Chapter 4
Giovanna
So did you fuck Tony or not?
The text cuts through my father’s droning monologue like a blade.
I want to hurl my phone across the room.
Goddamn Lexi. I’ve told her ‘no’ a thousand times—in group chats, private messages, in-person—but apparently Antonio said that we did, so she won’t stop bringing it up.
I’ve made it crystal clear that Antonio is full of shit, but everyone believes him, even Lexi.
Come on. You don’t have to lie.
Tell me the truth!
Did you bleed?
You know I want alllll the details, bitch!
My jaw clenches. The ‘details’ aren’t worth sharing.
After Antonio’s attempted love con bullshit in the elevator, I went to go find Tommy’s suite with the intention of waiting for him.
But Dragovari Tower is fucking huge, and I wandered around for hours, lost, until I finally called him over and over.
When he didn’t pick up, I ordered an Uber and added this shitty night to the pile of shitty Demonio New Year’s Eve galas I’ve endured over the years.
Why Antonio decided to brag about fucking me is beyond comprehension, but he’s been texting every day to check in on me, swearing he never said anything.
Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t. I don’t really care.
My plan is to hand Tommy my V-card then head back to school and build a life that has nothing to do with my family’s position or anybody back home.
Clean slate.
But it’s been two weeks since I texted Tommy to fuck off on New Year’s Eve after he didn’t answer my calls, and I haven’t heard from him since.
Since then, I’ve just been hiding out at my parents’ house, waiting out winter break, so I can go back to my apartment on Bleeker Street and back to school.
That can’t happen soon enough. Usually, my parents take separate vacations over Christmas, leaving me on their Long Island estate alone.
It’s always been that way. They were ghosts haunting my childhood, absent phantoms who left me to raise myself, though my mom was around more than my dad.
But this past year, my father has been suffocatingly present, obsessed with monitoring who I date and maniacally focused on keeping me away from Tommy.
Case in point, he’s standing in my doorway as I wander around packing, going over New Year’s Eve for the thousandth time, pushing me toward Antonio and away from Tommy.
As if on cue, a text comes in from Antonio:
Gigi, will you please just see me?
I want to
make it up to you. Please? Let me take
you to dinner tonight?
My father stops mid-sentence, his lecture grinding to a halt.
“Is that Tommy?”
I look up, irritated. “No.”
“Antonio?”
“Jesus, Dad, can you stop?”
“I know you don’t want to hear it, but Antonio has come a long way in the past few years, and he’s definitely better than a Demonio.
” He crosses his arms. “Are you listening, Giovanna? Dating Tommy should not even be a consideration.”
Heat flares in my chest. “Dad, stop. Tommy and I are just friends. Why do you keep obsessing over this?”
It’s true; he is just a friend.
A friend I want to ride until he makes me scream his name, a friend who kissed my best friend, a friend who hasn’t texted me in weeks.
“I don’t like him,” my father growls, his voice carrying an edge I rarely hear.
“Noted. Can we talk about literally anything else?” I snap.
What my father doesn’t realize is that if not for Tommy, I’d spend every break curled on my couch studying.
The only thing that can tear me away from school is gorgeous, maddeningly infuriating Tommy Demonio.
Not that my father would notice or care if I disappeared entirely.
He loves me in theory, I think, but he spends his time working and cheating on Mom, too busy to pay attention to my existence unless, for some unknown reason, it involves Tommy.
“Giovanna.” His voice sharpens. “Why are you friends with this boy? His whole family are criminals. While it’s occasionally necessary to rub elbows with them professionally, they are not people you involve yourself with personally.
”
I swat him away from my suitcase, anger spiking.
“Says the man who makes me go to the Demonio New Year’s Eve gala every single year and hangs out with Aurelio Demonio himself.
”
“Aurelio Demonio is a business associate,” my father says vehemently.
“My investments overlap with some of his. We attend the same events. That’s business.
”
I tip my head back with a sigh then go back to packing as my father launches into another tirade about how important for networking the Demonio New Year’s Eve galas are, how the Demonios give Italians a bad name, how we’re so much better than them.
The irony is suffocating, given he’s been cheating on my mother all my life.
“Dad, I get it. You hate Tommy.” My patience snaps like a rubber band.
He grabs my arm, forcing me to face him.
“I know what he’s capable of. He’s dangerous, Giovanna.
Lethal. Do not play this game. You will lose.
”
The angry panic on his face is something I’ve never seen.
In fact, I rarely see any emotion from him at all—and then it hits me.
Women are possessions to him, either treated like saints or fucked like whores.
He’s afraid of losing face if his daughter gets fucked by a Demonio.
“Tommy’s not like Aurelio. He’s not an asshole.
” Aurelio is a walking nightmare. The stories about him and the women who disappear, including his own wife, make my skin crawl.
Tommy isn’t like that. If anything, he’s overprotective to the point of suffocation.
My dad frowns. “Really. What do you call forcing you to put on his hoodie and man-handling you in public? That’s not being an asshole?
”
I roll my eyes so hard it hurts. “You mean when he noticed I was cold and my dress was riding up when I was drunk? God forbid someone actually look out for me.”
He lifts his eyes to the ceiling like he’s looking for a way out.
