Seven Months Later, LUCA
“The Outfit has upped their LSD and ecstasy production, and some of their shit makes its way over into our territory. I don’t think that’s by accident,” I muttered as I pointed at the email Durant had sent me. Pittsburgh made up the outer west of our territory, and he had reported the inconsistencies. Romero and Matteo nodded as they stared down at my laptop.
Aria’s phone rang, and I looked over to where she was hunched over her books in the corner of my office in the Sphere. She’d had to switch from going to college to online courses in accounting. Things were simply too tense with the Bratva and the fucking annoying MCs to risk it.
She picked up her mobile and I was about to return my attention to my laptop when her face turned white. I rose slowly.
“We’ll be there as soon as we can, Lily.”
Romero stiffened at my side at the mention of Aria’s sister, and I slanted him a sharp look before I moved toward Aria, who sat frozen on the sofa. 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, fighting for composure.
“We’ll be flying over immediately,” I said, then turned to Romero. “Get everything ready. I’ll need you to come with us. Someone has to guard Gianna while I keep an eye on Aria.”
Matteo cocked one dark eyebrow.
“You have to stay here to handle business, and we both know you’ll end up killing Scuderi if you meet him.”
“If he hurts Gianna…”
I held up a hand. “He won’t. I will make sure of it, don’t worry.”
Gianna and her father were at each other’s throats the moment they met. I could tell that Scuderi would have hit her if I wasn’t there. But even their constant fights didn’t worry me as much as the looks Romero gave Liliana whenever he thought nobody was paying attention. He was like her constant shadow throughout the days leading up to her mother’s death, and even at the funeral. If I hadn’t been busy consoling Aria, maybe I would have realized where his attention would lead.
ARIA
Lily spent the summer with us in New York after Mother’s death, and I was happy having her around, especially since she lost that forlorn air after a while. She returned to being the life-affirming sister I knew. I should have known Romero was the reason for it, but I had ignored all the signs, hoping I was wrong, until reality slapped me in the face one day during our holidays in our mansion in the Hamptons.
Luca and I had been on our way to have lunch in a small bistro close by when he’d gotten a call because of a Bratva incident and had to leave for the city without me. I headed back to the mansion to ask my sister if she wanted to join me for lunch instead. “Lily, I—” I froze when I spotted Romero on top of Lily on the couch, his hand shoved up her shirt. Romero jerked back, his arms draped in front of his groin area, but I had seen the bulge.
I closed the door, glad that Luca wasn’t here to see it.
Lily quickly tried to smooth down her hair, but there was nothing she could do about her swollen lips. “This isn’t how it looks,” she said.
I raised my eyebrows then glared at Romero. He had the decency to look guilty, as he should. “That’s why I didn’t want you alone with her, Romero. I knew this would happen!”
“You make it sound like I had nothing to do with it. It wasn’t only Romero’s doing,” Lily muttered, but I could only look at Romero. He was a man. One girl more or less didn’t mean anything, but for Lily to be caught with a man before marriage would be her ruin. He knew it.
“Why are you back anyway? Shouldn’t you be having lunch with your husband?” Lily asked.
I couldn’t believe her. Didn’t she realize what kind of situation she was in? What kind of situation I was in because I’d 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 dropped me off in the driveway and headed straight to New York. You’re lucky he didn’t come in.”
“If you tell Luca…,” Romero began, as if I didn’t know what would happen if Luca found out Romero had touched the daughter of the Outfit’s Consigliere, as if I didn’t know what would happen to Romero because he’d gone against Luca’s direct orders.
“I won’t tell him,” I said angrily. “I know what he’ll have to do if I do.”
Romero helped Lily up, and the look they shared tore at my heart because I knew they couldn’t be together. Romero met my gaze. “He’s your husband. You owe him the truth.”
My insides turned because he was right, but he also knew I couldn’t tell Luca. He knew I couldn’t condemn both him and Lily. And more than that, I couldn’t baggage Luca like that. His family and the Bratva were still giving him enough trouble; he didn’t need the weight of having to decide what to do with Romero. Luca liked Romero, he valued him as his best soldier. If he found out what Romero had done, he’d be faced with a decision I didn’t want to burden him with.
Even as I warned them to stay away from each other, I knew it was too late for that—but I had to hope things would miraculously solve themselves.
A few weeks later, after Father had called Lily back to Chicago, things really took a turn for the worse.
