Chapter 56

AVALINE

"Fuck the questions. Let me just reward you with my mouth."

"Questions now, kisses later," I whispered with a small smile. Then used his words against him. "A deal is a deal."

He pouted and crossed his arms. I looked down at the bulge of his pants that was as hard as my husband's expression.

I moved to the other side of the table. It would be too easy for him to reach me and kiss me again otherwise. He regarded me knowingly but also respected the distance I wanted.

"After this, I'll kiss you and... do other things if you like..."

I cannot say what things specifically because I'm ignorant of the sex vocabulary.

"Other things I like?" He repeated with interest. "What does 'other things' entail?"

"I don't know!" I replied defensively. "I have no experience nor background knowledge about sexual intimacy aside from our makeouts. So whatever you want, you'll have to teach me."

He pondered it. And before he could respond, I took advantage of that to change the topic.

"So the questions..." I emphasized to show that there was nothing else I wanted to talk about but that. "I shot three targets so I'll ask you three questions."

"Thank you for reminding me of the mechanics," he replied with dry amusement.

I was about to argue with him, but I realized that engaging in these arguments would just work in his favor since time would run out.

Nice try.

"I want to finish this quickly, so shoot the questions already, wife."

His pressure tactics wouldn’t work on me to make me ask something without thinking it through. Dealing with a man like him means covering all aspects. It’s always easy for him to spot loopholes.

"I want to know all about your family."

Suddenly, in his place wasn't my husband but the capo who tried to subdue everyone.

"It's public record. The former capo of La Archante died..." He smirked. "In the current capo's hands. The woman who gave birth to me died. I have brothers, which you know since you're under one roof with them. Question one down."

"Not yet because you led me there. That’s not my question."

He gave me an exasperated look. If I wasn't his wife, he might have thrown me somewhere by now.

"What was your relationship with your family like?" I quickly added. "From the moment you remember until they died."

"What's with the questions all of a sudden?" This was diversion but I could tell he was partly curious.

"You went straight to marrying me, but in a normal equation, getting to know each other comes first before marriage. I'm just fixing our mistake."

"And you think you'll get to know me better by asking about my family?" His jaw ticked. "What do I always tell you, Avaline?"

I crossed my arms.

"Don't humanize me. Stop searching for a sob story so you can justify the behavior of the man you kiss and the man who makes you come."

The man doesn't know how to filter himself.

"If you don't have a sob story then it should be easy to tell it, right? Because there aren’t any sensitive topics?"

He narrowed his eyes, and I tried to look as intimidating as he did. But I probably just looked constipated because his frown deepened.

"Why are you suddenly curious about my life?"

"I think the deal was that I'm the one who gets to ask questions."

"Let's make another deal then. I shoot all the targets, and I don't answer your questions."

He picked up the gun, but I pinned his hand down with mine before he could lift it.

"Please. I don't see any pictures in the mansion. I'm really curious. You know things about me and my father. We need to get even."

"No family portrait because we aren't one," he said sharply. "Tiago Monteval is nothing but a sperm donor. Alamea Levesque is a pushover. Tiago Monteval died from his arrogance. Alamea Levesque died because she was a fool in love."

Monteval? His father was a Monteval?

"Why are you carrying your mother's name?" I wanted so badly to ask how he was related to Pascal Monteval. But he would count that as the third question, so I chose to ask what I really wanted to know.

"The bastard's family doesn't accept us. Alamea Levesque is Spanish. They wanted the old bastard to marry an Italian. I proudly won't carry his name. He's a reckless man who can't deal with the consequences of his actions."

I arched an eyebrow at him to show my incomprehension.

"He loved my mother at first, and because of that, he defied his father, the capo of the Monteval organization at the time. He built La Archante thinking he could be as powerful as the Montevals. When he realized how hard it was to start from the bottom, he loathed my mother deeply. But he's an arrogant fucker who will never admit he made a mistake..."

I knew where he got it from. I wanted to tell him that, but given how he spoke about his father with so much hate, it wouldn't elicit a good reaction.

"Instead of going back to Mancini and leaving Alamea Levesque, he fucked an Italian woman to hurt Alamea Levesque. That's how Pascal fucking Monteval came to be."

They're stepbrothers!

"And because Pascal is a pure Italian, he got to inherit the Monteval organization." I concluded, not even realizing I'd said it out loud.

CZAR

I mentally kicked myself. I had only ever planned on giving her vague answers. I don't waste time on the old bastard who treated us like shit. And I especially don’t like wasting my breath talking about the woman who was more willing to die for her abusive and womanizing husband than fight and stay for her children.

It wasn't everything that happened, but I'd said more than I should have.

And something painful hit my chest—not the kind that tortures you but the kind you feel when you finally rise above water after being submerged for too long.

I'm confiding in her.

At first, it was her promise to do "other things I like" that made me talk. But the more I spoke, the more my words flowed out of my mouth like they were my next breath. And I couldn't believe I was saying my parents' names after years.

"He was supposed to inherit La Archante."

Her brows furrowed, but she was too careful not to waste her last question. But I could read the question on her face: If my father hated us so much, why give us La Archante? Easy.

"I stole another person's fate to spite the old bastard." The old bastard would go mad knowing that his beloved heir is starting from the bottom, trying to revive the Monteval territory.

But let Pascal suffer a little. Being a capo shouldn't fall into the hands of a mere inheritor; it belongs to those who earned it. He can't even lift up Monteval yet he's insulting La Archante by trying to take over it. And even if he successfully takes over my territory, he won't have it for long. He will eventually cause La Archante's downfall.

"You did not steal someone's fate, Czar. La Archante is yours; it's your hard work," she said softly. Then her expression morphed into determination. "Whoever claims otherwise won't live to see another day."

I licked my lips.

"Spoken like a Levesque," I inclined my head.

"Aren't I?"

Fuck! She speaks like she's promising forever.

"You want me to keep you so bad, sweetheart?"

Her breath hitched. I don't know what the hell I'm waiting for. My word is law. If I say I'll keep her, that's exactly what will happen. But for some reason, I wanted her to want it.

"Keep me? The De Greco has already fallen. My father has no control over his men anymore. You got your revenge. What else will I gain from you?"

Hell, if I know. I'm making questionable decisions because of her these days. Marriage means foolishness. A sacrifice. A vow to put the other before yourself. I have no plans to follow in the footsteps of Alamea Levesque.

But letting her go and seeing her date men with ordinary lives isn't on my list of options. She has been mine since I pulled her by the back of her uniform and demanded her academic services.

I could've easily submitted mediocre work. I just promised to graduate anyway. I did not promise to graduate with the highest grades.

But I decided that wasting money on paying her would mean keeping her busy enough not to let her talk to another.

She's mine, but I can't stay married to her.

"You can work for La Archante. In tech. That's what you wanted from the beginning. We'll have our annulment."

She stilled but suddenly became aware that I was watching and tried to appear calm.

AVALINE

Nope. I'm not taking this from him any longer. For months, our relationship has never gone in a consistent direction. He'll initiate something, and our relationship steps up a notch. Then somehow, he always finds a way to withdraw, and we're back to zero.

"What are we, Czar?" I couldn't hide my irritation anymore. "You always say things about keeping me. But we're going to get an annulment?"