Chapter 4

The men went to the lounge after dinner to drink, smoke, and talk about anything else that needed to be talked about. I went back to my room, but I had trouble falling asleep.

I eventually changed out of my jammies and into a bathrobe.

I snuck out of my room and down the stairs. In a moment of madness, I entered the path that led to the lounge's hidden door behind the wall. My Grandfather always believed that because the family's males typically met in the office and the fireplace lounge, it was essential to have hidden exits in both locations. After the males had all escaped through the hidden passage, I questioned what he believed would happen to the ladies.

Gianna was staring intently through the door's covert peephole when I discovered her. Of course, she was there already. When she saw me, she turned around with her eyes wide but unperturbed. 

"What is happening there?"  I was afraid the men in the lounge would overhear us, so I spoke in a low whisper. 

I was able to look through the second peephole once Gianna stepped to the side. "Most people have already left. There are specifics that Father and Cavallaro need to go over with Salvatore Vitiello. Now there is just Damon  and his group."

I peered through the gap and had a clear view of the throng of chairs gathered around the fireplace. With his legs crossed and a glass of Scotch in his hand, Damon  relaxedly rested against the fireplace's marble ledge. He was sitting next to his brother Matteo, who had his legs apart and a wolfish grin on his face. During dinner, they had called Romero, the second bodyguard, and Cesare to sit in the other recliners.

Romero appeared to be around 18 years old, which is the same age as Matteo. By social norms, they are hardly men, but not in our reality. 

It might have been worse, Matteo added with a smile. 

He may not have appeared quite as lethal as Damon , but I could tell by the expression in his eyes that he was only able to conceal it more effectively. "She might have been distasteful. However, your little fiancee is an apparition, holy sh*t. that outfit. That body. That face and hair."  Matteo whistled. He appeared to be deliberately aggravating his brother. 

"She's a kid" , Damon  remarked with disdain. My anger increased, but I knew I should be relieved that he wasn't staring at me in the same way a male would. 

Matteo said, "She didn't look like a child to me," and then licked his tongue. He prodded Cesare, the elder man.

"What say you? Damon , is he blind?

With a thoughtful glance toward Damon , Cesare shrugged. "I didn't give her a close glance."

"Romero, what about you? Do you have eyes that work in your head? "

Romeo raised his head, then immediately returned his attention to his beverage.

Matteo laughed while cocking his head back. "Fuck, Damon , did you threaten to chop off the dicks of your guys if they even glanced at that girl? Even if you are not wed to her.

Damon  calmly murmured, "She's mine," and his voice and gaze chilled the back of my neck.

He looked at Matteo, who shook his head. “For the next three years, you’ll be in New York and she will be here. You can’t always keep an eye on her, or do you intend to threaten every man in the Outfit. You can’t cut off all of their dicks. Maybe Scuderi knows of a few Eunuchs who can keep watch over her.” “I’ll do what I have to,” Damon  said, swirling the drink in his glass. “Cesare, find the two idiots who are supposed to guard Freya.” The way my name rolled off his tongue made me shiver. I didn’t even know I had two guards now. Umberto had always protected me and my sisters. Cesare left immediately and returned ten minutes later with Umberto and Raffaele, both looked butt-hurt that they’d been summoned like dogs by someone from New York. Father was a step behind them. “What’s the meaning of this?” Father asked. “I want to have a word with the men you chose to protect what’s mine.” Gianna huffed beside me, but I pinched her. Nobody could know we were listening in on this conversation. Father would throw a fit if we revealed the position of his secret door. “They are good soldiers, both of them. Raffaele is Freya’s cousin, and Umberto has worked for me for almost two decades.”

"I'd like to decide for myself if I trust them," remarked Damon. I stopped breathing. He came the closest to blatantly criticizing my father by using that phrase. 

Father's lips became thinner, yet he still nodded sternly. He stayed put in the space. Damon  approached Umberto. "I've heard you're skilled with a knife."

"The best," Father chimed in. Damon 's jaw muscle trembled. 

Matteo gave him a shark smile and said, "Not as good as your brother, as rumor has it," Umberto nodded. But better than any male in our region," Umberto finally conceded. 

"Are you married?"

Umberto nodded and said, "For twenty-one years."

