Page 11 of Bound in Vengeance
Massimo has spent weeks looking at me like spoiled fruit left too long in the sun. Damaged goods. The difficult daughter. The embarrassing daughter.
The daughter who ran.
The daughter who came back used.
Why wouldn’t he leap at the chance to get rid of me? He would save Camilla for another man, because to him, his daughters are just beautiful means to an end.
Camilla jerks toward him. “Papa?—”
“Enough,” he snaps without even looking at her.
Silence crashes into the room.
Daniela looks close to tears now. Camilla outright is. And somehow Alessandro remains perfectly composed through all of it, lounging back in his chair like he didn’t just detonate my entire life with one sentence.
I hate him.
I hate the way he watches me like he already owns me.
I hate the way my body betrays me every single time he gets close.
Massimo turns toward me slowly. “You will marry Alessandro.”
Not ‘will you?’
Not ‘do you agree?’
A command. A verdict.
Something ugly twists inside me.
“You already gave Camilla away five minutes ago,” I say before I can stop myself. “What happens if he changes his mind again tomorrow? Daniela’s turn?”
Daniela chokes on a horrified laugh. No one dares to speak to my father this way. In the past, I also wouldn’t have. But what’s left for me now?
Massimo’s stare cuts toward me like a blade.
“Sienna.”
“What?” I spread my hands. “I’m just trying to understand the family rotation system.”
“Papa…” Camilla’s voice shakes. “We’re not properties. He can’t just switch brides as he pleases. It’s not?—”
“It’s okay, Camilla,” I cut in quietly, forcing myself to look at her instead of the monster across the room. In this case, two monsters. “It’s better this way.”
“Shut up!” Massimo lashes at us viciously. “What gives you the right to speak?”
Camilla flinches like he struck her. I almost launch myself at him.
Instead, I dig my nails into my palms so hard they sting.
Across the room, Alessandro watches the entire exchange with frightening calmness. If anything, his eyes gleam darker, like he’s enjoying seeing claws come out.
Sick bastard.
Massimo turns toward him stiffly.
“Why Sienna?” he asks bluntly.
