LUCA
I chanced a last look at Aria. Her back was turned to me. She was naked from head to toe, every inch of that perfect porcelain skin that only I got to touch on display. Her shoulder blades and butt cheeks were red from where they’d rubbed against the tiles when I’d fucked her.
Angry fucking. That was something I’d never wanted to do with Aria, but something had snapped in me, and I hated myself for it. Hated that I’d hurt her even if she said it was nothing. She was mine to protect. She was mine, fucking mine until the fucking end. She hadn’t run, and she wouldn’t. I knew that now.
Turning away, I opened the bedroom door and headed downstairs as I pulled my cell out of my pocket to call a few contacts at the airport. I couldn’t waste any time. Word about 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 set on my position. They thought they could be better as Capo. Gottardo had told me to my face. The only reason no one had made a move yet was that they quarreled among each other, but I couldn’t count on that to last forever. Perhaps they’d come to an agreement at some point. I needed to make sure that my men were too loyal to me to give them any kind of support. Appearing weak wouldn’t do.
Matteo was glaring daggers at me when he spotted me. “Don’t tell me you couldn’t get anything out of her.”
I sent him a scowl in return. He was my brother but he was starting to piss me off. He needed to stop the disrespect when others were around. “The only thing I know is that Gianna took a plane from JFK. Aria won’t tell me anything, but our informants will let me know where Gianna is going soon enough.”
“Great,” he muttered, his eyes sliding back up to the bedroom door before he turned to me. I didn’t like that look one fucking bit. “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 got into Matteo’s face. “She won’t tell me anything.”
The fucker actually tried to walk past me up the stairs. “Then let me have a word with her.”
I shoved him backwards, snarling. “You will stay away from her, Matteo.” Brother or not, if he got anywhere near Aria, if he hurt as much as a hair on her body, I’d end him.
“You let her steal your money, your passports. You let her attack our men.” He pointed at Sandro, who was still staring. “You let her make a fool out of you and betray you. You should want to punish her. You are Capo.”
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 that Gianna meant trouble but you didn’t want to listen. You should have never asked for her hand, but you had to think with your cock,” I growled.
He stalked out onto the roof terrace. It was better that way. We would have been at each other’s throats soon.
Turning to my men, I told Sandro, “Leave. I don’t have time to deal with you now. Not a single word about this to anyone.” He pushed off the sofa at once and hurried toward the elevator and disappeared, fucking relieved that he didn’t get his ass handed to him today. Then I turned to Romero. “Go call Sami, and find out where Gianna is heading.” Romero gave a quick nod, then pulled out his phone and headed for the kitchen area.
With a sigh, I raised my mobile to my ear, hating what I had to do now. After a few rings, Scuderi picked up. “Luca, I didn’t expect your call.” There was a hint of suspicion in the asshole’s voice. And right he was. We had messed up. I had messed up.
“I have bad news. Gianna ran off.”
There was silence on the other end. Then, finally, “Ran off?” Scuderi sounded as if he wanted to reach through his phone and strangle me. “You swore that you’d protect her. I trusted your word. In Chicago the word of a Capo means something.”
Fuck him. As if things always went according to Dante’s plan. “Your daughter isn’t exactly easy to guard, as you very well know. It isn’t the first time she’s acted up.” I tried to keep my voice civil—after all, it was one of my men who had fucked up and let himself get drugged.
“What about Aria, did she help her sister?”
He didn’t need to know that Aria had been involved. It was bad enough as it was. No need to add fuel to the fire. “No, she didn’t know anything. Matteo will go search for Gianna immediately. She won’t be gone for long.”
“I will send two of my own men with him. I don’t trust you to handle this on your own.”
I had to bite my tongue not to insult him. We needed peace between the Outfit and the Famiglia. “That’s understandable, but I assure you Matteo will find her. He’s very intent on marrying her.”
“Still? She could be whoring around as we speak.”
I doubted Gianna would use the plane ride to fuck a random guy; she’d be busy trying to figure out a way to stay ahead of us. But later? Yeah, she would spread her legs, no doubt about it, but that wasn’t my problem.
Romero appeared in my field of vision and whispered, “Amsterdam. Schiphol.”
“We know she took a plane to Amsterdam. That’s where Matteo will be heading with the next plane.”
