Luca scrutinized me with unsettling calm. “Your mother could have made you start it in preparation for the wedding.”
I was pretty sure I was going to have a nervous breakdown any moment. “My mother would never do that. She won’t even talk to me about these things.”
Luca raised one eyebrow. “But you do know what happens between a man and a woman on their wedding night?”
He was mocking me, the bastard. “I do know what happens between normal couples. In our case, I think the word you’re looking for is rape.”
Luca’s eyes flashed with emotion. “I want you to start taking the pill.” He handed me a small packet. It was birth control.
“Don’t I need to see a doctor before I start taking birth control?”
“We have a doctor who’s been working for the Famiglia for decades. This is from him. You need to start taking the pill immediately. It takes forty-eight hours for them to start working.”
I couldn’t believe him. He seemed really eager to sleep with me. My stomach tightened. “And what if I don’t?”
Luca shrugged. “Then I’ll use a condom. Either way, on our wedding night you are mine.”
He opened the door and gestured for me to move. As if in a trance, I walked into the living area of the suite. I hadn’t meant to make him angry, but now it was too late. It probably wasn’t the last time anyway.
Umberto stood beside Gianna and Lily, looking annoyed. He frowned at Luca. “What are you doing here?”
“You should pay better attention in the future and keep your breaks to a minimum,” Luca told him.
“I was gone for only a few minutes and there were guards in front of the other doors.”
Gianna smirked. Matteo’s eyes were locked on her. “What are you looking at?” she snapped.
Matteo leaned forward. “At your hot body.”
“Then keep looking.” She gave a one-shoulder shrug. “Because that’s all you ever get to do with my hot body.”
“Stop it,” Umberto warned.
I wasn’t looking at him, but at Matteo, who had a calculating expression on his face.
“Romero will take over the watch duty until the wedding,” Luca said. Umberto opened his mouth, but Luca raised a hand. “It’s done.” He turned to Romero, who straightened at once. They walked a few steps away from us. Gianna pressed up to me. “What does he mean?”
“Romero is my new bodyguard.”
“He just wants to control you.”
“Shh.” I was watching Luca and Romero. After a moment, Romero glanced at Lily, then nodded and said something. They finally returned to us. “Romero will stay with you,” Luca said simply. He was so cold since I’d as good as called him a monster.
“And what am I supposed to do?” Umberto asked.
“You can guard their door.”
“Or you can join our stag party,” Matteo suggested.
“I’m not interested,” Umberto said.
Luca shrugged. “Suit yourself. Scuderi is coming with us.”
My father would go with them? I didn’t even want to know what they were up to.
Luca turned to me. “Remember what I told you.”
I didn’t say anything, only clutched the pill packet in my hand. Without another word, Luca and Matteo left. Romero held the door open. “You can leave too,” he told Umberto, who glared but walked out after a moment. Romero shut the door and locked it.
Gianna gaped. “You can’t be serious.”
Romero leaned against the door, arms clasped in front of him. He didn’t react.
“Come, Gianna.” I pulled her with me toward the couch and plopped down. Lily was already kneeling on the armchair, watching Romero with rapt attention. Gianna’s eyes flitted down to my hand. “What’s this?”
“Birth control.”
“Don’t tell me that asshole gave it to you just now so he can screw you on your wedding night.”
I pressed my lips together.
“You aren’t going to take them, right?”
“I have to. It won’t stop Luca if I don’t. He’ll only be angry.”
Gianna shook her head, but I gave her a pleading look. “I don’t want to argue with you. Let’s watch a movie, okay? I really need the distraction.” After a moment, Gianna nodded. We picked out a random movie, but it was difficult to focus with Romero guarding us.
“Are you going to stand there all night?” I asked eventually. “You’re making me nervous. Can’t you sit down at least?”
He moved toward the vacant armchair and sank down. He shrugged off his jacket, revealing a white shirt and a holster holding two guns and a long knife.
