The Vatican: (Standalone) (The Holy Trinity Series Book 5)

by M. E. Clayton

  Marguerite startled when she saw us. “Get out!” I roared, and she quickly rushed towards the door, closing, and locking it behind her. I had Saveria slammed up against the wall, angry enough not to care if she tried to kill me as a result of my manhandling.

  “I’m giving you some leeway, Fiore, because I understand why you’re upset,” I told her. “But I will not put up with your shit for much longer.”

  “Don’t make me marry you, and you won’t have to put up with it at all,” she pointed out.

  All’s fair in love and war, and I was playing to win. “Do I have to stick my fingers in that tight pussy of yours again to remind you of all the reasons it’s worth it to marry you?” I asked cruelly.

  “Fuck you, Benetti!” Saveria went for the jewels, but I saw it coming.

  Uncle Ciro’s manager’s office ended up looking like Saveria’s apartment by the time Mica came in to get us.

  We were also getting married tomorrow.

  It was time to end this shit, once and for all.

  Chapter 13

  Saveria~

  My phone chimed with an incoming text.

  Benetti: Kratos. Conf room at Dad’s. Tmrw @ 1:00pm

  I was getting married.

  Chapter 14

  Francisco~

  She showed up to our wedding wearing a black t-shirt, jeans, ankle-high black boots, and anger. Lots, and lots of anger. Her hair was in a ponytail, and her face was fresh of makeup. She was still beautiful, but her message was clear: she wasn’t dressing up for this shit.

  I wore a dark grey suit, but that was nothing new. I’ve been wearing suits every day since I was eighteen. I was also wearing a fresh cut across the left side of my jaw, marking the skill my lovely bride had with a letter opener.

  When I had sent a group text last night letting everyone know we’d be getting married this afternoon, Uncle Ciro had sent back a separate text asking me if we were okay. Marguerite had called him and broken the news to him about her office. After assuring him that his niece was still in one piece, he told me he’d take care of Marguerite’s office, and congratulations.

  The tension in the room was palpable. Even poor Father O’Rourke was sending up silent prayers for everyone in the room. The women looked heartbroken. The men looked resigned. However, I wasn’t feeling charitable. They deserved to feel uncomfortable. I had a slice on my face from where the woman I was tying myself to life for tried to kill me. So, yeah, I wasn’t caring much if the people partly responsible for this mess were feeling uncomfortable as Father O’Rourke spoke the vows as old as time. Like our parents, we used traditional Catholic vows, and the word ‘obey’ was in there along with everything else.

  Father O’Rourke addressed me first, and I made quick work of agreeing to take the little attempted murderess as my wife.

  When he addressed Ria, the tension in the room rose a couple of notches when he had to call for her attention. “Luca?”

  Her eyes blinked in awareness. “What? Huh?”

  His white bushy brows rose in concern. “Dear? Do you agree to take Fran-”

  Saveria waved his words away. “Yeah. Sure.”

  Father O’Rourke reached out to her. “Luca, I need the words. But if you are unsure…”

  Once she realized she was making the priest uncomfortable, she quickly changed her tune. “I’m sorry, Father,” she said contritely. “Of course, I understand. And, I do.” He smiled but it looked strained. The damage had been done, and he had done his best to finish the ceremony on a happy, spiritual note.

  After he pronounced us man and wife, I knew better than to try to kiss the bride. We stood there like the adversaries we were, and we thanked him before Uncle Sal and Uncle Leo had walked him out.

  The first challenge of my marriage came when the door shut behind Uncle Leo and the silence in the room was broken by the sound of Ria’s wedding rings dancing across the conference table. She looked at me and wiggled her ring finger at me, which still had one of the diamond bands on it. “This band is enough, don’t you think?” she mocked. “No sense in wearing a set of diamonds that beautiful to represent a bullshit marriage.”

  Aunt Frankie gasped in horror. “Luca Saveria Fiore!”

  “Benetti.”

  Aunt Frankie looked at me. “What?”

