by Reilly, Cora
“When I’m as tall as Luca,” Fabiano said firmly.
And Aria let out that bell-like laugh I fucking loved more than anything else. “Then we’ll have to feed you a lot.” She raised her gaze to me, so full of happiness and love I had trouble keeping my face emotionless and hard. Her expression fell slightly before realization set in as she turned to Dante and her father. Politeness and grace took over her face as she stepped up to her father and kissed his cheeks. “Father.”
Then she turned to Dante. From the tense set of her shoulders I could see that he scared her, and that sight would have been enough to make me want to lunge but Matteo’s hand on my forearm, a silent warning, stopped me. I sent him a look. Now he had to stop me from breaking truce, really?
Dante must have seen some of my thoughts, because his eyes narrowed the slightest bit before he took Aria’s hand and kissed it. He released her quickly and she stepped back. She came to my side and I touched her waist. Mine.
“Has the cake arrived yet?” she asked. “The caterer said they couldn’t reach the bakery, and nobody’s picking up when I try to call.”
I stared. I didn’t even know we’d ordered cake.
She sighed. “I think I’d better have Romero drive me over there.” She turned to face her brother. “Why don’t you join me?”
I stifled a smirk. Aria had picked up on the tense atmosphere and she wanted her brother away from it.
Fabiano looked at his father, who waved a hand at him. “You’re only in the way anyway.”
Aria wrapped an arm protectively around her brother, eyes hardening. “Come on.” She raised her eyes to mine. “If Gianna and Lily ask for me, please tell them I’ll be back soon.” She gave me a short smile but didn’t kiss me. There would be time for that when we were alone.
“I must admit Aria seems surprisingly relaxed around you. Given your reputation I’d have thought she’d cower in front of you,” Scuderi said. “But I suppose some reputations are misleading.”
“A marriage is no place for fear,” Dante said, and I felt something like respect for him.
Several hours later, my suspicions were confirmed when Gianna caused a scene, making her reluctance to marry plainly clear to anyone who had the misfortune of being around.
Matteo took it with stride. He was the master of games, and she would be his ultimate victory, or so he thought. I had a feeling the redhead would not only make his life hell, but also mine. I could only hope she wouldn’t drag Aria into trouble with her because when her siblings were concerned, Aria lost all sense of self-preservation.
“What are you going to do about Sylvester?” Matteo asked.
I grimaced. I’d postponed a decision until now. Whenever Aria had asked what we were going to do on Sylvester I’d pretended I hadn’t decided yet, but that was a fucking lie. Like every fucking year, I was invited to the social event in New York—Senator Parker’s Sylvester party. The Famiglia had been working together with him for many years, and it was expected that I make an appearance as the current Capo.
“I will attend, and so will you.”
“And Aria?”
That was going to be a major problem. She was my wife and of course everyone expected her to be there as well, and I wanted her at my side—if there wasn’t the matter of Grace being there too. I hadn’t seen her since Aria had caught me with her, and I’d forced the senator to send his daughter off to England, but she would return for the party as was expected. “She will come with us.”
“That’s got the potential for a scandal,” Matteo muttered.
As if I didn’t know that. Not that I cared about a scandal, but I cared about Aria’s feelings.
“Are you sure Grace won’t make a scene? You never dumped her in person.”
“I never dumped her because I wasn’t dating her. I fucked her, and other women.” Of course, the other reason why I hadn’t seen her again was that I wanted to kill her for paying Rick to put roofies in Aria’s drink. If she wasn’t a woman and more importantly a senator’s daughter, I would have put a bullet in her head.
“Grace might disagree.”
“I don’t give a fuck. She’d better keep her mouth shut and treat Aria with the necessary respect, or I’ll make her regret it.”
That evening as Aria and I lay in bed, I finally bridged the subject I’d been avoiding. “We’re invited to a party for Sylvester.”
Aria lifted her head from my chest, brows drawing together. “Okay. And you only found out five days before?”
I shook my head. “I’ve known for a while.”
