ARIA I was having trouble breathing as I headed for the restroom. Fortunately, no one tried to stop me. I wasn’t sure I could hold the mask if they did. The moment I entered the bathroom, I let out a shaky breath. I washed my hands because I could not wash my face without ruining my makeup. Lifting my face, I looked at myself in the mirror. I was not vain, but I knew that people found me beautiful. I had received praise for my beauty all my life, yet the mention of Grace’s abilities made me realize that maybe it would not be enough to keep Luke.
He loves you.
I closed my eyes and counted to ten until I felt the strength to return to the party. Grace was the past.
I came 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 look down, I met her straight gaze. She came closer, enveloping me with her overly sweet scent. In her high heels, she was several inches taller than me, but I straightened my back.
“I was hoping to have another chance to talk to you. At your wedding, I didn’t have much time.”
He will fuck the shit out of you. That was what he had said and fueled my own terror. He was not much older than me, maybe 20 years old, but he had a world of experience more than me.
“Maybe you think Luca is satisfied with what you can give him,” he began in a low voice. “But I’ve known him for two years and he’s never settled down. I was the only woman he went back to all that time, because I gave him what he needed.”
Two years? Even though he had been with other women during that time, why had he kept her around?
Grace’s smile widened. “I let him do every kinky thing you can’t even imagine, Aria. You don’t seem willing to take his cock in your frigid, haughty little ass.”
That was enough. I took a step toward her, getting too close , and looked at her with half-closed eyes. I had grown up in the mob world. I had grown up among predators. I had stuck a knife into a member of the Bratva. If Grace thought I would be intimidated by her again, she was very wrong.
“You will stay away from him,” I said softly but firmly. “The ‘only reason he used your ass was because he didn’t want to see your face. You always have been and always will be replaceable. One among many. You are nothing to him.
Cheaper than a prostitute, that’s for sure.” I hated that his ugliness brought out my nastiness, but I couldn’t take it anymore.
She lifted her palm to slap me as a shadow fell over us, and Luca’s strong hand gripped her wrist.
He pushed her away from me so that she hit the wall, but he did not let go. His grip on her wrist made her wince, and she cowered under the force of his gaze. He looked murderous.
“It’s not worth it,” I whispered imploringly.
His mouth bent into the cruelest smile I had ever seen him as he let go of Grace’s wrist. “You will never speak to Aria again. You will not approach her, or you will see a side of me that very few have survived.”
“Luke, please,” she begged, squeezing his arm, and I stiffened. “I would do anything for you. I love you.”
He shook her away in disgust. “Don’t touch me, bitch. You just swallowed my brother’s cum; do you really think I want your dirty hands on me?”
He turned toward me and some of the anger vanished, but Grace was not done yet. Her face wrinkled as she pointed her hate-filled eyes at me. “I wish that guy in Luca’s club had raped you when I paid him. I bet with the rooftops in your blood that was the first time you could take all of Luca’s cock in your pussy. That was probably the only time he enjoyed fucking you.”
I gasped, but my shock lasted only a second because Luca slipped his hand under his jacket to get the knife. I was not quick enough. He turned and launched himself at Grace, pushing her against the wall and pressing the blade against her throat.
The fury on his face stopped me for only a second, then I rushed toward him and grabbed his arm, trying to pull him down but he resisted, and he was too strong for me. His hate-filled eyes never left Grace as he held the knife against her skin.
I didn’t care much about Grace, but if Luca had killed her there, Senator Parker would have called the police, and not everyone was on the Family’s payroll.
“Luca, please,” I murmured.
“Listen to me, Grace. You are going to leave New York again and never come back. I will only say this once:
You will never threaten my wife again, or you will be the first woman I skin alive. That’s a fucking promise.” He struck his chest with the handle of the knife, right where the Family tattoo was.
His gaze made me cringe, and Grace finally realized that he meant what he said. The color faded from her face as she nodded. “And now you’re going to go to your fucking room and you’re not coming out until this fucking party is over.”
He let her go and she ran down the hallway to where her room was supposed to be.
Luca turned back to me, sheathing the knife, the remains of the monster still in his expression.
I exhaled. “God, even I was afraid of you. You can be terrifying.”
Another piece of the monster fell, its expression softening as it looked at me. “So I was told.”
I walked over to him and put my hands on his chest. There was no point in punishing Luke for something Grace had said or done. I had forgiven him for his slip long ago. With my touch, the last of Luca’s darkness vanished and warmth reached his eyes. “Don’t listen to a word he says, Aria. She thrives on spite and lies.”
“Two years?” I asked softly.
Luca shook his head. “She was one of many, Aria. I only went back to her because…” He paused.
“Because of the lack of gag reflex,” I muttered.
“Aria,” Luca said almost angrily, reaching a hand toward mine and pressing it against his chest, over his heart. “I’ve never wanted anyone more than I want you, and not because I have to imagine my aunts naked to keep me from shooting my cum the moment your perfect lips close around my cock, though that too, but because you make me laugh, because you’re kind, and because every time I look at you, I feel something I’ve never felt before: peace.”
