Seven months later, LUCA “The Outfit has increased the production of LSD and ecstasy, and some of their stuff ends up in our territory. I don’t think it’s an accident,” I muttered, pointing to the e-mail Durant had sent me. Pittsburgh constituted the westernmost part of our territory, and he had pointed out the inconsistencies. Romero and Matteo nodded as they stared at my laptop.
Aria’s phone rang and I looked to where it was curved on her books in the corner of my office in the Sphere. She had had to switch from going to college to online accounting courses. Things were simply too tense with Bratva and the pesky fucking MCs to risk it.
He grabbed his cell phone and I was about to return my attention to the laptop when his face turned white. I got up slowly.
“We’ll be there as soon as possible, Lily.”
Romero stiffened at my side when I heard Aria’s sister mentioned, and I gave him a sharp look before approaching Aria, who sat motionless on the couch. I crouched in front of her and her tear-filled eyes met mine.
“Your mother?” I guessed. Ludevica Scuderi had been fighting a losing battle with cancer for months now.
“She’s dying. It won’t be long.” Aria swallowed, struggling to pull herself together.
“We’ll get there right away,” I said, then turned to Romero. “Get everything ready. I need you to come with us. Someone needs to watch Gianna while I keep an eye on Aria.”
Matteo arched a dark eyebrow.
“You need to stay here to take care of business, and we both know you will end up killing Scuderi if you meet him.”
“If he hurts Gianna…”
I raised a hand. “He won’t. I’ll make sure of it, don’t worry.”
Gianna and her father clashed the moment they met. I understood that Scuderi would have beaten her if I hadn’t been there. But even their constant fighting didn’t bother me as much as the looks Romero gave Liliana whenever he thought no one was paying attention to her. He was like her constant shadow in the days leading up to her mother’s death, and even at the funeral. If I had not been busy consoling Aria, I might have realized where her attention would take me.
ARIA Lily spent the summer with us in New York after my mother’s death, and I was glad to have her around, especially since she lost that disconsolate air after a while.
She went back to being the life-affirming sister I knew. I should have known Romero was the reason, but I had ignored all the signs, hoping I was wrong, until reality slapped me in the face one day during our vacation at our Hamptons mansion.
Luke and I were headed to lunch at a small bistro nearby when he had gotten a call about an accident with the Bratva and had had to leave for town without me. I went back to the villa to ask my sister if she wanted to join me for lunch. “Lily, I…” I froze when I saw Romero on top of Lily on the couch, his hand tucked under her shirt. Romero pulled back sharply, his arms draped in front of his groin area, but I had seen the bulge.
I closed the door, glad Luca wasn’t there to see it.
Lily quickly tried to smooth her hair, but there was nothing she could do about her swollen lips. “This is not what it looks like,” she said.
I raised my eyebrows and then cast a furious glance at Romero. He had the decency to look guilty, as he should have. “That’s why I didn’t want you alone with her, Romero. I knew this would happen!”
“You make it sound like you had nothing to do with it. “It wasn’t just Romero’s doing,” muttered Lily, but I could only look at Romero. He was a man. One girl more or less meant nothing, but for Lily to be caught with a man before marriage would be her undoing. She knew.
“Why did you come back anyway? Shouldn’t you be having lunch with your husband?” asked Lily.
I couldn’t believe it. Didn’t he realize what kind of situation he was in? What kind of situation was I in because I had caught them? “Are you blaming me for this? Luca got a call that there was trouble in one of the clubs. Something with one of the Russian underbosses, so he left me in the driveway and headed straight to New York. You’re lucky he didn’t show up.”
“If you tell Luca…” began Romero, as if I didn’t know what would happen if Luca found out that Romero had touched the daughter of the Outfit Adviser, as if I didn’t know what would happen to Romero because he had transgressed Luca’s direct orders.
“I won’t tell him,” I said angrily. “I know what he will have to do if I do.”
Romero helped Lily up, and the look they exchanged tore at my heart because I knew they could not be together. Romero met my gaze. “He is your husband. You owe him the truth.”
My insides turned because he was right, but he also knew I could not tell Luca. He knew I could not condemn both him and Lily. And more than that, I could not put Luca in that baggage . His family and Bratva were still giving him enough trouble; he didn’t need the burden of having to decide what to do about Romero. Luca liked Romero; he esteemed him as his best soldier. If he found out what Romero had done, he would be faced with a decision I did not want to burden him with.
Although I warned them to stay away from each other, I knew it was too late for that, but I had to hope that things would miraculously work themselves out.
A few weeks later, after Father had called Lily back to Chicago, things really took a turn for the worse.
The screams made me look up from the folders with the Pergola’s falsified earnings for the past few months. Luca leapt up from his chair and stormed out of the office. I followed him closely.