She sat up and peered down at me with confusion. “And you didn’t tell me, why?”
“It’s Senator Parker’s party.”
Aria stiffened and moved to get out of bed, but I grabbed her by the waist.
“Please,” she whispered. “Let me go.”
I released her. That broken whisper was a fucking bullet to the heart. She slid out of bed and walked toward the floor-to-ceiling window overlooking Manhattan, leaving me to stare at her naked back. I got out of bed, moved toward her and stopped close behind. Her face was reflected in the window, but her gaze was distant as if she didn’t see what lay right in front of her. I could imagine too well what memories she was reliving.
I rested my hands on her hips and my chin on the top of her head. “Aria—”
“Grace will be there,” she said quietly, and finally raised her eyes to mine in the window.
“Yes.”
She gave a sharp nod then tried to step out of my hold, but this time I didn’t let her evade me again. “No,” I growled, tightening my grip on her waist. “Don’t make a bigger deal out of this than it is.”
Anger flashed across her face, and she surprised me by ramming her elbow into my side. I let go of her in shock. She whirled around, her eyes furious. “A bigger deal than it is?” She brought her palms up against my chest and shoved hard. I had to bite back a grin. That would have sent the wrong message. When I spotted the hint of tears in her eyes, my amusement died.
“Aria, I don’t give a fuck about Grace, believe me. It doesn’t matter if she’s at the party or not.”
“If it doesn’t matter, then why did you keep the party a secret from me for so long?”
“Because I knew how you’d react, and I was right,” I said.
She frowned.
“Come on,” I said, then took her hand and tugged her toward the bed. She followed and climbed back under the covers. I joined her and pulled her on top of me, but her body didn’t soften as it usually did.
“She will try to rub it in that you cheated.”
I stroked her soft back. “I told you before. She is a fucking rat trying to humiliate a queen. Ignore her.”
Aria sighed. “I’m not sure I can.”
“You are a mafia princess, Aria. You were brought up to brave men like me. You can stand up to a wretched whore like Grace.”
Aria tilted her head. “If you think so little of her, why did you spend time with her?”
“It’s not like I dated her. She was a fuck buddy.”
“I can’t imagine sleeping with someone I don’t have feelings for. I’ve only ever made love.” Her voice was a soft exhale.
I ran my knuckles up her spine. “Before you I ever only fucked, Aria. I didn’t care about any of those women.”
“But if you couldn’t stand their presence, wasn’t it difficult to spend time with them after sex?”
My brows pulled together. “I didn’t stay afterwards.”
Aria’s eyes filled with incredulity. “You slept with them and left immediately after you were done?”
“I fucked them and left, yes. Why would I have stayed?”
She regarded me as if she couldn’t possibly understand my reasoning. “But…what about snuggling? Did you never long for closeness?”
I chuckled. “Oh, principessa, you have a wrong impression of me. This version of me is one only you have ever seen.”
She propped her
self up on my chest and peered down at me. “But with me you like it?”
That she still had to ask. “No,” I murmured. “I love it.”
Her lips turned up in a gorgeous smile, then she gave me a soft kiss. As if anyone could ever compete with Aria.
Matteo looked like the cat that got the cream. With his sick fascination for trouble, he’d probably end up enjoying being married to Gianna after all. Thankfully, he wouldn’t marry her until the summer, so I didn’t have to bear their annoying bickering yet.
“I hope there will be a nice piece of ass for me at the party. I need a good fuck,” Matteo said.
“You can have Grace for all I care. She gives head like a pro,” I muttered.
Matteo seemed to consider that. “Not sure I want your leftovers. You wouldn’t mind?”
I snorted. “I don’t give a fuck, trust me.”
“She’ll make a move on you, Luca.”
I fucking hoped she wouldn’t, but I feared Matteo was right. I’d wounded Grace’s pride. She was a spoiled brat who was used to getting her way, and I was the first man who hadn’t fawned over her. I still wished I had killed her after what she did to Aria in the Sphere, but Father had forbidden it and our connections to Senator Parker were too important.
