Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 132498 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 662(@200wpm)___ 530(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132498 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 662(@200wpm)___ 530(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Lorenzo leans back in his chair, eyes glittering darkly. “Your parents”—he gestures lazily toward them—“have lost everything.”
My father opens his mouth, but Lorenzo slowly turns his head, and the look he gives him is enough to silence a hurricane.
My father deflates in his seat.
Lorenzo continues, tone almost bored. “Your wealth. Gone. Your investments. Drained. Your factories. Sabotaged. Your offshore accounts. Frozen.”
My mother’s lips part in a soundless gasp.
My father’s face reddens with humiliation. “Because of Vict—”
Lorenzo lifts a hand sharply.
“Say her name,” he snaps, “and I will personally string you up by your intestines and turn you into my own art project.”
My body locks. I’m not the only one scared. I peer over where my father has gone rigid, and my mother makes a choked noise, reaching for his arm.
Words are hard to find, but when I do, I stutter. “Wh-what is happening?”
Lorenzo finally looks at me.
And when his eyes meet mine, everything inside me goes silent.
“Your family,” he says softly, “has been ruined. Completely.”
A cold tremor runs down my spine. “Why?”
He tilts his head, eyes narrowing with something like bitter amusement. “You’ll understand soon.”
I can hardly breathe. “Lorenzo, what do you want?”
His lips curl into a smile that is not a smile at all. “You.”
The air leaves my lungs. “Me?” I whisper. “What does that mean?”
Lorenzo steeples his fingers, elbows resting on the table. “It means your parents have agreed to give me what I want.”
My heart free-falls. “What did you do?” I breathe.
“We had no choice, Victoria. He made us an offer. To fix everything,” my father tells me, as if that explains anything.
Breathe.
Fucking breathe.
I need to pull my shit together and figure out what the hell he’s talking about.
My fingers dig into the back of a chair. “An offer that involves me?”
“Victoria—” My mother speaks, but I have no interest in hearing anything she has to say right now.
“No,” I snap, staring at them both. “You sold me? You sold me off like inventory?”
Lorenzo chuckles, a low, vicious sound. “Inventory?” He taps the table with one gloved finger. “No, sweetheart. Inventory is replaceable.”
My blood runs cold.
“You,” His eyes devour my fear, “were the price.”
I stumble backward like he physically struck me. “My god.”
Lorenzo watches me fall apart with calm fascination. Something tells me he’s waited a long time for this moment.
“What kind of monster are you?” I whisper.
He smiles. Cold and violent. Beautiful in a way that makes my skin crawl.
“The one you created.”
“I-I didn’t—”
He raises a brow. “You broke me once. I’m simply returning the favor.”
I want to scream. I want to run. I want to crawl across the table and claw his eyes out. I want to cry for the boy I loved and strangle the man he’s become. Maybe I can do both? Something tells me I wouldn’t make it an inch before a gun is pointed at my head.
Neither is an option. “You can’t do this,” I manage to choke out.
“Oh, I can,” he answers, rising slowly from his seat. “And I already have.” He buttons his jacket with a smooth, practiced motion. “The arrangements are made. The deal is sealed. Your parents traded your future for their lives.”
I stare at them. It can’t be true. It can’t be . . . but when I see my mother’s face and that of my father’s, I know it is. “You agreed to marry me off without even asking me?”
I don’t know why I’m surprised, but I am. I never thought they would stoop this low. All my life, I’ve known they only cared about themselves, but if I harbored any belief that maybe they could change, be less selfish, now I know the answer . . .
No.
“It was better than ruin,” the man who raised me mutters under his breath. This man is no father. He’s a weak, disgusting person who only cares about his status.
Lorenzo smiles with teeth. “Your family is saved, Victoria. And you should be grateful. Very few people get to be the solution to a centuries-old empire collapsing.”
“And why would I ever do this?”
“You have to, Victoria,” my mother pleads.
“Why? What more can he do? He’s already taken everything. What more can he threaten us with?”
“Violence. Death,” my father hisses.
“What?”
“Do you not know who your little boyfriend became?” My father scoffs.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Well, apparently, he wasn’t at all what you thought he was. Your old friend is part of the Amante crime family . . .”
“What the—”
“Which is exactly why you will go along with this plan, Little Bird.”
The moniker sends chills down my spine. His words are clear. I’m a bird in a cage, and there is no way out because he holds the key.
My pulse pounds in my ears. “You’re insane.”
He shrugs casually. “Probably.”
He then turns toward the door, and something in me snaps. “Lorenzo,” I rasp. “Don’t walk away from me.”