Thin Lies (Donati Bloodlines #1)
Read Thin Lies (Donati Bloodlines #1) Online
Authors: Bethany-Kris
For
London.
Because
you just couldn’t love Calisto enough.
Calisto
Donati
She
was just a woman. That’s what Calisto wanted to tell himself; that’s what he
wanted to believe. Emma was nothing more than a woman. There were other women
for him to want. To obsess over.
It
couldn’t be Emma Sorrento.
Not
for Calisto.
She
was taken.
She
was claimed.
She
was not his.
In
a few days, Calisto would hand her off, and that would be that. He wondered why
it wouldn’t be that easy to let her go.
What
good had saving her done?
He
had simply taken her from one monster to give her to another.
Emma
Sorrento
Emma
slid on her mask. All someone would need to do was look close enough to see
what was really beneath the sheer falseness of her smile.
At
the other end of the table, Emma found her lies staring her right in the face.
He
smirked.
And
winked.
Calisto
Donati was her worst mistake, her greatest shame, and the one thing she still
wanted more than anything. Emma could still feel him all over her, long after
his touch and kiss was gone. In thirty days, her entire world had changed—he
had changed her.
Emma
had a feeling that if she played another game with Calisto, she would surely
lose.
She
had already lost once.
Wasn’t
it enough?
Emma
“Duty”
was the first word a
Mafioso principessa
learned growing up. Be good to
the family. Bring them no shame. Smile for the crowd.
And
when the time comes, do your duty.
At
only twenty, Emma Sorrento was not ready to do hers.
“You
look wonderful, Emmy,” Maximo said.
Somehow,
Emma managed a smile for her uncle. “Thank you.”
Maximo
waved her closer. Emma followed his unspoken demand until she was standing in
front of him with her hands clasped behind her back. Maximo looked over the
silver, flared dress that fell just above Emma’s knees, and the black pumps on
her feet.
“Your
hair is down,” Maximo said.
“You
asked for it to be like this,
zio
.”
“I
did. I like it better this way. I’m sure Affonso will appreciate it as well.
And your mother made sure you toned down the red lipstick, I see.”
“
Sì
.”
Emma swallowed back the disgust rising in her throat. It burned like bile on
her tongue, acidic and full of shame.
“Smile,
Emma. That frown does nothing for your pretty face.”
Her
uncle’s words had been spoken lightly, as if he were amused, but a heavy ring
of warning lingered right behind them. Immediately, Emma fixed her frown to a
smile.
Fake
and bright.
Enough
to distract a man.
She
could do this.
Right?
“She’s
a little nervous,” came a voice from behind her. “It’s a big day for our little
Emma.”
Emma
found her father, George, leaning in the doorway with a cigar dangling from his
fingertips and a glass of brandy in his other hand.
Maximo
chuckled. “How much of a fight did she put up this morning, brother?” A single
finger ticked under Emma’s chin, making her stare up at her uncle’s face. “What
is there to fight about, hmm?”
“Nothing,”
Emma said.
“Surprisingly,
very little,” George said.
Maximo
smiled. The sight was almost predatory in nature. Her uncle had always treated
her well, especially considering that she was the only daughter in their small
family. George had no other children but Emma, and the other Sorrento brother
had died in a childhood accident when he rode a bicycle out onto the street and
was hit by a car.
The
Sorrento family was one of many Italian-based organized crime families in
Vegas. Over the years, the Sorrentos and other syndicates across the country
strengthened their ties by mixing their names and blood. In Cosa Nostra, girls
were fodder to a bigger plan. That plan being a man, the one with the best last
name for a contract, the family to push them higher, make them safer, or earn
them business.
Because
that’s all her life was worth.
Emma
knew this day was coming.
“It’s
just business,” Maximo said as if he could read Emma’s mind.
“Business,”
she echoed.
“The
Donati family had a long night getting here. Some issue with the plane caused
them a layover. It ended up connecting them to a redeye. I expect you to be
pleasant and respectful, Emmy.”
Emma
felt the spark of anger stab through her heart. She had done all that she could
to ignore the lingering rage simmering in her blood, never mind the resentment
burning through her soul.
Maximo
didn’t give her a chance to voice her inner war. Her uncle left the large
office. He passed by his brother in the doorway without so much as a goodbye,
and disappeared into the hall. When Emma was sure that she couldn’t hear her
uncle’s footsteps anymore, she finally took a real breath.
For
two months, Emma had felt like she couldn’t breathe. Ever since her uncle had
visited her parents’ home one evening, sat down at the dinner table, and calmly
explained that she would be married off to a man nearly thirty years her
senior.
Affonso
Donati was forty-nine, but his fiftieth birthday was right around the corner.
Apparently, the man’s wife had passed away a few months earlier after three
separate battles with cancer. Every good Cosa Nostra Don needed a wife and so,
Affonso went shopping for one.
Emma’s
father and uncle—without her knowing or giving input—had placed her name,
picture, and pedigree directly in Affonso’s path.
It
pissed Emma off like nothing else. The Donati family certainly wasn’t the
biggest or best syndicate for her uncle and father to marry her off to. They
were small-time in New York compared to the Marcellos or even the Calabrese
family. Affonso could be her father, for Christ’s sake.
