72

I couldn’t stop crying. Gianna stroked my hair as my head lay on her lap. She was thirteen years old, only eighteen months younger than me, but today those eighteen months meant the difference between freedom and a life in a loveless prison. I did my best not to resent her for it. It wasn’t her fault.
“You could try talking to Dad again. Maybe he will change his mind,” Gianna said in a soft voice.
“He won’t.”
“Maybe Mom will be able to convince him.”
As if my father ever let a woman make a decision for him. “Nothing anyone can say or do will make a difference,” I said unhappily. I had not seen Mother since she had sent me to Father’s office . She probably couldn’t face me, knowing what she had condemned me to.
“But Aria…”
I lifted my head and wiped the tears from my face. Gianna stared at me with pitiful blue eyes, the same blue of the cloudless summer sky as mine. But where my hair was light blond, hers was red.
Sometimes her father called her a witch; it was not a pet peeve. “She shook hands with Luke’s father.”
“Did they meet?”
That’s what I wondered, too. Why had she taken the time to meet the head of the New York Familia but not to tell me about her plans to sell me out as a better whore? I shook off my frustration and despair as I tried to get out of my body.
“That’s what Dad told me.”
“There must be something we can do,” Gianna said.
“There isn’t.”
“But you haven’t even met the boy. You don’t even know what he looks like! He could be ugly, fat, and old.
Ugly, fat and old. I wished those were the only characteristics of Luke I had to worry about. “Let’s Google him. There must be pictures of him on the Internet.”
Gianna leapt to her feet and grabbed my laptop from the desk, then sat down next to me, our hips pressed against each other.
We found several photos and articles about Luca. He had the coldest gray eyes I had ever seen. I could imagine all too well how those eyes looked at his victims before he put a bullet in their heads.
“He is taller than all of them,” Gianna said in amazement. It was; in all the photos he was several inches taller than anyone standing next to him, and he was muscular. This probably explained why some people called him the Bull behind him. That was the nickname the articles used and called him the heir of businessman and club owner Salvatore Vitiello. Businessman. Maybe on the outside. Everyone knew what Salvatore Vitiello really was, but of course no one was stupid enough to write about it.
“He’s with a new girl in every picture.”
I stared at the emotionless face of my future husband. The newspaper called him the most wanted bachelor in New York, heir to hundreds of millions of dollars. Heir to an empire of death and blood, that’s what it should say.
Gianna snorted. “God, the girls are lashing out at him. I guess he’s good-looking.”
“They can take him,” I said bitterly. In our world, good looks often hide the inner monster. High society girls saw his good looks and wealth. They thought the bad-boy aura was a joke.
They flattered his predatory charisma because he radiated power. But what they didn’t know was that blood and death lurked behind that arrogant smile.
I suddenly stood up. “I need to talk to Umberto.”
Umberto was almost fifty years old and a loyal soldier of my father’s. He was also my bodyguard and Gianna’s bodyguard. He knew everything about everyone. Mother called him a scandalist. But if anyone knew more about Luca, it was Umberto.
*** “He became a Made Man at eleven years old,” Umberto said, sharpening the knife on the grinder as he did every day. The smell of tomato and oregano filled the kitchen, but it did not give me a sense of comfort as usual.
“Eleven o’clock?” I asked, trying to keep my voice calm. Most people did not become fully initiated members of the mob until the age of sixteen. “Because of his father?”
Umberto smiled, revealing a golden incisor, and stopped moving. “You think it was easy for him because he is the boss’s son? He killed his first man when he was eleven, that’s why he decided to start it early.
Gianna gasped. “He’s a monster.”
Umberto shrugged. “He is what he has to be. When you govern New York, you can’t be a sissy.”
He gave an apologetic smile. “An idiot.”
“What happened?” I wasn’t sure I really wanted to know. If Luke had killed his first man when he was eleven, how many others had he killed over the next nine years?
Umberto shook his shaved head, and scratched the long scar that ran from his temple down to his chin. He was thin and didn’t look like much, but Mother told me that few were faster with a knife than he was. I had never seen him fight. “I can’t say. I’m not very familiar with New York.
I watched our cook as she prepared dinner, trying to focus on something other than my churning stomach and overwhelming fear. Umberto scrutinized my face. “He is a good catch.
