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I’d never considered that something or someone could ever share the spotlight with the Famiglia, that anything could ever matter at all in comparison to my life as a Made Man.
Love is a weakness a Capo can’t afford. My father’s words rang loud and clear in my head. I’d always rolled my eyes when he’d uttered them, convinced that they were a waste of time and effort considering that I was incapable of giving the slightest shit about a woman.
Yet, the woman in my arms had wormed her way into my thoughts—and worse, my heart. More than once I’d caught myself thinking of her while being away for business.
This wasn’t love. I wasn’t capable of love. This was…I wasn’t sure. I cared about Aria. I wanted to protect her, wanted to keep one woman in my life safe.
It wasn’t love, but it was more than my father would ever tolerate. If he found out my wife wasn’t just a fuck thing for me, a beautiful trophy I paraded around, then he’d make sure to erase what he considered a risk from my life.
Aria’s body had softened in my hold, and her breathing evened out. I buried my nose in her hair, breathing in her vanilla scent. She’d be safer if I treated her with cold detachment, if I made her hate me. It would be so easy to get her hate. Nothing was easier. I’d only have to take what was mine without consideration, without care. But the idea of doing so, of having Aria watch me the way my mother and Nina watched my father, it turned my stomach to ice.
Fuck.CHAPTER 15My ringtone tore me from sleep. I opened dreary eyes, fumbling for my phone on the nightstand. When I finally had a hold of it, I pressed it to my ear without looking at the screen. “Can’t you deal with whatever shit came up alone? I have a fucking boner to take care of, Matteo.”
“Good Morning, Luca,” Nina said.
I groaned. Aria lifted her head, looking thoroughly disheveled, and fucking kissable.
“Nina, what do you want?”
“Salvatore asked me to invite you to dinner.”
Fuck. He was way too eager to have Aria and me over. I hated the old bastard. “In case you didn’t notice, Matteo and I are busy dealing with the Russians.”
“I’ll have the cooks prepare a feast for tonight. Be here at seven.”
“I don’t have time, Nina,” I gritted out. Hearing my stepmother’s high-pitched voice this early in the morning gave me a fucking migraine.
“Luca, your father was very adamant about having you over,” she said. There was a moment of silence. “You will come?”
Her voice shook, but she quickly masked it with a cough then cleared her throat. “He won’t be happy with you if you refuse his invitation.”
He wouldn’t be happy with her. He’d blame her, telling her she was incapable of getting even the easiest tasks right. “We’ll be there,” I muttered and hung up. “Fuck it.”
Aria’s eyes widened. “What’s wrong?” She touched my chest. Why did she always have to be so concerned? There was no reason to be worried about me. She was the one I needed to protect.
“Nina invited us to dinner for tonight.”
“Oh,” Aria said, frowning. “So we’ll eat with your father and his wife?”
I nodded. “Matteo will be there as well.” He wouldn’t like it one bit, but he’d better move his fucking ass over there if he knew what was good for him.
“You don’t sound happy,” she said carefully.
Sighing, I untangled myself from her embrace and perched on the edge of the bed. That put it mildly. “My father…he’s…” A sadistic rapist. A fucking psychopath. A murderous asshole who deserved to die. “…a difficult man.”
Aria nodded as if she understood.
She couldn’t, and she wouldn’t, if I had a say in the matter. She pushed herself to a sitting position and touched my shoulder. “It’s just dinner. Everything will be all right.”
She was right. It would be all right because I wouldn’t let my father ruin the one good thing in my life.
Aria’s phone beeped. I chuckled darkly. “It seems we both won’t get our peace of mind this morning.”
Aria reached over, grabbing her phone and quickly scanning the message. Her entire face transformed into a smile.
“Your sister?” I guessed, brushing a strand away from her glowing face.
She nodded. “She got a flight in two days!”
Aria’s grin lit up everything, and my own lips wanted to pull into a smile, even if I felt like smashing something to pieces, but I held back. I stood, needing to bring some distance between my wife and me, not just physically but especially mentally if I wanted to get through tonight without my father getting suspicious.
Aria glanced up from her phone, but I walked into the bathroom without another word and closed the door.
