ARIA Luca was still tense with me, had been since he found out I knew about Lily and Romero, and I hadn’t told him. Since Dante Cavallaro had declared war on us over it, Luca’s mood had not improved.
He would never raise his hands to me or insult me, but he was colder than usual. He sought me out at night, still made love to me, but there was a barrier between us. I wasn’t sure how to break it down again.
After we returned to our penthouse after Lily and Romero’s wedding, I pressed a hand to his chest, to his heart, looking into his gray, wary eyes. “Luca, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Romero and Lily. Please don’t be angry . I can’t stand it. I need you. I love you. I just wanted to protect Lily, not betray you.”
Her eyes softened slightly. “And I need to protect the Family and you, but it will be harder now that we are at war with the Outfit. We have the Russians and the Outfit against us, and then there is the Camorra in Las Vegas. If they decide to attack us too, or God forbid they cooperate with the Outfit, we’ll be in trouble.”
I shudder. “Is that a real possibility of that happening?”
“The Camorra is not very strong at the moment, but things can change.”
Since I started working on the books for the Family, I was more involved in business, but Luca still made sure I could only experience a small amount of evil.
“But most of your people don’t blame you for breaking the truce with the Outfit, right? They are loyal to you because you are strong and capable.”
Luca smiled darkly. “They want war, but they don’t like it because Dante declared war on us. And even the fact that I made Romero captain was not well received. It’s still mostly just my uncles who are causing trouble, but if my other Subchiefs decide to side with them, I’ll have to unleash a series of murders I’m looking forward to.”
I shuddered. “Be careful.”
Six weeks had passed since the declaration of war; six weeks of silence from Chicago, from Fabi.
I worried about him; I couldn’t stop worrying.
My mind buzzed as I decorated the Christmas tree in the huge living room of our mansion with Lily and Gianna.
We were going to spend most of the Christmas season in the Hamptons this year. Luca wanted us to get out of New York. The situation was tense there at the time because everyone feared retaliation from Dante and the Outfit.
It was only the beginning of December, but I hoped the Christmas decorations would lift our spirits.
Gianna cast me a sidelong glance. “You are very quiet.”
I sighed. “I’m worried about Fabi. Now that I can’t talk to Val anymore, we have no way to find out how she is .”
“Val said they believed his story and won’t punish him.
He will be fine,” Gianna said firmly. I wondered if she really believed what she was saying.
“We don’t know. This happened more than a month ago.
I hate that he has to celebrate Christmas without us. In the past we could at least visit him in Chicago, but this year he will be all alone with Dad and his new wife.”
Dad had never been kind to Fabi, and now that he had a new wife, a young wife who might give birth to more heirs, I feared he would be even less inclined to be kind to my little brother.
“Fabi is about to be introduced into the Outfit; celebrating Christmas without us is the least of his problems,” Gianna said. She seemed so … indifferent to the whole thing. Maybe it was because Fabi was a boy. He thought men in our world were born with blood on their hands.
“He’s still just a boy. And we couldn’t even congratulate him on his birthday.” He had turned 13 a couple of weeks earlier and I had not been allowed to talk to him or send him a gift. My heart tightened just thinking about it.
Lily said nothing. She still blamed herself for everything. I knew she was happy as Romero’s wife. You could see it every time she looked at him, but sometimes she tried to hide her happiness from us as if that would make our situation better.
Gianna shook her head. “Aria, you have to accept what you cannot change. You have to stop, and I can’t believe I’m actually saying this, you have to stop going against Luca’s orders.”
I blinked. “You say that? You ran away and I helped you.”
“I know. But now I’m here married to Matteo, part of the Vitiello clan, and unlike you, I know exactly what kind of man my husband is. But you keep forgetting who Luca is.”
“Who is he?” I challenged her, turning to look at her with half-closed eyes. It had been a while since Gianna and I had argued , but we had all been tense these past few weeks.
“A Chief. A monster. A murderer.”
“Matthew, too,” I interrupted her. “And you keep ignoring his orders. You keep provoking him.”
“It’s a game between us, Aria. But Luca doesn’t play . He is the Chief of the East. And because of you his territory is threatened. He will do anything to remain Chief. It is in his blood. In the end, if he has to choose between you and power, he will choose power.”
The air rushed out of my lungs. Tears of anger were gathering in my eyes.
Lily stood between us. “Hey, stop that.”
I dodged Lily and approached Gianna, meeting her straight gaze.
I heard the men enter, but paid no attention to them .
LUCA “Dante will take his time before attacking. He’s a man of plans,” Matthew said again, as if I didn’t know.
The problem was that I did not know when he would attack. I could only hope that Horatio, as Dante’s brother-in-law, would be involved in any plan from the beginning and warn us early enough.
“Oh, for God’s sake, don’t look at me like that!”
cried Gianna.
My eyes found Aria and Gianna facing each other as if they were about to attack at any moment.