“I didn’t want to tell you this, Giovanna, but you are forcing my hand.
You’re no longer under this roof, and there’s only so much I can do to protect you.
You need information to make smart choices.
”
I stave off a yawn. This newfound paternal concern is too little, too late.
“Tommy is a killer. He’s murdered at least a dozen people that I know of, which means the real number is probably higher.
”
I shake my head. “That’s impossible, Dad.
Between DNA, smartphones, GPS, cameras everywhere—no one gets away with serial murder anymore.
”
His laugh is bitter, humorless. “Most murders go unsolved, and in Tommy’s case, corrupt cops and judges would stop any investigation long before it reached the Demonios’ door.
”
I sigh. The truth is, I don’t care if it’s true.
I’ve seen Tommy and his brothers get in fights; violence is their language.
I know people fear him. I’ve seen more than a few men wilt in his presence and disappear at a word from him.
But I feel no shock, no moral outrage.
I knew the Demonios were mafia. I just never thought about the details.
When my face doesn’t register the horror he expects, Dad’s expression hardens.
“Killing is the kindest thing he does, Giovanna. He tortures men, keeps them alive and suffering for days. Knives are his specialty, and I’ve seen his work.
It’s gruesome beyond imagination.
He literally carves designs into his victims. The thought of him doing that to you—”
A shiver rips through me.
Why does the thought of Tommy using a knife on me make my pussy wet?
Crazy, given I’ve barely let anyone touch me, much less with anything close to a knife.
My face must be broadcasting my thoughts, because Dad’s face contorts with disgust. “Don’t be na?ve.
I understand women like bad boys, but there’s a difference between riding motorcycles and carving people up.
”
“Don’t worry about me, Dad. Tommy treats me like a little sister.
” As infuriating as that is, it’s true. “I know you hate him, but he would never hurt me.”
Something dangerous flashes in my dad’s eyes.
“You know that for a fact?”
“He’s protective of me.
He wouldn’t—”
“He’s protective of you, but he’s fucking your best friend?
”
The words hit like a physical blow. “What?”
“Lexington Barrow.”
My world tilts.
While Lexi has been trying to fuck Tommy as long as I have, it’s impossible she succeeded without gloating.
She would have tortured me with the details immediately.
Still…
“Why do you say that?”
“Because they disappeared together from the party, and I saw her in the Dragovari Tower lobby hours later when I left. Smudged makeup, wearing one of his hoodies like a dress.”
Rage explodes through me like shrapnel.
I grab my phone, texting Lexi with shaking hands.
Did you fuck Tommy?
The response bubbles appear immediately.
Is he bragging about me? Aww…
That dick is soooo gooooooooddddd…
..
I want to scream. Instead, I turn away so Dad can’t see me fall apart and toss my phone on the bed like it’s contaminated.
“That’s none of my business. I’m dating Antonio anyway.
”
The lie tastes bitter. I’m not dating Antonio, but if Tommy is fucking Lexi and I want to lose my virginity before I go back to school, Antonio is back to being my best bet.
Dad considers this. “At least he comes from a decent family with no criminal ties. If he can extract himself from the Demonio family, he will be acceptable.”
“So Antonio can change, but Tommy can’t?
” The hypocrisy is staggering.
“Tommy is the son of a mafia boss. Killing is in his DNA.”
“That’s reductive as hell.
People are products of nature and nurture, not just—”
“Being a mafioso is in Tommy’s blood and his upbringing.
He has two ruthless brothers, and he’s the worst of them all.
”
I want to inform my dad that I didn’t get anything from his DNA, thank God.
He’s a shady businessman who does God knows what for his money and fucked every nanny and tutor I ever had.
Meanwhile, I graduated in the top 1 percent of my class, crushed every sport I ever played, and got a full scholarship to NYU, none of which got his attention at any point.
But for some reason, who I date is his obsession.
“For fuck’s sake, I’m not trying to get married,” I snap.
“I don’t even want a relationship, and who I fuck is none of your—”
The slap comes swift and shocking, over before I even realize that it’s happening.
I gasp and hold my stinging cheek, staring at him.
My father has never hit me before. In fact, this may be the longest conversation we’ve ever had.
My father’s eyes flash angrily. “Don’t you dare, Giovanna.
Sleeping with anyone named Demonio would destroy our family’s reputation.
”
“Our reputation?” My voice climbs higher.
“What kind of old-world bullshit—”
The second slap is somehow more shocking than the first. Confusion replaces rage as I stare at this stranger wearing my father’s face.
What the fuck is happening?
“Don’t do it,” he snarls.
The irony twists in my gut. After 18 years of benign neglect, of letting me raise myself while he played house with his mistresses, now he wants to be a father?
I set my jaw and pick up my phone, opening the text thread with Antonio.
Pick me up at 7
My dad reads the text over my shoulder and nods approvingly.
He doesn’t look me in the eye when he leaves.
The moment he’s gone, images of Tommy and Lexi flood my mind like a poisonous tide.
Kissing. Touching. Fucking. The betrayal tastes like copper pennies and broken glass.
I need answers. I need to hear from him what happened before I lose my mind completely.
I need him to tell me why he stops anyone from touching me while he’s been after my best friend the whole time.
I open my text thread with Tommy.
You’re meeting me for coffee.