The wedding would be held in the vast gardens of the Vitiello mansion in the Hamptons. Everyone was already abuzz with the preparations. I hadn’t set foot into the house or even the premises yet, but my mother kept me up-to-date, not that I’d asked her to.
The moment my family had arrived in New York a few hours ago, my sisters and I had huddled together in our suite in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Manhattan. Salvatore Vitiello had suggested we live in one of the many rooms in the mansion until the wedding in five days, but my father had declined. Three years of tentative cooperation and they still didn’t trust each other. I was glad. I didn’t want to set foot into the mansion until I had to.
Father had agreed to let me share a suite with Lily and Gianna, so he and Mother had a suite for themselves. Of course, a bodyguard was stationed in front all three doors to our suite.
“Do we really have to attend the bridal shower tomorrow?” Lily asked, her bare legs swung over the backrest of the sofa. Mother always said Nabokov must have had Liliana in mind when he wrote Lolita. While Gianna provoked with her words, Lily used her body for that. She’d turned fourteen in April, a child who flaunted her tentative curves to get a rise out of everyone around us. She looked like the teen model Thylane Blondeau, only her hair was a bit lighter and she didn’t have a gap between her front teeth.
It worried me. I knew it was her way of rebelling against the gilded cage that was our life, but while Father’s soldiers regarded her flirting with amusement, there were others out there who would love to misunderstand it.
“Of course, we have to,” Gianna muttered. “Aria is the happy bride, remember?”
Lily snorted. “Sure.” She sat up abruptly. “I’m bored. Let’s go shopping.”
Umberto wasn’t enthused about the suggestion; even with another of my father’s bodyguards at his side, he claimed it was almost impossible to keep us under control. Eventually he relented, as he always did.
* * *
We were shopping in a store that sold sexy rocker-chick-like outfits that Lily desperately wanted to try on when I got a message from Luca. It was the first time he’d contacted me directly, and for a long time I could only stare at my screen. Gianna peered over my shoulder in the dressing room. “‘Meet me at your hotel at six. Luca.’ How nice of him to ask.”
“What does he want?” I whispered. I’d hoped I wouldn’t have to see him until August 10th, the day of our wedding.
“Only one way to find out,” Gianna said, checking her reflection.
* * *
I was nervous. I hadn’t seen Luca in a long time. I smoothed my hair down, then straightened my shirt. Gianna had convinced me to wear the tight black skinny jeans I’d bought today. Now I wondered if something that drew less attention to my body might have been better. I still had fifteen minutes before Luca wanted to meet me. I didn’t even know where yet. I assumed he’d call me once he arrived and ask me to come down into the lobby.
“Stop fiddling,” Gianna said from her spot on the sofa, reading a magazine.
“I really don’t think this outfit is a good idea.”
“It is. It’s easy to manipulate men. Lily is fourteen and has already figured it out. Father always says we’re the weak sex because we don’t carry around guns. We have our own weapons, Aria, and you’ll have to start using them. If you want to survive a marriage with that man, you’ll have to use your body to manipulate him. Men, even cold-hearted bastards like them, have a weakness, and it hangs between their legs.”
I didn’t think Luca could be manipulated that easily. He didn’t seem like someone who ever lost control, unless he wanted to, and I wasn’t sure I wanted him to notice my body like that.
A knock made me jump and my eyes flew to the clock. It was still too early for Luca, and he wouldn’t really come up to our suite, would he?
Lily dashed out of her bedroom before Gianna or I could even move. She was wearing her rocker-chic outfit: tight leather pants and a tight black tee. She thought she looked so adult with it. Gianna and I thought she looked like a fourteen-year-old trying too hard.
She opened the door, jutting her hip out, trying to look sexy. Gianna groaned but I wasn’t paying attention to her.
“Hi, Luca,” Lily piped. I walked closer so I could see Luca. He was staring down at Lily, obviously trying to figure out who she was. Matteo, Romero and Cesare stood behind him. Wow, he’d brought his entourage. Where was Umberto?
“You are Liliana, the youngest sister,” Luca said, ignoring Lily’s flirty expression.
Lily frowned. “I’m not that young.”
“Yes, you are,” I said firmly, walking up to her and putting my hands on her shoulders. She was only a couple of inches shorter than me. “Go to Gianna.”
Lily gave me an incredulous look, but then she slinked away.
My pulse was racing as I turned to Luca. His gaze lingered on my legs, then slowly moved up until it arrived at my face. That look hadn’t been in his eyes the last time I’d seen him. And I realized with a start it was desire. “I didn’t know we’d meet in my suite,” I said, then realized I should have greeted him, or at least tried to sound less rude.
“Are you going to let me in?”
I hesitated, then I stepped back and let the men walk past me. Only Cesare stayed outside. He closed the door even though I would have preferred to keep it ajar.