“We can’t all be as selfish as you, Gianna,” Aria hissed.
Matteo threw me a look as if I knew what was going on.
They were usually inseparable. And I had never heard Aria talk like that to her sister.
Gianna laughed. “At least I’m not stupid or suicidal.”
“No, suicidal, it’s not you. You always make sure your back is covered even if it means others get hurt.”
Gianna paled. I wasn’t sure if Aria was referring to Matthew’s car accident or something else, but whatever it was, it struck a chord. “At least I fought against this lifestyle, while you were happy to be sold to Luca like a fucking whore.”
Silence.
Aria left furiously, and I followed her. Matteo would take care of his wife. I found Aria in our bedroom, looking out the window, her body trembling. I put my hands on her shoulders. “What’s going on with you and Gianna?”
“She’s being a bitch,” Aria said in a trembling voice.
“It’s her natural disposition.”
Aria let out a choked laugh and turned to me. I ran my hands through her hair and she leaned in for the touch. “If there’s a whore, it’s her.”
Aria rippled her lips. “She didn’t mean it.”
I giggled. “Have you come back to defend her yet?”
Aria’s eyes flickered with desire and her hands slid down my chest to my belt. Her gaze locked on mine, she began to unbuckle my belt. “I need you,” she whispered. They didn’t have it repeated twice. I pulled her dress over her head as Aria fumbled with my pants. When my cock was finally free, I wrapped one arm around her back and grabbed her thigh with the other, then lifted her up. She gasped as I lowered her onto my cock, her muscles tense around me.
Leaning her back against the wall, I kissed her hard until she melted around me before I began to slam her inside.
I had tried to stay mad at her for keeping Romero’s relationship with Lily from me, but I couldn’t. The moment I saw her eyes so full of fucking love my heart softened. Fuck, my dark, cruel heart always went soft for that woman.
I lowered my mouth to her throat and bit her lightly, sucking the skin into my mouth, branding her. Mine. Always fucking mine.
Aria screamed when I hit her G-spot and my testicles twitched at the sound. “Yes,” I growled before sucking one of her nipples into my mouth. Aria arched up and I slammed even harder into her. Her fingers dug into my shoulders as I fucked her against the wall.
“Luca!” she cried out as her walls tightened hard, her sleek neck again exposed before me. I scored another point and her spasm intensified, her nails scratched my skin, and I came with a violent shudder. I pressed my forehead against the cold wall as Aria buried her face in the hollow of my neck.
Without pulling away from her, I carried her to our bed and laid us on it, me on top of her. She wrapped her arms around me tightly as if she was worried that I would disappear.
I kissed her, my eyebrows furrowed in melancholy on her face, but then she opened her eyes and gave me a small smile. “Are we okay?”
I nodded, wondering why he was asking again. “I’m not mad at you, Aria. You can’t help being like I can’t help being like me.” He needed to help others, especially his brothers. I understood that. If she could accept my darkness, I could try to accept that she occasionally acted out of concern for her brothers. I didn’t like it, though.
Aria pressed her face to my chest and inhaled deeply . She was emotional, even by her standards.
Perhaps she had picked up on my own concerns. And things would only get worse. After three days I had a meeting with my Captains and Sub-Captains, and I had a feeling that Uncle Gotthard was going to shoot at me again. I wasn’t sure how much to share with Aria, and I decided to keep information to a minimum for now, until she was back to her old self.
ARIA Regret weighed heavily on my shoulders. Regret for collapsing in front of Luca at such a crucial moment.
He needed me to be strong for him. And regret for my fight with Gianna that morning. We had not spoken since then, not even during dinner, and it was beginning to bother me , but I was too proud to make the first move.
Maybe I would try tomorrow after a night’s sleep had calmed us down. Luca was in the shower. He was due to leave for New York early the next morning and would probably not be back for several days. He had a meeting with the Family, that was all he would tell me, because he was worried about my emotionality.
Sighing, I reached for my anti-baby pill in the drawer, shuddering when I realized that I had forgotten to take it the day before, again. I had also skipped a few pills in recent months. I lay still with the packet in my hand, counting the days since my last period, but I couldn’t remember. I had been period-free before, in the months before my marriage to Luca, because my body did not tolerate stress and fear very well. Maybe it was the same this time, too.
My cell phone vibrated on the bedside table and I threw myself toward it when I recognized the number. Bringing the phone to my ear , I quietly walked out of the bedroom and down the hallway to one of the empty guest rooms, where I locked myself in. “Fabi?”
“Air,” Fabi said in a rough voice. He seemed to have difficulty breathing, and my heart clenched in fear.
“What’s wrong?”
Pause. “Nothing,” he said. “I wanted to hear your voice.”
“Are you okay? You don’t look well.”
“Dad was angry today. He’s always angry since you all left,” Fabi said simply, and I could imagine what he meant.