He will soon become the most powerful man on the East Coast. He will protect you.”
“And who will protect me from him?” I hissed.
Umberto said nothing because the answer was clear: No one could protect me from Luke after our marriage. Not Umberto, and not even my father if he felt like it. Women in our world belonged to their husbands. They were his property and he could manage them as he wished.
CHAPTER TWO The last two months had passed too quickly, no matter how much I wished time would slow down, to give me more time to prepare. My engagement party was only two days away. Mother was busy giving orders to the servants, making sure the house was spotless and nothing went wrong. It wasn’t even a big party.
Only our family, Luca’s family and the families of their respective bosses from New York and Chicago were invited. Umberto said it was for security reasons. The truce was still too fresh to risk a gathering of hundreds of guests.
I would have liked them to cancel it altogether. For all I cared, I was not to meet Luca until our wedding day. Fabiano was jumping up and down on my bed, a pout on his face. He was only five years old and had too much energy. “I want to play!”
“Mom doesn’t want you running around the house. Everything has to be perfect for the guests.”
“But I’m not even here!” Good thing. Luca and the rest of the New York guests would arrive tomorrow. Only one more night before I would meet my future husband, a man who was killing with his bare hands. I closed my eyes.
“Are you crying again?” Fabiano jumped off the bed and walked over to me, sliding his hand into mine. His dark blond hair was a mess. I tried to calm him down but Fabiano turned his head away.
“What do you mean?” I had tried to hide my tears from him. Mostly I cried at night when I was protected by darkness.
“Lily says you cry all the time because Luca bought you.”
I froze. I should tell Liliana to stop saying such things. It would only get me into trouble. ” He didn’t buy me.” Liar. Liar.
“Same difference,” Gianna said from the doorway, surprising me.
“Shhh. What if Dad listened to us?”
Gianna shrugged. “He knows I hate the way he sold you like a cow.”
“Gianna,” I warned, nodding toward Fabiano. He looked at me. “I don’t want you to leave,” he whispered.
“I’m not leaving for a long time, Fabi.” He seemed satisfied with my answer, and the concern disappeared from his face and was replaced by his not at all good expression. “Catch me!” he shouted and took off like a fury, pushing Gianna aside as he sped past her.
Gianna ran after him. “I’m going to kick your ass, you little freak!”
I rushed into the hallway. Liliana stuck her head out the door and then she too ran after my brother and sister. My mother would cut my head off if they destroyed another family heirloom. I flew down the stairs. Fabiano was still in the lead. He was fast, but Liliana almost had him while Gianna and I were too slow in the high heels my mother forced us to wear for training. Fabiano rushed into the hallway that led to the west wing of the house, and we followed him. I wanted to shout at him to stop. My father’s office was in this part of the house. We would really be in trouble if he caught us playing around. Fabiano should have behaved like a man. What five-year-old boy acted like a man?
We passed my father’s door and relief swept over me, but then three men turned the corner down the hall. I opened my lips to shout a warning, but it was too late. Fabiano stopped in his slide, but Liliana went slamming into the man in the center with all her strength. Most people would have lost their ‘balance. Most people were not six feet tall and had the build of a bull.
I stopped short as time seemed to stand still around me. Gianna gasped beside me, but my gaze was fixed on my future husband. She was looking at my little sister’s blond head, supporting it with her strong hands. Hands she had used to crush a man’s throat.
“Liliana,” I said, my voice shrill with fear. I never called my sister by her full name unless she was in trouble or something was seriously wrong. I wished I had been better at hiding my terror. Now everyone was staring at me, including Luca. His cold gray eyes peered at me from head to toe, lingering on my hair.
God, he was tall. The men next to him were both taller than six feet, but he made them pale. His hands were still on Lily’s shoulders. “Liliana, come here,” I said firmly, holding out a hand. I wanted her away from Luca. She stumbled backward, then flew into my arms, burying her face against my shoulder. Luca raised a black eyebrow.
“That’s Luca Vitiello!” said Gianna in a helpful tone, not even bothering to hide her disgust. Fabiano emitted a cry like an enraged wildcat and rushed toward Luca, beginning to pummel his legs and stomach with his tiny fists. “Leave Aria alone! You don’t understand her!