Matteo sauntered over to Gianna, who quickly sat up and gave him her nastiest look. Lily, of course, smiled at him. “Can I see your gun?”
Matteo grinned at her but before he could reply, I said. “No, you can’t.”
I could feel Luca’s eyes on me, lingering on my legs and butt again. Gianna gave me an I-told-you-so-look. She wanted me to use my body; the problem was I preferred Luca ignoring my body because the alternative terrified me.
“You shouldn’t be here alone with us,” Gianna muttered. “It’s not appropriate.” I almost snorted. As if Gianna gave a damn about appropriateness.
Luca narrowed his eyes. “Where is Umberto? Shouldn’t he be guarding this door?”
“He’s probably on a toilet or cigarette break,” I said, shrugging.
“Does it happen often that he leaves you without protection?”
“Oh, all the time,” Gianna said mockingly. “You see, Lily, Aria and I sneak out every weekend because we have a bet going who can pick up more guys.” Lily let out her bell-like laugh.
“I want to have a word with you, Aria,” Luca said, fixing me with his cold stare.
Gianna rose from the sofa and came toward us. “I was joking, for god’s sake!” she said, trying to step between Luca and me, but Matteo gripped her wrist and pulled her back. Lily watched everything with wide eyes and Romero stood against the door, pretending this didn’t concern him.
“Let go of me, or I’ll break your fingers,” Gianna growled. Matteo raised his hands with a wide grin.
“Come on,” Luca said, his hand touching my lower back. I swallowed a gasp. If he noticed, he didn’t comment. “Where’s your bedroom?”
My heartbeat stuttered as I nodded toward the door to the left. Luca led me in that direction, ignoring Gianna’s protests. “I’ll call our father! You can’t do that.”
We stepped into my bedroom and Luca closed the door. I couldn’t help but be afraid. Gianna shouldn’t have said those things. The moment Luca faced me, I said, “Gianna was joking. I haven’t even kissed anyone yet, I swear.” Heat crept into my face at the admission, but I didn’t want Luca to get angry for something I hadn’t even done.
Luca’s gray eyes held me with their intensity. “I know.”
My lips parted. “Oh. Then why are you angry?”
“Do I look angry to you?”
I decided not to reply.
He smirked. “You don’t know me very well.”
“That’s not my fault,” I muttered.
He touched my chin and I turned into a pillar of salt. “You are like a skittish doe in the clutches of a wolf.” He didn’t know how close that came to what I thought of him. “I’m not going to maul you.”
I must have looked doubtful because he released a small laugh, lowering his head toward mine.
“What are you doing?” I whispered nervously.
“I’m not going to take you, if that’s what you’re worried about. I can wait a few more days. I’ve waited three years, after all.”
I couldn’t believe he’d said that. Of course, I knew what was expected on a wedding night, but I’d almost convinced myself that Luca wasn’t interested in me that way. “You called me a child last time.”
“But you aren’t a child anymore,” Luca said with a predatory smirk. His lips were less than an inch from mine. “You’re making this really hard. I can’t kiss you if you look at me like that.”
“Then maybe I should give you that look on our wedding night,” I challenged.
“Then maybe I’ll have to take you from behind so I don’t have to see it.”
My face fell and I stumbled away, my back colliding with the wall.
Luca shook his head. “Relax. I was joking,” he said quietly. “I’m not a monster.”
“Aren’t you?”
His expression hardened and he straightened, drawing up to his full height again. I regretted my words, even though they were the truth. “I wanted to discuss the matter of your protection with you,” he said in an emotionless, formal voice. “Once you move into my penthouse after the wedding, Cesare and Romero will be responsible for your safety. But I want Romero at your side until then.”
“I have Umberto,” I protested, but he shook his head. “Apparently, he’s taking too many toilet breaks. Romero won’t leave your side from now on.”
“Will he watch me when I shower too?”
“If I want him to.”
I raised my chin, trying to quench my anger. “You would let another man see me naked? You must really trust Romero not to take advantage of the situation.”
Luca’s eyes blazed. “Romero is loyal.” He leaned close. “Don’t worry—I’ll be the only man to ever see you naked. I can’t wait.” His eyes traveled over my body.
I crossed my arms over my chest and averted my eyes. “What about Lily? She and Gianna share this suite with me. You saw how Lily can be. She will flirt with Romero. She will do anything to get a rise out of him. She doesn’t realize what she could get herself into. I need to know that she’s safe.”
“Romero won’t touch your sister. Liliana is playing around. She’s a little girl. Romero likes his women of age and willing.”
And you don’t?I almost asked, but swallowed the words and nodded instead.
My eyes darted toward my bed. This was a horrible reminder of what would happen soon.
“There’s something else. Are you taking the pill?”
The blood drained from my face as I stared at him. “Of course not.”