Bellissimo Fortuna (Beautiful Fortune) Read Free

Bronson is seething mad. His voice may be level and low, but his body is rigid, and anger is radiating from him. He is a hothead, and as I watch his fists clench and unclench I pray he keeps his temper in check. It won’t benefit anyone if he loses control. I reach out and cover one fist with my hand. He immediately turns his hand over and laces our fingers together. He seems to gain some control, and I watch his chest rise and fall as he breathes deeply to get his bearings. Turning to look at me, he says, “Tell me, Callie. Everything.” His tone leaves little room for argument, and I know it won’t get me anywhere.
    “I overheard him telling Marco that if he wanted to become a made-man, more than his role as an Associate, he needed ties to a family. Then he offered me to him when I become of age because he said it wasn’t like anyone else would want me.” I hadn’t told Bianca that last part, and as I meet her eyes, the pity in them reminds me why. I don’t need pity, I decided long ago that doesn’t get me through the days. I used to feel sorry for myself, asking myself why I was burdened with the parents I was. No answers ever came, no change in my life arose, so I decided to deal with it, not wallow in it. I know my father likes to make me feel less than, it’s his way of looming his position over me, never letting me see my worth. It’s hard to overlook, but I started a few years ago. He is the one lacking, not me. It’s become a daily mantra, not always working, but one day at a time is what I can do.
    “No, Callie. That won’t happen. I can promise you that.” He is so assured in his promise. I want to ask him what he is going to do, but before I can, he asks the one thing I don’t want to answer. “What else haven’t you told me?” I can’t tell him. I can’t let him see the shame I live with, and most importantly, I am afraid some of it is the truth, and I can’t see that in his eyes. I shake my head. “Callie.” His voice radiates through me. “Spill it. All of it.”
    I open my mouth, letting it all flow out. I know, in this moment, I have drawn a line with my dad. It’s a dangerous path, one we won’t come out of intact, but as I look into his eyes, watch him flinch when I repeat the barbs and insults my father hurls at me, see the fury cross his face, then the steely resolve, I know it’s all worth it. For every, “ You’re worthless, Callie. You’re such a disappointment. We shouldn’t have had kids. You’re just like your mother, ” that my father launches at me, Bianca and Bronson are right there to erase the digs and ease the pain.
    Each time I repeat the insults, Bronson kisses my temple, my hand, my knuckles, and looks at me with adoration, mixed with fury for my pain. With them I’m not ruled with an iron fist and scathing words, but I’m embraced by unconditional love, soothed with the admiration of their words. Here is where I get to be the Callie Locati I’ve always imagined being.

 
    Chapter 2
    Bronson
     
    The struggle not to kill my father’s right hand man is clawing in my chest, rising up into my throat, making it hard to swallow. I’m seeing red the entire time I’m walking to my father’s office. Each step I take, replaying his cruelty towards Callie is my undoing. I’ve never liked him, never trusted him, but the fact he dared to say any of this to his sixteen-year-old daughter, then promised her to a seedy-ass nobody who is seven years older is too much for me. The words are on instant replay, looping from my mind directly to my heart.
    She’s mine. Always has been and will forever be. I need to comfort her, be her succor, but first I have to speak to my father, calm down, then I will go back to her. I will erase every destructive word her father has thrown at her if it’s the last thing I do. I will eradicate them from her memory. Seeing that she believes the insults, the blatant lies, slays me. Her expressive green eyes don’t hide the hurt; she