Emma
forced back the sickness beginning to rise again. She took a deep breath,
needing to calm the torrent of panic starting to well all over again.
Duty
.
That
stupid word kept ringing louder and louder.
“Your
mother is waiting for you downstairs,” her father said.
His
voice reminded Emma of George’s presence.
“Thanks,”
she said, spinning around.
“You
know I appreciate how good you’re being about all of this, don’t you, Emmy?”
Emma
refused to even grace her father with a smile. The man knew how angry and
disgusted she was over this entire agreement between the Sorrento and Donati
families. “Yes, I know, Dad.”
“Good.”
George
smiled, taking another step into the room. Her father reached out and snagged
Emma’s hand, drawing it away from her side. He glanced over her bare ring
finger and said nothing about the slight tremor rocking her hand. Then, her
father’s grip tightened to an almost painful point. His fingernails dug into
the skin of her palm with enough pressure to leave marks behind.
Emma
sucked in a sharp breath. “
Ouch
.”
“Remember
that feeling, sweetheart. I hear Affonso has a taste for pain where his women
are concerned. At least, he does if they don’t behave.”
Oh,
God.
“And
the ones who do behave?” she asked quietly.
“He
treats them like little queens.” George smiled again. “I have given you
everything you have ever wanted, Emmy. You have been spoiled rotten, treated
like a princess, and handed over every bit of respect you deserved as a
Sorrento daughter. It’s time for you to repay me for that. Be a good girl, and
do this for your family without issue.”
Emma
had never been particularly close to her parents. Both George and Minnie
Sorrento had been far more focused on their social lives and
la famiglia
business, than they had been about Emma as she grew up. Her parents’ way of
making up for neglecting her of love and attention was by giving her things.
Lots
of things. Love couldn’t be bought. Emma ignored the pain in her chest. Her
screaming mind was louder.
Loyalty
is bought all the time.
Her
parents were the perfect example of how people attempted to do just that.
They’d birthed a daughter they didn’t really know, gave her a glamourous life
that placated and tricked her into comfort, and now she didn’t have a choice
but to do what they wanted. Emma had no money of her own, no status to keep her
safe or provided for unless she did what her parents demanded. Even her
apartment and car were not hers to keep unless she did what she was told.
Emma
hadn’t realized how controlled she was by her parents and Cosa Nostra until a
choice was placed on the table. A choice that wasn’t really a choice at all.
“What
is Mom waiting on me for?” Emma asked her father.
“She
brought along your birthday gift. The diamond and pearl set she wore for our
wedding. She wants to see you wearing them for yours. Happy twentieth,
sweetheart. Another month to go, and you’ll be a married woman.”
Emma
stifled her shudder.
Barely.
“Smile,”
George reminded her sharply, his fingernails cutting into her palm again.
She
did.
And
blinked back her tears at the same time.
Her
life was not her own.
She
didn’t get to choose.
Emma
had always known this.
It
didn’t make it easier.
“Emma.”
Spinning
on her heel, Emma came face-to-face with a gentleman who was taller than her by
a half of a foot. His black hair was peppered with gray just behind his ears,
and his easy smile spoke of kindness and grace. His eyes, however, were an
emotionless, cold brown.
Affonso
.
Emma
reminded herself that people were watching the exchange. A whole houseful of
people, actually.
“Hello,”
Emma said, offering the man the best smile she could muster up. She held her
hand out and Affonso took it instantly to press a feather-light kiss on her
knuckles. “I’m sorry there was a problem with your plane yesterday.”
Affonso
raised a single shoulder in response, like he didn’t give a damn either way.
“Me too. I was hoping to get a decent night’s rest before meeting you and
taking you to church. But
non è importante.
You, however, are very
important,
bella
.”
Emma
wished the man’s charming smile and his sweet words was enough to lull her into
some sense of comfort around him. They didn’t. She didn’t know Affonso from a
goddamn hole in the ground. She was thirty years younger than his nearly fifty,
and she couldn’t forget that she had essentially been sold to the man like
cattle.
The
price for her hand was still a mystery.
Affonso
moved closer, tugging on Emma’s hand at the same time. He drew her just inches
from his tall frame, slid a finger under her chin, and tilted her head up. “You
don’t seem happy, my dear.”
His
words had been spoken far too quietly for anyone else to hear.
“I
am,” Emma lied.
Affonso
chuckled. “Well, you’re a good liar. I will give you that. You’ll certainly
need that, being my wife. I was promised a girl who knew her place as long as
she was kept and spoiled properly. Can you turn your cheek as well as you can
tell a lie and smile,
bella
?”
Emma
blinked, stunned. “Why?”
“I
didn’t ask for a question. I suggest you learn quickly to answer what I do ask,
and without any other frilly nonsense to waste time. I hate wasting time,
Emma.”
A
sliver of dread drove into Emma’s spine.
“Okay,”
Emma said, looking down to drop the man’s gaze.
“I
simply want a good, young wife, Emma Sorrento. Nothing more. A young woman who
can birth me the healthy boy my first wife didn’t give me, and my mistresses
seem unable to produce. I have daughters galore. No boys. Give me the boy, and
you can live your life in a spoiled, peaceful bliss. Does that sound good to
you,
bella
?”
Emma’s
air caught painfully in her chest.
That’s
what this man wanted from her?