I had nothing to say to that. What was I supposed to say? My mother had been married to a mobster, had an affair with Dad, stole a load of money, done a bunk, and then shopped him to the authorities. I felt like a tornado had just ripped through my mind, stirred everything up, and then filtered away into nothing. All that was left was an abundance of thoughts and emotions mixing together in a jumbled mess. Nothing had yet settled long enough to form a coherent response.

"I'm sure that was a lot to take in," Giovanni said. "But just in case you've forgotten your place in this, it's that you're going to be my wife. Ricardo lost his wife, and his chance for an heir, and so it now falls to me. I'm not in a rush though, don't panic. We'll court each other properly."

I blinked and blinked again. "Sorry, what? Your wife?" I snorted and folded my arms over my chest. "I don't think so."

He smiled and rubbed his chin between his finger and thumb. "I figured you'd say as much." He clicked his fingers. "Jimmy, if you please."

The white door my sister was being held behind swung open. I gasped. My hands flew to my mouth. Tears flooded me once more.

"What the...what the hell is this?"

A primal roar came from my father before Marco picked him up and smashed him back against the wall.

Spread eagled on the floor, held in position by ropes, stripped of all her clothing, Emily tilted her head back and looked at me. Tears flowed from her eyes. So lost in the surreal feeling of this sudden turn of events, I found myself wondering what the world looked like from her upside down perspective.

"Don't you give in," she said. "Amelia, I mean it. Don't you fucking dare give in."

Giovanni turned to me and flashed me a sickly smile. "So, I extend my proposal to you again. Do you still wish to deny me?"

I took in his emotionless features, the flat hard stare exuding from his eyes, and the easy stance he stood before me with. It dawned on me then that he was deadly serious. "You're not kidding, are you?"

"I've just milked a venomous snake right in front of you and you have to ask me that?" He tipped his head back and laughed. Seconds later, he glanced at his man and said, "Jimmy, if you please."

My heart jumped into my throat. I swear I could taste adrenaline on my tongue. I couldn't do anything but watch, wide eyed, as the vile thin man named Jimmy took a long black whip and beat my naked sister with it. He moved so quickly and so effortlessly, I couldn't see the whip marking Emily's body. All I could see were the red lines that appeared after he moved.

"Don't you dare, Amelia!" she screamed, squeezing her eyes shut.

Grunts and groans from my father stole my attention. He looked at me and shook his head slightly. Marco had him by the throat, slowly turning his face purple.

"Jim," said Giovanni.

The woman beater stopped. With a foot either side of my sister's skinny hips, he leered down at her and licked his lips. I shuddered.

"Do you reconsider?" Giovanni asked me.

Emily opened her eyes and glared at me. "Don't do it. I can handle whatever he throws at me, you know I can."

I swallowed the lump in my throat, ignoring the scratch as I forced it down my dry gullet. I glanced up at Gionvanni, my options quickly evaporating right in front of my eyes. What could I do except agree to his ridiculous demands?

"Amelia!" Emily screamed. "You do this and you're dead. You need to live. You know why."

A wall of tears flooded my vision before flowing down my cheeks. What the hell was I supposed to do?

"Jimmy," said Giovanni, motioning for him to begin again.

I closed my eyes and tried to block out the swish of the whip streaking through the air, the slap the hard leather made against my sister's flesh, and the sharp inhale of breath she took each time Jim struck her.

I pressed my hands to my ears and screamed. I screamed so hard my voice box felt like it shattered. When a pair of hands wrapped around my wrists and pulled my hands from my ears, I opened my eyes to see Giovanni inches from me, smiling.

"All you have to do is say yes," he said. "One simple word, three letters, and it all stops. I promise."

Everything fell silent. I didn't need to look around me to know that everyone's eyes were on me. Time ticked by with deafening silence. Then I remembered something he'd said before his startling revelation of my mother's previous life.

"You said we'd court properly," I said, trying to ignore the raw scratching in my throat. "Asking me to marry you three minutes after meeting isn't courting properly."

His dark eyes flickered, only for a brief second, but it was there. I'd caught him in a loophole. He released his grip on me and took a step back as he licked his lips.

"Clever girl," he said. "I am a man of my word. I promise you that. Everyone knows me as being a man of my word." He rubbed his chin between his thumb and forefinger and then sighed. "Jim, please dress the girl and put her in the car."

My breath hitched in my throat. Had it really been that easy?

"You must, of course, bear in mind that how we met isn't through conventional methods," he said, smiling at me. "So you will have to make allowances for that, at least."

I nodded, not really understanding what I was agreeing to. I was too concerned with what the hell was going to happen next.

"I do, however, have to make a stand on something. I can't have you viewing me as weak because you caught me out on a technicality." He turned around and gestured towards my father. "Therefore, I'm afraid, George, there will be no anti-venom for you today. You can thank your intelligent daughter for that."

"No!" I yelled, my voice breaking as pain seared down my throat. "Please, no. Please. Don't let him die."

Giovanni turned back to me and gave me a small smile. "I'm sorry, beautiful, but you need to understand I don't mess about. You saved your sister. That's the main thing. She has more of a future than Georgey boy here."

I ran forwards, desperate to reach my dad, to hug him, tell him I love him, babble my apologies, but Giovanni grabbed hold of me as I pushed past him and wrapped me in a bear hug.

"Marco, let the old man go, please, and escort this delightful young lady to the car."

I cried, I kicked, I screamed, I even attempted to bite, but my efforts were fruitless against the giant man who picked me up like I weighed no more than a feather and carried me outside. A black SUV with blacked out windows stared back at me. I turned my head, trying to grab a final glance of my dying father, but the bulky arm of Marco blocked my view.

Seconds later, Marco stuffed me in the backseat next to my sister. She sat huddled up against the other door, shaking. Ugly red welts marked the smooth skin on her arms, making me wince at just the sight of them. I scooted across the rear seat towards her, desperate to hang on to the one family member I now had left.

"Is it true?" I whispered. "Is this happening because of what you dug up?"

She nodded and turned to face me, her blue eyes flashing with nothing but pure conviction. "You mustn't give in to him, Amelia. No matter what he does. Do you understand me? You give in to him and we're all dead. Even Mom—and this time for real."

"Are you sure she's really alive?"

"He wouldn't be here if it wasn't a possibility. Trust me."

The door next to Emily opened and Jim shoved her across as he sat next to her, blocking her access to the door. It was then I noticed he'd kept her hands bound with rope. The door next to me then opened and Giovanni slid inside, settling in next to me.

With the four of us so tightly crammed together, unease took barely a second to fill me. I pressed myself against Emily as much as I could so I didn't have to touch the horrible man grinning next to me.

"Your father sends his love, girls." He clapped his hands as Marco climbed into the passenger seat up front. It was then I noticed there was another guy sat in the driver's seat, just as big as Marco, dressed in the same black suit, and wearing the same expressionless face as he stared forwards like a robot.

"Home, please, Lorenzo."

The man eased the car into gear and pulled off, leaving my house and my dying father behind.