  I looked over at her. “Benetti,” I repeated. “Luca Saveria Benetti.”

  Ria’s attitude screamed throughout the room. “I’ll always be a Fiore,” she disagreed. “I’m a Mancini and Fiore by blood. I’m a Benetti by force.”

  The tension in the room was bordering on painful and, family or not, if I didn’t handle this, I’d never be trusted to lead. “Will you all please excuse us for a moment,” I said, and they all began to file out like I knew they would.

  One thing their generation believed in, and that was you did not interfere in a man’s marriage. The only condition was that you were not allowed to beat your wife. That was the only time they’d interfere.

  As soon as the door shut with just me and Saveria in the room, I walked over, grabbed her by the back of neck, and squeezed until she let out a hissed. With my hand firmly wrapped around her neck, I forced her over to the conference table, and I held her steady as I picked up her rings with my free hand.

  I released her neck, grabbed her left hand, and forced the rings back on her finger. The rings had been sized to fit perfectly, but I pushed them up so roughly, they tore her skin and blood began to ooze from the torn flesh.

  But I didn’t care.

  His girl needed to learn her place, once and for all.

  I grabbed her by the chin with one hand and tangled the fist of my other hand in her ponytail. Because she was so much shorter than I was, my hold lifted her on her tiptoes. I stared down at the woman I just pledge to spend the rest of my life with and said, “You will never disrespect me like that in front of other people ever again, Luca.” Her eyes glowed wildly. “I don’t give a fuck what you do when we’re in private, but in public, even if it is our family, you will know your fucking place and you better never forget it again.”

  She didn’t disappoint. “Or else what?”

  There was only one thing I knew she valued enough to use: her independence. “I’ll tell Uncle Sal to fire you, and you will be restricted to the house. I will lock you up until you start to go crazy with it, and no one will stop me.”

  Fire flew from her eyes. “Do it,” she challenged.

  I pulled back and took a couple of steps away from her. I pulled out my phone and dialed Uncle Sal. He answered on the second ring. “Uncle Sal?”

  “Yeah, kid, what’s up?”

  “I need you to find someone to replace my wife,” I told him, purposely calling Ria my wife so it would stop any objections he may have. Ria was wicked smart, and I knew he liked having her on his team. “She’ll no longer work for a living.”

  His pause was short, but loud. “Understood, Francisco,” he replied.

  I cut off the call and placed my phone back in my pocket. “Anything else you want to challenge me on?”

  Ice formed over her eyes. All her fire, and all her spirit, snuffed out. Oh, she wasn’t giving up, I knew that much. But her Mancini fire was giving over to her Fiore control. Saveria was a combination of both her parents’ strengths, and that made her a powerful force to be reckoned with.

  “Are we done here?” she asked, her voice lacking any hint of emotion. I gave her a terse nod, and she headed towards the door, me following behind her.

  Exiting the office and turning the corner, we found all the adults, minus Uncle Sal and Uncle Leo, lingering around the alcove leading into the living room.

  We stopped before them, and Dad asked, “Is everything alright?”

  I looked at my wife and let her answer for us. “Why wouldn’t it be?” she retorted, her voice still devoid of emotion.

  Aunt Frankie’s gasp caught everyone’s attention. “Ria,” she breathed, “your finger.”

  Saveria lifted her hand, dri
ed blood coating her finger and smeared all over her palm and the back of her hand. She flipped her hand over, showing everyone the damage. I watched as she looked at her mother and said, “Oh, this? This is nothing.”

  “You’re bleeding,” Uncle Phoenix bit out. “I’d hardly call that nothing.”

  I knew he was probably thinking of murdering me, but he also knew why her finger was bleeding. They all did. The rings she had carelessly tossed on the table were now back on her finger. It didn’t take a genius to figure out they were back on her finger because I put them there.

  Saveria looked over at her father, and in a voice so matter-of-fact, it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, she said, “Don’t go losing any sleep over it, Dad. Benetti’s going to end up doing a lot worse if he expects to get children out of me.”

