242

LUCA I ventured to take one last look at Aria. She had her back to me . She was naked from head to toe, every inch of that perfect porcelain skin that only I could touch was on display. Her shoulder blades and buttocks were red from rubbing against the tiles when I had fucked her. A furious fucking. It was something I never wanted to do with Aria, but something had clicked inside me, and I hated myself for it.
I hated that I had hurt her even though she said it was nothing. She was mine to protect. She was mine, fucking mine to the fucking end. She hadn’t run away and she wouldn’t. I knew it now. I turned around, opened the bedroom door and went downstairs, pulling my cell phone out of my pocket to call some contacts at the airport. I couldn’t waste any time. News of Gianna’s flight would spread like wildfire, and I would have to make sure it didn’t turn into something I couldn’t control. My uncles and my aunts’ husbands all had their eyes on my position. They thought they could do better as Chief. Gotthard had said it to my face. The only reason no one had moved yet was that they were fighting with each other, but I couldn’t count on it lasting forever. Maybe at some point they would come to an agreement . I had to make sure that my men were too loyal to me to give them any kind of support. Looking weak was not good. Matteo was giving me glaring looks when he saw me. “Don’t tell me you couldn’t get anything out of her.” I sent him a glare in return. He was my brother, but he was starting to piss me off. He had to stop disrespecting me when others were around. “The only thing I know is that Gianna got on a plane from JFK. Aria won’t tell me anything, but our informants will let me know where Gianna is going soon enough.” “Great,” she muttered, her eyes sliding back to the bedroom door before turning to me. I didn’t like that expression at all. “And then what? Aria knows Gianna’s plan. They told each other everything. The only way to find Gianna is through your wife.” Romero and Sandro were watching us, and I stood in front of Matteo. “He won’t tell me anything.” The bastard actually tried to pass me up the stairs. “Then let me have a word with her.” I pushed him back, growling. “You’ll stay away from her, Matteo.” Brother or not, if he had come near Aria, if he had hurt even a hair on her body, I would have taken him down.
“You let her steal your money, your passports. You let her attack our men.” He pointed to Sandro, who was still staring.
“You let her make a fool of herself and betray you. You should want to punish her. You’re Chief.” I brought us chest to chest so Matteo had to tilt his head back. “Aria is my wife. It’s none of your business how I deal with her. I told you Gianna meant trouble but you wouldn’t listen. You should never have asked for her hand, but you had to think with your cock,” I growled. He strided out onto the roof terrace. It was for the best . We would soon be at each other’s throats. Turning to my men, I said to Sandro, “Go away. I don’t have time to deal with you now. Not a word about this to anyone.” He immediately got up from the couch and rushed to the elevator and disappeared, fucking relieved he hadn’t been kicked in the butt that day. Then I turned to Romero. “Go get Sami and find out where Gianna is going.” Romero nodded quickly, then pulled out his phone and headed for the kitchen. With a sigh, I brought the phone to my ear, hating what I had to do now. After a few rings, Scuderi answered. “Luca, I wasn’t expecting your call.” There was a hint of suspicion in that asshole’s voice. And he was right.
We had made a mess. I had made a mess. “I have bad news. Gianna has run away.” There was silence on the other side. Then, finally, “Escaped ?” Scuderi looked like he wanted to reach through the phone and strangle me. “You swore you would protect her. I took your word for it. In Chicago the word Chief means something.” Fuck that. As if things always went according to Dante’s plan. “Your daughter is not exactly easy to supervise, as you well know. It’s not the first time she’s misbehaved.” I tried to keep my tone civil; after all, he was one of my men who had messed up and allowed himself to be drugged. “What about Aria, did she help her sister?” He didn’t need to know that Aria was involved. It was bad enough as it was. There was no need to throw gasoline on the fire. “No, she didn’t know anything. Matthew will go right away to find Gianna. He won’t be gone for long.” “I’ll send two of my men with him. I don’t trust you to handle this alone.” I had to bite my tongue not to insult him. We needed peace between the Outfit and the Family. “That is understandable, but I assure you that Matteo will find her. He very much intends to marry her.”
“Again? She could be out prostituting herself as we speak.”
I doubted Gianna would use the plane flight to fuck some random guy; she would be busy trying to figure out a way to stay one step ahead of us. But after that? Yes, she would have spread her legs, no doubt, but that was not my problem.
Romero appeared in my field of vision and whispered, “Amsterdam. Schiphol.”
