Page 14 of Deathless & Divided

Dino gave Lily a look that silenced her before she could even say a thing. “She does. We’re getting to that.”

Ben DeLuca emerged from the entryway that led into the common room and dining area. “Is everyone here?”

“Not yet,” Terrance replied.

“Who’s missing?” Ben asked.

“Damian.”

Who?

“He’s on his way,” Dino assured. “He was right beside us in church. Quiet, as usual.”

Oh.

Steel-blue eyes. Dark hair. Sly smile.

Lily’s pulse picked up.

“They’ll make a good pair,” Terrance said to Dino. “And he needs a wife. She’s a good match.”

Wait, what?

Lily felt like she was part of some cosmic joke that nobody had let her in on until now. And it was a really shitty time for her to be finally figuring it out.

When Terrance turned to speak with his grandson Joel, Lily spun on her heel to face Dino. She was sure her older brother could see the rage swimming in her gaze. Disbelief, heartache, and sickness rolled like one giant ball of hateful poison in her gut, flooding into her veins.

“Dino—”

“Not now.” Dino jerked his head to the side and with a quick apology to the family and friends, he led Lily down the hall and away from the eyes of others. When they were alone, Dino let out a loud sigh, loaded with tension. “Take a second to think about it all before you say anything, Lily.”

Take a second?

Her brother was about to sell her off like fucking cattle at the meat market. He wanted her to take a second and consider it? Like what, it might be a good thing?

Lily barely held back her scream of frustration. “You fu—”

Dino grabbed Lily’s hand she raised to strike him. She wasn’t the hitting kind of girl. She didn’t like violence all that much. Funny, considering her entire life had been drowned in some kind of violence. All the mafia knew was violence.

“Stop,” her brother hissed.

Lily tried to yank her arm back, but Dino held firm. “You bastard.”

“You don’t know a thing, so stop it right now.” Dino squeezed Lily’s hand just enough to make it hurt and to quiet her. “This is not the time or the place for any kind of bullshit, Lily. And you know damn well you’re not the first to have something like this happen to them. Really, you’re lucky you lasted as long as you did. If it were up to Ben, he would have married you off the day after you turned eighteen. Stop acting like a brat.”

Lily’s heart hurt and her lungs ached.

She couldn’t breathe.

“What I need you to do is go back in there, greet Damian when he gets here, smile for those people, and make nice during dinner. It will be two hours—tops. Play your part like the good little DeLuca you are, like I know you can be.”

“Why would you do this to me?” Lily asked.

Betrayal stung the back of her tongue as bile spilled into her throat.

Dino tricked her. He said nothing about marriage or anything of the sort when he told her it was time to go home.

Of course, he didn’t, her mind taunted. You would have run.