A month later, LUCA “The Sphere is still strong, but the Pergola is closing in. Despite the Russians trying to piss in our pond, we’re still making a lot of money with our clubs. And Pergola will be the hottest club in town next year, I can feel it ,” Matteo said as he checked last month’s earnings from our dance clubs.
I didn’t give a damn if we owned the hottest clubs in town. Our main business was drugs, and the numbers on my laptop told me we weren’t selling as much as we could . “Heroin is slowing down. These new synthetic drugs are what people love,” I said. “We have to make sure our distributor delivers on time. I don’t give a shit if the labs produce as fast as they can. It’s not fast enough. Pay them a visit.”
Matthew’s lips curved into an uneasy smile. “I will.”
I shook my head with a smile of my own. “You are a mental patient.”
“It takes one to know one.”
My phone rang. I pulled it out of my pocket and looked at the screen. Romero. “Yes, Romero?”
“Sandro passed out in the kitchen. Aria and Gianna are gone.”
My heartbeat doubled. The Russians. “Say again.” I closed the laptop and straightened in my chair.
Matteo’s eyes shifted to me, vigilance erasing his smile.
“He was drugged and they taped him up. One of the cars is gone. Gianna and Aria must have packed up because there are clothes missing from the closet.
There are no signs of an attack. They must have run away.”
Escaped? My eyes found the graffiti painting Aria had given me four months earlier hanging on the wall behind my desk.
“What’s going on?” asked Matthew, closing the laptop and putting it away.
I stood up. Anger simmered under my skin, and another emotion. A weak emotion I would not give space to. An emotion I had never bothered with until Aria, and now it was gone.
It was fucking gone. “Romero found Sandro drugged and tied up on the floor of the penthouse. Aria and Gianna are gone.”
Matteo stood up slowly. “You’re fucking kidding.”
I stood in front of him, so fucking angry, it burned me up inside. Angry and worried. Fucking worried because my wife was gone. Aria had run away. She had run away from me. “Do you think I would joke about something like that?”
“I thought Aria was in love with you,” Matthew said sarcastically.
My fingers itched to close around her throat. To crush something. Fuck, it had felt so good when I had crushed the last man’s throat. But Matteo hadn’t betrayed me. I should have wanted to hurt my wife for running away from me, but I didn’t. Fuck. Damn you, Aria. Damn you for making me worry.
I stormed out of the basement of the Sphere. Some of my men lingering at the bar looked at me in curiosity. Others stood up as if to join me in whatever crusade I was leading. But I couldn’t risk them finding out that my wife had run away, that I couldn’t even control the woman at my side.
Love. The root of weakness. That’s what our fucking father had called it. I didn’t like that man, I hated him with every fiber of my being, but maybe for once he was right . Aria was turning me into a fool, and I had fucking allowed her to do it.
Matthew was following me closely.
If he hadn’t wanted that fucking redhead, none of this would have happened. The whole thing was undoubtedly Gianna’s fucking idea.
“It’s Gianna’s fault. This girl is the root of every problem. Why couldn’t you stay the fuck away from her like I told you?”
“Probably for the same reason you let Aria play with you,” Matteo muttered.
Fuck that. Matteo was my brother. If other men started thinking the same way, I was going to have to make a goddamn statement again. All because of Aria. I got into the car and Matteo got on his bike, then we left to meet Romero.
He was waiting for us in my penthouse, next to a delirious Sandro. That asshole should have watched Aria and Gianna; instead, he let two inexperienced women knock him out . He didn’t meet my fucking eyes, and I focused on Romero before I ended up killing that useless asshole. “Spill,” was all that came out of my tight fucking throat.
“Ten thousand dollars and two passports are gone. Looks like they’ve been planning this for a long time.”
I nodded, trying to mask the effect this information had had on me.
Aria had told me that she loved me. I had told her that I loved her, that I had treated her as best I could, that I had never hurt her, and now this?
I will come where you go, no matter how dark the path.
Had the last few months been a fucking show? But no one could be such a good actress. This was Gianna.
Fucking Gianna’s fault.
“We have to go find them,” Matteo muttered, as if I didn’t know.
I gave him a furious look. “And where do you want to start? They could be anywhere. They’re hardly likely to take their fucking cell phones with them.”
“It might still be worth a try,” Romero suggested in a low voice.
I tried to calm down and think clearly, then nodded firmly, before pulling out my phone and opening the ‘tracking app. And a second later Aria’s phone appeared.
Surprise, then relief followed by suspicion overwhelmed me.
She was on her way out of town, heading north.
“Do you think it’s them?” Matthew peered at my cell phone. “They are too smart to keep their phones with them.”
“Maybe it’s a ruse, but it’s all we have right now,” I said . Before Matteo and I went out to hunt down our women, I told Romero, “Call me as soon as you have news.”
AIR I drove for a long time, first in one direction, then the other . I was sure that by now they had discovered Sandro and that Gianna had escaped. Would Luca have thought that I had gone with her? That the words I had told him were a lie?
I wasn’t sure. My heart clenched when I thought about it. Luca was not a man who trusted easily, or at all. But I had his trust. Maybe not anymore.