“We know he took a plane to Amsterdam. That’s where Matteo will be heading on the next plane.”
“I will make arrangements so that my men will be there as soon as possible. Dante will not be happy about this. I can promise you that. We will have to discuss this thoroughly.”
I didn’t give a shit about Dante. New York was my concern, the Family was. “Sure.” I hung up, stifling the ‘urge to throw the phone against the wall. Instead, I used it to book Matteo on the next flight. It was the worst time to lose my best soldier. All because of Gianna and Aria. A new wave of blinding rage swept over me and I really thought I was going to lose my mind, but I had to keep calm and maintain control. I was Chief.
I walked out and stopped next to Matthew, who was leaning against the railing with a determined expression on his face. He was going to get Gianna. It was only a matter of time. “I called Scuderi. He’s furious and obviously blames us .”
“Of course,” he said softly.
“He’s sending two of his men after Gianna.”
He still wasn’t looking in my direction. He was still pissed that I had spared Aria. As if he had tortured Gianna to get information. We were murderers, maybe even sadistic, but definitely not toward the women we cared about.
“I’ll go with them,” she said.
“I guess you would have. I told Scuderi.
You will meet them in Amsterdam.”
That got his attention. He straightened up and turned to me.
“Amsterdam?”
I nodded. “I heard he got a plane to Schiphol.”
“When do I leave?” He was going into hunter mode.
“Four hours.”
“I have to leave early.”
“Impossible. I’ve tried everything I can.”
“Damn. Gianna will be gone by the time I get there.”
“You’ll find her. You’re the best hunter I know.
She doesn’t stand a chance.”
He touched my shoulder. “Let me go, even if you need me here.”
The Family needed him. I needed him more. Bratva was a thorn in my side. My traitorous family was breathing down my neck. “You are of no use to me if you can only think of Gianna.” My trust in Matteo also had its limits. He did not need to know how much I relied on his support.
“It could take weeks,” he said. “I won’t be back until I get her.”
“I know. If Aria had run away, I would have done the same.”
I would have followed her to the end of the world. I didn’t want to get married, but Aria had changed everything. She was my wife and I was never going to let her go.
He nodded.
“I’ll make some arrangements for you to deliver the weapons to Amsterdam. I will try to find Rolfo so he can call his family in the Netherlands. You should pack your bags . You should be at the airport in two hours.”
“You should tell Rolfo to get a fucking cell phone. The guy is still stuck in the 70s.”
“He’s almost 70 years old. I doubt anything in the world can convince him to use a cell phone. I’ll go to Roma. He’ll have dinner there. I’ll be back before you have to leave.” With that, I went inside. In passing I said to Romero, “I’ll be gone for a couple of hours. Make sure Aria stays in the apartment .”
“I will, boss,” he said as I entered the elevator.
Romero wasn’t going to let anyone drug him.
ARIA I was tired and missed Luca. After my quick shower, I had crawled into bed. I was still sore but I didn’t care. I just wanted things between Luca and me to go back to the way they were before today. It was still not that late, it was only about seven o’clock, but the day’s events had been exhausting. I sat down when the bedroom door creaked open. The movement was too cautious, too quiet to be Luke. I slid out of bed as Matthew slid into the bedroom, then turned to face me.
My spine stiffened. “What are you doing here? And where is Romero?” I moved around the bed but stopped halfway between it and the door.
Matteo’s lips curved into a dangerous smile. “He’s outside, answering Luca’s call.”
For a moment neither of us moved. I wasn’t sure what to do. I didn’t want to call Romero for help yet. For one thing, I wasn’t sure if he could hear me on the rooftop terrace, and I didn’t want to overreact. If I had called Romero now, he would have had to tell Luca, and then things between him and Matteo would have soured. I didn’t want that to happen because of me. I had already made enough trouble.
He approached, and I staggered back. “Why are you here?” I asked with forced calm, but I could not suppress the small tremor in my voice.
The coldness in Matteo’s eyes clutched my stomach with icy fear. “Getting the information that Luca is unable to get. We both know that you planned everything with Gianna.” He crept closer and I turned my head away. This was not Luca. This was Matteo, and he was a bloodthirsty man. A man who was used to getting what he wanted, and Gianna was the one thing he wanted more than anything else. I rushed to the nightstand, grabbing the drawer with the gun. I wasn’t even sure what to do with it. I certainly couldn’t shoot Matteo, or shoot him. My fingers grazed the handle when Matteo’s hands clamped my hips. I hung in the air for a second before landing on my back on the mattress, the air escaping my lungs in a hiss.
