Chapter 8
Rafaela
Ugh.
With finals coming up in a couple of weeks, I had way too much to do, including a book report to turn in. And I’d yet to read the book. I flopped down on my bed, smiling as Golden Angel jumped to her favorite spot, her head nestled between pillows.
I curled my legs under me, opening the book I hoped to finish by the morning. That could mean I wouldn’t be able to see Kazimir and I hated that thought.
He was my incredible fix, a sweet reminder there was life outside the estate walls. Maybe if I got the gist of the book, I could write the report.
With a smile on my face, I flipped to the first page, determined to skim the pages.
The knock on my door was followed by Golden Angel snuffling.
Apprehension immediately pooled in my stomach. My father’s car hadn’t been in the garage when I’d gotten home from school, but that didn’t mean anything.
Golden lifted her head, her tail thwapping on the bed before I crawled off. When I opened the door, our housekeeper appeared nervous. “Cosa c’è che non va, Carmilla?”
What’s wrong, Carmilla?
“Tuo padre ha bisogno di vederti subito. Dice che è urgente.”
Your father needs to see you immediately. He says it’s urgent.
While issuing a deep sigh, she curtsied and scampered off, the terrible deed done. I glanced toward my fur baby, debating whether I’d take her with me. “Stay here, girl. I’ll be right back.”
Being summoned to my father’s office had never been in my best interest. The location was his private quarters, a place no one was allowed to step into uninvited, including my mother. It was also a place where he laid out acts of revenge.
But even though my father was a brutal man, he’d stopped physically punishing me years before. However, he’d found several creative disciplinary methods. I knocked on the door and immediately rubbed my hands on my jeans.
“Come.”
His voice boomed through the closed door. As soon as I walked in, he spun around in his chair that had been facing the window behind his desk. “Daughter. How is my princess?”
“Fine, Father. What is so urgent?”
“How is school?”
Narrowing my eyes, I slyly scanned the room to ensure we were alone. We were. “It’s fine. Gearing up for graduation. I should graduate top of my class.”
“Excellent and I would expect no less.” He shifted some paperwork on his desk, pulling a group of papers into his hand.
Instantly, I recognized it as the application for the Paris College of Art.
I’d researched the various colleges in Italy, Spain, and France and determined the facility was perfect for what I wanted to do.
The university was also considered international.
I held my breath, realizing this was the moment he decided whether I would be allowed to attend.
“I’ve decided you will be allowed to go.”
My squeal was likely heard all the way to the ocean. I jumped up and down, even clapping my hands while my father moved from around the desk, sitting on the edge. While he wore a smile that I remembered from my childhood, his eyes were cold as usual, scrutinizing me as he’d always done.
And still, I couldn’t help but shower him with my gratitude, even throwing my arms around him for a hug. “Thank you, Father. Thank you. That’s the best birthday present in the world.”
His laugh was warming and he patted me on the back, yet as always, his body remained still. I’d learned a long time ago he wasn’t a fan of physical affection.
When I pulled away, the awkwardness between us was the same, but the tension felt higher.
“On one condition, Rafaela. There could be a time you are called upon to do your duty for the family. You’re already aware of this. However, I wanted to make myself and my position clear.”
“Yes, Father.” Any disagreement at the point and my excitement would turn to anger.
“Good. I do think expanding your horizons will be beneficial.” He stopped short of saying in finding the best suitor for his needs.
“I do as well. I have homework, Father. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Of course not.”
Without waiting an extra second, I moved toward the door. Suddenly, I felt his presence behind me.
“Rafaela. I understand you had an incident in the vineyards this morning.”
There it was. That bastard Marco had found a way of exposing the connection with Kazimir.
“Golden was startled. She heard a noise and found herself in briars. One of your workers helped free her, scarring his skin in the process.”
“Is that all?”
I turned to face him, realizing that I wasn’t leaving the room until I confessed my sins. “Marco was an absolute jerk, trying to suggest one of your workers is a monster. Completely inappropriate.”
My father seemed surprised that I’d challenged him.
He took a step closer and I didn’t like the smile on his face at all.
“Rafaela. You are a very intelligent young woman. You’ve known since you were very young about certain dangerous aspects about the business I’m in, the very business that affords you the opportunity to go to such an expensive university as well as every other trinket you’ve received in your life. ”
Trinket.
The girls in the world of the Cosa Nostra were merely tossed trinkets. “I understand.”
“Do you? I hope you do. Now, the man who did such a nice deed is indeed a monster. He’s done some terrible things in his life, murdering indiscriminately.
Women. Children. The horrors are abominable.
His hands are covered in blood, my sweet daughter.
If he were to get his hands on you…” He shuddered as if terrified I would be hurt.
I knew better.
As if my father hadn’t ordered similar atrocities. While he’d been too important to get his hands dirty through the years, ordering his men to murder and destroy, his hands were permanently stained in blood. I couldn’t help myself, furious that he was faking the danger.
“You make it sound so personal.”
Very briefly, he looked away. “More than you know. You will stay away from him.”
“He was kind to me, Father, when your men wouldn’t dare try and help Golden. In my eyes, he’s no more dangerous than anyone you employ. Especially Marco.”
Yes, I’d crossed an imaginary line, but I didn’t expect my father’s harsh reaction. His backhand pitched me backward and against the wall. Shocked, the ache to my face and jaw was nothing to the realization my father had hit me.
Horrified, I snapped my head toward him while tears filled my eyes. In that moment, every bit of love I’d felt was on the line.