My heart stopped at that moment. The man at Luca’s side took a step forward.
Under his jacket was visible the silhouette of a gun . He must have been Luca’s bodyguard, although I really couldn’t understand why he needed one.
“No, Caesar,” Luca said simply, and the man froze. Luca took my brother’s hand in one of his own, stopping the assault. I doubted he had even heard the blows. I pushed Lily toward Gianna, who hugged her with a protective arm, then approached Luca. I was scared to death, but I needed to get Fabiano away from him. Maybe New York and Chicago were trying to end their feud , but alliances could break down in the blink of an eye. It would not be the first time. Luca and his men were still the enemy.
“What a warm welcome we receive. This is the infamous hospitality of the Outfit,” said the other man with Luca; he had the same black hair but his eyes were darker. He was a couple of inches smaller than Luca and less broad, but it was unmistakable that they were brothers.
“Matteo,” Luca said in a low voice that made me cringe. Fabiano was still growling and struggling like a wild animal, but Luca kept him at a distance.
“Fabiano,” I said firmly, grabbing his arm. “That’s enough. This is not how we treat guests.”
Fabiano froze, then looked over his shoulder at me. “He’s not a guest. He wants to take you away, Aria.”
Matteo chuckled. “This is too good. I’m glad Dad convinced me to come.”
“I ordered you to,” Luca corrected me, but he couldn’t take his eyes off me. I could not return his gaze.
My cheeks flushed with heat at his gaze. My father and his bodyguards made sure that Gianna, Lily and I were not in the company of men very often, and that the ones he let near us were family members or elders. Luca was neither family nor old. He was only five years older than me, but he looked like a man and made me feel like a little girl in comparison.
Luca let go of Fabiano and I pulled him toward me, his back against my legs. I entwined my hands on his small, panting chest. He did not stop staring at Luca. I wished I had his courage, but he was a boy, an heir to my father’s title. He would not be forced to obey anyone but the Boss. He could afford the courage.
“I’m sorry,” I said, although the words tasted disgusting. “My brother meant no disrespect.”
“I did!” – Fabiano shouted. I covered his mouth with my palm and he struggled in my grip but I did not let go.
“Don’t apologize,” Gianna said abruptly, ignoring the warning look I gave her. “It’s not our fault that he and his bodyguards take up so much space in the hallway. At least Fabiano is telling the truth.
Everyone else thinks they have to kick his ass because he’s going to be Chief…”
“Gianna!” My voice was like a whip. She closed her lips tightly, staring at me with wide eyes.
“Take Lily and Fabiano to their rooms. Now.”
“But…” He looked over his shoulder. I was glad I couldn’t see Luca’s expression.
“Now!”
He grabbed Fabiano’s hand and dragged him and Lily away. I didn’t think my first meeting with my future husband could get any worse. Taking courage, I faced him and his men.
I expected to be met with fury, but instead I found a smirk on Luca’s face. My cheeks burned with embarrassment, and now that I was alone with the three men, nerves twisted in my stomach. Mom would freak out if she found out I wasn’t dressed right for my first meeting with Luca. I was wearing one of my favorite maxi dresses with sleeves that reached up to my elbows, and I was silently happy with the protection that all the fabric offered me. I crossed my arms in front of my body, unsure of what to do. “I apologize for my sister and brother. They are…” I struggled to find a word that was not rude.
“Protective of you,” Luca said simply. His voice was calm, deep, emotionless. “This is my brother Matteo.”
Matteo’s lips were pulled into a wide smile. I was glad he did not try to take my hand. I didn’t think I could keep calm if either of them came any closer. “And this is my right hand, Caesar.” Caesar gave me a very brief nod before resuming his task of scanning the corridor.
What was he waiting for? We had no assassins hiding in secret hatches.
I focused on Luca’s chin and hoped it looked as if I were really looking into his eyes. I took a step back. “I should go to my brothers.”
Luca had a look of understanding on his face, but I didn’t care if he saw how uncomfortable it made me, how it scared me. Without waiting for him to excuse me-he was still neither my husband nor my boyfriend-I turned and left quickly, proud that I had not succumbed to the impulse to run away.