“I’ll make arrangements so my men will be there as soon as possible. Dante won’t be happy about this. That I can promise you. This will have to be discussed in depth.”
I didn’t give a fuck about Dante. New York was my concern, the Famiglia was. “Sure.” I hung up, stifling the urge to throw my phone at 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 fury rolled over me, and I really thought I’d lose my shit, but I needed to keep my calm and stay in control. I was Capo.
I headed outside and stopped beside Matteo, who was braced against the banister with a determined expression on his face. He would catch Gianna. It was only a matter of time. “I called Scuderi. He’s furious and blames us, of course.”
“Of course,” he said quietly.
“He’s sending two of his men after Gianna.”
He still wasn’t looking my way. He was still pissed because I’d spared Aria. As if he would have tortured Gianna to get information. We were killers, maybe even sadists, but definitely not toward the women we cared about.
“I will go with them,” he said.
“I figured you would. I told Scuderi as much. You will meet them in Amsterdam.”
That got his attention. He straightened and turned to me. “Amsterdam?”
I nodded. “I got word that she took a plane to Schiphol.”
“When do I leave?” He was going into hunter mode.
“Four hours.”
“I need to leave sooner.”
“Impossible. I tried everything I could.”
“Damn it. Gianna will be long gone when I arrive.”
“You’ll find her. You are the best hunter I know. She doesn’t stand a chance.”
He touched my shoulder. “You let me go, even though you need me here.”
The Famiglia needed him. I needed him more. The Bratva was a pain in the ass. My traitorous family was breathing down my neck. “You aren’t of much use to me if all you can think about is Gianna.” Even my trust in Matteo had its limits. He didn’t need to know how much I relied on his support.
“It could take weeks,” he said. “I won’t return until I’ve caught her.”
“I know. If Aria had run, I would have done the same.” I would have followed her to the end of the world. I hadn’t wanted to marry, but Aria had changed everything. She was my wife, and I would never let her go.
He nodded.
“I will make a few arrangements to have guns delivered to you in Amsterdam. I’ll check if I can find Rolfo so he can call his family in the Netherlands. You should pack what you need. You should be at the airport in two hours.”
“You should tell Rolfo to get a fucking mobile. The guy is still stuck in the 1970s.”
“He is almost seventy. I doubt anything in this world could convince him to use a mobile. I’ll drive to the Roma. He’ll be having dinner there. I’ll be back before you have to leave.” With that, I headed inside. In passing I told Romero, “I’ll be gone for a couple of hours. Make sure Aria stays in the apartment.”
“Will do, Boss,” he said as I stepped into the elevator. Romero wouldn’t let anyone drug him.
ARIA
I was tired, and I missed Luca. After my quick shower, I had crawled into bed. I was still sore but I didn’t mind. I only wanted things between Luca and me to return to how they were before today. It wasn’t even that late yet, only around seven o’clock, but the day’s events had been draining. I sat up when the bedroom door creaked open. The movement was too cautious, too quiet to be Luca. I slid out of bed when Matteo slipped into the bedroom, then turned to me.
My spine stiffened. “What are you doing here? And where’s Romero?” I moved around the bed but stopped halfway between it and the door.
Matteo’s lips pulled into a dangerous smile. “He’s outside, taking Luca’s call.”
For a moment neither of us moved. I wasn’t sure what to do. I didn’t want to call out for Romero’s help—yet. For one, I wasn’t sure if he could hear me out on the roof terrace, and I didn’t want to overreact. If I called Romero now, he’d have to tell Luca about this, and then things between him and Matteo would turn sour. I didn’t want that to happen because of me. I’d messed up enough already.
He advanced on me and I staggered back. “Why are you here?” I asked with forced calm, but I couldn’t suppress the small tremor in my voice.
The coldness in Matteo’s eyes tightened my stomach with icy fear. “Getting the information Luca is incapable of obtaining. We both know you planned everything with Gianna.” He stalked closer and I whirled around. This wasn’t Luca. This was Matteo, and he was a man out for blood. A man who was used to getting what he wanted, and Gianna was the one thing he wanted more than anything. I rushed toward the bedside table, reaching for the drawer with the gun. I wasn’t even sure what to do with it. I could hardly shoot Matteo, or shoot at him. My fingers brushed the handle when Matteo’s hands clamped down on my hips. I was suspended in the air for a second before I landed on my back on the mattress, the air leaving my lungs in a whoosh. And then he was over me, and I froze. I had never been in bed with someone other than Luca. I began shaking.
