"She's the reason we're here," I get out through gritted teeth.
"That's what you think." Father laughs before pointing his men up the stairs. "We lost Donati. Find him. Now."
"No," I reply firmly. "I'm going after Marzia."
"You will do as you are told, Adrian."
"I told you," I grind out. "My priority is the girl. If you want to enact your childish fucking vendetta, go ahead. You already killed everyone she holds dear to her heart. She'll never love me after what you've done."
"Love?" Father laughs out loud. "You're too fucking naive for you own good, Adrian. But go after her, if you must. Just trust me on one thing - that girl will never love you. For her, you are now the enemy. And that will never, ever change."
His words ring out in my ears as I set down the hallway, eager to catch Marzia before she makes it too far. I see the hint of her pink glittery dress as she runs, kicking off her heels, bare feet hitting marble as she does her best to put some distance between herself and me. But she'll never be fast enough. I've waited my whole life to capture her, and I'm not giving up now.
I finger the chain with her nonna's wedding ring in my pocket as I come up behind her. I snatch her arms and force her to stop. She's sobbing, tears running down her face along with her perfectly painted on mascara. She whips around to face me and roars like a lioness.
"You killed them! You killed my parents!"
"Well, technically, my father did-" Her slap hits me out of nowhere. But before she can retreat her hand, I've grabbed her by the wrist and I'm staring down at her with a cold expression. "You just made a grave mistake, bambina. Never hurt the hand that fucking feeds you."
"I'm not letting you come near me ever again," she spits out in disgust. "You ruined my life! You took everything away from me! I will never not hate you."
So, my father's words come true. But her vehemence as she says them only makes me more determined to make Marzia submit. One day, she will kneel for me. Until then, I will enjoy breaking her mind thought by fucking thought until she's eager to get on her knees for me.
"You ever hit me again like that," I tell Marzia. "I will punish you."
"What are you going to do?" she snarls. "Cut off my fingers?"
"Maybe I'll cut your pretty hair instead." I grab her mane of dark hair, twirling my fingers in it. "Maybe I'll cut it all off. Maybe I'll take away your food. You don't know what real pain feels like until you haven't eaten for days, bambina. Maybe I'll take all the pretty things you love, too. The dresses, the shoes. I'll take everything and watch you go mad in a locked cell."
"You're a monster."
"I'm the monster you're going to fucking marry," I hiss at her. "And don't you ever fucking forget that."
She resists me then, fighting wildly to break free of my touch, but there's no fucking way I'm letting her. Instead of allowing her to break free, I simply throw her over my shoulder and carry her kicking and screaming body back to the main hall where I run into father again.
"Did you find that Donati bastard?" I bark at him, and he shakes his head. "Damn it. How could you let him escape?"
"Calm down," father grunts. "Everyone's fucking dead. His father, his brothers. He's on his own now."
Marzia fights me so much I'm forced to put her down, holding her arms behind her body. When she comes face to face with my father she snarls an insult at him, then spits at his face. But father merely laughs. I know he's going to have his own ideas about punishing her later though, and he's nowhere near as lenient as I am.
"Poor little rich girl," he mocks her. "Lost everything, did you? Where's your fucking cazzo fiancé hiding, huh, Marzia?"
"I don't know," she hisses. "And even if I did, I would never tell you. Murderer!"
"I saved you," father tells her pointedly. "Did you really want to marry Donati?"
Marzia's silence speaks for itself and father and I exchange knowing looks.
"She'll calm down," I say.
"I can speak for myself," Marzia spits out.
"Well, maybe you fucking shouldn't." I put my palm over her mouth. "Be quiet before you get her in more trouble. Any other complications?"
I address my last question at father, and he grunts in response. "The girl's brother was out of the country."
"Fuck," I mutter. I feel Marzia's shoulders sag with relief as she realizes she isn't quite as alone as she thought all this time. "If he partners with Donati, we have a rebellion on our hands."
Father shrugs. "It's nothing we can't handle. We took down families, dynasties tonight. We can handle two boys with guns."
I remember Vitto in the docks then. How eager he was to prove himself in front of Marzia. How determined he seemed to humiliate me, put me in my place in front of the girl we both liked. He won't take this easily, he'll be thirsty for revenge, and I'm assuming the same thing with Marzia's brother. I know I would be if some reietto dared hurt any member of my family.
But I knew that before I arranged for him to be out of the country tonight.
Father stalks off to deal with one of his men as I twirl Marzia around until she's facing me.
"Your brother is alive," I tell her.
"Small miracle that is," she snarls. "At least you couldn't touch him, you bloodthirsty piece of-"
"Marzia," I interrupt her. "He's alive because of me."
Her eyes narrow. She's unsure, but I can tell she wants to believe me. There's a part of the little girl I met that day on the docks still in her, and she's eager to trust me, to do as she's told. "What are you talking about?"
"I made up some problem he'd have to deal with on the mainland," I shrug. "He's in Rome, right?"
She nods tentatively. "Why did you do that?"
There are so many answers I want to give her, so many words I could say - all of them revolving around my obsession for her, my need to own her. I settle for shrugging and muttering, "I didn't want you to be alone. I've been alone before and I know how terrible it feels."
"You knew your father would kill my parents," she breathes. "Why didn't you warn me?"
"It needed to happen this way." I tuck a strand of hair behind her ear but she avoids my touch like the plague. I've hurt her so deeply, I don't know if there's any coming back from the mess I've created. "Otherwise we'd never be able to be together. Your parents would never allow it."
"That's not reason enough to kill them." Her voice is nothing but a hiss. My confession hasn't done anything except piss her off more.
"Don't make me regret doing something nice for you," I hiss.
"You're an idiot, Adrian Bernardi," she says in response. "Don't you think my brother will want revenge? Don't you think he'll do everything in his power to avenge our family?"
"Of course I do." I fight the urge to touch her again, forcing myself to keep my hands off her. "But it was worth it. It is worth it. Because it means I get you."