Romero was punching one of the other soldiers.
“Hey! What’s going on here?” growled Luca. He grabbed Romero’s arms and pulled them behind his back. “Romero, what the hell are you doing? Calm the fuck down.”
Matthew knelt beside the wounded soldier, who was bleeding from a head wound and nose. My fingers on the folders with the fake books tightened. If Romero was so agitated, it could only mean one thing: Lily.
Matthew helped the soldier up and dismissed him, but I hardly paid attention.
I approached Romero. “Did something happen to Lily?”
“You can let me go now,” he said to Luke, who let him go, then turned his half-closed eyes toward me.
“Why would Romero know if something was wrong with Lily?” asked Luca cautiously.
I said nothing, keeping my eyes fixed on Romero, but Luca’s eyes remained fixed on me. “Your father arranged a marriage with Benito Brasci for her,” Romero murmured.
I remained breathless. “What? He never said he was looking for a husband for her!” I cast a glance at Luca. “Or did she say anything to you?”
Luca’s expression was stony. “No, he didn’t say that. But right now I’m more worried about Romero knowing before anyone else does, and almost killing one of my men because of it.”
“Lily and I dated over the ‘summer,'” Romero said, and my stomach jumped. Now that he had admitted it, Luca would realize I was involved.
Matteo let out a low whistle.
Luca moved closer to Romero’s face. “Didn’t you tell me a little while ago that you weren’t interested in her? That there wouldn’t be any fucking problems when she was around? I remember that conversation damn well, and now you’re fucking telling me that you’ve been seeing Liliana behind my back all summer?”
Luca looked homicidal. I touched his arm and positioned myself halfway between them. “Luca, please don’t get mad at Romero. He and Lily didn’t mean any harm. They fell in love . It just happened.”
“And you knew from the beginning?” muttered Luca. “You knew and you didn’t tell me? Didn’t we talk about loyalty and trust when you helped Gianna escape?”
I blanched. He was right. For him it was a betrayal if I kept things like that from him, and it’s not like I didn’t know . “They are my sisters.”
“And I’m your fucking husband.”
“Luca, he didn’t mean-” Romero began.
Luca pointed his fingers at his chest. “Stay the fuck out of this. You’re lucky I’m not putting a bullet in your head right now for transgressing my orders.”
“Hey, calm down, Luca. Maybe it’s not as bad as it looks ,” Matteo said, surprising me. He was usually the one to throw gasoline on the fire.
“Oh, I suspect it’s exactly as bad as I think,” Luca murmured. His eyes were fixed on Romero. “Just tell me this: are we going to be in trouble on Liliana’s wedding night?”
“Lily is not marrying that guy. Isn’t he over 50 years old? That’s ridiculous,” I said.
“Over fifty years old and a lousy piece of shit,” Matteo added.
Luca cast a grim look at Romero. “Are we going to have fucking trouble on our wedding night?”
“I slept with Lily,” he said calmly. I shuddered at his admission.
Luca cursed. “Why couldn’t you keep your dick in your pants? Couldn’t you at least put a limit on actually fucking her?”
“I don’t regret it,” Romero said. “Now less than ever.”
“This is a fucking mess. Do you realize what happens if Benito Brasci finds out his wife is not a virgin? Scuderi will find out it happened in New York and we’ll be screwed.”
“I don’t think there will be any problems.
I was once standing next to Brasci at the urinal. The guy’s dick is tiny. You can’t expect there to be blood on the sheets with that little sausage. Liliana probably won’t even notice his cock inside her,” Matteo joked.
Romero threw himself at Matteo.
Against Matteo. They faced each other, knives pointed at each other.
“Enough!” roared Luca, pushing them away. ” I will cut you down like rabid dogs if you do not recover this very instant.”
“He started it,” Matteo said. He had that glint in his eyes. That glint that reminded me of what he was. What both Luke and he were. Sometimes it was easy to forget when we were sitting around the dining table like a normal family.
“You provoked him,” I said. “What you said was horrible.”
Matthew rolled his eyes. “My God, I was trying to lighten the mood.”
“You failed,” Luca said coldly. “Now put the knives away.
Both of them.”
Romero sheathed the knife and Matteo did the same.
“I shouldn’t have attacked you,” Romero finally said.
Matteo nodded. “Sometimes I should keep my mouth shut .”
“But she’s not pregnant, is she?” asked Luca after a moment.
Romero shook his head.
“Then maybe we’ll get out of this unscathed. Brasci might not notice, and there are ways to fake bloodstains on the sheets,” Luca said. He did not look at me, although I imagined he was thinking about our wedding night, how he had bled for me, and now I had kept a secret from him again. I knew he didn’t always tell me everything that happened in the Family, but that was different. He kept secrets to protect me from the horrors of his world. I kept secrets to protect my sisters.
