I Married the Mafia Heir to Bury My Secret novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: I'm Here

Mara's POV

I spent the night in the green armchair by the bedroom window with the drive in my fist.

At seven Sandro came in without knocking and shut the door behind him.

He had not slept either.

His eyes were red, and he had cut himself shaving.

"My father knows you were at the hotel," he said. "I have until tomorrow night to hand you to Rocco at the peace dinner."

I looked at the cut on his jaw.

"And if you don't?"

"Rocco takes us both."

"What did you say to him?"

"Nothing. He told me you said you didn't know whose hand it was." His voice was rough. "Why?"

"Because it was yours."

"That's not an answer."

"It's the only one I have."

He crossed the room and stopped a yard in front of my chair.

"I have to ask you one thing," Sandro said. "I broke every rule I had, so I'm not going to be proud about it. Did Rocco send you to me?"

"What?"

"Three years gone, and then a pharmacy friend steers you to an auction. You marry me in eleven weeks. You open my safe in the first week." He didn't look away. "I'd believe it, Mara. I'd even understand it."

I stood up.

"In the car on our wedding night," I said, "Rocco told me to bring him what's in your study. He said it again on Thursday, with his hand on my face."

His jaw tightened.

"And in the church lot I told him I had what he wanted."

"Mara."

"I lied to him. I took the drive, because it had my face on it, and nothing else." I held out my fist and opened it. "Take it."

He didn't move.

"It's yours. You can burn it, or hide it, or put it back in the case. I'm not giving it to him."

Sandro took the drive from my palm, and his hand shook so that I felt it.

He put it in his pocket without looking at it.

"I should have asked you in the dark," he said. "Before the wedding. I was afraid of what you'd say."

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