Aria Ruso
Matteo and I waited in the courthouse for a half hour longer than anticipated. I shifted from foot to foot, trying to determine the best way to talk my brother out of this foolish idea. I wanted so badly for him to care about me again-badly enough that I agreed to subject myself to this marriage-but there had to be another way.
Though every time I opened my mouth to speak, he cut me off, voicing his frustrations about Cade being late.
I had to do this.
“This might not be a-”
This time, my words were cut off by Matteo’s phone ringing. He pressed it to his ear and made a sound of acknowledgment before ending the call and looking at me, a wide, cruel smile pulling at his lips. “He’s here.” He’s here.
Chills went through my spine as I took in those words and nodded slowly. I supposed it was too late to back out now. I couldn’t decide if I was more nervous or terrified about seeing Cade again.
I didn’t have to wait long.
The doors to the room flung open, and on the other side stood two men. Only two. I’d anticipated a cavalry to come for me, but instead, only two came in our direction. The man on the left stood an inch taller, a few shades darker, and significantly more armed than the one on the left.
It was the man on the left who gave me pause. He looked everything and nothing like the man who had tormented me. Rather than the humor that I’d come to recognize as mischievous and cruel, his eyes now gave off nothing more than cool calculation. He’d grown thicker with muscle over the years, and from the way he walked, I could tell he knew precisely how to use them. His fists were balled at his sides as he approached, and when I exhaled, I realized that from the second the door opened, I’d been holding my breath.
Cade was attractive-significantly more than I recalled. I felt my stomach liquifying as he approached, and I wanted to curse myself for reacting this way. He’d been the reason for my father’s death. He didn’t deserve my gaze. He didn’t deserve this alliance, and he certainly didn’t deserve me.
I turned my gaze toward the floor and clenched my jaw, fury rolling through me. What the hell kind of justice was this?
He extended a hand as he reached Matteo, and my brother took the hand and shook it. “Thank you for coming.”
“The pleasure is mine,” Cade replied, and my gaze snapped back up and met his. He was the same man, but even his voice sounded more detached
and distant. “Let’s get this alliance secured, shall we?”
I did as my brother asked, signing the paperwork and repeating meaningless words in front of the chaplain-one who undoubtedly owed my brother a favor. Cade did the same, his guard standing a few feet back alongside my brother’s guard. It took far less time than I’d anticipated, and when we were finished, Matteo and Cade stood in front of one another, discussing the technicalities of the alliance.
“Can we expect help when attacked by the other Italian mafia families?” Cade asked.
“I will send a contract regarding all the information in this alliance. My men will not confront nor attack yours so long as your men can agree to the same. In severe attacks, we are willing to provide a designated amount of help so long as you do the same,” Matteo said. “Your lawyer can review the contract when it’s sent, and we can revise it as necessary.”
I didn’t realize that alliances were so detailed and official, but I held my hands in front of me, forcing myself to keep my mouth shut.
“It’s good doing business with you,” Cade said.
Both of their eyes turned to me-the glue that was meant to hold together the alliance. I stepped forward and took a deep breath, but Matteo grabbed my wrist and pulled me to a stop, shooting me an intense glare. “Don’t ruin this for us. Behave, and I’ll be in touch.”
I nodded, turning back to Cade and stepping toward him. He didn’t bother waiting for me as he turned his back and began walking toward the door. “Okay,” I muttered, trying to keep up with his long strides as we exited the courthouse. Neither Cade nor his guard said a word as they approached a black Suburban, and I followed.
“I’ll ride with the artillery,” the guard said, patting the hood of the car and moving toward another vehicle a few spaces away. A handful of other men, all dressed in heavy armor and carrying weapons, climbed inside. I eyed them as I moved toward the passenger seat of Cade’s car.
I forced myself to remain silent as I leaned against the door. Of all the things I was good at, keeping my mouth shut wasn’t one of them, and I knew if he taunted me in any way, I’d bring his wrath upon myself. So I bit my top lip as he started the car and pulled onto the road.