“She will not marry that man,” Romero said.
Luca raised his eyebrows. “Oh, aren’t you? Are you thinking of stopping Scuderi? Maybe kidnap Lily and marry her?”
It was clear that Romero was intent on risking a conflict with Luca. Romero, who had always been loyal, who was Luca’s best soldier. All because of Lily. He had to love her.
I touched Luca’s arm. “Luca, please. Can’t you talk to my father?”
“Talk to him and tell him what?” Luca growled, his gray eyes hard as they settled on me. “That my best soldier fucked his daughter and wants her all to himself? That I broke my oath to protect Liliana, who lost her fucking honor?
That’s going to fucking go down well.”
“No, but you could tell him that Gianna and I want our sister in New York with us and ask him if he wouldn’t consider marrying her off to someone in the Family. You wouldn’t have to tell him right away to whom. It would give us time to figure something out.”
“I can’t get involved. It’s none of my business. And if your father has already promised Liliana to Brasci, he won’t change his mind. It would look bad and offend Brasci.”
“But we must do something!” I pleaded, tightening my grip.
“I won’t go to war over this!” roared Luca in response, shaking off my hands as he took a step back.
I fell silent, stunned by his fierce anger. It was directed not only at Romero, but also at me.
“Fuck!” he growled and walked slowly back to his office.
I followed Luca. Since I had started working on the books, I often worked at Luca’s desk when he was out or even when he was around. I closed the door. Luca sat in his desk chair and looked at me with a frown.
I hesitated in the center of the room as I confronted his fury again.
“I thought we agreed that you would no longer keep secrets from me. Not after what happened with Gianna. Do you remember the promise you made to me?”
I remembered. I moved around the desk and stopped in front of Luca. “Yes. I hoped things would work themselves out. I just wanted Lily to be happy. Romero and her are in love. It’s something wonderful. Something I didn’t want destroyed.” I slipped between his legs and rested my palms on his chest as he leaned back in his chair to scan my face.
“Destroyed by me?”
“You are Chief. You would have stopped Romero from courting Lily. You have to put Family first, but I don’t.”
He straightened so that our faces were at the same level. His eyes were fierce. “You should put our marriage first. And when have I ever put the Family before you? I should, heck, I shouldn’t even consider you when I make decisions involving Family, but I always do and you know it.”
“I know,” I whispered. “Am I not allowed to have secrets? I didn’t want to burden you with everything else that’s going on, and I didn’t think she would have to get married so soon.”
“When it comes to your brothers, you never think things through. You’re too emotional.”
“You would keep a secret for Matthew, wouldn’t you?”
“Don’t turn this against me,” he said softly.
I ran my hand over his neck and through his dark hair.
He didn’t relax under my touch, but he didn’t retract either, which I took as a good sign. “Everyone has secrets.
I would never keep anything about our relationship from you.”
“Are you sure you can draw a line?” asked Luca.
I sighed. “I’m sorry, Luca. That’s all I can say. We’ll find a way out of this mess.”
“Your sister will marry Brasci and pretend to be a virgin.
That’s all there is to it. We won’t find out anything.”
Luca’s voice would not tolerate argument, but the idea of letting Lily take the blame did not sit well with me.
“We can’t let her marry that man.”
“You married a man you feared because it was for the sake of the Outfit, Gianna married a man she didn’t want, and now your sister Lily will have to do the same.”
“It’s not the same thing. We are almost the same age and so are Gianna and Matthew, and you and Matthew are not sadistic with women.”
“But you didn’t know that before you married me, Aria.
You feared me like the devil, gasped at my touch, expected me to rape and beat you, and yet you said yes.
You did what was expected because you know the rules of our world, and even your sister Gianna accepted her fate after that one incident. You cannot protect Lily from this world.”
I pressed my forehead against hers. “I feared you, but you proved me wrong. You gave me a gift I thought impossible in our world,” I whispered. Luke’s eyes were sharp and sweeter than before, but a tinge of anger remained. ” You gave me a gift of love and tenderness, and there are no words to express how grateful I feel. I know that both of these things are rare in our world, and I don’t want you to think that I take your love or trust for granted, because I don’t. I know it is an honor that you are like this with me.”
I remained silent, and Luke said nothing either, but his hands came to my waist, the touch light. I took his hand and kissed the scar in his palm. “I am thankful that these hands always treat me with care when they had to perform so many violent actions.”
Luke pulled me closer, his lips found mine, before he withdrew again and murmured, “I’m still angry with you, but I appreciate what you said.”
I nodded. I knew he would forgive me because deep down he understood that I had not gone against him. I had only acted out of concern for my sister.