LUCA In late October, Aria and I had been invited to dinner at Dante’s house two days before Liliana married Brasci. So far no one suspected anything, and I could only hope that it would stay that way on their wedding night.
It became obvious the moment we set foot in his house that Dante was not all that happy to have me in his home, and I could tell. His wife was pregnant and vulnerable, and somewhere in the house slept her helpless baby.
Although there was peace between us, that did not mean we trusted each other. Things had not exactly improved since the beginning of the truce. Apart from not attacking each other, we had hardly ever worked together in recent years, and if Liliana had failed to convince Brasci that she was a virgin, a war would have ensued.
Aria and I entered the lobby of the Cavallaro mansion, and my eyes quickly scanned our surroundings. Valentina was pregnant. She hugged Aria, then turned to me with a more restrained smile. She was a very controlled woman, not as much as Dante, of course, but no one was. Despite her restraint, she could not hide her discomfort with me. I kissed her hand, sparing her the decision whether to hug me or not. From the way that little kiss had already strained Dante, it was better that I had not hugged her.
My eyes shifted to Aria. If she had been pregnant, I would not have wanted Dante near her, but Aria was not, and I was glad. Life was too dangerous at that moment, and I really wasn’t cut out to be a father.
“It’s a pleasure to have you here for dinner,” Valentina said with a small smile. Dante tilted his head, but his eyes conveyed a very different message. My grip on Aria’s hand tightened as we followed them into the dining room and sat around the set table. Dante and I sat across from each other and my muscles stiffened at his expression.
“Your sister will make a wonderful bride,” Valentina said, trying to break the tense silence.
“Perhaps it will distract from the fact that she was given to an old man as a piece of meat,” Aria said with a sharp look at Dante.
I squeezed her hand to warn her, but she did not look away from Dante. Neither did I because I wanted to make sure I knew when I should draw my gun.
“Your father wants the best for…”
“For himself,” interrupted Aria Dante and I strengthened my grip. She grimaced but did not stop. “After all, he got a child bride in exchange for selling my sister.”
“Aria, that’s enough.” My voice was as sharp as a whip.
His eyes finally found me. If we were alone, he might have stood up to me, but we were in a room with Dante and he knew I had to show strength in front of him.
He reluctantly lowered his eyes, swallowing hard. After a moment, he turned back to Dante. “I’m sorry. I meant no disrespect.”
Dante nodded abruptly. The waitresses showed up with the food not a second too late. We made it through the rest of dinner without further incident, and Val and Aria soon engaged in a relaxed conversation about southern Italy, which Dante and I could join without the risk of further conflict.
My cell phone vibrated in my pocket and I pulled it out, risking looking down. It was Matteo. I lifted my phone. “I have to get it,” I said as I got up from my chair and walked out of the dining room and into the hall. Dante’s eyes followed me. He obviously didn’t like the idea of me walking through his house alone, but he had no reason to worry. If I had been up to something sneaky, I would not have left Aria alone at a table with him.
“Matthew? What is it?”
“I’m worried about Romero. He seems to be losing his mind. I’m not sure it was a good idea to bring him to Chicago with us.”
I sighed. “I know. Just make sure he doesn’t do something stupid.”
“I’m not sure I’m the right man for the job.”
“I don’t give a shit,” I muttered quietly. “I’m busy here.”
I hung up, wanting to get back to Aria. The fact that she was alone with Dante and Val didn’t sit well with me.
The movement on the stairs made me stiffen and turn to face the source, my body going into a state of high alert. I stopped with my hand on the gun, then slowly lowered it when I saw a tiny little girl on the second-to-last step. Dante’s daughter, Anna.
“Where are Mom and Dad?” she whispered.
“In the dining room,” I said without moving. Her green eyes peered at me from head to toe, and I hoped she wouldn’t start crying. I didn’t think Dante would wait for an explanation before trying to shoot me, and I couldn’t wait to kill him in front of his son.
“Who are you?” he said in an accusatory tone and I had to stifle a laugh.
“I am the husband of your godmother Aria.”
A smile spread across the girl’s face and she staggered forward. I moved without thinking and stopped her fall by encircling her body with my arm and lifting her up. She did not cry as I expected. Instead she wrapped her arms around my neck. “Is Aria with Mom and Dad?”
