by Cora Reilly
These words were already more than I wanted to share even if nothing had happened between Aria and me. Father laughed, but his gaze was assessing. I’d have to be on my toes. Where had Matteo gone? Was he sleeping off his intoxication in a quiet room?
From the corner of my eye, I saw Liliana and Fabiano slip into the room. Neither was supposed to attend the gathering.
“Why’s there blood on the sheets? Has someone been killed?” Fabiano bellowed, pointing at the sheets with wide eyes.
The men around me began laughing, except for Dante and me. We glanced at each other. We would never like each other, but maybe we could establish a base of respect to keep up the peace for a few years.
Suddenly, Aria rushed out of the room with her arm around her sister Liliana.
I excused myself to check on my wife, not liking her out of my sight. Romero leaned beside the closed door of the guest bathroom, and I relaxed. “Aria and Liliana are inside,” he said.
“What’s the matter?”
“Liliana looked sick.”
The door swung open and Aria slipped out, quickly closing the door before we could catch a glimpse inside. “Is your sister okay?”
Aria tugged a strand of hair behind her ear, glancing between Romero and me with obvious nervousness. I had to remind myself again that this was new for Aria, that this was one of the first times she was alone in the presence of men that didn’t belong to her family. “The sheets made her queasy,” she said with a small shrug.
Romero’s expression darkened. “They shouldn’t allow young girls to witness something like that. It’ll only scare them.” Romero sent me an apologetic look, but I didn’t care if he criticized that particular tradition. I didn’t much care for it either, but it was one of the traditions that would be the hardest to abolish.
“You are right.”
“Lily needs some tea,” Aria said, glancing at me, and I realized she was unsure if she was allowed to go into the kitchen and prepare one.
“I can get it for her and stay with her so you can return to your guests,” Romero said.
Aria’s smile was hesitant. “That’s nice, but Lily doesn’t want you to see her.”
I frowned, wondering what had happened. Romero really wasn’t someone who scared females. He was one of the few soldiers with his talent who could hide his violence almost completely. “Is she scared of me?”
Aria laughed. “You sound like that isn’t a possibility. You are a soldier of the mafia. What’s not to be scared of?” She glanced toward the closed bathroom door before she continued in a whisper. “But that’s not it. Lily has a major crush on you and doesn’t want you to see her like that.”
I gave Romero an amused look. “Romero, you still got it. Capturing the hearts of fourteen-year-old girls left and right.” Romero shook his head, obviously uncomfortable with the whole thing. I turned to my wife who was still smiling, looking relaxed and almost happy. I knew my words would change that. “But we have to return. The women will be mortally offended if you don’t give them all of your attention.”
“I’ll take care of Lily,” Gianna said.
Looking over my shoulder, I found Aria’s sister and brother heading our way. The redhead pointedly ignored me, but the midget gave me his best death glare.
I led Aria back into the dining room. The men had by then gathered around the sheets while the women flocked around the table. I reluctantly released Aria so she could head back to the harpies.
The men laughed at something Durant said. It was probably for the best that I hadn’t heard it.
“There’s the lucky bridegroom,” Father intoned, holding out a glass of scotch to me. I took it reluctantly. Judging from the way he and his brothers smiled, they’d probably enjoyed more than one already. Only Scuderi, Dante and Fiore looked sober, which didn’t come as a surprise considering they were in our territory.
Gottardo’s beetle eyes held challenge when I stopped beside him. “So Luca, won’t you at least tell us how many rounds you managed last night? Won’t you share at least that piece of information with us?”
Durant smiled in a way that made me want to slice my blades from one fucking corner of his mouth to the other to see how much wider his fucking grin could get.
“I don’t share, ever, not even the tiniest fucking bit of my wife,” I snarled. My father and his brothers were disgusting pieces of shit. The same sadistic streak stained their blood. Sometimes I worried it ran in my veins as well and was only waiting to show its full potential. I was cruel and pitiless, but not like my father. Not yet.
Father shook his head with a bellowing laugh, but the laughter didn’t extend to his eyes. They were vigilant and suspicious, and for a moment I worried he’d seen through the charade I was playing. But my father was always suspicious because he had reason to be. There was no one he trusted, and rightfully so. Everyone hated and feared him. That wasn’t the base for trust. Not that I had many people I trusted, definitely not without reservations. Matteo had my trust and Romero to some degree, but everyone else could be an enemy disguised as an ally.
“Oh ho, quite possessive of your gorgeous young bride,” Durant cackled. “Considering her beauty and your possessive streak, I’m surprised you agreed to wait three years before marrying her.” His fucking beetle eyes latched onto Aria as she talked to the other women, and something in them made me want to stick my blade into his eyeball before shoving the fucking thing down his throat so he could choke on the slimy globe.
“I like my women of age,” I gritted out. I could feel my blood pressure rising, my fury burning away at my self-control. I took a sip from the scotch even if it was too early for hard liquor and glanced toward my wife. She was smiling, but blatant embarrassment shone on her face and her cheeks were dusted pink. I could imagine too well what the women were talking about. Her eyes darted to me as if she noticed my attention and, for a brief moment, a small conspiratorial smile tugged at her lips, a moment without her usual wariness and submissive fear, a glimpse at her true persona when she was around people she trusted. It was a side of her I wanted to see more of.