And then he was on top of me, and I froze. I had never been in bed with anyone but Luca. I began to tremble.
Matteo’s eyes were calculating as he pinned my wrists to my hips, his body straddling my legs. “Maybe pain is not the thing you fear most,” he said quietly.
He was valuing me as a means to an end. Matthew was harboring the same monster as Luke, but his was not contained in my presence.
I wasn’t sure what I feared most at that moment. Matteo was very high, but there was also the fear of what this meant for his relationship with Luca. I doubted that Luca would forgive Matteo for this; he would kill him, and this in turn would kill Luca. “Let me go before you do something you’ll regret,” I muttered with false bravado.
I got goose bumps. Matteo’s eyes watched my reaction. His calculating silence startled me.
He hadn’t done anything yet. He was conflicted. I could see it in his face. I had to use that opening. Matteo liked me , maybe not enough to stop him, but he loved Luca, and Luca loved me. “I’ve only ever been with Luca. This is the first time I am in bed with someone else, Matteo,” I whispered .
Matteo let go of my wrists. “You are Luca’s,” he said softly. “I would never disgrace you like that. Not even when it is obvious how easily I would get the answers I want if I did. This isn’t Las Vegas and I’m not that kind of man.”
Still looming over me, he reached behind his back and pulled out one of his knives. This was not Luca. Matteo did not love me. And I had heard the stories. I knew what he could do, what he liked to do. Like Luca, he knew no mercy, but with Matteo there was no love to protect me.
“I won’t tell you where he is,” I lied, because it could only be a lie. I was not that strong.
“You will,” he said. The blade shimmered in the dim light filtering through the windows. “No one can keep their secrets hidden when I’m dealing with them.”
“If I scream Romero will be here in the blink of an eye.
He will protect me.”
“He’ll try. And who says I’m going to give you a chance to scream?”
He lifted the hem of my tank top and I began to struggle, not used to the proximity of someone else like that. I stopped when the tip of the blade touched my skin below my navel . “This is a very sensitive area. Many nerve endings.
Even a small cut will be very painful.”
“Matthew, please,” I whispered. Scream, said an insistent voice in my head, but I needed to give it another try, for Luke.
He lifted his eyes from the blade to my face.
“I know you are angry because Gianna ran away. You are angry at me for helping her. I know you would do anything to get her back , but Luca will not forgive you for that.”
“He will kill me, as he should,” Matteo muttered.
Matteo and I stared at each other for a while because we both knew it was the truth. Slowly Matteo lifted the blade but did not rest it. It was still there, still between us, still too close to my flesh.
“He trusts you,” I said.
Matteo lowered his gaze to the way he was still straddling me. My fear was beginning to fade, knowing that my words had reached him. I could have cried with relief.
Matthew’s mouth thinned. “This is betrayal. You are his.
I shouldn’t be here.”
He left me, and I sat up quickly and slid to the back of the bed. Matteo looked at me, a flash of regret crossed his face before it disappeared.
“We are monsters, Aria. Luca and me. We always have been. We always will be. Don’t make the mistake of forgetting that. Everyone thought it would break you , that you would kill yourself within a few weeks of marriage.
But here you are. The fact that Luke treats you the way he does is a gift you should cherish and not trample on.”
He turned to leave.
“I won’t tell him,” I hastened to say before he could open the door.
Matteo looked over his shoulder at me, his dark eyebrows furrowed. “You should tell him. What I did was wrong.”
“Yes, it was, but no, I won’t tell him,” I said, determined.
“I don’t want him to lose you.” And we both knew that would happen. Luca would try to kill Matteo for the day, and even if he failed, they would never be the same. Luca needed Matteo. I wasn’t going to take that away from him.
Matteo bowed his head. “I swear I will never threaten you again.” He did not wait for my answer; instead he slipped out and closed the door quietly.
I took a deep breath and put my hand over my pounding heart. My hands were shaking. My goodness.
I was still reeling from my encounter with Matthew when Luke returned later that night. I had stayed up reading to distract myself from all that had happened, but my mind kept going back. His eyes were still tight with anger and disappointment at what I had done when he had undressed and walked over to the bed. “Matthew is on his way to Amsterdam now. He may be gone for weeks or even months until he takes your sister,” he said in a strained voice.
My fingers on the book tightened at the mention of Matteo. “Did you see him before he went to the airport?”
“No, he was gone by the time I got back.”