I nodded as I tried to put her back down, but she clung to me. “No!” she protested. “Take me to Aria!”
I lowered my gaze to the girl. “Is that an order?”
She nodded abruptly.
Sighing, I held her close to me with one arm as I walked back to the dining room. Dante wouldn’t have liked it, but if she started crying because I wasn’t doing what she wanted , things would have gotten even worse.
The moment I entered the dining room with the girl, Dante stood up and his eyes would have scared most people away. “She came down the stairs and wanted me to take her to Aria,” I said firmly. I could tell Dante was protective.
Fuck, I probably would have put a bullet in his head if our positions had been reversed.
Aria stood up, probably to go to me, but Dante shook his head and she froze.
The fury went through me and I really struggled to control it. I untied Anna’s arms and put her down.
“Thank you,” she said with a huge smile before she started running toward Aria, oblivious to the tension in the room.
Valentina grabbed Dante’s arm and pulled until she finally let herself fall back into the chair. Anna jumped on Aria, who clutched the girl to her chest and kissed her cheek. Aria looked fucking ecstatic with the little girl in her arms.
I slowly approached the table, still wary of Dante, and her eyes told me she shared the feeling. Aria gave me a meaningful look.
“Dante, perhaps now would be a good time to talk privately,” I said in a civil tone.
Dante nodded abruptly and stood up.
Val touched his forearm briefly, and I caught the warning in his look. Aria was also pleading with her eyes to hold me together.
Dante and I left the room and he led me into the garden. The cold helped me clear my head. “I know you don’t like me with your wife and child,” I said. “And I don’t like you with Aria either.”
Dante tilted his head. “We are at peace, but in the past that has not always prevented accidents.”
He was probably referring to the truce between the Family, the Camorra and the Outfit that had been broken by the Camorra with the murder of the Outfit Boss’s wife. It had happened sixty years earlier, but some things had been remembered.
“We are both honorable men, Dante. You don’t like me and I don’t like you, but I can assure you that your wife and children are safe from me. I don’t prey on the weak.”
Dante turned a closed-lipped smile on me. “Will that still be the case if the truce is ever broken between us?”
“I could ask you the same thing: Would Aria be safe if there was a war between us?”
Dante said nothing because we both knew that war was an unpredictable beast. “She would be safe from certain things in my territory even in wartime. No woman, enemy or otherwise, will ever have to fear rape in my territory.”
“This is something I can guarantee.”
Neither of us added anything else because there was really nothing more to say. I knew that the voices in the Outfit that wanted to call off the truce had grown louder, as in the Family. It was an old hatred that had only been buried, but not forgotten.
I had attended countless weddings since my youth.
They had all been strained to some degree, as expected of arranged marriages, but Scuderi’s marriage to the girl Brasci was the ultimate. The girl was younger than Aria and Aria’s father was over fifty years old. It was sick even by our standards. But that alone would not have made me tense. No, it was all about Romero and Lily. They had both left after the ceremony. It didn’t take a genius to guess what they were doing. To hell with them. He was supposed to marry Brasci tomorrow!
“I don’t understand. He’s younger than two of his daughters,” I said with a nod toward Scuderi and his too-young wife. He was smiling from head to toe. No wonder. He could have popped a girl’s cherry 30 years younger than him.
“Some traditions are harder to change than others,” Dante said, but I caught a hint of disapproval of his counselor’s choice. We were back to being civilized, at least in front of our assembled men. It would not have been right to send them the wrong message. Brasci and Scuderi had taken the ‘deal and, as I knew very well, a Chief’s influence on family matters was very limited.
“I’m glad Valentina is about my age. It makes it easier to find topics of discussion,” Dante said.
I nodded. He had married a woman who had been married before. This had broken with tradition, but it was his choice. He could not impose the same choice on others. If it was just my choice, I would have broken the tradition of the bloody sheets long ago, but I had a family I needed to appease. Chief or not, I needed their support. Ruling the East Coast was not a one-man show.
His attention shifted beyond me to a little girl, maybe twelve or thirteen, with the same blond hair as Dante. I had often wondered why the Outfit had so many blondes. Perhaps it was because many of the families were from Genoa and Bologna, in northern Italy. The girl approached us. She held herself with surprising pride for one so young, but she did not meet my gaze; she only made a brief bow before turning to Dante.