“I still remember my first night with Criminella,” Durant said with a twisted grin.
After that, they all launched into stories of their own wedding nights.
My mood was on the verge of homicidal when the ordeal was finally over and most of the guests had left. I touched Aria’s back as I led her out of the dining room and up to our bedroom to pack. She was quiet and tense at my side, and I wasn’t sure if it was because of the presentation of the sheets or because of something else.
We had almost reached our bedroom when my brother made an appearance. I scowled at him. I could have used his help at the presentation, though knowing his temper, especially when he had a headache from last night, it was probably for the best that he’d taken off.
“You two lovebirds will have to postpone your mating session. I need to have a word with you, Luca,” he drawled, looking inexplicably cheery all of a sudden. Not a good sign. Aria cast her gaze up to me with obvious uncertainty, again asking me silently what to do. “Go ahead. Check if the maids packed all your stuff. I’ll be back soon.”
She didn’t need to be told twice and rushed into our bedroom. She wasn’t comfortable around my brother, or me for that matter, and I wasn’t entirely sure it was only because we were men.
Matteo grinned like a wolf. “The sheets were fake, weren’t they? My big bad brother spared his little virgin bride.”
I got into his face, narrowing my eyes at him. “Keep your fucking voice down.” We were alone in the corridor, but that could change at any point and then I’d have a lot of explaining to do.
Matteo cocked his head. “What happened? Did you have too much to drink and couldn’t get it up?”
“Fuck off. As if alcohol ever stopped me,” I muttered. When Matteo and I had partied the nights away, we’d always ended the evening banging a girl.
“Then what?” he asked, honestly curious as
if it were incomprehensible that I could hold back.
The memory of Aria’s blank fear of me and her hopeless tears flashed before my eyes. “She started crying,” I admitted, my eyes darting to my forearm for a second. Matteo picked up on it of course and shoved the knife holder to the side, revealing my wound. I wrenched my arm out of his grip and repositioned the leather holder.
“You cut yourself,” he said, searching my face. Matteo was the person who knew me best and yet he was surprised. His mouth twitched, then he shook his head with another chuckle.
“I knew it. I told Gianna last night that she didn’t need to worry about Aria. You have a soft spot for damsels in distress.”
That was bullshit. I’d never felt the urge to hold back for anyone. “I don’t—” I began when his words registered fully. “You were alone with Gianna?”
Matteo nodded with a smile I didn’t like one bit. He motioned for me to follow him away from the bedroom. I doubted Aria was behind the door spying on us.
“I kissed her, and she tastes even better than she looks.”
“I can’t fucking believe you got more action than me in my own fucking wedding night.”
Matteo ran a hand through his hair. “The ladies can’t resist my charm.”
Did he really think this funny? I grabbed his shoulders. “This isn’t a joking matter, Matteo. The Outfit won’t find it funny if you go around deflowering their girls.” Father would have to make amends to the Outfit if that happened, and I wasn’t sure if these amends wouldn’t include having Matteo handed over to Scuderi for disembodiment. Or maybe Father would order me to dish out the expected punishment and kill my brother. I’d kill Father and every fucker who wanted to kill Matteo, but it would lead to all of us losing our lives.
“I didn’t deflower anyone. I kissed her,” Matteo interrupted my thoughts.
“Yeah, as if that’s ever the end of it.” I had noticed the way Matteo watched the redhead, but I had hoped he’d be more sensible than actually pursuing her.
“I want to deflower her. But I’m not an idiot.”
The facts were speaking a different language. Kissing a woman he wasn’t married to, especially from the Outfit, was the biggest kind of idiocy imaginable. If Gianna told anyone, we’d be doomed. The only thing stopping her was probably that she’d be ruined as well.
“I want to marry her.”
I froze. “Tell me you’re kidding.”
“I’m not. That’s why I need your help. Father won’t talk to Scuderi on my behalf if he thinks I want Gianna for any other reason than spite or revenge. You know him.”
“So what do you want me to do?”
“Help me convince him that she hates me and insulted me and that I want to marry her to make her miserable.”
“Isn’t that the truth? The girl can’t stand you, and you want her because of it. How is that any different from the story we’re going to tell Father?”
“I don’t want to make her miserable.”
“The end result might be the same. That girl is going to drive you insane, you realize that, don’t you? I’m really not sure if I want her in New York.”
“You’ll deal with it. And Aria will be happy to have her sister with her.”
He had a point, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted them to be together often. Gianna’s influence wouldn’t make my marriage to Aria less difficult. It would be hard enough to make it work. I didn’t need additional complications. “You really think you thought that through, don’t you?” I said.
“I did. And Father will choose some bitch that’ll make me miserable for me soon enough.”
“So you rather choose your own bitch who’ll make you miserable.”
He shoved my hand away, looking pissed. “Gianna isn’t a bitch.”
“You want to hit me because of her.”
“I want to hit you for a lot of reasons.”