I glanced at the clock on the dashboard. Gianna’s flight to Schiphol had left almost an hour earlier. I had to get home. If they had tracked my cell phone, they should have been on the wrong track by now and not suspect that Gianna had taken a plane. Luca had tried to call me several times.
He was probably furious.
I turned the car around and drove back to Manhattan, my heart rate accelerating as I got closer to home.
By the time I entered the underground parking garage, the clerk at the front desk watching everything on his monitors was probably already alerting Luke to my whereabouts.
I took the elevator up to our penthouse. When the doors opened, Romero was waiting for me. He shook his head, something akin to anger on his face. He had never openly shown anger toward me. He brought his cell phone to his ear but did not take his eyes off me.
I didn’t have to ask him who he was calling.
I walked past him toward the windows and looked outside. Gianna was on a plane to freedom. She would land in Amsterdam in a few hours, where she would start a new life. Far away from it all.
Away from the mafia and arranged marriages. Away from the gilded cages and man-made rules.
I hoped Gianna would be smart enough to escape her pursuers, because I had no doubt that my father would send his men after her. And I had a feeling that Matthew would not let her slip through his fingers so easily either. He would have to find someone who could give her a new identity. In this country, no one was going to stand up to the Mafia, with the exception of the Bratva, and contacting them would put the final nail in our coffins. But most of all I hoped Gianna would find what she wanted.
“Luca, she is here,” Romero finally said. “No, by herself. Yes. I will.”
Romero approached me. I cast a glance over his shoulder, at his tall figure. “I won’t run away. You don’t have to be two steps behind me to be sure,” I said jokingly.
Romero did not smile. He took another step closer, closer than he usually did, his brown eyes hardening. “Luca is the Chief. And he is the best there ever was. Because he rules without mercy. Because he rewards those who are loyal.
Because he protects those who deserve protection.”
I turned fully toward him, stunned by the ferocity of his words and unsure of where he was going with this.
“You betrayed him.” He spat the words back at me.
“I did not…”
Romero interrupted me. “You went behind his back and ran. I don’t care why. In our world that means betrayal and you should know that, Aria.”
I stared at him, shaken. Was this how Luca saw my actions as well?
“With anyone else, Luke would not hesitate to inflict severe punishment. Treason means death, torture at the very least . But you are sure you are safe,” he said. He approached and again I remembered that the man in front of me was a murderer despite his accommodating nature. “Never forget that Luke is still a Chief who has to keep his face in front of his men. Don’t push him too far. Don’t force him to do something that neither of you will recover from.”
I swallowed, looking at my bracelet.
In the darkest hour you are my light Romero was not threatening me as I had first thought. He was worried. I didn’t think it was such a big deal.
No, it really wasn’t. I had suspected how serious it would be if I helped Gianna run, but I couldn’t not help her.
She was my sister and I loved her.
The door to the guest room opened and Sandro staggered out, his shirt pulled out of his pants and creased.
He looked pale and disoriented. When his eyes landed on me, anger crossed his face, then he cast a glance at Romero beside me and lowered his head. I had wounded his pride, which was the worst possible shame for an honorable man.
“Are you okay?” I asked him, feeling guilty for drugging him, but he would not let Gianna and I leave.
He walked toward the couch and let himself fall down. He leaned slowly against the backrest but said nothing.
“Is he hurt?” asked Romero when it became clear that Sandro was determined to ignore me.
Romero shrugged his shoulders. “The drug mess will be the least of his problems. His mess will cause him bigger trouble, believe me . Luca will not tolerate incompetence.”
Sandro visibly grimaced.
“Luca won’t punish him, will he? I need to talk to him…”
“No,” Romero said abruptly. “You should start thinking about self-preservation, Aria. Be careful.”
I shut my mouth abruptly.
The elevator jerked into motion. My eyes shifted to the screen. It was going down into the underground garage. Luca.
My stomach contracted. I was nervous. Romero’s words had left a mark. But I knew Luca. And he knew me. He would have understood. I had not gone against him. I had only helped Gianna. Right?
I realized that from the outside it might look different. God.
Fear began to bubble up in my stomach. I turned back to the windows, needing time to control my expression.
Had I ruined everything?
The elevator stopped at our floor, and the sound of Luke and Matthew in some kind of argument reached me. Through the window I could see the tall figure of Luca towering above his brother. Matteo was tall, but Luca was … Luca. Magnificent.
His gaze met mine in the reflection of the window.
I swallowed.
He was walking in my direction. He said nothing. I was about to apologize when his strong fingers tightened on my forearm and he turned me around. I held back a gasp.
His grip was tight, though I knew he must have held back. I looked up at him and shivered. His face was a mask of barely controlled anger. He still said nothing, which made me realize how bad the situation really was.
Matthew advanced toward me. “Where is Gianna?”
I ignored him, caught in Luca’s gaze.
“Answer me,” Luca said softly.
I tried to break free from his grip, but he wouldn’t let me go. Suddenly a hint of anger flared up in me. He was showing his power in front of everyone, trying to act macho and bossy.
“She’s gone,” I said.
“Oh, really,” Matteo growled. “Don’t you think we know that? But where did she go? You ran away together, you planned everything together.”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged my shoulders. “We decided it was better if you didn’t know.”
“Bullshit.” Matthew smiled cruelly. “You know exactly where he is.”