“God, that’s the reason, isn’t it?” I said in disgust. “It’s because she told him that he’d never get her hot body that day in the hotel. He didn’t like it. He couldn’t bear that she was immune to his creepy charm.”
“She shouldn’t have challenged him. Matteo is a determined hunter. He gets what he wants.” Still not a flicker of emotion, not even in Luca’s voice. It was like he was made from ice.
“He gets what he wants? It’s not hunting if he forces her into marriage by asking my father for her hand. That is cowardice.”
“It doesn’t matter. They’re getting married.” He turned his back to me, as if he was dismissing me.
Luca didn’t get it. He couldn’t. He didn’t know Gianna as well as I did. She wouldn’t go into this union quietly like I had. I stormed toward the elevator. “Aria, what the fuck are you doing?”
I was in the elevator before Luca could reach it and was on my way one floor down. I stepped out into Matteo’s apartment. It was basically a mirror image of our own, except that it wasn’t a duplex. Matteo was sitting in an armchair, listening to some kind of crappy rap music when he saw me. He rose, eying me cautiously as he came toward me. “What are you doing here?”
I pushed my palms against his chest when he stopped in front of me. “Take your proposal back. Tell my father you don’t want Gianna.”
Matteo laughed. “Why would I? I want her. I always get what I want. Gianna shouldn’t have played games with the big boys.”
I lost it and slapped him across the face. My stupid Italian temperament. I usually reined it in, better than my other siblings at least, but not today. He gripped my arm, shoved me back so my spine collided painfully with the wall, and trapped me between it and his body. I gasped. “You are lucky that you are my brother’s wife.”
The elevator dinged as it stopped and opened. “Let her go,” Luca growled, stepping out. Matteo backed away at once and gave me a cold smile.
Luca walked up to me, eyes scanning my body before facing his brother. “You won’t do that again.”
“Then teach her manners. I won’t let her hit me again.” Teach her manners? His marriage to Gianna would end in an utter catastrophe.
Luca’s voice dropped an octave. “You won’t touch my wife again, Matteo. You are my brother and I’d take a bullet for you, but if you do that again, you’ll have to live with the consequences.” They faced each other, and for a moment I worried they’d pull knives and fight each other. That wasn’t what I’d intended. I knew how much Luca cared about his brother—more than he cared about me, anyway. Matteo was the only person Luca trusted. For a while I’d thought I might be that person, but if that were the case, today would have gone very differently. I knew his protecting me was a power game and not about emotions. By touching me, Matteo had shown disrespect toward Luca, and of course Luca couldn’t let that slide.
“I won’t hit you again, Matteo,” I ground out, though the words tasted foul in my mouth. “I shouldn’t have done it.”
Both men turned to me in surprise. Matteo relaxed his stance. Luca didn’t.
“I’m sorry if I hurt or scared you,” Matteo said. I couldn’t tell if he meant it or not. He had the emotionless mask down just like his brother.
“You didn’t.”
Luca smirked, then he stepped up to me and pulled me against him possessively. Our eyes met and as if he remembered our earlier words, his smirk disappeared and his lips tightened. He didn’t release me, but his hold on me loosened.
I turned away from him, not able to bear his expression any longer, and faced Matteo. “Don’t marry Gianna,” I tried again, and Luca’s grip on my waist tightened in warning. I ignored him. “She doesn’t want to marry you.”
“You didn’t want to marry Luca either, yet here you are,” Matteo said with his shark grin.
“Gianna isn’t like me. She won’t come to terms with an arranged marriage.”
Luca dropped his hand from my waist.
“She will become my wife the moment she turns eighteen. No power in this universe will stop me from making her mine.”
“You disgust me. You all do,” I said. With that I stepped back into the elevator. Luca didn’t follow. He didn’t even watch me to see if I was returning to our apartment. He knew I wouldn’t go anywhere. Even if I still wanted to run, I couldn’t. My heart belonged to him even if he didn’t have a heart that he could give me in turn.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
I twisted and turned, not able to fall asleep. I wasn’t used to being alone in bed anymore. Even though Luca and I had barely spoken in the last three days since our fight and hadn’t had sex, we’d always ended up in each other’s arms during the night. Of course, the moment we woke we moved apart. I missed Luca’s closeness. I missed talking to him, missed his kisses, his touch, his hot tongue between my legs. I sighed as I became wet. I wouldn’t give in. How much longer could Luca go without sex anyway?
What if he wasn’t? What if he’d fucked Grace again? She was supposedly in England, but who knew if that was the truth. Or maybe he’d found a new woman to fuck. My eyes found the clock. It was almost two in the morning. A heavy weight settled on my chest. Was Luca giving up on our marriage that easily?
Why not? He’d gotten what he wanted. He’d claimed my body. It wasn’t like I was the only person who could give him what he wanted.
A bang sounded downstairs, followed by deep voices. Romero was one of them, the other was Luca. I slipped out of bed and quickly rushed out of the bedroom in my nightgown. I froze on the staircase. The lights were out, but the moon and the surrounding skyscrapers provided enough light for me to see what was going on. Luca had Romero in a chokehold. I took another step down and Luca’s eyes shot toward me, furious and wild. The monster was back. His arms were covered in blood. Romero stopped struggling when he realized Luca was too strong.
“I would never betray the Famiglia,” Romero choked out, then coughed. “I’m loyal. I’d die for you. If I were a traitor, Aria wouldn’t be here, safe and unscathed. She’d be in the hands of the Bratva.”
Luca loosened his hold and Romero fell to his knees, gasping for breath. I walked down the remaining steps, ignoring Romero shaking his head at me. What was going on? Luca had never been this unhinged.
“Out, now,” he snarled at Romero. When Romero didn’t move, Luca grabbed him by the collar and dragged him into the elevator. Before the doors slid shut, Romero’s worried gaze settled on me. Luca jabbed a code into the panel beside the elevator that deactivated it and stopped people from coming into our apartment, then he turned to me. Not only his arms, but his shirt too was covered in blood. I didn’t see any bullet holes in his shirt or pants.
“Are you okay?” I said, but even my whisper felt too loud in the silence.
I approached Luca slowly as his eyes followed my movement like a tiger would watch the antelope. A strange flicker of excitement filled me. Despite what I’d witnessed, I knew Luca wouldn’t really hurt me. When I’d almost reached him, Luca stalked toward me and crashed his lips against mine. I gasped and he thrust his tongue into my mouth. His hands ripped at my nightgown, tearing it from my body. When it fluttered to the ground, he tore my thin lace panties off. His hungry gaze traveled over me, then he wrenched me toward him and bit into my throat, then my nipple. I gasped in pain and arousal. I should have run as Luca had told me a long time ago, but this side of him actually excited me, and my arousal spoke louder than my fear, even when Luca pushed me toward the sofa and bent me over the backrest. His hand held my neck as his other hand slid between my folds. He pushed two fingers into me and found me wet and aching. I released a harsh breath as my walls clamped tightly around his fingers. He pulled them out. I heard him open his belt and unzip his pants, and I shivered with fear and excitement. Luca bit into my butt cheek, then my lower back and shoulder blade, before he shoved his entire length into me without warning.