  All the air was sucked out of the room.

  I could feel my vision turning black around the edges.

  I could vaguely hear all the women gasp in horror, while the men froze where they stood.

  My wife just told my father-in-law that I was going to have to rape her to get her pregnant with my children, and for him not to worry himself over it.

  I stood immobile, not believing we’ve come to this, as she looked at everyone like her words hadn’t just carved up everyone’s insides. Like all our hearts weren’t shredded, bleeding at her feet.

  “Saveria-”

  She turned her back on her mother and looked at me. “How does this work?” she asked, her voice still cold and detached. “I’d like to go see Dante. Am I being escorted to your house where he’ll need to visit me there, or do I have your permission to go back to my building and visit Dante there?”

  I didn’t trust myself to speak.

  I had nothing left to fight her with.

  I’d already made the phone call to Sal, there was nothing left to threaten her with or push her on. She hit us all with something we never saw coming, and I didn’t know how to fight against it.

  She said I was going to have to rape her to get children, and she said it like she believed I would.

  I stared at her, and the only beneficial thing to come out of all this, was I think everyone was finally grasping just how badly we hurt this girl. It’s rather ironic how Aunt Frankie had been in her exact same shoes once upon a time, and she had felt so betrayed, she left for six years, yet she couldn’t see how she’d done the same thing to her daughter.

  We all knew the story of how Aunt Frankie had left because secrets were kept from her, yet she hadn’t seen what we were doing to Ria the same way.

  I bet she was seeing it now.

  I bet they were all seeing it.

  I no longer knew what the right thing to do was, but I did what I was born to do.

  Lead.

  “You may go back to your building,” I told her. “But after you’re done visiting with Dante, I expect you to pack a bag until we can move you fully and be home by a reasonable hour.”

  Ria didn’t flinch or bat an eyelash, and that’s when I knew I’d lost her.

  “Of course,” she replied before turning her back on us all and walking out of the penthouse.

  No one said anything for a few moments, before my dad finally said, “I’m sorry, Son.”

  And I laughed.

  What the fuck could his sorry do for me now?

  Chapter 15

  Saveria~

  Where Vincent was the oldest of us all, and the most level-headed of us three, Dante was the most candid. He didn’t see what wasn’t there, and he didn’t bullshit you. I knew there were a few Benetti Family members who thought he was a bit of a psychopath, but that was because he was eerily absolute. He lacked no fear of consequences, and some people equated that to not having a conscience, and that wasn’t true.

  Dante just didn’t do bullshit, and it was unheard of from someone so young, since he’s been that way since he was about thirteen.

  After hours of Mica begging, I had gotten a new phone after smashing my old one in front of Vincent the other night. However, I had sent out a group text to the entire family telling them that if they had known about my arranged marriage to Francisco, then don’t bother calling or texting me. I had basically told them all to go to hell. I had received a barrage of various responses, but like a brat, I had deleted them all without reading them.

  And, now, here I was, knocking on Dante’s door after sending him a text that I was on my way over.

  He opened the door, and it was like looking at a younger version of my dad. He had Mom’s eyes, but everything else was Fiore.

  “Come in,” he said, and held the door open to let me pass.

  I headed straight for the couch as he went to the kitchen to get us something to drink. That was also his thing. The kid always made refreshments part of the deal.

  When he came back into the living room, he handed me a water and took a seat on the opposite end of the couch. He regarded me with that clear gaze of his. “What’s up?”

  I ended up telling him everything from the night Geno came over and Dad interrupted up to now. I didn’t mince words, and I didn’t leave out the fights or the nastiness. The nastiness on both my part and Francisco’s as well.

  When I was done, he asked, “Who are you most mad at? The adults for arranging it? Us kids for not telling you? Francisco for agreeing to it? Or yourself for not catching it?”

  His last question took me aback. “Why would I be mad at myself for not catching it? You guys all kept it a secret.”

  He scoffed. “Give me a break, Ria,” he replied. “No one ‘kept’ it a secret from you.” He used finger quotes around the word ‘kept’. “Most of us figured you knew since we knew.”

