“Nora, no!” Giana exclaimed, her hand suddenly a vise around my clenched fist.

I shook her off and squared my shoulders, facing Dante with defiance and determination. If this beast of a man was going to marry one of us, it would be me.

Sparks danced in the depths of his deep green eyes, and his lips curled at the corners, that amused expression once again gracing his painfully handsome face. I suppressed a shudder and kept him locked in my stare.

“I will marry you,” I said, the oath ashes on my tongue.

The words were surreal, as though they were issued from someone else’s lips. But Dante’s intense gaze kept me riveted, rooted in this awful reality so that I felt every aching beat of my racing heart as it hammered against my ribs.

Two thick fingers curled beneath my chin, gently turning my face so that he could inspect my stinging cheek. His dark brows drew low over his eyes, and angry lines appeared around his mouth.

“No one else will touch you ever again, little bird,” he promised, his voice a low rumble. He spoke as though it was a reassurance, not a horrific claim over my future, my forever.

“Girls, leave us,” Father snapped. “Dante and I have a lot to discuss.”

Giana’s small hand wrapped around mine, tugging me away from the predator who held my chin with such shocking gentleness. He’d just strangled Giorgio with the same long fingers that now caressed my face.

My breath stuttered, and I allowed Giana to pull me away from the man who’d just condemned me to a life sentence. My fiancé. I would marry this brute. I would’ve done anything to protect my beloved sister, but my insides began to quake at the reality of the commitment I’d just made.

In the back of my mind, I’d always known such an arranged marriage was a possibility. In our world, a love match was too much to hope for. Especially if my father was the one making the arrangements. He’d never miss an opportunity to secure more power, and if that meant using his own daughters to solidify an alliance, he wouldn’t hesitate.

But that was always a vague future prospect that I hadn’t allowed myself to fully contemplate. I’d allowed my head to fill with fantasies of romance based on the novels I indulged in secret. I’d hoped that my father’s emotional neglect might extend to my future prospects and that he wouldn’t care about my marital preferences. I would never be allowed a match with someone outside our organization, but I might’ve chosen someone gentler than Dante Torrio.

If his scheme with my father worked, Dante would be the boss. He would rule our crime family with an iron fist, and that would include me.

He’d just committed shocking violence to claim me for himself.

No one else will touch you ever again, little bird. From now on, Dante would personally be the one to keep me in line. I no longer had to fear my father’s men, but my future husband was far more terrifying than even Giorgio, his cruelest guard.