“Will we stay here? Will we go back to the South Pacific? I’m in this now too, Luc, regardless of what either of us wants.”
I knew she was. Just as I knew “we” wasn’t a word she particularly liked right now.
“Then,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest, “I’ll find a way to convince my father to let us leave. I’m confident he’ll agree. As long as I play the game and keep showing my face at events like the heir I’m supposed to be, we’ll be fine.”
“But you’ll still be part of all this. This House and these rituals and the illegal activities they promote.”
I didn’t answer. There was no reason to answer. We both knew what I would say.
Fuck, I hated what I’d dragged her into. And I hated that empty look in her pretty blue eyes. The same one I’d seen on my island. The same one that cut me to the quick and made me feel like half a man.
“Look,” I said, hoping to lift her spirits, even just a little. “If we’re lucky, he’ll let me go back to my job at Covet in New York. All the other shit... Away from this damn country, it’s not as bad as it seems.”
“Except for the part where you go back to being CEO of a fashion magazine that’s primary purpose is recruiting unsuspecting young girls into your House’s beta program.”
Yeah, except for that.
My jaw tightened as I stared at her.
Fuck me, I hated my life.
“I’ll find a way to make it work,” I said, meaning every single word.
“How? You hate that place. We both know it.”
I did hate it, but I could survive it. I could survive anything for her.
“It’s not fair you have to sacrifice yourself for your stupid House.”
My heart pinched because I wanted to read way more into that one comment than she intended.
I quickly pushed away from the sink, knowing if I didn’t get away from her soon, I was going to give in to every one of my urges and show her with my hands and lips and body just how much I wanted to read into that comment.
Something I knew wouldn’t go over well considering the current status of our strained relationship. Something I knew would only gut me even more in the long run.
“I learned long ago not to want things, because every time I did, my world turned to shit. This time I’m determined not to let that happen.”
I moved past her for the living room, locking down the guilt and pain I felt anytime I was around her, knowing it would only hinder me where I was heading next.
“Please put your ring on before you leave this villa,” I said. “I trust Marco and Fee, but I don’t trust their staff. There are eyes everywhere. It’s safer for all of us if everyone you encounter thinks you actually want to be my wife.”
She didn’t answer. I didn’t expect her to.
But in her silence, I had a sinking feeling I was fighting a losing battle, and that before long, there’d be nothing left for me to do to keep my world from turning to complete shit once and for all.
* * *
My insides were a knot of twisting, liquid fire I was afraid might burn a hole through my belly. Or at the very least give me a giant fucking ulcer.
“You sure about this?” Marco asked at my side as we moved up the front steps of my parents’ country estate.
Happy I’d nixed the tie and left my dress shirt unbuttoned so it couldn’t strangle me, I tugged at my sleeve, wishing I’d gone for one with buttons instead of these irritating cufflinks that kept getting caught in my jacket. “No. But the sooner we get this done, the easier it’ll be to breathe.”
I glanced sideways at my friend, dressed in a very similar designer white dress shirt, black slacks and jacket. “At least for you.”
Marco grinned, flashing white teeth that contrasted with the dark stubble on his jaw, and slapped a hand against my shoulder. “I will try to breathe for both of us, fratello. And if only one of us leaves here breathing, I vow to take good care of la tua bellissima moglie.”
“You lay one hand on my pretty wife and Felicity will castrate you with a dull knife.”
Marco laughed, the sound—for a moment—relaxing me. “That she would. And I fear she’d enjoy every moment of it. Ah, aren’t we lucky? Two stronzi who, despite our flaws, somehow managed to find the most incredible women to love us.”
Yeah, we were lucky. Or, I had been. For a few days, at least.
Tension churned in my gut as I came to a stop on the top step and looked at the arched iron door. I willed thoughts of Natalie out of my head, knowing they’d do me no good here. Drawing one last breath of free air, I pushed the button and waited while the bells chimed inside the ancient castle, announcing our arrival.
Seconds later, one side of the massive double doors flung open, and my sister Ariana threw her arms around my neck, her long dark hair with that one strip of white near the front swaying behind her.
“Luc!” She gripped me in a fierce hug. “I’m so glad you’re back.”
I captured her before she could knock us both off our feet, thankful she was her normal boisterous self and not in any way damaged by what had happened with Dante. “Me too.”
She let go of my shoulders and dropped to her heels. With one quick smile at Marco, she glanced past me with her dark eyes. “Where is she?”
I knew who Ariana was looking for, just as I knew I wouldn’t tell her. “Not here.” I looked over her into the foyer of the house. “Are Mamma and Papá home?”
“Yes, they’re—”
“Luciano?” My mother’s terse voice echoed through the entryway in time with the click of her heels. Moments later, she appeared at my sister’s back with nothing but disappointment in her light blue eyes. “Come in or leave, but do not stand there with the door open. You’re letting all the cool air out.”
I clenched my jaw to keep from turning around as I wanted to do, and moved into the foyer. “Mamma.” I air kissed her cheeks, but I didn’t make contact, and I didn’t show any affection. She knew why. She showed me just as little in return. “I’ve come to see Papá.”
