“When I took her…” I get lost for a moment, remembering those first days, but I have to go further back. “I spent years planning how I was going to use her. When I ran through that shit in my head, she cried and screamed.” I wave off the cartoonish feminine wailing. “But I could handle all that. I prepared for it, mentally. Let the princess fucking howl. The louder she protested, the better chance I had of forcing you fuckers into a mistake. Your emotions were in play, because I had none.”

“You’re a hardass. We know.”

“Can you shut the fuck up for a minute?”

“Thirty seconds.” He leans against the wall, relieving the pressure on the cane.

I’ll take as much time as I need, and he’ll stay. He thinks he’s in control. One day, when he grows up, he may be. But right now, he’s too green to hobble out of here until I let him.

“My plan accounted for her doing what I told her. I planned for chaos from you assholes. To control that, we planted Nico.” I have to look away after saying my brother’s name or he’ll see the flood of sorrow I’ve been holding back. “I counted on getting a princess. Soft. Spoiled. A little stupid. Not enough suffering to toughen her up. I figured she’d do what I told her to avoid any kind of discomfort. And she did. Sometimes. But when she didn’t…”

I can’t help but smile, remembering how I wrestled her into her wedding gown. That memory is a pendulum swinging from regret to satisfaction and back again.

I realize I’m smiling at the floor. When I look up, Massimo’s expression has the flatness of a man hiding his thoughts.

“My point.” I lower my voice to a near whisper. “If she was ever obedient, she isn’t anymore. And I know you, in your little Colonia mind, you see that as a problem. You can’t use her the way you want. She’s unpredictable. She can cause trouble. But you’ve got it exactly backward because you’re backward. You keep your women dumb. That’s why they’re a problem. So you solve it by keeping them weak, that way they can’t mess shit up, and then they’re not just a problem. They’re an obligation. Sarah’s dumb and weak like a bullet in the chamber. Except you’re not holding the gun. You think you are, but she is. And next time, she’s not going to miss, brother.”

He hasn’t moved for my entire speech, which came out of me without any thought and might not have made any sense. I can’t get a read on this guy.

He needs a shove. What does he know exactly, and how can I use it?

“You have a problem you don’t even know you have,” I say, prodding a suspicion into knowledge.

“I know my business.”

I scoff. He’s so green. I’d bet a ball he doesn’t know where the bulk of their money comes from.