heart into this family and this business, then please let me choose who I spend my life with. It would break my heart, but I would rather abandon this family than to be in any way attached to this pathetic human being.”
A brief silence fell after she finished speaking, and then a sick, pained laughter pierced the air. I didn’t need to turn her around to know whom it was from.
Holding his bruised stomach, Fabio struggled to his feet. He looked so furious he was almost frothing at the mouth. He had been knocked to the ground by a mere woman and now she had insulted him in front of his father. “You are a tragedy, Sienna. This is why they say that females are useless burdens to their families. You would rather abandon this family than be attached to me? Who the hell do you think you are, you cheap whore?”
My brain couldn’t catch up with my body. I whirled around and before anyone realized what was happening, I was on him. My fist struck his face and the impact lifted him clean off the ground and once again, he crashed back into the shelf, but before he could even recover, I lifted my leg and kicked him in the ribs.
He screamed out loudly at the pain.
The fire in me was still raging. How dare the dog insult Sienna. I wanted to kick him to a pulp, but I forced myself to stop right there. Out of respect for Sienna and her father. I’d cracked at least two of his ribs and they should hurt him for a good few weeks.
Sienna’s hand curled around my arm.
Now it was time for me to talk, but before I could say a word, the door to his study was pushed open.
Everyone turned around in surprise and wonder at who would have the audacity to come in without knocking or waiting for permission to be granted first.
Only one person in the entire household could do that.
Her grandmother walked in. Her face completely expressionless. Her dark, intelligent eyes scanned the room quickly. The first person she focused on wasn’t any of us, but on the bastard on the floor groaning from the severity of his pain. She gave him a look of distaste, and then turned to Sienna’s father. “Is this who you want to give your only child to?”
Her father scowled and didn’t respond.
“Everyone else except you two.” She pointed to Sienna and me. “Leave! And take that piece of human trash with you.”
Her father nodded slightly and everyone moved to obey her command.
In seconds, the room emptied out and it was just the four of us.
She turned to look at me and Sienna. “You two are quite the spectacle, aren’t you?” she commented, then turned her complete attention to her son.
Chapter 51
Sienna
The last person I had expected to join in on this argument was Nonna.
Throughout all the years I had known her, she had steered clear of interfering in any of the family’s major matters unless my father explicitly requested her guidance.
But here she was, and the importance of her presence was not lost to me. She was the only one who could change my father’s mind, or give a contradictory response to any instructions he had given out. She had indeed made me a little promise that she would help me and I whispered a small prayer that she was here to help us win.
“Nonna,” I began.
She held up her hand for me to be quiet as she addressed my father. “I’ve told you from the very beginning not to force this proposal on Sienna. When you found out that she wanted absolutely nothing to do with that man, you should have listened to her and respected her will.”
My dad frowned. It was obvious he didn’t appreciate being scolded and especially not in front of me and Angelo. “I’m going to handle things my own way,” he said stubbornly. “Please wait outside.”
Totally ignoring him, she moved closer to us. “Young man, what’s your name?” she asked.
At first, it seemed like a trick question because I knew she already knew what his name was. Nonna was astute and well informed, although she usually kept what she knew to herself until it was absolutely necessary to reveal it.
Angelo respond politely. “Angelo Barone.”
A slight impatience flashed in her eyes.
Under more normal circumstances, I would have been amused to see I was right about her. She wasn’t asking because she didn’t know, but because she