Bend Me, Daddy

Jesus Christ. Why wouldn't she just go? Why was she tempting me like this? "She already mourned her sister. She stayed holed up in her room for weeks doing just that." "But not with her parents. She needs this time with her family, Luca."

He was right. I knew this. But I couldn't stand the fact that she was putting herself in harm's way for something that wasn't absolutely necessary. From what she'd said, her sister was a bitch to her and treated her no better than a lowly servant. I don't know that I would show my father or my own brother the same respect when the time came. "She's a fool."

He picked up his sunglasses from my desk. "What do you want me to do?"

That was the question, wasn't it. I knew what I wanted, but I also knew that what I wanted to do and what I needed do to retain my position in the family were two very different things. "Nothing," I told him. "For now, do nothing. I'll send two of our men over to keep an eye on her parents' house.

But that's it."

"Are you absolutely sure about this?"

No. I wasn't. But my hands were tied.

"Luca-"

Whatever he was about to say, I didn't want to hear it. "Call a meeting," I told him. "And get Tristan back here to report what he was able to find out about the other families. I want them all here at the club tomorrow night. We have a lot to do if I'm going to unseat my father from his throne."

He stared at me for a long moment, then picked up his sunglasses and put them back over his eyes. Pulling his cell from the inside pocket of his jacket, he started walking out of the office. "What time?" "Nine."

With a terse nod, he left, closing the door behind him.

After he was gone, I went back to my chair and sank into it with a long sigh, staring at the numbers on the spreadsheet I'd been working on before Veda had come back to claw her way inside the open wound that housed my heart. But I might as well have been looking at a blank monitor screen, because I didn't see anything except her face. Didn't hear anything except her voice railing at me one second and moaning my name the next. And here, alone in this room, I could admit to myself what I refused to voice out loud to anyone else.

In the short time I'd known her, she'd become a part of my life. A part of me. And I fucking missed her more than I ever thought I could.

Closing the window on the computer screen, I rested my head in my hands and tugged at my hair. Enzo was upset with me. Hell, even Tristan didn't agree with the way I was handling things with Veda. Restless, I got up and refilled my whiskey. I honestly didn't know how to get us out of the situation Veda had put us in when she was caught snooping around my office for my brother. According to the rules of the game that was my life-the only life I had ever known-I had no choice but to consider her a rat and dole out the appropriate punishment. Telling her to run was only a temporary reprieve. A wild chance that she'd run fast enough and far enough that I wouldn't be able to carry out what I knew I needed to do. However, the thought of taking a gun and pointing it at her head made something clench inside of my gut, squeezing my lungs until I could barely breathe. I placed my hand in the middle of my chest, willing my heart to beat again. Her showing up here and walking back out alive was enough to send my father's words clanging around in my head. But he was wrong. I could do what needed to be done, if I had to, but I also knew her death would destroy me. Life without Veda was a life I didn't want. I had no doubt that if I was forced to carry out my threat, I would do everything in my power to follow her into the black abyss as soon as possible.

The thought was appealing, if I were to be honest with myself. We'd be able to escape the problem of my father and brother and all of the stupid bullshit that came with them and be together wherever the fuck you go when this life was done. The only problem with that plan was that I wasn't done with her luscious body in this world yet, and my physical craving for her far outweighed my desire to leave this fucked up world. Even now, not an hour after I'd had her, my body hardened at the thought of having her again.

I took another sip of my whiskey.

There had to be a way for me to keep her.

And the more I thought about it, the simpler the answer became. Enzo was right. No one other than Tristan, Enzo, and me knew what had happened. No one knew I'd forced her to leave. No one knew anything, not even my own men, and we could easily keep it that way.

So it was just a question of my honor.

I'd always prided myself on being a man who was in every way nothing at all like my father or my brother. I may be seen as cold and controlling by some, but I kept my word, and I always-always-conducted myself in an honorable way within the family. Being so close to taking my father's place, it would be a risk to let her get away with what she'd done. If anyone found out, I'd lose the trust of the other families, and I may very well end up in a grave myself for showing her mercy, something that was unheard of in my world unless you were in a position of ultimate power like my father. And my brother would rise in the ranks as intended unless someone was smart enough to kill him, too. And Veda, my vita, would be left alone with the monsters.

I hadn't been thinking straight when I sent her away. Not once, but twice. She was on Mario's radar now, and as soon as he figured out she was no longer under my protection, she would be on everyone's. I'm sure word had gotten around by now as to who she really is and what she meant to me. She would never be able to live a life where they wouldn't find her. And she would be made even more valuable in their eyes because to take her would be one more way to twist the knife in my back, even if I was a corpse.

Enzo and Tristan would try to protect her, if for no other reason than out of their loyalty to me, but even as skilled as they are, they would only be able to run so far without the protection of the family. There was no way Veda would survive without my protection. And there was no fucking way I would be able to bring myself to kill her.

I slammed down the remainder of the whiskey and wiped my mouth on the back of my hand.

Honor be damned, her place was with me.