“Wow,” Lily breathed. She stood and walked over to him. He kept his attention on the door. She stepped in his way and he had no choice but to look up at her. She smiled, then quickly slipped into his lap, and he tensed. I leaped off the sofa and wrenched her off him. “Lily, what’s the matter with you? You can’t act like that. One day a man is going to take advantage of you.” Many men had trouble understanding that provocative clothes and actions didn’t mean a woman was asking for it.
Romero straightened in the chair.
“He won’t hurt me. Luca forbade him, right?”
“He could steal your virtue and cut your throat afterward, so you can’t tell anyone,” Gianna said offhandedly. I shot her a glare.
Lily’s eyes grew wide.
“I wouldn’t,” Romero said, startling us with his voice.
“You shouldn’t have said that,” Gianna muttered. “Now she’s going to fawn over you.”
“Lily, go to bed,” I ordered, and she did under loud protest.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “She doesn’t know what she’s doing.”
Romero nodded. “Don’t worry. I have a sister her age.”
“How old are you?”
“Twenty.”
“And how long have you been working for Luca?” Gianna turned off the TV to focus on her interrogation. I settled against the backrest.
“Four years, but I’ve been a Made Man for six years.”
“You must be good if Luca chose you to protect Aria.”
Romero shrugged. “Knowing how to handle myself in a fight isn’t the main reason. Luca knows I’m loyal.”
“Meaning you won’t paw at Aria.”
I rolled my eyes at Gianna. Romero probably regretted ever leaving his spot at the door. “Luca knows he can trust me with what’s his.”
Gianna’s lips thinned. Wrong thing to say. “So if Aria came out of her room naked tonight and you got a hard-on because you can’t really help it, Luca wouldn’t cut off your dick?”
Romero was obviously taken aback. He stared at me, as if he actually worried I would do that. “Ignore her. I won’t.”
“Where are Luca and the other men going for stag night?”
Romero didn’t reply.
“Probably a strip club and afterward one of the whorehouses the Famiglia has going,” Gianna muttered. “Why is it that men can whore around while we have to save our virginity for the wedding night? And why can Luca fuck whoever he wants while Aria can’t even kiss a guy?”
“I didn’t make the rules,” Romero said simply.
“But you make sure that we don’t break them. You aren’t our protector—you are our warden.”
“Have you ever considered that I’m protecting guys who don’t know who Aria is?” he asked.
I frowned.
“Luca would kill anyone who dared to touch you. Of course, you could go out, flirt with a guy and move on, because you wouldn’t be the one Luca would gut.”
“Luca isn’t my fiancé,” Gianna said.
“Your father would kill any man that got near you, because he wouldn’t want anyone to spoil his most prized possessions.”
For the first time, I realized the fact that I’d been given to Luca didn’t mean Gianna wouldn’t be forced to marry someone else. I felt suddenly very tired. “I’m going to bed.”
I lay awake most of the night, thinking of ways to get out of the wedding, but the only option would be to run, and while Gianna would definitely come with me, what about Liliana? I couldn’t keep them both safe. And what about Fabiano? What about my mother? I couldn’t leave everything behind. This was my life. I didn’t know anything else. Maybe I was a coward, though marrying a man like Luca probably required more courage than running away.
CHAPTER FOUR
The living room of the suite was decorated for the bridal shower. I’d hoped to be spared that tradition, but my mother had insisted it would be an affront to the women of Luca’s family if they couldn’t meet me before the wedding.
I smoothed out the green cocktail dress. It was a color that was supposed to bring good luck. I knew my interpretation of what would be good luck at this point differed widely from Luca’s and my father’s opinions.
Lily wasn’t allowed to attend the bridal shower since she was deemed too young, but Gianna had argued her way into staying. Though I worried that there might be another reason behind Mother’s agreement. Gianna had turned seventeen a few days ago. That meant she was almost old enough to be married off as well. I pushed the thought aside. I could hear Mother and Gianna arguing in the bedroom about what Gianna was supposed to wear when a knock sounded at the suite door. It was a bit early; the guests weren’t supposed to arrive for another ten minutes.
I opened the door. Valentina stood in front of me, Umberto behind her. She was my cousin but five years older than me. Her mother and my mother were sisters. She smiled apologetically. “I know I’m early.”