I bit my lip, tempted to apologize to Luca, but I knew I would do it again, help Gianna, that is, and he knew it too. Luca slipped under the covers, his gray eyes hard as they scanned my face. I put the book down, my fingers still trembling slightly. They had not stopped since I had met Matteo.
Luca took my hand. He had obviously noticed. His eyes softened as he brought his fingers to his lips and kissed them. “I shouldn’t have been so hard on you today, but you put me in a fucking corner, Aria.”
“I know,” I said softly. “But I never wanted to betray you.
I love you, Luca.”
He leaned over, put his hand on my neck and pulled me toward him for a kiss. His tongue slid into my mouth as his other hand moved under my tank top, his fingertips moving up my ribs until they found my nipple, which hardened under his touch. He drew back. “I have to make it up to you for coming before you,” he grumbled, and I felt a trickle between my legs at the low timbre of his voice and the hunger in his eyes.
He helped me remove my tank top, then slid down my panties as his eyes left a possessive trail down my body. He lay down, grabbed my hips and lifted me onto my stomach.
“Ride my face, princess. I want to taste you.”
My body filled with desire as I crawled until I was positioned over his face. His hands came down on my hips and held me still, preventing me from lowering myself onto his mouth as my body wanted to do. His eyes fixed on my face, his tongue ran along my folds, slowly, touching just , not enough. He withdrew, smiling. “So wet for me.” I lowered my head to meet his gaze. I loved looking at him as he loved looking at me. There was nothing more arousing. He dipped the tip of his tongue between my folds and I pulled into his grip, but he still wouldn’t let me lower my body.
“Luca,” I gasped.
Again a long, slow lick to my clit, followed by a little thrust of the tip. A low moan escaped my lips, but I needed more.
“Patience,” Luca scratched against my hot flesh, then continued with his teasing strokes. I grabbed the headboard and surrendered to his sweet torture. With each stroke of his tongue, I became more and more aroused, and Luca smiled as he slid his tongue along my opening, making a low humming sound as he tasted me. And then finally, mercifully, his grip on my hips loosened. I sank down, pressing myself against his mouth. His lips closed on my clit and he sucked. I cried out and almost came, but I held back, wanting to prolong this sensation. His fingers kneaded my bottom as I moved against him. I wasn’t sure how long I would be able to hold back. I was getting there too fast. My fingers tightened, my back straightened, and then my body exploded with orgasm. I arched back and Luca held me still, against his mouth. I rocked forward, panting, wincing.
I watched through hooded eyes as his tongue guided me through my orgasm with slow licks. His eyes were filled with his own need, his hunger for me and a hint of anger. He drew back, then licked his upper lip. “Nothing like your juices in my mouth,” he murmured, and I shuddered at the remnants of my orgasm. “One more round,” he said before his mouth lifted again and he continued his treatment. I was still sensitive, but underneath it another orgasm was slowly developing. I leaned my head back against the headboard and allowed myself a few more moments to enjoy Luca’s gentle mouth. His fingers returned to my waist and he lifted me again until I was straddling his stomach before he stabbed himself and sat back against the headboard. I needed no encouragement. I positioned myself on his taut cock until the tip grazed my opening, then took him inch by inch until he filled me completely. We both moaned as our bodies joined. I leaned forward, my lips finding Luca’s mouth, tasting myself on him. I rotated my hips as our tongues slid calmly against each other.
The pleasure was growing inside me. I moved faster, deeper, grinding and rotating, and Luca’s hips surged up, meeting my thrust with his. I closed my eyes as he plunged deeper into me with each thrust. “So fucking gorgeous,” he growled as he pumped into me, and the corners of my mouth lifted, my eyelids opened . I pressed my palms against his muscular chest, one hand on his Family tattoo, on his heart.
“I will go wherever you go, no matter how dark the path,” I whispered .
His grip on my hips grew stronger, the tendons in his throat stiffened. He was close. His hand slid down my stomach, found my clit and pressed, and I came again, his orgasm coming a second later. I watched as his eyes closed, his lips parted. I loved the sight of him finding release. His arms wrapped around me and he pressed me against his chest, our bodies slick with sweat. I pressed my nose into the crook of his neck, inhaling his musky scent, hoping we were okay. His fingers slid down my spine, then up again, and ended up playing with my hair as he did so often. Matthew was right. I needed to cherish Luca’s love, his tenderness, his trust. It was not something he gave freely, or at all, and he always had enough for me.