I was about to say something when Aria stepped out of the bedroom and onto the landing, and any sane thought escaped my mind. She wore a floor-length golden dress that fell in soft waves around her legs. It was sleeveless with a jeweled high collar. Her golden-blonde hair fell in wavy curls around her face. Now she looked like a queen.
Matteo released a low whistle. “Grace will throw a fit.”
Aria glided down the staircase and I moved toward her, extending my hand. She took it with a small smile. Nerves filled her eyes. “You are gorgeous, principessa.”
“You are,” Matteo confirmed.
Aria flushed and I squeezed her hand lightly in reassurance.
When we arrived in Senator Parker’s home, Aria’s hand was tense in mine, but her face didn’t reflect her turmoil. She looked regal and elegant as I led her inside his brownstone town house.
And then I spotted Grace, and worse, she spotted me.
Senator Parker sent me an apologetic look and Grace’s brother even tried to lead her away, but she sauntered over to us. She’d gone all out. A tight, gold sequined minidress that ended high up on her thighs and left little to the imagination. Her neckline dipped low, showing off her impressive chest.
Aria stiffened and I turned to her. Aria in her far less revealing dress was so much sexier than Grace could ever be. Aria was a queen, and Grace was not worthy to breathe the same air as her.
“Luca,” Grace said sweetly and actually leaned forward as if she considered hugging me, but the scowl I sent her made her pull back. “Aria,” she said with pursed lips.
“I need to have a word with you,” her brother said as he grabbed her arm and practically dragged her away. Maybe he had seen how much I wanted to end his sister, woman or not.
Aria relaxed beside me, but the first guests crowded around us soon so I didn’t get the chance to ask her if she was okay. Grace tried to catch my attention several times through the evening, but I didn’t spare her a glance and her brother paid better attention to her whereabouts, making sure she didn’t come close again.
Grace got visibly frustrated with my lack of interest and in a last attempt at getting a reaction out of me, she walked up to Matteo, who had been flirting with the daughter of another politician. She gave him her best bedroom eyes, leaning in close to him. Matteo smirked, but his eyes found me above Grace’s head.
I raised my eyebrows at him. Have a go at her.
He whispered something in her ear, wrapped his arm around her waist and cupped her ass. Before she led him away, she sent me a scathing look. Did she really think I gave a fuck? If she thought she could win me over by sucking my brother’s cock, then she was even stupider than I’d realized.
“Please tell me it’s not how it looks,” Aria whispered, looking sick to her stomach.
I squeezed her waist. “Matteo is going to get the blow job of his life.” A moment too late I realized how that had sounded.
Aria’s cheeks flushed and she stiffened in my hold, but I didn’t get the chance to soften my words because the owner of a restaurant chain we protected came over and involved me in a conversation. Aria’s face looked like it had been carved from stone the rest of the evening, and I could have kicked myself for my thoughtlessness. Aria stayed at my side, keeping up appearances, but she didn’t spare me a single glance.
Almost one hour later, Matteo returned to the party, his hair disheveled and a self-satisfied grin on his face. He sauntered over to us when my last conversation partner had left, and I sent him a warning look but of course Matteo, being an asshole, ignored it.
“Now I get why you kept her around for so long. Damn it, that woman doesn’t have a gag reflex.” That and she took it up her ass, but Aria didn’t need to know that.
She stiffened, paling. Matteo glanced at her, then back at me, dark eyebrows climbing his forehead. I sent him a death glare.
“Excuse me. I need to freshen up,” Aria said in a formal tone, stepping back from me.
I would have stopped her if Grace’s father hadn’t come over in that moment and I couldn’t risk a scene in public. Aria turned on her heel and stalked off, her head held high. I could have killed Matteo.