“Mom told me to come see you for a dance,” she said in a rhythmic voice. Her eyes flicked to me, her cheeks flushed. This was to be one of her first social events. It was obvious that she was not used to males who did not belong to her family. And I knew why they had sent her there-Dante’s sister had probably picked up on the underlying tension between her brother and me.
Dante put a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “This is my niece, Serafina,” he introduced her. His voice was visibly protective. She straightened her shoulders and met my gaze. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.”
I shook my head. “I’m not that old.”
Dante squinted his eyes and I had to hold back a smirk. His family was very strict about proper behavior, but that proper appearance was a facade and we both knew it. Dante harbored the same demons as I did. “If you will excuse us.” He did not wait for my answer; instead, he led the girl away and danced with her.
I turned and saw Romero heading toward Lily. Hadn’t he done enough? If they had both disappeared from the wedding twice together, things would have looked really fucking bad. It was a meeting I could not allow , not in front of the assembled Outfit. I pushed forward and reached Lily first.
“Dance with me,” I ordered. It was not the way I usually asked a woman to dance, but I was already losing my fucking patience again. Her eyes grew wide but she took my hand.
I led her to a less crowded part of the dance floor before pulling her against me, closer than I should have, but I didn’t want people to overhear our conversation.
She was tense in my grip, and a slight blush covered her cheeks. Was she embarrassed because I knew what she had done? I wouldn’t have cared that she had fucked before her wedding if it wasn’t one of my soldiers she had chosen to dishonor her. That was a fucking problem, my fucking problem. “Do you still want to go through with this marriage? You and Romero have been away for a while.”
“Yes. I’ll marry Benito, don’t worry,” she said softly, but her body stiffened in my grip. She was frightened. Her face somewhat resembled Aria’s, and they both twisted their lower lips in the same way when they were anxious. Damn .
“You don’t have to stay married to him forever,” I said because I knew Aria would not stop worrying for a second as long as Lily was married to Brasci.
Lily shook her head slightly, her eyes meeting mine. “Dad would never accept a divorce.”
She was right. Scuderi had never given a damn about his daughters’ happiness. To him they were something he could bargain over, an asset he could use to his advantage. If he had been a good father, he would never have agreed to let Aria marry me. My reputation preceded me and could not make him doubt that I would destroy his daughter.
“There are other ways to get out of a marriage besides divorce.
Sometimes people die,” I said, but Lily’s response made it clear that she had missed my point.
“It’s not that old.”
I arched an eyebrow. “Sometimes people die anyway.”
She staggered in her steps but I kept her going. She had to work on her poker face. “Why can’t he die before my wedding?” she asked, her eyes pleading with me, but I couldn’t make it even for Aria. If I had let Romero kill Brasci, which he would have gladly done, as could be seen from the death glances he gave the old fucker every time he felt unnoticed, there would have been war.
“It would look suspicious. Just wait a few months. Time will pass quickly, trust me.”
He shuddered against me. ” Then Romero won’t want me anymore.”
I couldn’t argue. I wasn’t sure Romero would want Lily after Brasci had been fucking her for months. That was a hard thing to swallow. If he loved her, he could have ignored her, but I did not know the extent of his feelings. I doubted he would take Lily’s virginity if he did not have feelings for her. Romero was too honorable for that, but sometimes feelings changed. “There are also good men in the Outfit. You will find a new happiness. You are doing the right thing by marrying Benito. You are preventing the war and you are protecting Romero from himself. It’s a brave thing to do,” I told her.
It was of no consolation to her, and I knew it, but I was the Head of the Family, and Lily was not mine to protect, although the thought did not sit well with me.
She did not deserve that fate, but in our lives we were often dealt shitty cards.
I took her back to her table. Aria met my gaze from where she was standing against the wall, deep in conversation with Valentina.
Something in my expression must have shown Aria that I had not changed my mind about her sister and Romero.
I could not risk everything for their feelings.
Romero had gone against my direct orders by going after Lily. The fact that I had not punished him harshly was already more than others would receive from me in return.
Aria’s face was filled with resignation and disappointment.