He seemed flustered at his reaction, his usual calm demeanor shaken to the core.
Maybe he was expecting me to shout or beg him for forgiveness.
When I did neither, he shook his head. “Don’t you understand the kind of danger we’re under every day of our lives?
Don’t you know the number of people who would do anything in their power to infiltrate our world, our home?
There were some monstrous people out there, daughter. All I want to do is to protect you.”
The expressiveness he used wasn’t typical. My silence wasn’t either.
We were at a standoff, a line crossed that I’d never believed would happen.
The hard stare we gave to each other was a small battle I refused to lose. He was the first one to look away, his expression shifting into exasperation as he rubbed his jaw.
“I want to take you somewhere, Rafaela. It won’t take long, I assure you.”
“Should I bring Golden Angel?”
He took a deep breath and as soon as he did, a horrible sensation washed over me, prickles of electricity dancing down my arms.
“No. Leave her in the house. Grab your jacket.”
I had no idea what to expect, but I remained sick to my stomach even before I eased onto the passenger seat of his favorite vehicle, one he only drove while touring the grounds.
The old Jeep Wrangler was his fun vehicle, but far too dangerous to be taken out on the road.
There was no way of bulletproofing or adding thicker glass for the windshield and back window.
Plus, he’d removed the windows in the doors and usually drove with the vinyl top removed.
As he drove the gravel road through the property, I could tell he was admiring everything he’d built. I knew exactly where he was taking me, the overlook a perfect location to see almost the entire property, rolling hills leading to the rich, turquoise ocean.
When he stood, leaning over the roll bar, so did I. I had to admit that our property was incredibly beautiful, pristine and lush in a way few families could ever afford.
“I never thought our vineyard would grow to what it is today. Your grandfather gifted me one hundred acres for my wedding present and told me to make something of it. So I did.”
“It’s beautiful.”
I fell the slow turn of his head, the sharp contrast in the way he was looking at me. “Yes, Rafaela. I’m very proud of what has been accomplished, and I refuse to allow anyone to destroy what took me years to create with blood, sweat, and tears.”
And murder, I thought to myself, not daring to utter a word.
Which obviously made him even angrier. “I’ve tried over the years to protect you from the evils of this world, my world.
I wanted nothing but the best for you so you were kept from learning about some of the horrors and necessities of what must be done in this business.
Perhaps I was wrong in doing so. Maybe it’s past time you understand what’s at stake. ”
As soon as he thumped down in his seat, I fell into mine, looking at him while he placed the gear in reverse. What the hell did that mean? What did he want to show me?
Terror remained furrowed in my stomach, twisting and turning while I did my very best to keep my father from realizing how upset I’d become. Tears were considered a weakness.
Sadness was considered a weakness.
Hell, happiness was also.
He drove silently, heading toward an area of the property that I knew existed but couldn’t remember the last time I’d been allowed to see the area.
From what I remembered, the original house from one of many adjacent properties purchased over the years still stood even after a raging fire.
There was also a cemetery, old tombstones with dates going back hundreds of years.
When I was a child, my father had told me the area was haunted.
Now, I wondered if the grounds hadn’t continued being used for what they were intended, only for the bodies of my father’s enemies.
Another cold shiver slammed against my spine and I bit back a cry. No weakness. None.
“Why are we here?” I asked when he stopped the Jeep.
“You’ll see. Come with me.” He didn’t offer me the opportunity to object, heading toward a clump of trees.
I had to jog to keep up with him. When he broke through to a clearing, I was confused seeing a makeshift platform with several outdoor chairs. The lumber used was new, completely bleached out. A horrible thought slithered into my mind. The platform had been built today.
Sick to my stomach, when I walked up the four stairs, I almost lost my balance, pulled the rest of the way by my father.
He gripped my arms while standing directly in front of me.
“As I said, I’ve tried to protect you, but you’re a woman now.
You can handle the ugliness that surrounds our life.
A lesson learned, daughter, for you and for anyone who dares destroy our sanctity or ever try and place my family in harm’s way under any circumstances. ”
When he walked away, I couldn’t understand what I was seeing at first, daring to move a little closer to the edge.
A strange wooden contraption had been built, two tall pieces of eight-by-eight lumber driven into the ground, connected together by one overhead. Hanging from the corners were chains and shackles. Another set bolted into the bottom of the salt-treated pieces.
“What… is this?” I hated my voice was shaking. My bastard of a father didn’t say anything yet when I turned my head, I noticed he was nodding to someone standing on the ground.
Snapping my head toward the direction, I hissed seeing Marco, who dared shift his gaze to my eyes.
“What are you doing?” Anger filled my voice.
“What’s necessary, Rafaela. As I already told you. A man needs to be punished and I thought it was something you should see.”
Even before Kazimir was brought from wherever they’d kept him, I’d known exactly who they were preparing to discipline.
I was shaking all over, doing what I could to remain standing. Calling out his name would only result in harsher punishment, but there was no way I could keep the tears from running down my face and I whispered his name.
Over and over again.
Until the handsome stranger who’d saved my baby, a man whose lips were a soft kiss of velvet tipped his head, our eyes locking.
Only for the briefest of seconds, but enough that my heart fluttered.
When Kazimir had been shackled in place, Marco was gleeful as he was handed a bullwhip. A bullwhip.
It took everything I had to keep from jumping off the platform, but I knew better than to do a damn thing. But one day I would.
In those few seconds before the first strike was made, the line my father had laid in the sand had been crossed.
Hate had filled my heart.
One day, my father would be the one to face my wrath.