Brutal Vows (Queens & Monsters #4)
J.T. Geissinger
To Jay, my HEA.
Many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage.
~ William Shakespeare
Playlist
“Enemy” Imagine Dragons “Angry Too” Lola Blanc “Black Widow” Iggy Azalea “Cold Little Heart” Michael Kiwanuka “Wicked Games” G-Easy “Shivers” Ed Sheeran
“Woman” Mumford & Sons “Fall Into Me” Forest Blakk “Mrs.” Leon Bridges
“The Joker And The Queen” Ed Sheeran/Taylor Swift “Him & I” G-Easy & Halsey “Kings & Queens” Ava Max
1
Rey
The weight of memory can sometimes be so heavy, it’s suffocating.
Take now, for instance. I’m standing across from my brother’s oak desk in his enormous wood-paneled study, staring at his face and struggling to breathe around the invisible hand squeezing my lungs. There’s also a rock in my throat and a vat of acid churning in my stomach.
All inevitable results whenever the word “marriage” is mentioned in my presence.
No four-letter curse word could ever be so vile.
Uncomfortable under my stare, Gianni glances down at the desktop. He fiddles with the edge of the blotter, then runs a finger under the collar of his white dress shirt.
“Don’t look at me like that. You knew this was coming. Lili’s of age now.”
“She’s been eighteen for all of two weeks, for fuck’s sake. And what about college? You promised you’d consider it.”
He lifts his gaze to meet mine. He has our father’s eyes, coal black and lifeless. Everyone else finds them—and him—terrifying.
But my father didn’t scare me, and neither does my older brother. For that matter, neither does anyone else.
After what I’ve been through, the devil himself could show up demanding my soul, and I’d tell him to kiss my sweet ass and fuck off back to hell.
Gianni says, “No, you insisted I consider it. And as usual, when you got an answer you didn’t like, you ignored it.”
When I only stand there glaring at him, he adds, “I vetted him. He’s not Enzo.”
At the sound of my late husband’s name, a shudder goes through me. The acid churning in my stomach sears a burning path up into my throat.
I stand still for several moments, struggling to regain my equilibrium. Then, so I don’t start breaking furniture, I start to pace.
Gianni watches me silently for several moments before trying a new approach.
“We’ll get territory. Trade routes. Important allies we desperately need. The match will make us a substantial amount of money. Tens of millions at least. Potentially hundreds.”
I mutter, “You sound like a pimp.”
He brushes that off. “Not to mention garner us influence over the other families. You know how desperate everyone is to make an alliance with the Mob. If we can pull this off, I’ll be named capo. The stakes are huge, Rey. We can secure the family’s position for generations.”
“You keep saying ‘we’ and ‘us.’ I don’t want anything to do with forcing my niece into slavery.”
With exaggerated patience, he says, “Lili was always going to be matched for the betterment of the family. You know it. She knows it. Everyone knows it. This is nothing new.”
I stop pacing and look at him. “She’s still a child.”
“At eighteen, she’s now an adult. And you were two years younger than she is when you were married.”
I say bitterly, “Yes. And look how well that turned out.”
His expression sours. “You inherited Enzo’s fortune. You gained your freedom. I’d say it turned out rather well for you in the end.”
“You conveniently skipped all the carnage in the middle between our engagement and his death.”
“Lili isn’t you, Rey.”
“No, she’s my niece. And my goddaughter. And one of the sweetest, brightest girls I’ve ever met. She doesn’t deserve to be married off to some horrible old Irishman!”
“I never said he was old.”
“Who probably stinks like cooked cabbage!”
“I promise you, he doesn’t smell like a vegetable.”
“And has a kiddie porn habit! Any man who wants to marry a teenager has to be a pervert!”
Careful not to raise his voice, though it’s obvious he’s annoyed with me and wants the conversation to be over, Gianni says, “I don’t believe he’s the type for child pornography, but you can judge for yourself. He’ll be here any minute.”
