He Mocked the Voice I Ruined to Save Him novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: Sit-Down

"I have one request," Dario said, before we got out of the car.

It was Thursday night, and we were parked outside a steakhouse with its blinds drawn and four black sedans out front.

"Tonight let me do the talking," he said.

I turned in my seat.

"You said you would ask, and I would decide," I said.

"I am asking." He kept his eyes on the restaurant door. "Five bosses are inside. Two of them think a woman who leaves her match is a risk to every contract in the room. They will take your voice as a reason to call you unwell."

"My voice."

"They will not listen to what you say. They will listen to how it sounds." He looked at me then, and he did not look away. "I am not ashamed of it. I would only like to choose which fight we have tonight."

I knew he meant it kindly.

I also knew exactly who else had once told me it would be easier if I did not say much.

"Once," I said.

"Once," he agreed.

It sat in my stomach for the whole walk to the door.

The private room was long and dim, with a table set for eight and a bottle of red already open.

Five men were sitting along one side, all older than Dario, all with the careful, bored faces of people who decide things for a living.

At the head sat an old man with a cane across his knees and a ring on every finger.

Dario put his hand at the small of my back and walked me to the empty chair beside his.

"Gentlemen," he said. "This is Gianna Landolfi. She has accepted my ring."

Nobody congratulated us.

A man with a grey moustache said, "Landolfi. Salvatore's girl. Isn't she the one engaged to the Sartori heir?"

"She was," Dario said.

"That is not what Charleston says." The man poured himself wine. "Charleston says she is hysterical, and you are holding another man's property."

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