Tirone (The Night Skulls MC #2)(63)

My heart skipped a beat. What else, Laius? It was a miracle Tirone was calm and responded with maturity to the news of our engagement. Why would Laius not just leave it there?

Abruptly, he grabbed me and bent me over the chair.

“What are you doing?!” I yelped, tilting my head to the side as Ty’s full attention returned to me. My head jerked back toward Laius. He was undoing his belt. My eyes widened at him. “Laius, no! You can’t… Not here. No—”

He yanked down my clothes and aligned his cock with my opening. “When your ol’ man wants you, anywhere, any time, you never say no.” He entered me despite my sobbing protests. I looked away, afraid of what I’d see in Tirone’s eyes. This was sick. Too sick to handle. “That’s it. Take it, baby girl, like the good girl you are. My good girl.”

I cried as he pounded me with his angry thrusts, pain and humiliation coursing through me, yet I had to take it. It was the rules of being an ol’ lady. Even if Laius, clearly, was punishing me, I took it. In the Night Skulls, no crime went without punishment. It was the life I willingly chose.

Laius fisted my hair when he finished using me as a fucktoy, a property he owned, for a demonstration of power and marking his territory. “That’s for fucking my ol’ lady behind my back.” He bent his mouth to my ear. “That’s for fucking my own son.”

I didn’t dare say anything. Ty didn’t move or say a word, either. At least, he was in control of his emotions. That was a good sign that he understood the mistakes we’d made and he wouldn’t repeat them.

Right?





CHAPTER 34


Jo



“Thank you so much for the dress,” I whispered over the phone as I felt the incredible softness of the Italian wedding dress fabric Michele had sent me. He’d delivered it to the school, and I had to lie to Laius and say I ordered it. Michele wouldn’t let me tell Laius about him yet. “I wish you were here.”

“Same, topolina. I wish I could give you away,” he said, somber.

“You can still fly over. Your boss has a private jet you can borrow for the day,” I suggested with a nervous chuckle to suppress the tears. I needed him today.

There was a pause. “We talked about this. It’s not safe for you. Neither the Lanzas nor the Larvins are stupid. The connection will be made, and all of your arrangements will be for nothing.”

“Can I, at least, tell Laius about you? I’m marrying him, papà. He is to be trusted.”

“Don’t forget he thinks I stole Madeline from him. He holds me responsible for her death.”

“Trust me, he holds the Larvins responsible, and himself, not you. He doesn’t even know who you really are.”

“But I do know him, and I don’t trust him yet. Let’s see how today goes first. If he proves his loyalty, and that he can protect you on his own, then we’ll tell him everything.”

“Thank you, papà.”

“You’ll be the most beautiful bride in the whole world.”

“Thank you. I really wish you could see me in real time.”

“Do you trust me, topolina?”

“Of course.”

“Then just know that when you’re walking down that aisle, I’m closer to you than you think. Ti amo, figlia mia.” He hung up.

Emotional, excited, and in awe, I couldn’t help the tears. Michele was here—if anyone could break into this fort without being seen, it was Michele Pagani. Even if I couldn’t see him, he could see me. The father I’d always wanted was going to be present on my wedding day, and that was all that mattered.

I washed my face and smiled at my reflection in the mirror. “I’m getting married, y’all.”

As if they heard me, the club girls, all of them, even Candy, the girl whose nose I broke, stormed into my room, squealing and screaming, holding a fortune worth of makeup. Apparently, the wedding dissolved all hatred among us…or they realized I was going nowhere and they had to be nice to me as the president’s wife. Either way, I was glad we could put the negativity behind us and start over.

I wished I could have said I was that optimistic about the relationship among my new family. I was used to Tirone’s darkness and outbursts. His out of character silence and calmness—he hadn’t done anything or even spoken to me outside class since the Boiler—irked me as much as the fresh glimpse I had into Laius’s dark side did.

Today wasn’t the day for dread, worry or reproach, though. We had enough of those from the mob and the MCs and the cartel. Today was a day of joy, hope, forgiveness and love. I’d hold on to those, especially forgiveness and love. I had plenty of those to share with the first man that taught me what love was, and the man I chose to share the rest of my life with.

Someone knocked on the door. “Ladies, are you decent?”

“Molar is being a gentleman?” one of the girls mocked. “That means one thing.”

Lolita clapped with the excitement of a little girl. “Sammy is here.”

“Really?” Laius had said they wouldn’t let her out of the hospital. I’d always wanted to meet her. “Open the door, please.”

Lolita glided—she was as agile as a ballerina—and opened it. “Sammy! Oh my God! We missed you! Come, come inside. Meet the bride.”