Ariana moved up on my side. “He’s in the—”
“Ariana,” my mother snapped. “You have schoolwork that needs to be finished.”
“Yes, but—”
“No buts. Get upstairs now.”
My sister’s shoulders slumped. She looked up at me with worried dark eyes. “You’re not leaving Italy right away, are you?”
“No.”
Relief passed over her features. “Good. Because if you leave without saying goodbye again, I’m going to disown you forever.”
She pressed a quick kiss to my cheek, then stepped around me and moved for the stairs. Not wanting to get her in trouble, I watched her move up the steps, then glanced at my mother watching Ariana with a perturbed expression on her cultured face.
When Ariana was out of earshot, I said, “She’s twenty-two years old. At some point, you’re going to have to stop treating her like a child.”
“How I treat my daughter is my business and none of yours.” Her spine stiffened. “Now, I’m assuming you’re here to apologize to your father.”
Fat chance in hell. “I’m here to see Dante.”
My mother’s jaw tightened beneath her expensive makeup. “Dante is being punished.”
Yeah, no fucking kidding. But it burned my nerve endings hearing her just toss it out there as if it were no big deal.
“It’s my right to see my brother.”
“That you will have to take up with the Grand Duke. He has final say in everything concerning Dante’s insubordination.”
My mother sounded like she was fucking brainwashed, but then why should that surprise me? She’d been brainwashed by my father and the sick men in my family since long before I was even born.
I fought to keep my temper in check. “Where is he?”
“In his office at the winery.”
I wanted to shake the woman. She could have told me that five fucking minutes ago and saved us both thi
s farce of a conversation. I turned for the door.
“Luciano,” she said, stopping me.
When I glanced over my shoulder, I saw what I’d missed earlier. That wasn’t disappointment in her eyes. It was disgust.
“You will not disgrace this house by bringing that American whore back here again. I will not permit it.”
I’d never wanted to strangle another person as much as I did right now. “Don’t worry, this is the last place she ever wants to visit again. And she’s not a whore, she’s my wife.”
My mother’s eyes grew wide and dropped to my left hand and the ring she’d missed earlier.
“Accept it or not,” I said as I jerked the front door open. “I don’t really give a shit what you do.”
I moved down the front steps and slid into the passenger seat of Marco’s Mercedes. He joined me seconds later and started the ignition. As we pulled away from the house and turned onto a road that led around the house and down to the vineyard, I knew my mother was watching us from the front stoop.
“Man, you sure know how to make an entrance,” Marco muttered.
Resting my elbow on the windowsill, I rubbed my already aching forehead. “Guarantee she’s on the phone right now, alerting my father we’re on our way.”
We rounded the corner and headed toward the large stone building that housed the winery. As we drew close, three of my father’s bodyguards, each wearing black suits and sunglasses, moved out of the shadows and took up a triangular position in front of the door, blocking our entrance.
“Guarantee he already knows,” Marco answered, pulling to a stop and killing the ignition.
Fuck me. So much for the element of surprise.
I climbed out of the vehicle and buttoned my jacket as I moved toward the three brutes who were each as big as houses. I’d learned long ago not to show fear no matter the circumstance. My House might be able to dictate my life from the shadows, but my father would never make me cower. And I would never again beg for anything from these men.
I stopped in front of them and met their icy stares with one of my own. Tension crackled in the air, then slowly, they each stepped back, leaving a path to the arched wood door. I headed into the winery with Marco at my back.
The small lobby area was empty. Since visitors only ventured onto the Salvatici Winery by invitation, there was no secretary or personnel manning the building and the small tasting counter to my left. I bypassed the warehouse access where the grapes were pressed and fermented, avoided the bottling area, and headed for the curved staircase that led to the main offices on the second level.
My father was exactly where I expected him to be when I pushed one side of his double office doors open without knocking—seated in the big leather chair behind his desk, gazing out the wide arched windows and over the vineyard like the king perched on the top of his fucking throne.
I stepped into the room, leaving the door open for Marco. Then I cleared my throat and waited, knowing it would be enough to piss the old man off.
“I wondered when you would arrive.” My father continued to stare out at the view as if I weren’t even there. “I expected you here at least twenty-four hours ago. That slut you’ve taken up with comes before family now? That is unacceptable, Luciano.”
We were going to do this first? Fucking fantastic.
I’d wanted to strangle my mother mere minutes ago, but that rage didn’t even come close to how much I wanted to choke the life out of my father.
“She is family. She’s my wife.” I pulled the document I’d brought with me from my breast pocket, crossed the floor, and slapped it on my father’s desk. He swiveled toward me with shocked eyes. “And call her slut again, and I promise it’ll be the last word you utter.”
His jaw turned to ice beneath his tanned skin, and his infuriated gaze dropped to the paper beneath my hand.
I released the paper so he could read it. “It’s legal. Signed by the Archbishop in Panama. That copy’s for you since I know you don’t believe me. You can look it up. The paperwork’s all been filed and approved.”