I swallowed. “Can I talk to Luca again and ask him to take you in “.
“No!” gasped Fabi. “This is treason. I am part of the Outfit . I shouldn’t talk to you. We are enemies.”
I inhaled. “We are not.”
“I have to go.”
“Fabi?” There was silence on the other side. I stared at the screen. Fabi had ended the call. I began to tremble, opened the door, and went back to the bedroom in a trance.
Luca was still in the bathroom when I lay down on the bed. What could I do? Talking to Luca wasn’t going to change anything. Luca had enough on his mind, especially with the ‘Family’s upcoming meeting. But could I keep it from him?
When Luca came out of the bathroom, exhausted and tense, I made my decision. I was going to handle this on my own.
Luca gave me a lingering kiss before leaving the next morning. The moment he was gone, I sat down and grabbed my laptop, checking flights to Chicago. I considered my options. I could not be gone long before someone noticed I was missing. I would have to take the first available flight and return on a late plane the same day.
Biting my lip, I hesitated. I could not use my and Luca’s bank account. If he had checked it, he would have noticed that something was wrong.
My fingers trembled as I made my decision. I had been the Family’s bookkeeper for almost a year now and managed several bank accounts. Treason.
I had only borrowed the money and would pay it back as soon as possible. I quickly booked my flights with the account we used for the Sphere, then logged off. In two days I would leave for Chicago and hopefully return with Fabi.
Now I just had to find a way to get out of the premises of our mansion without anyone noticing. I went to the walk-in closet and rummaged through the top drawers until I found my brown wig. I needed it to go unnoticed in Chicago.
My pulse was pounding in my veins at what I was about to do. I had found a way to take Lily and Gianna to New York with me.
Now I had to rescue Fabi from our father before he could break my little brother.
I went downstairs and found Gianna and Lily sitting at the dining table. I didn’t see Sandro anywhere, nor the new guards Luca had put in place on the premises in recent weeks. Romero was fortunately in New York with Luca and Matteo, since this was his first official meeting as Captain.
I sat down and Gianna and I simultaneously said, “I’m sorry for what I said.”
We looked at each other for a moment, then laughed. Lily breathed a sigh of relief. Slowly, the smile faded from my face.
Gianna grimaced. “Oh no. I don’t like that expression on your face.”
“What’s wrong?” asked Lily, setting down her cup of coffee.
I took an almond cookie and poured myself some coffee, trying to collect my thoughts. As I was about to take a bite of the dessert, my stomach turned over and I put it back on the plate. I was too nervous to eat. I had a feeling I would throw up if I tried to force anything.
“Aria, spill it,” Gianna muttered. “You’re up to something.”
“Fabi called me yesterday,” I whispered.
Lily shuddered in her chair, her eyes wide.
“Really?” asked Gianna incredulously.
“Dad is giving him a hard time. I think he’s beating Fabi worse than before.”
“That bastard. I thought marrying his child bride would improve his mood.”
“It didn’t. It’s our fault that Fabi is left alone with our father. I have to try to take him to New York with me.”
Gianna shook her head. “Don’t tell me you want to go to Chicago.”
“Aria,” Lily said imploringly. “It’s too dangerous. You’re the Chief’s wife.”
“I know,” I said firmly. “But I also know that I will never forgive myself if I don’t control Fabi and try to help him.
He doesn’t deserve to be left alone. I will fly to Chicago and nothing you say will stop me.”
I paused. “Will you help me?”
Lily and Gianna exchanged a look.
“I helped you escape, Gianna, and I kept a secret for you, Lily. I think it’s not too much to ask for your help.”
“It’s not that we don’t want to help you, but we’re worried,” Lily said softly. “And we should go to Chicago together. I don’t think you should go alone. Fabi is not only your responsibility. He is also our brother.”
“You know we can’t all disappear,” I said. “That would draw too much attention. It will be hard enough to hide my disappearance and you know it.”
Gianna squinted her eyes. “You already have a plan, don’t you?”
I nodded and told them what I had in mind.
When I was finished, Gianna shook her head. “This is brilliant or crazy, I can’t decide.”
“It will work, that’s all that matters.”
Lily worried her lower lip. “If you get caught, Luca will be furious.”
“And even if your plan works, how will you explain Fabi’s ‘sudden appearance in New York?”
Gianna asked.
“I will tell him that Fabi escaped from Chicago and came here. Luca will take him in.”
Gianna stood up and dropped into the chair next to me, taking my hands. “Aria. This is no small thing you are trying to do. The Family is at war with the Outfit. Luca will lose his mind if he finds out you went to Chicago behind his back.”
“It’s not our war! Why should we stay away from our own brother just because the Made Men decide to hate each other?”
Gianna huffed. “Do you realize those are my words?”
“Gianna is right, though. Luca will be furious.”
“He won’t find out.” He could never find out. He would have been worried if he found out I had gone into enemy territory.