CHAPTER SIX: A Dangerous Performance

Donato gestured toward the chair, taking a seat on the desk.

Ginevra ignored the gesture and remained standing. She raised both hands in frustration. "What is the meaning of this, Donato?"

Donato arched his brows. "Make it clear."

She scrunched her face. "Don't play dumb on me. You think putting a ring on some stranger changes what our families agreed to?"

Donato didn't answer. He simply watched her. However, his silence was heavy, and she felt it—the shift in atmosphere.

She hated the way he looked at her now, like she was a problem already solved.

Something cold coiled in her chest. She had shared his bed. She had been patient despite how cruel he could be. Because she knew what was coming: the power, the fear that would follow her name once she stood at his side.

And now? Now he sat there, unmoved, as if she meant nothing.

The papers on his desk were perfectly aligned. His sleeves were rolled to his forearms. He looked like a man who had already moved on to the next problem.

Donato heaved a long sigh. "Ginevra, the deed is done. Jesse is my husband, and a Sindacato never goes back on his word."

Ginevra breathed out a short laugh. "Your word?" She stepped closer, her heels clicking against the floor. "Your family. My family. Years of planning. And you throw it away for a boy you barely know?"

Donato lowered his hand. His eyes met hers; there was no apology. "Jesse is my husband. Fucking deal with it."

Fucking deal with it?

"Stai scherzando? You have to be fucking kidding me." Her jaw tightened.

She wanted to scream. To shatter the calm of his office with everything she had lost. She wanted to shatter that calm he had on, to make him feel something. But she knew, better than anyone, that Donato didn't feel what anyone wanted him to feel.

So she smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes.

She let the silence stretch. Let him wonder if she was plotting. Let him remember exactly who he was dealing with.

Then she said, "You know what I think, Donato?" She took a step closer. "I think you're afraid. Not of the Commission. Not of my father. But of me. Because you know I was never going to be a pretty wife in your shadow. You knew I would've been your equal."

Donato's gaze didn't waver; he simply stared.

"Are you finished?"

A deep rage swelled up in her chest. She took three steps closer. "Do you have any idea what your decision will cause us? War! 

Do you really want war between the Cascio and Sindacato families?" Her breathing grew heavier.

"You should know me by now. I'd never start what I can't finish." A cruel smirk touched his lips.

Ginevra took in a deep breath. 

"Then what about us?" The words escaped before she could stop them. She hated the way they sounded—desperate.

She was a Cascio. Cascios never beg.

Donato tilted his head slightly. "There was no 'us,' Ginevra. There was an arrangement. And now there isn't."

She felt the blow land, not because he was cruel, but because somewhere inside of her, she knew the truth.

"I thought you loved me," she pressed.

Something close to amusement crossed his face, but it disappeared almost immediately.

"Love?" He shook his head. "Ginevra, what you call love is obsession. You're obsessed."

"Since when is obsession a crime?" she shot back. "All is fair in love. Besides, we had something good."

"Help me, God." Donato exhaled, pinching the bridge of his nose again. "Sex, Ginevra. That's what we had. Was it good? Yes." His eyes met hers. "Is that chapter over? Yes."

He gestured toward the door. "If that's all, I will have Andres see you to your place. The night is getting old."

"No." She folded her arms.

Donato's expression changed; the patience disappeared from his face. "Ginevra."

She noticed the warning immediately, but instead of backing away, she walked toward him. "No, I will not go anywhere." Her hands slowly slipped around his waist.

Donato's body went rigid; he stared down at her hands.

"Amore," she murmured, her voice dropping into the familiar tone she had used countless times before. Her fingers traced the hard planes of his chest.

Donato caught her wrist. "Don't."

She smiled and wiggled her brows once. "Don't what?" Ginevra leaned closer, her face inches from his. "Don't remind you? Hmm."

She stared at him, hoping to see something.

Donato mentally rolled his eyes, but he said nothing. That silence encouraged her, so

she pressed a kiss on his Adam's apple and bit it softly enough to provoke a reaction. Her hands lowered and grabbed a full length of his dick.

Donato cursed underneath his breath. He looked momentarily trapped, his mind clouding. A strained breath escaped him. His hand tightened around her wrist; his body betrayed him before his mind could stop it.

Ginevra felt the change; a victorious smile touched her lips. She knew that reaction.

She had known his body long before Jesse had ever entered his life, enough to know that

he loved it whenever she did that, so she used her tongue to lick the spot she had bitten.

"See?" she whispered. "You are mine, Amore."

Donato opened his eyes; the satisfaction in her gaze irritated him. He wasn't in love with her. And he most certainly didn't want her back, but familiarity had a way of making the body remember things the mind had already discarded.

Ginevra leaned closer again.

Donato's fingers tightened around her wrist, restraining any more movement from her.

"Enough."

She ignored him; her other hand moved lower.

Donato sucked in a breath, and his entire body stiffened.

Then the office door slammed open with a loud thud. Donato's eyes snapped toward the entrance.

Jesse stood there.

For a moment, nobody moved. Ginevra slowly turned her head. A knowing smile spread across her face.

Donato's expression changed instantly. Right there he hated himself at the fact that he had allowed the situation to go this far.

His hand released Ginevra's wrist only to shove her firmly away.

"Get off me."

Ginevra stumbled back a step; she looked delighted. "What a rude way to interrupt a perfect moment, Miller." She smoothed an invisible rumple from her dress. 

Donato straightened his sleeve, trying to gain his composure.

"There was no perfect moment."

Ginevra's smile faltered, her eyes throwing daggers at him.

Jesse slowly began walking toward them. He let the door click shut behind him.

"I believe seducing another man's husband is quite petty, don't you think?"

Ginevra glanced at Jesse. The boy's face was calm, far too calm for someone who claimed to be madly in love with Donato.

She laughed, taking slow steps toward him. "You're just worried, aren't you? Worried that his body still remembers me." Her eyes shifted toward Donato.

"I knew this entire marriage was fake, Miller. Donato isn't gay. He's just a coward trying to escape a sacred blood oath."

Jesse didn't flinch, his eyes were locked directly on Donato. Then he calmly unbuttoned his cuffs and rolled his sleeves up his forearms.

Donato's pupils widened. "What are you doing?"

Jesse didn't answer; he took another step.

He glanced at Ginevra, a mysterious smirk playing on his lips. "Maybe he isn't," Jesse said softly. 

Before Ginevra could process the words, Jesse closed the remaining distance; he stopped directly in front of Donato, his gaze still fixed on the Don's face.

Then he dropped to his knees.

The sudden movement made both of them gasp. Donato froze; his eyes widened as he stared down at him.

"What the hell are you—"

Jesse's fingers had barely touched the silver buckle of Donato's belt when Donato caught his wrist. The movement was immediate.

His voice dropped. "Jesse."

For the first time that night, Donato looked genuinely stunned. 

Jesse cut a look toward Ginevra. A silent message passed through his eyes.

Are you watching?... Good.

Then his attention returned to Donato. Slowly he slipped his wrist from Donato's grasp and placed his hand back on the silver buckle of his belt.

Behind them, Ginevra stood frozen. And for once, she had nothing to say.