“You’ll be expected to join us for meals when Raphael is here.” His edict shattered whatever tranquility I’d managed to hold onto.
“I serve at the pleasure of the Moretti,” I drawled. “I’d bow, but that would mean standing. If that’s all, you can leave.” I lifted the cup of tea to my lips in supreme dismissal.
“That’s not all,” he said. “I know you’re holding out hope that Hadrian will come for you, but he won’t.”
“Goodbye, Luca.”
His gaze remained trained on me, scanning both of my eyes.
“I knocked him unconscious with a simple tranquilizer, Sterling. I guarantee you it wore off in just a few hours, even for a man his size. I didn’t kill him. If he was going to come for you, he would have already. He doesn’t love you.”
I couldn’t stop my heart from staggering in my chest. But I refused to give this man, this Moretti, the pleasure of thinking he could control the outcome of the situation.
A beastly grin spread across my face. “If you believed that, Luca, you wouldn’t have gone through the trouble of coming here and saying a word about it.” I leaned forward in his direction. “You’re not a man who’s used to fear, but you fear Hadrian’s wrath. I can see it in your eyes… Like I said, you’re no dummy.”
He rose gracefully to his feet and headed for the door. Just when I thought he was going to leave without replying, he stopped and said, “You keep reiterating you’re not a Moretti, but even now, with your back to the wall, you won’t admit defeat. You’re a Moretti through and through.”
The click of the door told me I was finally alone.
I gripped the priceless, delicate teacup between my fingers, the handle snapping off in my hand.
Chapter Thirty-Four
That night, Nico arrived with his four sons to stay at The White Company home. I watched Nico interact with his wife. There was genuine affection between them, and even though they physically didn’t look like they belonged together—Nico was tall and slender while Beatrice was short and round—they had the kind of relationship that came from years together raising children. Their sons were strapping young men with olive colored skin and dark eyes. They looked like they’d have been more at home plowing a field than wearing suits in a formal dining room, but from their bold features there was no doubt that they were the next generation of Moretti.
“No wonder the Moretti marry off their daughters,” I said to Gisella that night as we walked into my bedroom. “They’re so few and far between. The Moretti spawn boys like it’s their job.”
Gisella grinned and helped me pull back the covers of the bed, removing the accent pillows and moving them to the chair in the corner. “You would think they’d revere us more, instead of using us as puppets.”
“You’d think,” I agreed dryly.
I thought of the baby I carried. Hadrian and I hadn’t discussed having a family—our relationship had just begun. But I couldn’t ever imagine him marrying off his daughter to solidify an alliance.
I looked at the young woman who’d been unfailingly kind to me. Most of the time, I forgot that we were cousins or that almost a decade separated us. I gazed at her for a moment, biting my lip and turning pensive.
She stared back at me. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
I walked to the bedroom door and turned the lock, hoping for a bit of privacy. I waved her to the bed and then followed. She slipped off her heels and then curled her legs underneath her when she took a seat.
“I feel like I can trust you,” I said to her, pitching my voice low to ensure that in case anyone was walking by, they would only hear the muted murmurs of conversation.
She nodded. “You can. I’m really—I’m sorry for the reason you’ve come here, but I’m glad I’ve gotten a chance to meet you.”
I grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Do you want to stay here and live this life, Gisella?”
Her eyes widened. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, do you want your family to decide who you marry and for what reason?”
“I don’t have a choice, Sterling.”
“Yes, you do.” I took a deep breath. “When Hadrian comes for me, I’ll have him pay restitution to your family or whatever to—”
Her expression hardened, making her look older. “You’re delusional if you think that. What happened