She would no longer try to argue with me, but I knew she did not like my decision. After her initial apology for keeping everything from me, she had tried to convince me to help her sister, but when I refused she had backed down. She had gone back and I had not made a move to smooth things over between us. After all, I was the one who had reason to be angry.
“You and Aria have been married longer than Dante and Valentina, yet I am on my second child and Aria is not yet pregnant,” Scuderi said abruptly as he approached me. We had been married for more than four years and I knew that people in the Family wondered when Aria would finally become pregnant, but I had no intention of becoming a father anytime soon. I liked having Aria all to myself, and she was still young, only twenty-two years old. We had plenty of time.
I looked at him with half-closed eyes. “That’s none of your business. Now you should worry about your new wife.”
“She will be pregnant before Aria, I can guarantee it, ” Scuderi said with a disgusted look at his wife, who was standing among girls her own age.
Outfit soldiers I did not know joined us, and I used the excuse to leave. I would have cut Scuderi’s tongue out if I had spoken to him a moment longer. It was none of his or anyone else’s business when, and if, Aria and I decided it was time to start a family. My father had been a fucking nightmare and I wasn’t sure he hadn’t infected me . I wasn’t sure I wanted to subject children to that kind of thing. Eventually, I might need to produce an heir, but certainly not anytime soon.
ARIA Lily was a sight to behold in her wedding dress, a sight that broke my heart because she was not allowed to marry the man she loved. “You look beautiful,” I said as I adjusted the veil on her shoulders. Her face reflected misery as she met my gaze in the mirror. I had felt the same way on my wedding day, I was terrified and hopeless, but unlike Lily I did not have someone I wanted to marry instead. Lily’s marriage would not turn out to be a blessing in disguise like my marriage to Luca. There were no words of consolation I could offer my sister that did not ring false.
“This is crap,” Gianna muttered. She touched Lily’s shoulder. “Lily, get out of here. Let us help you.
What’s the point of being married to the Chief and Family Adviser if we can’t force them to start a war over our little sister? You will be miserable.”
Gianna knew that I had tried everything I could to convince Luke, and had not stopped pestering Matthew about it , but in vain. I could no longer go behind Luca’s back, not when he was still hurt because I had kept Lily’s relationship with Romero a secret. It was so hard to take care of my family the way I wanted to and not go against Luca.
“Luca said I could get rid of Benito in a few months, when he no longer looked suspicious,” Lily whispered. A few months? Just the idea of having to endure Brasci’s touch sent shivers of disgust down my spine, and I knew Lily felt the same.
Gianna huffed, “Oh, sure, and until then? My God, could Luca be even more of an asshole?”
Luca was Chief. He was willing to put me before the Family, but that was it. He would not help Lily, no matter how much I begged him.
“Are you and Luca still fighting?” asked Lily.
“I wouldn’t call it fighting. We are basically ignoring each other. He’s mad at me because I kept you and Romero from him, and I’m mad at him because he made you marry Brasci.” Although ignoring was not quite right. We talked and slept together, but there was a barrier between us, an invisible wall of disappointment and pain.
“He’s not forcing me, Aria. My father does. Luca is acting like a Leader should. I am not his responsibility, but the Family is.”
I knew he was right, but I didn’t like it. I didn’t like that we women always had to pay the price so that men could stay in power.
“My goodness, Romero has really infected you. Please tell me you don’t really believe what you just said,” Gianna said.
“I don’t want you to risk everything for me.”
Gianna patted her forehead in exasperation. “We want to risk it for you. But you have to leave us.”
I wasn’t sure what to do if Lily said yes. I had to tell Luca if we helped Lily escape. I was too scared to lose him completely.
Someone knocked and a moment later, Maria, the girl my father had married, peeped in. “You have to get out now.”
She disappeared without another word. I shuddered when I thought that my father had married a girl Lily’s age. It was wrong.
“I can’t believe my father is married to her,” Gianna said, echoing my thoughts. “I don’t like it, but I still feel sorry for her. My father is a bastard.”
Lily pulled her veil down over her face. “We should go now.”
“Lily,” I began, not even sure what I wanted to say to her, how to improve the situation; but before I could say another word, she straightened her back, blinked, and headed for the door. Outside, our father was already waiting to walk her down the aisle. I gave him a grim look. The days of feeling respect or even fear toward him were over.
He was the root of our misery, and for that I would never forgive him .