I didn’t want to lose her. “Forgiving your father is torture,” I murmured and Marcella’s face flickered with disappointment. “But I’ll gladly suffer for you. I’m going to prove my loyalty to you a million times if I have to, Snow White. I’ll earn your trust. I’ll bleed for you. I’ll kill for you. I’ll do anything until you trust me absolutely.”
“Absolute trust is a rare thing.”
I wanted nothing more than to kiss her, but I could only imagine how vile I looked.
“What we have is a rare thing too.”
“For you to win my trust, you’ll have to make peace with my father, with my family. You’ll have to let go of your hunger for vengeance. You need to be on my father’s side because it’s the side I’m on, and that won’t change. Can you really do that?”
“For you, yes.” I was willing to try. I wasn’t sure I could succeed.
Amo returned, eyeing us critically. He really carried a tray with food and water, though I was wary of the contents. “Time to head home,” he said.
Marcella nodded slowly but didn’t move.
“You look like a million dollars,” I murmured.
“More than you can afford,” Amo growled.
“Amo,” Marcella hissed before she turned to me again. “Make the right decision.”
She turned, every move full of elegance, and left. Amo shook his head at me before he too left and threw the door shut.
“If only I knew what that was.”
Another day passed, in which someone brought me food and water. Despite my worry that they’d spit into my provisions, I was just too thirsty and hungry to be choosy. My thoughts became more and more confusing.
When Luca opened the door the next time, his expression didn’t give anything away. “What now?” I asked.
“I don’t trust you. But I trust my daughter, and she wants your freedom.”
I perked up. I couldn’t believe Marcella had really convinced her old man. “I have to say I’m surprised.”
Luca’s mouth thinned. “I still believe you deserve death for what you did, but Marcella suffered and it’s her decision.”
I got up. “You’re really going to let me go? How’s that supposed to work? And what about your soldiers, won’t they be pissed you release their enemy?”
“If you had killed one of my soldiers during the fight, I would have killed you, no matter what Marcella says, but you didn’t. You even killed another biker. My men want the Famiglia strong and if I tell them that having you on our side makes us stronger, they’ll eventually grow used to you.”
“I doubt it,” I muttered. The fights between our MC and the Famiglia had become increasingly ugly in the last few years. There was too much bad blood between us. It would take years to get past it, if at all.
Luca narrowed his eyes. “Marcella said you’d be willing to cooperate, to recruit bikers willing to work with us, and eliminate those who still pose a risk for Marcella.”
“That’s right. But I sure as hell am not going to swear an oath to you, Vitiello. I’m doing this because of Marcella, but I still have my pride.”
“You really think you’re in a position to negotiate?”
I met his gaze square on. “If you don’t like it, kill me. I love your daughter. The man she met and fell in love with had a backbone and pride. I won’t become someone else so you decide to spare me. I’ll work with you, not for you, and I’ll do it gladly because it’ll make Marcella’s position in the Famiglia stronger. That’s all. If you don’t like it, put a bullet in my head now and spare us both the chitchat.”
Luca nodded. Maybe he’d just agreed to end me. The guy was impossible to read. “You aren’t a coward. And I don’t give a fuck what you call it as long as you don’t do anything that hurts the Famiglia, and especially Marcella. I don’t even give a fuck if you have your own side business as long as it doesn’t interfere with my business. The Famiglia earns enough money to spare a bit.”
I gritted my teeth against his condescending tone, even if I was relieved that he’d given me that option. I would have tried to make money with old contacts anyway. I wasn’t going to accept Vitiello’s paycheck. “You weren’t that gracious when it came to Tartarus trying to sell drugs and guns in your territory.”
“Your club flooded my clubs and streets with shitty drugs, even pretending it was Famiglia stuff. Not to mention that you tried to mess with my business and burned down one of my warehouses.” He paused, glaring. “Maybe you don’t remember, but when your father was the president of the Jersey chapter, your club was still into sex trafficking. The police fished several dead prostitutes out of the Hudson and began asking me questions. I warned your father to stop the shit but he was trying to fund his weapons with the sex slaves.”