“Gianna?” Aria lowered her voice. “Did Matteo do something?”
“Matteo didn’t do anything,” Matteo said in a hard voice, making Aria and me both jump.
“I didn’t ask you,” Aria said quietly. My eyes darted between them. I had a feeling they weren’t on good terms. Also because of me. Luca arrived beside us and clapped his brother’s shoulder. “Good to see you again.”
I hadn’t even considered that Matteo had been gone from home for a long time because he’d been after me. Luca barely glanced my way, not that I cared.
“I’m fine,” I told Aria who seemed reluctant to believe me.
“The boss is waiting,” Stan barked. “Let’s go. It’s not like the whore deserves a big welcome.”
Aria gasped. I stiffened but managed not to show my shock. I didn’t give a damn what Stan thought of me. But Matteo was the fastest to react. He pulled a knife and hurtled it at Stan who cried out when the blade nicked his ear.
“Next time my blade will split your fucking skull if you don’t keep your mouth shut,” he said.
Stan rested his hand on the gun in his holster but didn’t pull it. Blood was dripping from his cut ear down onto his shirt. There was murder in his eyes. Carmine stood very still, but he hadn’t pulled his gun either. When I turned to Luca, I knew why. He had both of his guns aimed at my father’s men and behind him Romero whom I hadn’t even seen before was doing the same.
“We don’t want this to end badly, do we?” Luca asked in a very low voice. “Your boss wouldn’t appreciate it.”
Carmine nodded and relaxed his stance but Stan looked like he didn’t care if my father punished him as long as he got to kill Matteo first. For several moments neither of us moved, then Luca put his guns back into their holsters. “Let’s go.”
Carmine picked up the knife Matteo had thrown and handed it back to Matteo, who didn’t take his eyes off Stan.
“She’ll drive in a car with us,” Stan said.
Matteo’s lips pulled into a cold smile. “This is the last warning you get. Stop pissing me off or I’ll carve a smile into your throat.”
Carmine grabbed Stan’s arm and pulled him toward a black Outfit car while the rest of us headed toward two BMWs.
Aria moved to sit in the back with me, but Luca held her back. “No. I want Matteo to keep an eye on your sister.” Aria gave me an apologetic smile before she sat shotgun beside Luca.
Matteo gave me a knowing look when he settled beside me on the back seat. “You’d probably jump out of the moving car if I gave you the chance.”
I huffed. “I’m not completely crazy. Do you think I’d risk running around Chicago unprotected when my father’s men are obviously out to hurt me?”
“So you trust me to protect you but still don’t want to marry me.”
Surprise shot through me. “You still want to go through with the marriage?”
“You could probably ram a knife into his back and he’d still want to go through with it,” Luca said from the front. “He’s a stubborn fucker.”
“I didn’t hunt you for six months only to let you go.”
I searched his face, but I couldn’t look past his arrogant mask. He wouldn’t let me. “Maybe you shouldn’t have wasted so much time hunting me.” Then I’d still be in Munich, and Sid would still be alive. But I had to admit that part of me had missed my former life. Not all of it, mind you, but definitely my siblings and maybe even some other aspects that I didn’t want to admit to myself yet.
Matteo didn’t say anything but his lips tightened. The rest of the drive passed in tense silence.
I tried to hide my nerves as we pulled up in front of my old home. What would Father do to me?
CHAPTER TEN
Matteo
The Outfit car came to a stop in front of the Scuderi villa and Luca parked the rental BMW right behind it. Luca and Aria exited the car immediately and I pushed the door open to follow them but paused when I realized Gianna hadn’t even unbuckled her belt yet. She was staring intently down at her hands resting in her lap. Annoyance flared up in me. Couldn’t she ever go the easy route? Did she have to be so damn stubborn?
“I’m not in the mood to argue with you, Gianna. You really shouldn’t let your father wait right now. He’s pissed as it is. Get out of the car or I’ll carry you.”
I waited for a clever comeback. Instead she reached to unbuckle herself. Her hands were shaking and suddenly I realized what was going on. Gianna wasn’t stalling to annoy me. She was nervous about being back here. Her fingers struggled with the seat belt. I pushed them away and did it for her. Her eyes shot up, brows drawn together as she searched my face. She looked fucking anxious. She didn’t even push my hands away, which were still resting on her thigh.
“We need to get out,” I said again, this time without the previous annoyance.
She nodded slowly, her eyes darting toward the window. I could see Luca and Aria watching us, and behind them Stan and Carmine were waiting. Romero lingered next to our second car, scanning the surroundings. I didn’t think this was a trap, but you could never know with the fucking Outfit. Things hadn’t exactly been peachy between us in the last few months.
“I’m scared,” she said quietly, then laughed harshly. “Isn’t it messed up that I’m scared of my own father?”
“Your father is Consigliere and a huge asshole. There are plenty of reasons to be scared of him.”
She was still staring at her lap. “He hates me. He wouldn’t even hesitate to put a bullet through my head after what I did.”
He’d have to go through me, and I had no doubt that I could take him down with one arm tied to my back. I hooked a finger under her chin and turned her face around to me until her blue eyes met mine. “I won’t allow it.”
For a moment she softened and her eyes darted to my lips but then Gianna became her usual self and pulled back. I almost groaned. She opened the door and slid out. When I caught up with her, there was no sign of fear on her face. She held her head high and sent Scuderi’s men the most scathing look I’d ever seen from her. That was the Gianna I knew. The only indication that she wasn’t as relaxed as she pretended was that she didn’t argue when I rested my hand on the small of her back as I led her toward the front door. I couldn’t wait to run my hands over every inch of her body, to finally claim her. Images of Sid with his paws on her slipped into my mind again and I had to resist the urge to hit something.
Luca raised his eyebrows, impatience written all over his face. “What took you so long for fuck’s sake?”
I ignored him because the door opened in that moment and Scuderi appeared in the doorframe, a scowl on his face. Gianna shrank against me. I didn’t think she even noticed because her face remained perfectly unimpressed.
Scuderi talked to his men briefly before sending them away and turning to Luca. They shook hands and then he hugged Aria. He hadn’t spared Gianna a single look so far. It annoyed the hell out of me. His cold eyes zoomed in on me and I sneered at him. I hated everything about that man, even his stupid face and slicked-back hair. He looked like the worst cliché of a mobster.