The Vatican - M.E. Clayton Page 0,29

horror. “Luca Saveria Fiore!”

“Benetti.”

Aunt Frankie looked at me. “What?”

I looked over at her. “Benetti,” I repeated. “Luca Saveria Benetti.”

Ria’s attitude screamed throughout the room. “I’ll always be a Fiore,” she disagreed. “I’m a Mancini and Fiore by blood. I’m a Benetti by force.”

The tension in the room was bordering on painful and, family or not, if I didn’t handle this, I’d never be trusted to lead. “Will you all please excuse us for a moment,” I said, and they all began to file out like I knew they would.

One thing their generation believed in, and that was you did not interfere in a man’s marriage. The only condition was that you were not allowed to beat your wife. That was the only time they’d interfere.

As soon as the door shut with just me and Saveria in the room, I walked over, grabbed her by the back of neck, and squeezed until she let out a hissed. With my hand firmly wrapped around her neck, I forced her over to the conference table, and I held her steady as I picked up her rings with my free hand.

I released her neck, grabbed her left hand, and forced the rings back on her finger. The rings had been sized to fit perfectly, but I pushed them up so roughly, they tore her skin and blood began to ooze from the torn flesh.

But I didn’t care.

His girl needed to learn her place, once and for all.

I grabbed her by the chin with one hand and tangled the fist of my other hand in her ponytail. Because she was so much shorter than I was, my hold lifted her on her tiptoes. I stared down at the woman I just pledge to spend the rest of my life with and said, “You will never disrespect me like that in front of other people ever again, Luca.” Her eyes glowed wildly. “I don’t give a fuck what you do when we’re in private, but in public, even if it is our family, you will know your fucking place and you better never forget it again.”

She didn’t disappoint. “Or else what?”

There was only one thing I knew she valued enough to use: her independence. “I’ll tell Uncle Sal to fire you, and you will be restricted to the house. I will lock you up until you start to go crazy with it, and no one will stop me.”

Fire flew from her eyes. “Do it,” she challenged.

I pulled back and took a couple of steps away from her. I pulled out my phone and dialed Uncle Sal. He answered on the second ring. “Uncle Sal?”

“Yeah, kid, what’s up?”

“I need you to find someone to replace my wife,” I told him, purposely calling Ria my wife so it would stop any objections he may have. Ria was wicked smart, and I knew he liked having her on his team. “She’ll no longer work for a living.”

His pause was short, but loud. “Understood, Francisco,” he replied.

I cut off the call and placed my phone back in my pocket. “Anything else you want to challenge me on?”

Ice formed over her eyes. All her fire, and all her spirit, snuffed out. Oh, she wasn’t giving up, I knew that much. But her Mancini fire was giving over to her Fiore control. Saveria was a combination of both her parents’ strengths, and that made her a powerful force to be reckoned with.

“Are we done here?” she asked, her voice lacking any hint of emotion. I gave her a terse nod, and she headed towards the door, me following behind her.

Exiting the office and turning the corner, we found all the adults, minus Uncle Sal and Uncle Leo, lingering around the alcove leading into the living room.

We stopped before them, and Dad asked, “Is everything alright?”

I looked at my wife and let her answer for us. “Why wouldn’t it be?” she retorted, her voice still devoid of emotion.

Aunt Frankie’s gasp caught everyone’s attention. “Ria,” she breathed, “your finger.”

Saveria lifted her hand, dried blood coating her finger and smeared all over her palm and the back of her hand. She flipped her hand over, showing everyone the damage. I watched as she looked at her mother and said, “Oh, this? This is nothing.”

“You’re bleeding,” Uncle Phoenix bit out. “I’d hardly call that nothing.”

I knew he was probably thinking of murdering me, but he also knew why her finger was bleeding. They all did. The rings she had carelessly tossed on the table were now