Coming Home (Morelli Family 6)

“I’m not trying to be fucking Mateo,” he grinds out. “I’m sorry if you think he has a monopoly on being a Morelli, but guess what? He doesn’t. It’s my fucking birthright just as much as it is his. And maybe that asshole owns Chicago, but guess what? He doesn’t own shit here. Look around, baby. I’m the only living son of Benito Morelli. This is my fucking inheritance.”

I shake my head, dread moving through me at the picture that paints. “This is all wrong. You never wanted any of this. This isn’t you, Vince.”

“It is now,” he states, coolly.

“Well, that makes me sad,” I tell him sincerely, meeting his gaze. “That makes me incredibly sad.”

“Don’t try to make me fucking feel bad for who I am, Mia. It’s not your style.”

“This isn’t about who you are; it’s about who you’re choosing to be. Everyone’s always tried to tell me you straddled the line between good and evil, that you had it in you to be one of the bad Morellis, and I never believed that. I never even met Matt, but I’ve heard the stories, and you never would’ve done the things he did. You’re not bad. I even told Mateo that, when things were at their worst with us. I told him how much better you were than him, how at his core, he’s bad, and at your core, you’re good. But that makes this so much worse. You’re choosing the wrong path, Vince. You’re choosing to follow your bad blood, and for what?”

“For you.”

I shake my head, rejecting that bullshit. “No. Not for me.”

“Fine. For me,” he says, meeting my gaze. “It’s my turn to win now.”

“I’m not a prize, Vince.”

“You’re my prize, Mia. You’ve always been mine, and this time? No one’s taking you away from me.”

Chapter Eleven

Mia

It’s a long first night at Vince’s palatial hell house.

I’m cloaked in sadness the whole night long. I’m literally sad about everything. I’m sad about missing Mateo, I’m sad that I can’t be there for Bella when I promised her I would be, and I’m sad that Vince has gone dark and it’s kinda my fault.

I’m incredibly sick of everything being my fault.

I’m also sad when it’s time for bed, and instead of curling up in Mateo’s loving arms I have to go to sleep beside Vince. I’m sad when he tries to pull me close and I have to fight him off. I’m sad when he kisses me. I’m relieved when he leaves it at that, but still sad because I know it can’t last. He clearly plans on taking this further, on reclaiming me, and I can’t fucking let him. I also don’t know how to stop him. I have not been tremendously successful at stopping him or Mateo from taking me in the past, whether I wanted them to or not, and there’s so much pressure this time. I was only afraid of breaking Vince’s heart when Mateo took me that first time; Mateo might actually kill me for it. It would be more than a little heartbreaking to be murdered by the man I love more than life itself.

Once again, I’m cast into the hell that exists in between Mateo and Vince.

I cannot believe this shit.

I wake up the next morning wearing the same clothes I slept in. They’re the only clothes I own now, so I have to shower and put them back on. I’m going to have to find the laundry room later so I can at least wash them before wearing them again.

Vince isn’t in the bedroom and I have no idea where he is, so I explore the house. I’m looking for a phone or a computer I can use to reach out and contact someone. I do find a computer in Ben’s study, but it’s password protected so I can’t do anything.

There are no phones. At first I think I found one in the bar, but apparently it’s some kind of intercom system throughout the house and there’s no dialing out.

I need to get the hell out of here. I finally convince myself Vince is not here since I haven’t come across him, and as I stand in the back yard looking out at the pool, I gaze beyond the property line. There are other houses on this road. I can see a big gray one maybe a half mile from this one. Surely I could run over there, say there was a home invasion and I left my cell in the house, so I need to use theirs. I mean, I don’t know who lives there, but people mostly want to help.

Since time is of the essence, I decide to go for it. Once I commit, my heart pounds and fear becomes me, but this is Vince’s doing, not mine. He never should’ve brought me here.