  “How could I know if no one told me?” I retorted.

  “No one told us either,” he flung back. “We knew because we paid attention.”

  “What are you talking about, Dante?”

  “Jesus Christ, Ria,” he chuckled. “Why do you think you were Uncle Luca’s favorite? Why do you think The Holy Trinity included you in things that even Vincent, who is first born out of all of us, wasn’t even privy to? Why do you think you’ve always known more than Angelo, Emilio, and Cira Benetti? What did you think all those perks and privileges were for? It’s obvious to anyone willing to take the time to pay attention that, since you weren’t born a Benetti, and therefore couldn’t rule, they were grooming you for the next best thing. They were grooming you to be Francisco’s wife because what else would you be, Ria?”

  I didn’t want his words to be true. I didn’t want to acknowledge that I’d been walking around with blinders all this time because that would imply a certain degree of self-centeredness I never would have considered myself to be.

  “Even if all that is true, Dante, he doesn’t love me,” I replied, putting the most serious issue out there in the open.

  Dante’s amber eyes bugged out. “Are you kidding me, Ria?” My brows drew down in confusion. “That man has been in love with you damn near his entire life.”

  “What?” I practically screeched.

  Dante shook his head. “Jesus, girl, you really are killing me here.”

  He was wrong. There’s no way Francisco’s been in love with me all these years, and I’d been too blind to see it. Francisco’s always treated me with…polite indifference. Sure, we’d been close and were considers friends, but he never treated me any…more special than he did everyone else. Birthday gifts, Christmas gifts, all those things were always appropriate enough. The only time we’d ever crossed the line was that night at the funhouse, but…at the time, I really believed he’d only done it to help me from losing myself completely to the darkness.

  I shook my head. “What are you talking about, Dante?”

  “Ria, just…hear me out okay?” I nodded. “Growing up in this family is…unique. There’s the way the girls are raised, and there’s the way the boys are raised. The girls are raised to be independent, brave, intelligent, loyal, and fighters. But you’re als
o raised to make your safety your number one priority. Guards are not an option for any of you, ever. You girls are raised as equals, except when it comes to your safety.”

  “I know all this, Dante.”

  “Just bear with me, Ria.” I nodded again. “We’re raised to be all the same things you girls are, except, we’re also raised to understand that your safety is more important than ours. As men, our primary duty is to protect the women of this family, and that’s non-negotiable. If we don’t come home with you girls unharmed, we better not come home at all. You can match us in intelligence, bravery, loyalty, but not in brute strength because it is our job to protect you, not the other way around. That being said, as part of your protective detail, it is our job to be observant. We have to always be aware of our surroundings and yours. And those keen observation skills are the same ones that have every man in this family knowing that Francisco Benetti’s been in love with you forever.”

  “You’re crazy,” I rushed out.

  Dante cocked his head. “Really?” His brows inched upward. “Did you know that Dad, Uncle Luca, and Uncle Ciro had to stay with Francisco all night the first time you ever went out on a date?”

  “What?” I whispered in disbelief.

  “Or that the only time he goes to The Sapphire it’s when you’re out on a date or seeing someone new?” My throat felt like it was closing up. “Do you remember when he was eighteen and that Saturday morning when he was so hungover, Aunt Remy had wanted to take him to the hospital because she had been afraid that he had alcohol poisoning?” I nodded. I had teased him relentlessly about it the next day. “He’d lost his virginity the night before, and he drank himself stupid because it hadn’t been with you. The guilt and experience had left him trying to forget it had ever happened.”

  Tears began to spill. “You’re lying,” I choked out.

  Dante gave me a tender smile. “Did you know about three years ago, he kept petitioning the adults for your hand, but they kept putting him off. They kept convincing him that it was what was best for you. And anything that was good for you was good enough for him, no matter how much he suffered for it.” Dante leaned closer to make sure he had my full attention. “Francisco Benetti loves you, Ria. He always has.”