I only looked down at my phone for a few seconds to send the text, but when I looked back up, a nightmare was unfolding in front of me. The very thing I swore would never happen was playing out before my very eyes. Don Angelo and Scott were shaking hands and exchanging words. Don Angelo looked over at me with a killer's smirk on his face, taunting me with the visual of them together.
"Nice guy. Not who I would have thought you'd want to fuck, but hey. A dance before you go and meet him? He's dying to see you," said Don Angelo as he returned to me, holding out a hand.
It might have been my imagination, but I thought he emphasised the word dying and it pissed me off. Fear mixed with anger in my gut as I laid my hand in his again, feeling backed into a corner.
My vulnerability was showing every time I looked at Scott, so I stopped and focused on my father instead.
"I'm the one that taught you how to bluff, so I know when you're doing it," he said against my ear, his voice sinister.
I had been waiting for it all morning, but now that it was here, my brain stopped functioning. My immediate reaction was to try and run, but he grabbed onto my waist firmly and forced me to keep swaying to the music with him.
"But that's not the reason you won't get to leave me again. It's your little infatuation with a pretty boy's dick. That's why it doesn't matter that you one upped me, even without the dead man's switch. That hail mary is why it's not anyone but you that gets my legacy, Stacy," he said, my name on his tongue making me feel so suffocated I wanted to scream.
The best I could do, tears filling up my eyes, was a hoarse, "Go fuck yourself, Don Angelo" which only served to amuse the sadistic, sick fuck.
"Let's see what else you remember. What do we do with people when we find their weakness?" he said, his voice grating in my ear, like chalk on a black board.
I couldn't answer him, fear, anger and resentment getting the better of me as I became lightheaded and struggled to breathe.
"What do we do with people when we find their weakness, Stacy?" his jarring voice screeched into my ear, calling me back to the moment.
I went from completely losing my shit to going totally numb in a matter of seconds.
"We use it to break them," I answered, as though on autopilot, like I was his toy.
Scottie, you should have let me protect you, just this once. What the fuck would I do if he hurt you? Or worse, if he made me do it while he watched?
As if reading my mind, Don Angelo seared images of how it would play out into my mind, saying, "Every time you even think of reassembling the dead man's switch, I want you to picture him on his knees. A gun in your hand, while I make you decide who gets to put a bullet in his brain, you or me. Not his knee caps or his elbows or his ankles like you prefer. His fucking brain. You will live the rest of your life knowing that you have defied me for the last time, all this was for nothing and you can't have Scott."
"How do I know you won't just kill him anyway even if I come back to you?" I asked, defeat settling over me like I knew it would all along.
This wasn't over just yet. I still had to lose the right way. My way.
"That question is weak and it disgusts me," he said with a hiss. "You don't know anything for sure, but what choice do you have?"
"I'd sooner die than come back to you without the assurance that Scott will be safe. I'll devote my life to keeping him safe. The second he ceases to exist, so will my usefulness to you. I will become a glorified ornament," I said, laying it all on the line to try and assure Scott's safety.
"If you think you can protect him, go right ahead and try. It makes no difference to me. I expect you to fall in line. After returning my funds, you need to find your own way into the Cattaneo household, since you squandered the opportunity I gave you, and dismantle the Cattaneos from the inside. No worries if you fail, you'll still be my heir, but I will make you kill Scott," he said, the threat as jarring as the first time he said it. "Now give back my money."
Why did it feel like he'd be holding Scott's existence over my head for the rest of my life? This time, there would be no escape. There was no point in pretending I had any choice in the matter. I sent a quick text to Tessa, asking her to undo what we had spent three whole days figuring out.
"The money's on its way back to your accounts as we speak. You never wanted to be allied with the Cattaneos. You wanted to take over their territories. You had Don Marcus killed when he found out," I concluded out loud, looking him in the eye to confirm my suspicions.
"You're late to the party, erede. Scott's making you slow. Go and say your goodbyes to him," said Don Angelo, releasing me.
Scott was waiting patiently for me to come to him, having given up on forcing the issue. I wanted nothing more than to run my fingers through his curls and let him take me into his arms, but I was terrified my whole world would end. That he'd get hurt if I let myself be near him again.
"I insist," Don Angelo said in parting.
With Don Angelo getting lost in the crowd, unable to help myself, I gingerly took steps to cross the room to go to Scott. He beamed at me reassuringly and my heart hurt. Was this how it would end? We deserved so much more. As the woman he loved, he deserved all that I was. Am. Will become. Everything that would always be his no matter where I was.
Mere moments away from being reunited with Scott, I ran into Luca and hope blossomed in my bosom.
"Congratulations," I said, thoughts of double crossing Don Angelo yet again by telling Luca what I knew to forge an alliance going through my mind.
Images of Scott before me while I held a gun to his head, followed by memories of every last bullet I had ever fired flooded my brain, threatening to snuff out that hope.
"Thank you, bella. It could have been you. Your loss," said Luca, holding up a champagne glass to his grinning lips.
"Take me away with you and Jenny," I said, fresh out of justifications, not sure if I was asking him to help me save Scott or to let me into his circle to bring down the Cattaneos.
"Okay. Be ready to leave in ten minutes. Tell Scott he fought valiantly and for that, he has my respect. That's why I never forced our marriage. Against my better judgement, you had me thinking you'd make it. Alas," said Luca, leaving it at that.
"You told me so?" I asked, his eagerness to take me with them despite me not being useful to him anymore setting off alarm bells.
Did he already know about Don Angelo killing Don Marcus? If he did, he'd know what Don Angelo had sent me to do and Jenny and I would be sitting ducks, marked for death. Was I willing to risk that for Don Angelo, who couldn't even say that he'd let Scott live? Did I really think I had a choice?
"I'm a proud man, but I'm not above admitting when I am wrong. I was wrong about Scott leaving you. Him being here today, surrounding himself with all this just for a dance with you, proves it. I was wrong about you ending up with me. Wouldn't it be interesting to see what else I'm wrong about? Mr. Expert awaits," he said, a twinkle in his eye as he left to join Jenny.
Stupid Luca had my mind going crazy, thinking of all the possibilities as I continued my journey to Scott. I thought of all the ways that this could play out. If I did defy Don Angelo, it certainly wouldn't be the first time.
"Hi Scottie," I said with a smile on my face, finally before him.
The stakes were high, but to keep him safe, I'd risk everything.
I meant it when I said I'd sell my soul to save you, Scott.
"Hey sexy lady," he said, taking my hand and twirling me around in my bridesmaid's dress. "You're a sight for sore eyes," he said, pulling me into his arms, my fingers instantly gliding through his soft curls as he asked
, "Dance with me?"
The only question was: who would I be selling my soul to?