Bound by Vengeance (Born in Blood Mafia Chronicles #5)(46)

I couldn’t move. If this was a nightmare, I wanted to wake now. “Are you sure?”

Grown nodded. “Cosimo has a position of power now. He needs a wife and an heir.”

I laughed bitterly. “Didn’t take him long to find a new woman to marry.” I hated how the news made me feel. Despite my hate for Cosimo, I felt crushed. Not because I wanted to marry him, but because this made my life as it was now even more of a reality. There was no going back. Change was irrevocable. And Anastasia, how could she do this? I’d always known that Anastasia could be vicious and selfish, but we’d been friends since we could walk. We’d experienced so many things together. Didn’t that mean anything? How could my friend do this? Had Anastasia known about everything? Had she perhaps already known at Falcone’s party? Perhaps that explained why she’d looked so pissed when I had danced with Cosimo.

No, it couldn’t be.

I didn’t want to believe that my friend wouldn’t have warned me. It seemed cruel. Crueler than what Anastasia was capable of. She liked to trash talk and destroy people’s reputation, but this was a different matter.

Maybe Anastasia was a victim. Maybe her parents and Falcone had forced her to marry my former fiancé now that I wasn’t eligible anymore. After all, Anastasia was the same age as me and from a good family. I wanted to believe that. But the look Cosimo and Anastasia had exchanged at the party flashed in my mind. There had been something like familiarity between them. Or was I reading too much into it now that I knew of their engagement. I wasn’t in the right state of mind to think clearly, so I pushed the image away. I wasn’t able to bear the idea of my friend’s horrible betrayal. Not as long as I didn’t know all the facts. There was no sense in driving myself insane going over all the possibilities.

Growl was still watching me. I wasn’t sure how long I’d been lost in my thoughts and I hoped my face hadn’t given away too much of my inner turmoil. “This doesn’t concern me anymore,” I said. “It’s not like I’m still part of their circle.”

“Why would you say that?”

Was he serious? “Oh come on. Even you must realize what’s going on in our society. Even if you don’t care about any of it. There are rules. And I was as good as exiled.”

“Because you’re with me.” Was there hurt in his voice. His constant growl made it even harder to hear the nuances of his emotions.

I pursed my lips. Had I offended him? “With you?” I asked curiously. “You make it sound like we’re a couple when I’m only your gift.”

Growl nodded. “You were. But now that you’re mine, you have the same status that I have.”

“That’s not true,” I said, frustrated at his lack of understanding. Did he really think that any part of the life I’d had before could survive? I had made the best of my fate but that didn’t mean I’d have chosen it.

Growl looked as frustrated as I felt but I didn’t care. I didn’t have the energy to explain anything to him. Sometimes his deficiency to grasp human relationships drove me insane.

“Maybe you aren’t as special as you were before,” Growl said, the word special like a curse from his lips. “But you are part of this world.”

I glared at the counter. “I don’t want to be part of this world anymore.”

“That’s not up to you. We’re invited to Cosimo’s and your friend’s engagement party,” Growl said.

My breath hitched and My eyes flew up to look at Growl. “You can’t be serious.”

He stared. He obviously wasn’t joking.

“I’m not going,” I said, my voice shaking. Coco trotted toward me and rested her head on my knee. I put my palm atop her soft head but it didn’t manage to calm me. Even Bandit had come from the living room to watch me with curious eyes.

“Yes, you are. Falcone wants us there, so we will be there.”

“I don’t care what he wants. I hate him. And he only wants to humiliate me anyway. Everyone knows that Cosimo was my fiancé and that Anastasia is…was my friend. They will all laugh at me.”

I could only imagine the humiliation I would be subjected to. I didn’t think I could stand it.

“Nobody will laugh at you when I’m at your side,” he said in a low voice.

I paused. “Why do you even care?”

“You’re mine, and I won’t let anyone talk shit about something that belongs to me.”

Of course. It was an ego thing. He didn’t care about me. He only wanted to make sure people showed him the necessary respect and that included respecting his belongings. I wanted to scream in frustration but I bit it back. This party was my chance to ask my friends for helü. We’d known each other practically all our lives. Now that Growl had made it clear that he wouldn’t help me against Falcone, they were probably my last chance.




I’d dreaded this day since Growl had told me two days ago, but I promised myself to hold my head high. I was stronger than I used to be. I would get through this party.

Growl stood in the living room, tugging at his dress shirt collar with one hand while a tie tangled from the other.

It was obvious how uncomfortable he felt dressed up like that. It wasn’t who he was. Putting him in a suit was like putting a tiger in a cage. On Falcone’s party he’d hid his discomfort behind a mask of indifference but now in a moment where he thought himself alone, his defenses were down. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen a glimpse of something human. It was disconcerting because I didn’t want to see him as anything but a monster. It made things easier. I didn’t want to risk actually hoping for something that was absolutely unrealistic.