My father snatched the paper from the table and lurched to his feet. “This marriage is an abomination and unsanctioned.” He rounded the desk in a flurry of movement. “Where is she? I demand to see her at once.”
My spine stiffened, but I slid my hands into my pockets, relaxing from the shoulders down because my father’s enraged reaction told me what I’d done had been the right decision. Natalie was safe, and I was in control.
“You don’t get to demand anything when it comes to my wife. And I’m not here to discuss her. I’m here to discuss Dante.”
My father stopped in front of me with my marriage document crumpled in his fist, his muscles a mass of straining fury.
We were roughly the same height, but my father was broader across the shoulders and chest and had me by at least thirty pounds. I was younger and stronger, though, and knew if he came at me, I could hold my own and inflict plenty of my own damage. It wouldn’t be pretty, but I’d stopped being afraid of him when I was twenty, and he knew it. Which only enraged him more.
“Dante is serving his punishment,” my father said from between clenched teeth.
“So I’ve been told. Where is Maricella?”
My father fixed a bored expression on his face. “I don’t have a clue where his beta slut is, nor do I care.”
He was lying. I could read it in his fucked up gray eyes that were exactly like mine.
I let the slut comment pass this time, picking and choosing which war I wanted to escalate. “Dante cares.”
He moved back around his desk, putting the solid piece of furniture between us as if that would protect him. “Dante doesn’t give a shit about anything right now, trust me. He’s refused to answer anything related to his crime. He knows he’s guilty.”
A rage I hadn’t known was still in me gathered in the depth of my soul and rolled to the surface of my control. “If you think you can murder your own flesh and blood and get away with it—”
“Murder?” My father slapped his hands on the desk and glared at me. “If Dante is sentenced to death, the order will come from the Knights, not from me. But, yes, I will oversee the punishment as is my duty by the laws of our House, because he’s too cowardly to open his damn mouth. And you will not interfere, because you have no power over any ruling that comes from the Thirteen.”
He had me there. But I had rights as a member of the accused’s family. “I want to see him.”
My father huffed and pushed away from the desk.
“By the laws of our House, I can demand to see him, and you know that.”
“It will do you no good. He refuses to see anyone.”
I didn’t buy that for a second. I was sure the only person who’d demanded to see him was Ariana, and my father would never let her witness any evidence of his evildoings. He kept her blind and stupid. That was how he liked all his women.
“Either approve my visitation or not. But if you don’t, I’ll take the story to the tabloids. I’m sure there are plenty of reporters who’d love to run with a Salvatici scandal like this. They wouldn’t even have to verify the facts, just let word spread to the leaders of the other Houses.”
My father’s eyes grew darker and more infuriated. “You would bring them into our family business?” he asked quietly.
“To save my brother? You bet your ass I would.”
My father’s jaw clenched so hard, I thought it would snap in two. “Fine.” He dropped into his seat. “Visit him. But it’ll do you no good. He refuses to speak.”
We’d see about that.
I turned for the door. Marco shot me a holy fuck look, then turned out of the room.
“Luciano.”
My feet paused seconds to freedom. I glanced over my shoulder toward my father.
“I will be meeting with the Grande Cavaliere to discuss your marriage.”
That was not going to go over well. While I was confident they couldn’t touch
Natalie now that she was my wife, they could come up with all kinds of punishments for me because I’d broken a House rule by marrying her without permission.
I nodded once, letting him know I heard, but I kept my mouth shut. I’d already antagonized my father enough for one day.
I took another step toward the hall.
“There’s a masquerade at the Favero villa tomorrow night,” he called out. “You will attend, end of argument.”
My stomach twisted into a hard knot, but I nodded again in acquiescence and moved out into the hall.
“Cazzo,” Marco muttered as we hustled down the curved stairs toward the lobby. “I thought I was going to have to break up a bloody fistfight in there.”
I didn’t answer. Just pushed the doors open and moved out into the sunlight. But the fresh air didn’t help me breathe any easier. My lungs were squeezed tight as shit with the knowledge I had to attend another one of those fucking parties.
A party Natalie was never going to forgive me for attending without her, and one I would never take her to even if my life depended on it.
* * *
The Tomb where Dante was being held was housed in the catacombs of the ancient chapel that sat on my parents’ property. As I followed Marco into the small sanctuary, I tried to keep the sickness at bay.
I’d been here before. It had been twelve years, but the images suddenly flashing behind my eyes were as fresh as the day I’d awoken chained to a chair in that cold dark space, surrounded by screams I couldn’t help.
I averted my eyes from the altar as Marco led me through a door to our right and down a narrow set of curved stone stairs.
Irony struck me hard. I was sure my father took great pleasure knowing the Tomb was here, hidden beneath the church where my mother prayed daily for their sins to be forgiven. He was fucked in the head like that. And she was just as fucked for enabling him all these years. If there was a hell, I hoped those two suffered in it for all eternity for the things they’d done.
Two guards met us at the bottom of the staircase. I shivered beneath my jacket as Marco spoke to them in the dim light, the air down here cold and damp.
The Vow: House of Sin - Book Four Page 2