ARIA
I had trouble breathing as I made my way toward the restrooms. Luckily, nobody tried to stop me. I wasn’t sure I could have kept up my mask if they had. The moment I stepped inside the bathroom, I released a shuddering breath. I washed my hands because I couldn’t wash my face without ruining my makeup. Lifting my face, I regarded myself in the mirror. I wasn’t vain but I knew people found me beautiful. I had received praises for my beauty all my life, and yet the mention of Grace’s abilities made me realize that it might not be enough to hold Luca.
He loves you.
I closed my eyes and counted to ten until I felt the necessary strength to return to the party. Grace was the past.
I moved out of the bathroom and stiffened when I saw Grace waiting for me in the hallway. She smiled but it was all fake.
Resisting the urge to lower my eyes, I met her gaze straight on. She moved closer, encasing me with her overly sweet perfume. With her high heels, she was several inches taller than me, but I straightened my spine.
“I hoped I’d get another chance to talk to you. At your wedding, I didn’t have much time.”
He will fuck you bloody. That’s what she’d said and fueled my own terror. She wasn’t that much older than me, perhaps twenty, but she had a world of experience on me.
“Maybe you think Luca is satisfied with what you can give him,” she began in a low voice. “But I’ve known him for two years, and he’s never settled. I was the only woman he returned to over all that time, because I gave him what he needed.”
Two years? Even if he’d been with other women in that time, why had he kept her around?
Grace’s smile widened. “I’ve let him do every kinky thing you can’t even imagine, Aria. You don’t look like you are willing to take his cock up your stuck-up little frigid ass.”
It was enough. I took a step toward her, bringing us too close, and narrowed my eyes at her. I was raised in the mafia world. I had grown up among predators. I had rammed a knife into a Bratva member. If Grace thought I’d let her intimidate me again, she was thoroughly mistaken. “You will stay away from him,” I said quietly but firmly. “The only reason why he used your ass was because he didn’t want to see your face. You have always been and will always be replaceable. One among many. You are nothing to him. Cheaper than a whore, that’s for sure.” I hated that her ugliness brought out my own viciousness, but I couldn’t take anymore.
She raised her palm to slap me when a shadow fell over us, and Luca’s strong hand clamped around her wrist. He shoved her back from me so she c
ollided with the wall but he didn’t release her. His grip on her wrist made her wince, and she cowered under the force of his gaze. He looked murderous.
“She’s not worth it,” I whispered imploringly.
His mouth pulled into the cruelest smile I’d ever seen on him as he released Grace’s wrist. “You won’t ever speak to Aria again. You won’t go anywhere near her, or you will see a side of me very few have survived.”
“Luca, please,” she begged, clutching his arm, and I stiffened. “I’d do anything for you. I love you.”
He shook her off in disgust. “Don’t touch me, whore. You just swallowed my brother’s cum; do you really think I want your dirty hands on me?”
He turned to me, and some of the anger slipped away, but Grace wasn’t done yet. Her face scrunched up as she leveled her hateful eyes on me. “I wish that guy in Luca’s club had raped you when I paid him for it. I bet with roofies in your blood that was the first time you could take all of Luca’s cock inside your pussy. It was probably the only time he enjoyed fucking you.”
I gasped, but my shock lasted only a second because Luca reached under his jacket for his knife. I wasn’t quick enough. He turned and lunged at Grace, thrusting her against the wall and pressing the blade against her throat. The fury on his face halted me only a second, then I rushed toward him and gripped his arm, trying to pull it down but he resisted, and he was too strong for me. His hateful eyes never left Grace as he held the knife against her skin. I didn’t much care for Grace, but if Luca killed her here, Senator Parker would call the police, and not all of them were on the Famiglia’s payroll.
“Luca, please,” I murmured.
“You listen to me, Grace. You will leave New York again and you won’t come back. I will say this only once: you will never threaten my wife again, or you will be the first woman I will skin alive. That’s a fucking promise.” He hit his chest with the hilt of the knife, right where his Famiglia tattoo was. His gaze made me shudder, and Grace finally realized he was being serious. Color drained from her face as she nodded. “And now you will go to your fucking room, and you won’t emerge until this fucking party is over.” He released her and she ran down the corridor where her room must have been.