Chapter 45
Alcee was almost frightened to breathe as the tension in the room was felt by every single person. She shot a glance at the twins whose smiles were gone, and they were wide eyed at the very cold, cruel way Torquato’s words were being delivered. A fool could hear the threat behind the words. Nobody in this room was a fool,
Her father was fighting his temper to remain calm, but it was evident he was barely tolerating this disrespect. She wondered again if he pulled a weapon if he’d simply shoot Torq right through her. One bullet, two targets, his perfect result
“You are out of line, Don Lozano. Her father’s words cut into her thoughts.
“Am 17”
“If you wished only to disrespect me, then why invite me here at all?”
“You are here because I wanted you to understand she is mine and our son is also mine.” Torq didn’t look away from the other man. “You thre them away. You threw them away without regard for your own blood and as such, they carry no link to you now, Edgardo. I want you to understand if a single hair is harmed on their head because of your carelessness, if any of your enemies come for them, if any of your friends come for them, I will hold you personally responsible. What I do to you will make Zanelli look like child’s play.”
Alcee gasped at the direct threat. Mercario rose from his seat defensively.
“Don Lozano, we were happy to come here and partake in the discussion, but this is too far. You are not recognizing we did not know who it was who booked my sister’s services. She told us nothing. Mercurio shot Alcee a look. “You and I met in the past. If she’d conveyed to me even once your height, your features or anything else, I would have considered it a possibility. However, she kept her mouth shut.”
“Unlike her fucking legs,” their father spit out leaning sideways to glower at her.
“Fuck you”
Torg pulled his head sideways as Alcee swore at her father and she looked at Torq apologetically, but he waved his hand as if encouraging her to speak.
“You know, I told Torg you weren’t always a shitty father. You weren’t the warmest, but I never felt I was not your daughter. It was when 1 hit puberty, and you realized you could make a buck off my breasts when you began to look at me as more than a fifth kid. Then I was no longer your daughter but a piece of chattel to sell to the Lozano family for a few measly dollars. Every conversation with you stemmed around my education, my physical appearance, my waistline and my clothing. You never loved me, but it never dawned on me you didn’t even like me until I wanted an education. You constantly telling me it was pointless to secure a degree since my betrothed only needed me to spread my legs. You wonder where I got the idea to fuck, Don Mariani, it was from your lips. You made me feel I was nothing more than a hole for a man to put his cock in and so I simply followed your lead but went with a man of my own choosing. You do not get to sit here and cast judgement on me for doing exactly what you spent nine full years prepping me to do.”
Her chest heaved with anger and yet Torg’s finger on her hip was back, making slow circles. He was encouraging her to calm down and she turned her body, so she was curled against his chest and rested her cheek to his shoulder
He looked at her father and brother, “take this as a warning. Upset my bride again and throw your nasty insults at her again,” this time he looked straight at Edgardo, “and I’ll destroy you ten generations in either direction. You are going to leave and never see her again.”
“She is my sister.” Mercurio shook his head. “I cannot permit you to ban us, her brothers, entirely from her life.”
“Your sister?” Torq scoffed, “You mean the woman who faced your father herself, head on and took the beatings and the abuse and the torture while you stood idly by? You’re calling her your sister? I would hate to see what you would do to an enemy.”
“All she needed to do was confess who she was with”
“She told you she didn’t know. She told you she erased the information, and you chose not to believe her, your own flesh and blood“,
Mercurio rubbed his mouth, “we understood you were insulted by her behavior and as such, we were hoping to fix things.”
“By sacrificing her?”
“With the name of the man who stole your bride’s innocence.” Edgardo spoke as his son paced the room. “His head was meant to salvage the business arrangement.”
“Shall I lay my head down here for you to take?” Tory offered smugly.
1/2
“We did not know it was you!” Mercurio griped again.
“And this matters why, Mercurio?” Torq glared at him, his rage now purely focused on Alcer’s older brother. “She was your baby sister. The youngest of your family and the principessa. You stood idly while she was demeaned and belittled because you blindly follow the ravings of a demented man who would torture his own daughter.”
“You are one to talk, shooting your own father. Where is your family loyalty?” Edgardo commented snidely.
“My father signed away my parental rights when i was a boy so he wouldn’t be forced to pay child support to my mother. My grandfather named me his heir in his will. I considered letting Corrado hold a nominal title while I ran the business but as you know he stole from me. Do not confuse our dealings with you failing your child,”
“Money is money, is it not?” Mercurio questioned quietly.
“Well, Torq held Mercurio’s gaze, “let’s start with the fact the money carmarked as the bride price should have been given to my bride. Meaning in giving herself to anyone else, she was simply refusing her own money. Now, if you think I didn’t get a copy of the marital proposal contract where it is clearly stipulated the money was put aside for her, then you are a fool. I know you intended to manipulate her into thinking it was yours but at the end of the day, it was meant for her. See, my grandfather was a fucking genius. In his mind, marrying her to me yet giving her dowry money meant the money was still staying with the Lozano family. He wasn’t really losing out. So, she denied her own money, money which we would have insisted she kept.” As Edgardo blustered again, Torg held his hand up, “and my father, since you wish to compare the apple to the Jorange, took live billion dollars of my personal wealth.”
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