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“I don’t have to do anything. If I want it stopped, I will fucking stop it.”
“Luka, please. Just think about it. That’s all I’m asking of you. Just think about the future and what this could mean for us,” he nearly begs. I like when he begs me not to do something. It makes me want to do it even more.
“Would mother be happy with this union?” I ask him, resting my clasped hands on my lap in front of me.
“I think she would.”
“No, she wouldn’t. She would tell you that Romano is not good for her. And she’d be right,” I tell him.
“She isn’t here, Luka, as you very well know. I make these decisions now, and this one has been etched in stone. There’s no going back on this. It would cost us a fortune.”
“We wouldn’t want that now, would we?” I say sarcastically.
“I mean it, son. Don’t do anything stupid to jeopardize this marriage.”
What he didn’t do was define jeopardize.
Chapter 3
Ispent the week thinking, and that’s never a good thing. My thoughts can turn very dark very quickly. Now I’m sitting outside her studio and waiting. Waiting for a girl who hates me with every fiber of her being. That doesn’t stop me, though. It never has and never will.
I see Delaney close the doors as her men stand guard around her. That’s when I step out from around the corner I’ve been standing near and walk straight toward her. They all glance at me, but no one stops me.
“What have you been painting?” I ask when I’m close enough to her.
“Your death,” she replies casually.
“My death, hmm? Seems a little morbid if you ask me.”
“I didn’t ask you. What do you want, Luka?”
“This marriage. I want to know why you’re going along with it,” I ask her, knowing I probably won’t get a straight answer anyway.
“Why wouldn’t I? Don’t I always do as I’m told?” she asks as she glances around. I suppose she’s hoping one of her guards will save her, but they can’t. Not from me.
“And you want this? You want to be married to Romano of all fucking people?” I ask her. She brushes her hair out of her face and smiles at me. Actually smiles. That’s a smile I haven’t seen in many years.
“Of all the people in your family, I’d say Romano is the lesser of the devils,” she tells me. I grin.
“Is he?”
“He doesn’t go around killing for fun,” she informs me. Now I laugh at that.
“For fun? You think I kill for fun?”
“Or greed. Whichever you choose.”
“His death was warranted, Delaney.”
“No, it wasn’t Luka. You killed him for no good reason. None at all, just because you’re selfish. I’ll never look at you the same way again.” She doesn’t know the whole story, and I’ll never tell her. What she thinks was a senseless killing was more than that. It went deeper than she could know. I take a deep breath and exhale before reaching for her, cupping her face in my hand.
“If only you knew the truth,Bellissima.”
“Which is what?” she asks, craving what she knows deep down. Delaney knows all about me and my life, but she doesn’t want to admit it.
“I wish I could tell you.”
“No, you don’t. You like playing games, Luka. You like having secrets only you know. It’s how you operate,” she tells me. She reaches up and slaps my hand away from her face as I smile and nod my head.