I recoil in disgust. “He’s coming here?”
“To meet Lili.”
“Now?”
“Yes.”
I narrow my eyes in suspicion. “Why are you only telling me about this marriage contract seconds before the Irishman sets foot in the house?”
After a short pause, he says carefully, “Considering your temper, it seemed like a good idea to give you as little time to start smashing things as possible.”
That might be a reason, but I can tell it’s not the main one. I know my brother well.
“You son of a bitch. Lili doesn’t know yet, does she?”
Gianni rises from his desk. Smoothing a hand down the front of his bespoke navy-blue suit jacket, he walks toward me. He stops in front of me and gently grasps my upper arms.
“I was hoping you could tell her.”
I say flatly, “I will kill you where you stand.”
He examines my expression, then drops his hands to his sides and takes a step back.
Smart move.
“This is why I didn’t tell you sooner. I’m sorry this brings up bad memories for you, but it’s happening. The terms have already been negotiated. The only thing left is for the Irishman to meet Lili. If she pleases him, the contract will be signed and the date will be set.”
He doesn’t elaborate on what will happen if Lili fails to please, but I know it won’t be good.
For Gianni, failure on even the smallest scale is unforgivable.
He continues in a softer tone. “And her zia will explain to her how this is all for the best, and how family comes first, and how, if her new husband proves to be anything like her zia’s late husband Enzo, he’ll find himself the victim of an untimely death, too.”
He pauses. “A meticulously planned death with no witnesses or evidence of foul play. An ‘accidental’ death so well executed, it even fooled the police.”
Without missing a beat, I say, “I didn’t kill my husband.”
He smiles. “I’ve never met anyone who can lie as well as you do.”
“It’s a gift.”
His smile grows wider. “One of many.”
“Stop trying to flatter me so I’ll do your dirty work for you.”
“She won’t listen to me, Rey. You know how she is.”
“Yes, it’s very inconvenient for the men in this family when the women have minds of their own.”
I can tell he wants to sigh, but he doesn’t. He simply stands and looks at me beseechingly until I give in.
It’s not like I have a choice, anyway. As the head of the Caruso family, Gianni calls all the shots. Someday, there will be a female head of one of the five Italian crime families in New York. It’s a dream of mine that I’ll live long enough to see it.
Until then, all I can do is exert as much influence as possible.
It helps that my brother’s afraid of me.
“I want final approval about this Irishman. I’ll tell Lili for you, but if I don’t like him, the deal is off.”
Gianni runs his tongue over his teeth. He’s probably counting silently to ten in his head or cursing, wishing he had a sister more like his best friend Leo’s. A docile, dim bulb of a girl with no opinions about anything except what her father and brother tell her to have.
Instead, he’s got me.
A woman with a bad reputation, a chip on her shoulder, and a sword for a tongue.
“Agreed?” I prod.
“You won’t think anyone is good enough for her,” he counters. “We’ll be having this same conversation over and over again for the next twenty years.”
“Untrue. I can be reasonable.”
He lifts a brow.
“Don’t make that face. I simply want to make sure he’s not a monster.”
“I assure you, he’s not a monster.”
“This would be a good time to point out that you liked Enzo, too.”
Gianni winces. “Enzo was a sociopath. They’re very good at pretending to be charming.”
“Exactly. Which is why I need to have the final word. If anyone can spot a psycho a mile away, it’s me.”
He doesn’t have an argument for that. How could he? It’s the truth.
I earned my monster radar the hard way.
Gianni gazes at me with an unreadable expression for so long, I think I’ve lost. But then he surprises me by saying, “Fine. If you don’t like the Irishman, the marriage is off.”
Relief floods my body. I exhale, nodding.
“But you still have to tell Lili.”
At the sound of car tires crunching over the gravel of the circular driveway outside, Gianni and I turn to the windows. Sounding amused, he says, “And I think you better do it quick.”
My ears burn with anger. “You’re a shitty father, Gi.”