“Don’t expect this to be the kind of marriage you’re accustomed to seeing in whatever romance movies you’ve been watching recently. It won’t be.”
I remembered the time he’d walked into the home theatre and found me watching a cheesy Hallmark movie, and I immediately balled my fists at the reminder. He’d humiliated me and teased me relentlessly for it.
“Don’t worry. I’d rather fork out my tongue than be intimate with you,” I told him, turning up my nose as I looked out the window.
His deep chuckle rumbled through the car. “The world isn’t butterflies and roses, and you’d do well to understand that.” Don’t say anything, Aria, I mentally chanted. “This life isn’t fun or easy. Don’t expect it to be either.”
I couldn’t stop myself. “I guarantee that my hands have been covered in more blood in the past year than yours has in your entire life,” I told him, whipping my head in his direction. “And that’s including all the people I’m sure you’ve enjoyed killing. My father included.”
“I wouldn’t have had to kill him if you hadn’t put us in that position,” he replied without an ounce of emotion in his tone. It should have been my first warning, I realized. I should have known that I’d struck a nerve, but I didn’t stop myself from arguing back.
“I haven’t seen you in over a decade. Anything you did is on your own hands, not mine. Don’t you dare blame me for this situation? Do you think I want to be married to you?”
A smirk pulled to his lips, and he replied immediately. “I think that it gives me a unique opportunity.”
“Fuck you, Cade. Fuck you. You don’t have a unique opportunity to do anything. You were shitty to me when I was a child, and I put an end to it. You can’t do anything to me now, or the alliance will be ruined. Do you want to be responsible for that?” His jaw ticked, and I smirked back at him.
Checkmate. “I didn’t think so.”
The car jerked to the side of the road, the tires jerking as they skidded onto the curb and reluctantly jumped it and caught traction on the sidewalk.
He slammed on the brakes and pulled us to a halting stop. The van that had been following us continued forward, leaving us alone in the warehouse district. Both he and my brother claimed it as their territory, and they both used this area to do their ungodly misdeeds, so nobody but Cade and I were anywhere close to this place.
Fear didn’t even have a chance to fully consume me before he lunged toward me in an instant. I had only enough time to unclick my seatbelt and lift my hands to fend him off before he had both of my wrists in one large, calloused hand and my body pressed snuggly against the door.
He snarled in my ear. “You’re my property now, and I’ll do with you as I please. If I decide to tie you in the basement and pull out your fingernails for the pleasure of hearing you scream, I can do that. Do you want to know why?” He paused, and I didn’t say a word, my breath coming quickly as I realized precisely how dangerous this man was. He raised his voice, and I jumped. “Do you want to know why?” he repeated.
“Why?” I asked shakily.
“Because if I don’t want the world to see you, the world won’t see you. If I decide to hide you away for years and tell nobody that I have a wife, I can do that. If I don’t want people to know what I’ve done to you, it will be as fucking easy as snapping my fingers. This alliance will stand regardless of you. You snitched on Matteo and my friendship months before I took my Dad’s role as boss. Months before we could make our move and secure an alliance between our people. You ruined that, and all the death that has happened since then is on your head.” I shook my head rapidly. It wasn’t.
He gripped my chin firmly and forced me to look into his narrowed eyes.
The dark blue of them pierced my soul and pinned me to my spot.
“Don’t deny what you did. I hate you for it, and I always will. We’re married in name only, and if you ever expect anything more, it will show your stupidity.”
“I don’t want anything more with you,” I told him. Despite the words, though-despite the hatred that I felt in every crevice of my being and the fear that tightened its grip on my throat-I couldn’t help the molten core in my belly as he leaned over the center console and touched me. He was rough and rude, and he terrified me more than any person ever had, but my body reacted to him all the same.
He jerked his hands from me and slid back into his seat, shooting me a glare.
“Don’t test me, Aria,” he said, shaking his head and looking back to the road. “You won’t like what happens.”