"That's a lot of time" added Matteo. "Freya  must seem really appetizing in comparison to your  old wife." I restrained a gasp.

Umberto's fingers jerked toward the holster he was wearing around his waist. Nobody missed it. Father kept a close eye on things but stayed out of the way. Umberto breathed out loud. "I've known Freya since she was a baby. She is young."

"She won't be a child for much longer," Damon  predicted.

"In my view, she will always be a kid. And I'm devoted to my wife." Umberto gave Matteo a stern look. "I'll ask your father for permission to challenge you to a knife fight to defend my wife's honor and I'll kill you, if you disrespect my wife once more."

This would not go well. The head of Matteo was cocked. "You might try," He flashed his pearly whites. But you wouldn't be successful."

Damon  nodded after crossing his arms. "Umberto, I believe you are a wise choice." Umberto moved backwards while maintaining eye contact with Matteo, who ignored him. 

When Damon 's gaze landed on Raffaele, the monster that had been hiding within him up until that moment was revealed. Raffaele had to crane his head back to reciprocate the look when he drew so near to him. Raffaele attempted to maintain a haughty, self-assured demeanor, but he came off as a Chihuahua dog attempting to win over a Bengal tiger. He and Damon  might have easily been two different species. 

"He is a relative. Will you really charge him with having feelings for my daughter?"

Never taking his gaze off of Raffaele, Damon saud, "I saw how you looked at Freya."

As he was really enjoying this, Matteo said, "Like a luscious peach you wanted to pick."

Raffaele glanced in my father's direction, searching for assistance. 

"Don't dispute it. When I see what I desire, I know it. And you want Freya," hissed Damon . It was not refuted by Raffaele. "If I see you gazing at her in that way once more. If I discover you two alone in a room together. I will murder you if I discover that you have touched her hand as much.

Raffaele became flushed. "You don't belong to the Outfit. Even if I had raped her, no one would ever tell you anything. For you, I could break her in." God, Raffaele, stop talking.

He was able to clearly see murder in Damon 's eyes. "Perhaps I'll even record it for you."

Before I had a chance to blink, Damon  had already pushed Raffaele to the ground and sunk a knee into his back, twisting one of my cousin's arms. Raffaele fought against Damon  while cursing and yelling. He went beneath his vest with one hand and pulled out a knife as the other hand held Raffaele's wrist. 

My legs became flimsy. I whispered to Gianna, "Leave immediately."She  paid no attention.

Freya, don't look. I told myself. 

But I was unable. Dad would definitely stop Damon . But when he looked down at Raffaele, Father had a disgusted face. Raffaele wasn't Damon's soldier, so Damon  looked in his father's direction. Not even his domain was this. Honor dictated he get approval from the Consigliere, and when my father nodded, he lowered the knife and severed Raffaele's pinky. As soon as my vision went dark, the cries started to echo in my ears. I clamped down on my fist to silence my cry. Gianna failed to. Before she vomited, she let forth a scream that might have roused the dead. She had at least turned and fired away from me. Her vomit ran down the stairs. 

The doors were closed, and quiet ruled. They were aware of us. When the hidden door was pulled open and Father's enraged expression was seen, I tightened my hold on Gianna's upper arms. Romero and Cesare were standing behind him, both of them with drawn guns.

They put them back in their holsters beneath their coats when they noticed Gianna and I approaching. 

Gianna showed no tears. She seldom did, but I could tell because of her pale face and her closeness to me. I would have collapsed on my own legs if I hadn't had to support her. But I had to stand my ground for her. 

Father shouted at Gianna, "Of course," and scowled. "I should have known it was you stirring things up once more." He yanked her away from me and into the living room before lifting his hand and giving her a hard smack across the face. 

Father raised his arm once again as I moved to shield her in his direction. I prepared for the smack, but Damon 's left hand grabbed my father's wrist instead. He was still holding the knife he had used to sever Raffaele's finger in his right hand. Blood covered Damon 's hand and the knife.

My eyes became wider. Father was the head of the household and the head over us. My father's dignity was insulted by Damon 's interference. 

Father put his hand on his revolver as Umberto pulled out his knife. Romero, Matteo, and Cesare each have their own firearms drawn. The only sound in the room was Raffaele's whimpers as he hunched on the floor and bowed over his hand. Had there ever been an engagement today?