I swallowed.
Matteo chose that moment to burst into the hallway.
“It’s almost midnight. You lovebirds should reappear .” His eyes squinted as he observed the way we were facing each other.
I gave Luca a small smile to let him know we were okay, and he took my hand and led me back to the party. Shortly after midnight we left. Luca was nervous, and staying any longer would only increase the risk that he would lose his cool.
Together we returned to our penthouse to toast the New Year again without dozens of curious eyes on us.
Matthew and I grabbed glasses and a bottle of champagne and headed to the rooftop while Luke searched for snacks. Fireworks were still going up into the sky in the distance. Matteo opened the bottle and poured the champagne into the three glasses before handing one to me. His dark eyes were sharp as he watched me.
“Grace cornered you at the party.”
I said nothing but nodded slightly as I took a sip of champagne. Then, when I was sure my voice would come out loud, I said in a teasing tone, “I hear I’m not the only one she cornered.”
Matthew gave a smile. “More than cornered,” he said in a suggestive tone.
I nodded, looking back toward the horizon.
“Trust me, no missing gag reflex has ever caused Luke to look at Grace with a vomit-like adoration he shows you when he thinks no one is looking,” Matteo said with his trademark smile. “My brother is hopelessly in love with you and, actually, I want to take the same drugs you use with him for Gianna so he will look at me the same way when we are married.”
I burst out laughing and champagne squirted out of my mouth and onto Matthew’s shirt. He looked down at it and then back up at me with his eyebrows raised. “That was incredibly sexy, no wonder Luca can’t keep his hands off you.”
“I have my moments,” I said with an embarrassed smile.
“What was sexy?” asked Luca abruptly as he approached us with a plate full of bread, cheese and olives.
He pushed it to Matteo, who winked at me. “Possessive husband mode activated.”
Luca encircled my waist with his arm. “Matteo, I think you’ve pissed me off enough for one night. You don’t have to fire all your ammunition today.”
“I never fire all my ammunition, Luca,” Matteo said with a smile, wiggling his eyebrows.
I pushed myself toward Luca, feeling my cheeks flush with embarrassment and the effects of champagne. Luca sighed, but when he lowered his gaze on me, I could tell he was happier than I had seen him all day.
“And that look is my cue to go out and find someone to shoot my ammunition at,” Matteo muttered, guzzling his champagne.
A hesitation flashed in Luca’s gaze. They had spent every Sylvester together, and I realized that I had changed things between them as well.
“No, stay.” I reached out and grabbed Matteo’s shirt because I hadn’t been able to grab his arm and pulled it halfway out of his pants. I immediately let go of him.
He arched his eyebrows. “Luca, can you please tell your wife not to rip my clothes off? She’s sending me mixed signals.”
I burst out laughing and Luca gave me a kiss on the temple, then pushed his brother. “I wish.”
I smiled. “How did you spend your last Sylvester?”
Matthew rubbed the back of his head, casting a warning glance at Luca. He took another sip of champagne. “I guess that means there were women involved.”
“A few, yes,” Matteo said with a wink.
“At the same time?”
“Matteo was too drunk to remember,” Luca said firmly, and I rolled my eyes at him but decided to let it go.
“I’ve never seen old pictures of when you were children.”
Matthew smiled. “Let’s see if we can change that.” He returned and began to search the closets.
Luca sighed. “He’s a pain in the ass.”
I touched his arm and he frowned, but I said nothing. Maybe Luca thought he had never loved anyone before me, but even if he didn’t realize it, he loved his brother. “Come on,” I said. “I want to see you when you were little.”
“I was never little,” Luca objected as he followed me into the living room.
Matteo showed me an old photo album, and I settled down next to him on the sofa. Luca dropped down beside me, grimacing at the first photo. It showed him and Matteo at ages three and five, dressed in suits and ties. Luca was already tall but still thin, and his face already had a hardness that a child of that age should not show. Matteo was holding his brother’s hand.
“You are holding hands,” I said with a smile.
Luca groaned. I turned the page and both Luca and Matteo stiffened. The picture showed Matteo and Luca, wearing the same outfits as before, next to a woman with long dark hair. She was staring at the camera with the ‘most desperate expression I had ever seen. I could almost sense her despair. Luca’s mother had committed suicide when he was only nine years old, and seeing her expression, I was not surprised. I quickly turned the page until I found a picture of Luca as a teenager with the most hideous mustache I had ever seen.
“I forgot about your porn mustache!” said Matthew, chuckling.
“Porn mustache?” I repeated, raising my eyebrows at Matteo.
Luca was staring at his brother.
“Because it’s the beard that many porn actors have.”
I took another sip of champagne even though I was already drunk.
“I was fourteen and thought it would make me look older,” Luca muttered and turned the page to a picture of him on a yacht wearing only swim shorts. The mustache was gone and he was already all muscle, even though he couldn’t have been more than sixteen.
I let my eyes roam over him appreciatively and Luca smiled smugly. I was looking forward to being alone.