Shouting drew my eyes up from the folders with the Pergola’s forged earnings from the last months. Luca jumped out of his chair and stormed out of the office. I followed close behind him.
Romero was pummeling one of the other soldiers.
“Hey! What’s going on here?” Luca growled. He gripped Romero’s arms and pulled them behind his back. “Romero, what the hell are you doing? Calm the fuck down.”
Matteo knelt beside the injured soldier, who was bleeding from a wound on his head and from his nose. My fingers on the folders with the forged books tightened. If Romero was this rattled, it could only mean one thing: Lily.
Matteo helped the soldier up and sent him off, but I barely paid them attention.
I walked up to Romero. “Did something happen with Lily?”
“You can let me go now,” he told Luca, who released him, then turned his narrowed eyes on me.
“Why would Romero know if something was wrong with Lily?” Luca asked carefully.
I didn’t say anything, keeping my eyes on Romero, but Luca’s eyes remained on me. “Your father has arranged a marriage with Benito Brasci for her,” Romero murmured.
I gasped. “What? He never mentioned that he was looking for a husband for her!” I glanced at Luca. “Or did he mention anything to you?”
Luca’s expression was stone. “No, he hasn’t. But right now I’m more concerned about the fact that Romero knows about this before anyone else, and that he almost kills one of my men because of it.”
“Lily and I have been seeing each other during the summer,” Romero said, and my stomach did a flip. Now that he’d admitted to it, Luca would realize I’d been in on it.
Matteo let out a low whistle.
Luca got into Romero’s face. “Didn’t you tell me not too long ago that you weren’t interested in her? That there wouldn’t be a fucking problem when she was around? I remember that conversation pretty damn well, and now you’re fucking telling me that you were seeing Liliana behind my fucking back all summer?”
Luca looked murderous. 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 all along?” Luca muttered. “You knew and didn’t tell me? Didn’t we have a discussion about loyalty and trust when you helped Gianna run away?”
I blanched. He was right. For him it was betrayal if I kept things like this from him, and it wasn’t like I didn’t know that. “They are my sisters.”
“And I’m your fucking husband.”
“Luca, she didn’t mean—” Romero began.
Luca jabbed his fingers against Romero’s chest. “You stay the fuck out of this. You’re lucky I don’t put a bullet into your head right this second for going against my orders.”
“Hey, calm down, Luca. Maybe it’s not as bad as it sounds,” Matteo said, surprising me. Usually he was the one adding fuel to the fire.
“Oh, I suspect it’s exactly as bad as I think it is,” Luca murmured. His eyes fixed on Romero. “Just tell me this: will we be in trouble on Liliana’s wedding night?”
“Lily won’t marry that guy. Isn’t he over fifty? It’s ridiculous,” I said.
“Over fifty and a nasty piece of shit,” Matteo added.
Luca glared at Romero. “Will there be a fucking problem on her wedding night?”
“I slept with Lily,” he said calmly. I cringed at his admittance.
Luca cursed. “Why couldn’t you leave your dick in your pants? Couldn’t you at least have drawn the line at 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 isn’t a virgin? Scuderi will figure out it happened in New York, and we’ll be screwed.”
“I don’t think there will be a problem. I stood beside Brasci at the urinal once. That guy’s cock is tiny. He can’t possibly expect there to be any blood on the sheets with that small sausage. Liliana probably won’t even notice his cock in her,” Matteo joked.
Romero lunged at Matteo.
At Matteo. They faced off, knives pointed at each other.
“Enough!” Luca roared, shoving them apart. “I’m going to put you down like rabid dogs if you don’t get a grip on yourselves right this second.”
“He started it,” Matteo said. He had that gleam in his eyes. That gleam that reminded me of what he was. Of what both Luca and he were. It was easy to forget sometimes when we sat around the dining table like a normal family.
“You provoked him,” I said. “What you said was horrible.”
Matteo rolled his eyes. “My God, I was trying to lighten the mood.”
“You failed,” Luca said coldly. “Now put your knives away. Both of you.”
Romero sheathed his knife and Matteo did the same.
“I shouldn’t have attacked you,” Romero said eventually.
Matteo nodded. “I should keep my mouth shut now and then.”
“But she’s not pregnant, is she?” Luca asked 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 didn’t look my way, though I guessed he was thinking about our wedding night, how he’d 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 Famiglia, but that was different. He kept secrets to protect me from the horrors of his world. I kept secrets to protect my sisters.