“It’s okay,” I said, stepping back so she could walk in. Umberto sat back on the chair outside my door. I really liked Valentina, so I didn’t mind spending some time alone with her. She was tall and graceful, with dark brown, almost black hair and eyes that were the darkest green imaginable. She wore a black dress with a pencil skirt that reached her knees. Her husband Antonio had died six months ago, and my wedding would be the first time that she’d wear something other than black. Sometimes widows, especially older women, were expected to wear mourning attire for a year after their husband’s death, but Valentina was only twenty-three. Luca’s age. I caught myself wishing her husband had died sooner so she could have married Luca, and then I felt horrible. I shouldn’t be thinking like that. Romero hovered beside the window.
“Could you please wait outside? A bridal shower is no place for a man.”
He tilted his head, then walked out without another word.
“Your husband sent you his own bodyguard?” Valentina asked.
“He isn’t my husband yet.”
“No, you’re right. You look sad,” she said with a knowing expression as she sank down on the sofa. Champagne, soft drinks and an array of finger food were set up on a table behind it.
I swallowed. “So do you.” And I felt immediately stupid for saying something like that.
“My father wants me to remarry,” she said, twisting her wedding band.
My eyes widened. “So soon?”
“Not right away. Apparently he’s already talking to someone.”
I couldn’t believe it. “Can’t you say no? You were already married.”
“But it was a childless marriage, and I’m too young to stay alone. I had to move back in with my family. My father insisted on it to protect me.”
We both knew that code. Women always needed protection from the outside world, especially if they were of a marriageable age. “I’m sorry,” I said.
“It is what it is. You know that as well as I do.”
I laughed bitterly. “Yeah.”
“I saw your future husband when I visited the Vitiello mansion with my parents yesterday. He’s…imposing.”
“Terrifying,” I added quietly. Valentina’s expression softened, but our conversation was cut short when Mother and Gianna came out of the bedroom. And soon after that more guests arrived.
The gifts were everything from lingerie and jewelry to certificates for a day at a luxury spa in New York. The lingerie was the worst though, and when I opened the gift from Luca’s stepmother Nina I had trouble keeping a straight face. I lifted the barely there white nightgown and smiled tightly. The entire middle was see-through, and it was so short it wouldn’t even cover much of my legs. Beneath it in the gift box was an even smaller piece of clothing: white lace panties that would reveal most of my butt and were held together by a bow in the back. A chorus of appreciative murmurs came from the women around me.
I gaped at the lingerie. Gianna tipped her finger inconspicuously against her temple.
“This is for your wedding night,” Nina said with a calculating glint in her eyes. “I bet Luca will love unwrapping you. We need to please our husbands. Luca will certainly expect something this daring.”
I nodded. “Thank you.”
Had Luca set his stepmother up to give this to me? I wouldn’t put it past him. Not after he’d gotten birth control for me. My stomach twisted with worry, and it only got worse when the women started talking about their wedding nights.
“I was so embarrassed when it was time for the presentation of the sheets!” Luca’s cousin Cosima stage-whispered.
“The presentation of the sheets?” I asked.
Nina’s smile was patronizing when she said, “Didn’t your mother explain it to you?”
I glanced at my mother who pressed her lips together, two red blotches appearing on her cheeks.
“It’s a Sicilian tradition that the Famiglia has proudly upheld for generations,” Nina explained, eyes fixed on my face. “After the wedding night, the women of the groom’s family come to the bridal pair to collect the sheets they spent the night on. Then those sheets are presented to the fathers of the bride and the groom and whoever else wants to see proof that the marriage has been consummated and that the bride was pure.”
Cosima giggled. “It’s also called the tradition of the bloody sheets for that reason.”
My face was frozen.
“That’s a barbaric tradition!” Gianna hissed. “Mother, you can’t allow it.”
“It’s not up to me,” Mother said.
“That’s right. We won’t abandon our traditions.” Nina turned to me. “And from what I know you’ve been well-protected from male attention, so there’s nothing for you to fear. The sheets will prove your honor.”
Gianna’s lips curled, but all I could think about was that this tradition meant I definitely had to sleep with Luca.