all the leverage I need, but it’s one I can only use once. As soon as that ring is on my finger, he will own me. I will be his pretty, caged pet. Till death do us part, but which of us will kill the other first? After all, he doesn’t actually need me, or not for long—just a claim to my family business.
I’ve never been so invested in watching someone die.
13
Sasha
I stare at the heavy-textured card in my hand. Sunshine streams through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Ricci villa, glinting brightly over the gold-foil lettering that details the new date for the wedding of Adelina Ricci and Enrique Bianchi. Reading those words doesn’t slice through me the same way it did the first time, though it still stings.
I can feel Gabriella’s eyes burning a hole in the side of my face. Watching. Waiting.
She perches on the edge of the plush-velvet sofa, uncrossing her legs, then recrossing them again. Though she looks controlled in her immaculate-fitted dress with her hair in a twist, her body language tells a different story. She’s losing the calm edge her father undoubtedly instilled in her.
“With you gone and clearly against him, perhaps he wants to cement his claim over Adelina.”
She pushes to her feet and paces back and forth across the living room, high heels sinking into the thick carpet silently. “It makes no sense.”