“She won’t marry that man,” Romero said.
Luca raised his eyebrows. “Oh, won’t she? Are you thinking about stopping Scuderi? Maybe kidnap Lily and marry her?”
It was clear that Romero was hell-bent on risking a conflict with Luca. Romero, who had always been loyal, who was Luca’s best soldier. All because of Lily. He must 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, gray eyes hard as they settled on me. “That my best soldier screwed his daughter and wants her for himself? That I broke my oath to protect Liliana, that she’s lost her fucking honor? That will go over fucking well.”
“No, but you could tell him that Gianna and I want our sister in New York with us and ask if he wouldn’t consider marrying her to someone from the Famiglia. You wouldn’t have to tell him to whom right away. 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 make him look bad and offend Brasci.”
“But we have to do something!” I begged, my grip tightening.
“I won’t go to war over this!” Luca roared back, shaking off my hands as he stepped back.
I quieted, stunned by his fierce anger. It wasn’t only directed at Romero, but also at me.
“Fuck!” he snarled and stalked back into his office.
I followed Luca. Since I’d started working the books, I’d often worked at Luca’s desk when he’d been out or even when he had been around. I closed the door. Luca sat in his desk chair, and regarded me with a deep frown.
I hesitated in the center of the room as I was again confronted by his fury.
“I thought we’d agreed that you wouldn’t keep secrets from me again. Not after what happened with Gianna. You remember the promise you gave me?”
I did. I moved around the desk and stopped in front of Luca. “I do. I hoped things would solve themselves. I only wanted Lily to be happy. Romero and she are in love. It’s something beautiful. Something I didn’t want to have destroyed.” I eased between his legs and rested my palms against his chest as he leaned back in the chair to scan my face.
“Destroyed by me?”
“You are Capo. You would have stopped Romero from pursuing Lily. You have to put the Famiglia first, but I don’t.”
He straightened so our faces were on the same level. His eyes were fierce. “You should put our marriage first. And when have I ever put the Famiglia before you? I should, damn it, I shouldn’t even consider you when I make decisions that concern the Famiglia, but I always do and you know that.”
“I know,” I whispered. “Am I not allowed some secrets? I didn’t want to burden you on top of everything else that’s been going on, and I didn’t think she’d have to marry so soon.”
“When it comes to your siblings, you never think things through to the end. You are too emotional.”
“You would keep a secret for Matteo, wouldn’t you?”
“Don’t turn this on me,” he said quietly.
I ran my hand up his neck and into his dark hair. He didn’t relax under my touch, but he didn’t pull away either, which I took as a good sign. “Everyone’s got secrets. I’d never keep something from you that concerned our relationship.”
“Are you sure you can draw a line?” Luca asked.
I sighed. “I’m sorry, Luca. That’s all I can say. We’ll figure a way out of this mess.”
“Your sister will marry Brasci and pretend to be a virgin. That’s all there is to do. We won’t figure out anything.”
Luca’s voice didn’t brook an argument, but the idea of letting Lily take the fall didn’t sit well with me.
“We can’t let her marry that man.”
“You married a man you feared because it was for the good of the Outfit, Gianna married a man she didn’t want, and now your sister Lily will have to do the same.”
“That’s not the same thing. We are close in age and so are Gianna and Matteo, and you and Matteo aren’t sadistic to women.”
“But you didn’t know that before you married me, Aria. You feared me like the devil, flinched from 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 mishap. You can’t protect Lily from this world.”
I pressed my forehead against his. “I feared you, but you proved me wrong. You gifted me with something I’d thought impossible in our world,” I whispered. Luca’s eyes were keen and softer than before, but the hint of anger remained. “You gifted me with love and tenderness, and there are no words to express how very grateful I feel. I know both are rare in our world, and I don’t want you to think I take your love or your trust for granted, because I don’t. I know it’s an honor that you are like that with me.”
I fell silent and Luca didn’t say anything either, but his hands came up to my waist, the touch light. I took one of his hands and pressed a kiss to the scar in his palm. “I’m grateful that these hands always treat me with care when they have had to perform so many violent deeds.”
Luca pulled me closer, his lips finding mine, before he retreated again and murmured, “I’m still angry at you, but I appreciate what you said.”
I nodded. I knew he’d forgive me because deep down he understood I hadn’t gone against him. I’d only acted out of concern for my sister.