Matteo’s eyes were calculating as he pinned my wrists at my sides, his body straddling my legs. “Perhaps pain isn’t the thing you fear the most,” he said in a low voice. He was appraising me like a means to an end. Matteo harbored the same monster as Luca, but his wasn’t contained in my presence.
I wasn’t sure what I feared the most right now. Matteo was very high up, but there was also the fear of what this meant for his relationship with Luca. I doubted Luca would forgive Matteo for this; he’d kill him, and that in turn would kill Luca. “Let me go before you do something you’ll regret,” I muttered with false bravado. Goose bumps erupted all over my skin. Matteo’s eyes took my reaction in. His calculating quiet freaked me out.
He still hadn’t done anything. He was conflicted. I could see it in his face. I needed to use that opening. Matteo liked me, perhaps not enough to stop him, but he loved Luca, and Luca loved me. “I have only ever been with Luca. This is the first time I’m in bed with someone else, Matteo,” I whispered.
Matteo released my wrists. “You are Luca’s,” he said quietly. “I would never dishonor you like that. Not even when it’s obvious how easily I’d get the answers I want if I did. This isn’t Vegas and I’m not that kind of man.”
Still towering over me, he reached behind his back, and pulled out one of his knives. This wasn’t Luca. Matteo didn’t love me. And I’d heard the stories. I knew what he could do, what he enjoyed doing. Like Luca, he knew no mercy, but with Matteo there was no love protecting me.
“I won’t tell you where she is,” I lied, because it could only be a lie. I wasn’t that strong.
“You will,” he said. The blade gleamed in the dim light streaming in through the windows. “Nobody can hold on to their secrets when I deal with them.”
“If I scream Romero will be here in a heartbeat. He will protect me.”
“He will try. And who says I’ll give you the chance to scream?”
He lifted the hem of my camisole and I began squirming, not used to someone else’s closeness like that. I stilled when the tip of the blade touched my skin below my belly button. “This is a very sensitive area. Many nerve endings. Even a small cut will be very painful.”
“Matteo, please,” I whispered. Scream, an insistent voice in my head said, but I needed to give it another try, for Luca.
He raised his eyes from the blade to my face.
“I know you are angry that Gianna ran. You are angry at me for helping her. I know you would do anything to get her back, but Luca won’t forgive you for this.”
“He will kill me, as he should,” Matteo murmured.
Matteo and I stared at each other for a while because we both knew it was the truth. Slowly Matteo lifted the blade but he didn’t put it away. It was still there, still between us, still too close to my flesh.
“He trusts you,” I said.
Matteo glanced down at the way he was still straddling me. My fear was beginning to fade, knowing my words had gotten through to him. I could have cried from relief.
Matteo’s mouth thinned. “This is betrayal. You are his. I shouldn’t be here.”
He got off me, and I quickly sat up and scooted to the back of the bed. Matteo watched me, a flicker of regret passing over his face before it disappeared.
“We are monsters, Aria. Luca and I both. We have always been. We will always be. Don’t make the mistake of forgetting that. Everyone thought he was going to break you, that you’d kill yourself within weeks of your marriage. But here you are. That Luca 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 about this,” I rushed to say before he could open the door.
Matteo looked at me over his shoulder, dark brows pulling together. “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 it would happen. Luca would try to kill Matteo for today, and even if he wouldn’t go through with it, they’d never be like they had been. Luca needed Matteo. I wouldn’t take that from him.
Matteo inclined his head. “I swear I’ll never threaten you again.” He didn’t wait for my reply; instead he slipped out and closed the door without a sound.
I released a breath and put a hand over my pounding heart. My hands were shaking. Good God.
I was still rattled from my encounter with Matteo when Luca returned later in the night. I’d stayed up reading to distract myself from everything that had happened, but my mind had kept straying back. His eyes were still tight with anger and disappointment over what I’d done when he undressed and came toward the bed. “Matteo is on his way to Amsterdam now. He might be gone for weeks or even months until he catches your sister,” he said in a tense voice.
My fingers on my book tightened at the mention of Matteo. “Did you see him before he went to the airport?”
