“I agree,” Damiano says, his eyes flicking between Garzolo and his fuming wife. For a few seconds, an awkward silence blankets the table, but then Mari says something to Pietra, and the tension eases.
The rest of the lunch proceeds without incident.
Gemma barely eats.
Barely speaks.
And I begin to wonder if I’ve seriously misread her.
CHAPTER 3
GEMMA
After lunch, Cleo heads straight to the pool, while Mamma, Papà, and I return to the guesthouse. As soon as the front door closes behind us, Papà takes me by the hand and drags me up the stairs to his and Mamma’s bedroom.
Mamma watches us wordlessly, her expression tense. That’s the way she is. Silent. Controlled. I can never tell if she defers to Papà because of fear or because she agrees with his methods.
I’m not sure it really matters at this point. The end result is the same.
This time when Papà backhands me, he uses far more force.
“Never ever interrupt me again.”
The hit sends me falling, and my right hip takes the brunt of it against the hard tile floor. I swallow down a yelp and count in my head until the pain radiating through my leg begins to fade. My gaze follows a small ant running along the grout between the tiles until Papà roughly lifts me to my feet.
I’d known there would be consequences for interrupting him at lunch, but I couldn’t let him and Vale get into a fight that would result in us going home early. I don’t want to be responsible for leaving a dark stain on my sister’s wedding. A distinct metallic taste floods my mouth as I will myself not to cry.
Papà glares at me, his nostrils flaring with harsh breaths. “Do you understand?”
“Yes.” I breathe out, glancing at the door at his back.
“Do you think I like doing this?”
My gaze drops to the ground. “No.”
“I’m doing this for your own damn good, Gemma. Do you think Rafaele will want a wife who can’t keep her mouth shut long enough for him to finish a sentence?”
I shake my head.
“You have to be perfect. I don’t want you getting in trouble with him, you hear?” He lifts my chin with his fingers, forcing me to meet his gaze. It’s filled with righteous anger. “Your marriage will not be a clusterfuck like Vale’s. I learned from that experience. I made mistakes with your sister. I should have gotten more involved earlier when things started going off course. With you, everything will be different, because I’m going to make sure you understand exactly what’ll be expected of you by a man like Rafaele.”
“And what kind of a man is that?” I ask, even though I’m not sure I’m ready to hear the answer.
Papà drops his hand away and straightens his back. “In our business, he’s demanding but fair. I imagine he’ll be the same in your marriage. We’ve had a chance to talk about his philosophy on family life, and it closely aligns with my own. You are to be at his service. Always. Your purpose in life will be to make his life as easy and as pleasing as possible. Learn what that means, and he will treat you with all the respect you’re due.”
I’m marrying a younger version of my father.
It takes everything I have to not let my expression crumble. “Okay.”
He pats me on both shoulders. “You will have a chance to speak to him more this week. I have no doubt you will grow to appreciate him and love him in due time.”
That’s ambitious. I’ll be happy if all I manage to do is survive.
I slip out of the room and head directly to a bathroom to tidy myself up.
The thing is, I was raised for this. All of the girls in our family were. Arranged marriages have been the norm in our family for many generations, and they’ve generally worked out. Divorces are practically unheard of. The only two I can think of off the top of my head were actually love marriages. Two distant aunts on Mamma’s side left the family to marry men they’d fallen in love with, only to return a few years later begging to be taken back in. Their stories have always been told as cautionary tales. It wasn’t until Vale that I entertained the possibility of a love marriage working out.
I suppose it’s too early to tell in her case.
Vale and Damiano are obviously infatuated with each other, but will their love last? Will it survive the challenges that come with marrying a don without a family supporting her? Even Mamma’s had to rely on Nona and our aunts and uncles to get through some rough patches with Papà.
Vale doesn’t have that anymore.
She’s here all alone.
A shiver of discomfort runs through me. I get why Vale ran, but for the life of me, I can’t understand how she did it.
She was always the perfect sister. Growing up, Mamma made Vale the ideal that I had to measure up against. I was never as good. Never as beautiful. I was in competition with her, but it was one-sided, and maybe that’s why it never managed to create a rift between us.
It just made me hungry for every crumb of approval I could get.
My reflection stares back at me. This concealer deserves an award. It’s barely smudged. No point in worrying what I’ll discover when I wash it off tonight.
“Gemma?”
My head turns toward the door. It’s Vale. I should have known she wouldn’t let Papà’s comments about my future husband slide without a follow-up interrogation.
She’s sitting on the edge of the bed when I come out, and I can tell she’s fired up. I know what’s coming, so I decide to take the lead.
“Look, I know it’s weird.”
“Weird? Gem, it sounds awful. They’ll display the sheets? I mean, God. It’s humiliating.”
“I’ll be fine.” That lunch we just had was far more humiliating, if you asked me. I could do without Papà announcing all the intimate details of my upcoming marriage in front of everyone.
Especially Ras.
I purse my lips. That smug asshole was probably delighted to see me squirm. He seems to enjoy making me uncomfortable.
“No—”
“Vale, why is the tradition humiliating to me?” I demand as I plop down beside her. “If anything, it’s more humiliating to the people insisting on seeing the damn thing, don’t you think?”
My words make her pause for a second. “Of course it is. But I’m sure it won’t be a pleasant thing for you to go through.”
“It’s pretty low on my list of concerns.”
“What are your concerns? Have you voiced any of them to our father? Has he listened? Things have changed, Gem. You know that, right? After what happened with me, you should have a say in who you marry.”
“You really have forgotten how things work in our family.”
Her eyes flare. “Don’t you understand I have leverage now? Damiano can—”
“Damiano can’t do anything. He’s a don on the opposite side of the world.”
“Him and Papà have this deal—”
This time, the scoff slips out. “You really think your new husband will risk an important deal for my sake?” She’s delusional if she believes that. Damiano wouldn’t have become a don if he made his decisions based on anyone’s emotional whims, Vale included.