Matteo was serious. I could tell how much this meant to him so, even if I considered it a bad idea, I knew I’d have to help him. As his first born, Father valued my word more than Matteo’s. I could only hope this wouldn’t come to bite Matteo and me in the ass.
After Father promised to talk to Fiore and Rocco about Gianna, he asked me to stay for a private conversation. Matteo mouthed ‘good luck’ before he left Father’s office.
I crossed my arms in front of my chest, waiting for my father to speak. He regarded me closely, and for a moment I wondered if he suspected the sheets were fake, but if this were that kind of conversation, he wouldn’t have been alone with me. The surveillance cameras wouldn’t save his life.
“Now that you’re married, you might want to consider moving into the mansion with me and Nina. After all, it’s our family’s home.”
“That’s a gracious offer,” I bit out, even when the words left a bitter taste in my mouth. “But like I said, this early in my marriage I want to enjoy my wife as much as possible, wherever I want, whenever I want.”
Father nodded with a dark laugh, leaning forward. “I don’t care if you do that in the mansion.”
As if I didn’t know that. But I would never live under the same roof as my father again, especially not with Aria.
Picking up on my reluctance, Father said, “I didn’t expect you to be this possessive of your wife. It’s a new side of you.” He leaned back. “Very well. Stay in your penthouse for now.” He tapped his fingers against the desk, making me wait to see if he was going to say anything else.
He nodded. “That’s all.”
I turned on my heel and stalked out, feeling my vein throb in my temple. Every day it became harder to have my father tell me what to do, to bear his presence.
Matteo and I loaded our luggage into my car since Matteo was riding his Kawasaki back home. Then I waited for Aria to say goodbye to her siblings. She was clinging to Gianna. “You’d think she’s on her way to jail and not to live with you,” Matteo murmured, then winked. “I suppose there isn’t much of a difference.”
I ignored him and tried to stifle my impatience. I wanted to get back to New York. For one because I didn’t want to spend any more time under the same roof as Father, and because I had a meeting to attend. Business had rested these last three days and, at the current time, that was too long.
Scuderi seemed to lose his patience at the same time as I did.
“Gianna, for Christ’s sake! Do I have to come get you?”
Aria finally came toward me, looking like she’d been gutted. “Chicago isn’t the end of the world,” I told her. Her sisters could come visit occasionally.
Aria shook her head, biting her lip as if she were trying to force back tears. “It might as well be. I’ve never been separated from my sisters and brother. They were my whole world.”
Matteo and I had never been separated for long either, but I still didn’t get why she was so emotional over it. “We should leave. I have a meeting tonight.”
I held the door open for Aria and she got in. Closing it, I jogged around the car.
“I’ll be behind you,” Matteo said, then headed for a motorcycle.
I slipped behind the steering wheel and revved the engine. Matteo was already racing down the driveway like a madman.
“No bodyguard?” Aria asked as she fastened her belt.
“I don’t need bodyguards. Romero is for you. And this car doesn’t exactly have room for additional passengers.”
Aria didn’t say anything, only stared out of the window. Looking at the miserable face of my wife, I wondered how life with her would be. I’d never shared my apartment. I had come and gone as I pleased, but now there would always be someone around.
It would be difficult to pretend 24/7. Aria would see my true self if she wanted to or not. I wondered if she’d be able to bear it. She seemed so fragile and innocent. What if my darkness was too much for her?
CHAPTER 9
We didn’t speak during the drive to New York. I didn’t really care. Talking to women had never been a top priority. The only topic
I cared about was the mafia, and women had limited knowledge of the realities of mob life, if any. Without a word, I got out of the car and grabbed our luggage. Matteo could pick up his bag with his spare car key later. When I headed for the elevator, I realized that Aria was still beside the car, her arms wrapped around her middle, looking around in trepidation.
“Thinking about running?”
Shaking her head, she finally headed my way. “You would find me.”
“I would.” Now that she was mine, I’d search the entire world for her. The elevator glided open and I got in, followed shortly by Aria who glanced around curiously and scanned the number of floors.
“The elevator is private. It leads only to the last two floors of the building. My penthouse is at the top, and Matteo has his apartment on the floor below.”
Aria turned to me. “Can he come into our penthouse whenever he wants?”
I couldn’t read the tone of her voice. “Are you scared of Matteo?”
“I’m scared of the both of you, but he seems more volatile, while I doubt you’d ever do anything you hadn’t thought through. You seem like someone who’s always firmly in control.”
If she was already scared of me when I showed only my civil side, I didn’t want to know what would happen if she ever saw me at my worst. “Sometimes I lose control.”
Aria peered down at her wedding band and twisted it. I really wished she’d at least look at me so I could gauge her emotions.
“You have nothing to worry about when it comes to Matteo. He’s used to coming over to my place whenever he wants, but things will change now that I’m married. Most of our business takes place somewhere else, anyway.” Matteo and I hadn’t discussed the matter so far, but considering that Aria might walk around the apartment naked at some point, I definitely didn’t want my brother to show up unannounced.
The elevator beeped and came to a stop, then the doors slid apart. Aria became tense and took a deep breath as I motioned for her to enter my apartment…our apartment from now on.