“No, he was already gone when I returned.”
I bit my lip, tempted to apologize to Luca, but I knew I’d have done it again—helped Gianna, that is—and he knew it too. Luca slipped under the covers, his gray eyes hard as they searched my face. I put down the book, and my fingers still shook slightly. They hadn’t stopped since my encounter with Matteo.
Luca took my hand. Of course he’d noticed. His eyes softened as he brought my fingers to his lips and kissed them. “I shouldn’t have gone so hard on you today, but you pushed me into a fucking corner, Aria.”
“I know,” I said quietly. “But I never meant to betray you. I love you, Luca.”
He leaned over, his hand cupped my neck and he pulled me toward him for a kiss. His tongue slid into my mouth as his other hand moved under my camisole, fingertips ghosting up my ribs until they found my nipple, which hardened under his touch. He pulled back. “I have to make it up to you for coming before you,” he rumbled, and I felt a trickle between my legs at the low timbre of his voice and the hunger in his eyes.
He helped me out of my camisole, then slid down my panties as his eyes left a possessive trail along my body. He lay back, gripped my hips and lifted me on his stomach.
“Ride my face, principessa. I want to taste you.”
My body flooded with need as I crawled up until I was positioned over his face. His hands came down on my hips and he held me in place, stopping me from lowering myself on his mouth like my body wanted to do. His eyes trained on my face, his tongue ran along my folds, slowly, barely touching, not enough. He retreated, smiling. “So wet for me.” I tipped my head down to meet his gaze. I loved to watch him as he loved to watch me. There was nothing hotter. He dipped the tip of his tongue between my folds and I jerked in his grip, but he still didn’t allow me to lower my body.
“Luca,” I gasped.
Again a long, slow lick up to my clit, followed by a small nudge of the tip. A low moan escaped my lips, but I needed more.
“Patience,” Luca rasped against my heated flesh, then kept up his teasing strokes. I gripped the headboard and surrendered to his sweet torture. With every stroke of his tongue, I grew more aroused, and Luca smirked as he slid his tongue along my opening, letting out 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 over my clit and he sucked. I cried out and almost came but held back, wanting to prolong this feeling. His fingers kneaded my butt as I moved against him. I wasn’t sure how long I’d be able to hold back. I was getting there too quickly. My fingers tightened, my back straightened, and then my body exploded with my orgasm. I arched backwards and Luca kept me in place, against his mouth. I rocked forward, gasping, jerking.
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 over his upper lip. “Nothing better than your juices in my mouth,” he murmured, and I shivered with the remnants of my orgasm. “Another round,” he said before his mouth pressed up again and he continued his ministrations. I was still sensitive, but beneath it another orgasm was slowly building. I rested my head against the headboard and allowed myself a few more moments to enjoy Luca’s gentle mouth. His fingers returned to my waist, and he hoisted me back until I straddled his stomach before he knifed up and sat back against the headboard. I didn’t need encouragement. I positioned myself over his straining cock until the tip brushed my opening, then I took him in inch by inch until he filled me completely. We both moaned as our bodies connected. I leaned forward, my lips finding Luca’s mouth, tasting myself on him. I twisted my hips as our tongues slid against each other leisurely.
Pleasure was building inside my core. I moved faster, deeper, grinding and rotating, and Luca’s hips jerked up, meeting my thrust with his own. My eyes closed as he plunged himself deeper into me with every thrust. “So fucking gorgeous,” he growled as he pumped into me, and the corners of my mouth turned up, my eyelids fluttering open. I pressed my palms against his muscled chest, one hand over his Famiglia tattoo, over his heart.
“I’ll go wherever you go no matter how dark the path,” I whispered.
His grip on my hips tightened, tendons in his throat pulling tight. He was close. His hand ran down over my stomach, found my clit and pressed, and I came again, his own climax following a second later. I watched as his eyes closed, his lips parted. I loved the sight of him finding release. His arms wound around me and he crushed me to his chest, our bodies slick with sweat. I pressed my nose into the crook of his neck, breathing in his musky scent, hoping we were okay. His fingers trailed down my spine, then up again, and ended up playing with my hair as he so often did. Matteo had been right. I needed to cherish Luca’s love, his tenderness, his trust. It wasn’t something he gave freely, or at all, and for me he always had plenty.
