Luca Vitiello by Cora Reilly

CHAPTER 22

My days in the next two weeks were filled with countless discussions with my father about possible ways to make the Bratva pay. We targeted another of their drug labs and killed a few of their dealers because Father was convinced that losing money would hurt them the most. The only light in my day was when I returned to my wife, saw her beautiful smile and worshipped her body.

Today, it became clear the moment I entered the penthouse that I wouldn’t be on the receiving end of her smile.

Aria’s face was a mask of fury when she rushed inside from the roof terrace.

She didn’t slow down until she was right in front of me and hit my chest with her fists, catching me off-guard. What the hell had gotten into her? I snatched up her wrists, holding her tightly. “Aria, what—”

Aria jerked her knee upwards, but I managed to evade a direct hit by jumping back.

“Get out,” I growled at Romero, who disappeared in the elevator at once. Aria glared up at me and actually tried to ram her knee into my balls again. Anger surged through me and I shoved her down on the sofa before I held her down with my body. “For god’s sake, Aria. What’s gotten into you?”

“I know about Gianna and Matteo,” she hissed, and then the anger slipped off and she began crying.

I let go of her and stopped holding her down. “That’s what this is about?” I couldn’t believe she was losing her mind about something like that. Her sister would have to marry anyway. I’d have thought she’d be happy to have her in New York.

“Of course you don’t understand, because you never loved anyone more than your own life. You can’t possibly understand how it is to feel your own heart breaking at the thought of the person you love getting hurt. I would die for the people I love.”

I’d give my fucking life for Aria, wouldn’t even hesitate to do it, but she didn’t know that. I got to my feet. “You’re right. I don’t understand.”

Aria pushed up from the sofa as well. “Why didn’t you tell me? You’ve known for weeks.”

“Because I knew you wouldn’t like it.”

“You knew I’d be mad at you, and you didn’t want to ruin your chances of fucking me.”

Fuck her? She thought I had only fucked her? “Of course I wanted to fuck you. But I got the impression you enjoyed our fucking sessions.”

Aria’s face twisted with anger. “And you worried I wasn’t a good enough actress to fool everyone after our little trick on our wedding night. But it turns out, I even fooled you. I made you believe I actually enjoyed it.”

Some wives pretended they enjoyed their husband’s touch and his company—

like Nina, because it was the only way to survive a marriage to a man like my father.

I’d tried not to be that kind of man with Aria, and yet she made me feel like I was. I smiled cruelly. “Don’t lie to me. I’ve fucked enough whores to know an orgasm when I see one.”

Aria flinched, eyes growing wide. “Some women even experience an orgasm when they’re being raped. It’s not because they’re enjoying it. It’s their body’s way of coping.”

She didn’t have to tell me anything about rape. I’d seen what it did to women, what it had done to Mother and still did to Nina. Fury slithered under my skin, wanting to be unleashed, but I shoved it down.

“Your sister should be happy that Matteo wants her. Few men can stand her gab,” I said coldly.

Aria shook her head with a look of disgust as she peered up at me. “God, that’s the reason, isn’t it? 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.”

“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.” I began to turn, tired of this discussion.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Aria dash toward the elevator, and my first instinct was that she was trying to run away. “Aria, what the fuck are you doing?”

I was too slow to reach her in time. The elevator doors closed in my face and it went down one floor. Tension flooded my body when I realized she was confronting Matteo. Fuck it. I hammered against the elevator button until it came back up. Matteo wouldn’t hurt Aria. He wouldn’t because she was mine.

When I stepped out, Matteo had Aria pressed against the wall, holding her wrists up above her head. My fingers twitched, a fierce wave of protectiveness rushing through me.

“Let her go,” I demanded. Matteo didn’t hesitate releasing Aria and bringing space between them, but I could tell he was majorly pissed at her. The way his cheek turned red, I had a feeling I knew why.

I moved toward them, checking Aria for any signs that Matteo had hurt her even when I knew that it would take more than a slap to make him hurt a woman, especially my woman.

“You won’t do that again,” I told my brother, glaring at him.

Matteo gave me a hard look. “Then teach her manners. I won’t let her hit me again.”

I got right into his face. “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.” Challenge shone in Matteo’s eyes. He wasn’t used to anything or anyone coming between us.

“I won’t hit you again, Matteo. I shouldn’t have done it,” Aria said, surprising me.

Aria looked between Matteo and me. “I’m sorry if I hurt or scared you,” Matteo said. I could still see his anger, but I wasn’t sure if it was still directed at Aria or at me for siding with her.

“You didn’t,” Aria lied. Matteo would be able to see through it like I did. I walked toward her and wrapped an arm around her waist. She looked up to me, her eyes filled with disappointment. Was she still pissed because of Gianna? For god’s sake, her sister would have to marry anyway and Matteo was definitely not the worst choice. He wouldn’t abuse Gianna, no matter how much of a bitch she was.

Aria faced Matteo once more. “Don’t marry Gianna.” I squeezed her waist in warning, but Aria continued. “She doesn’t want to marry you.”

“You didn’t want to marry Luca either, yet here you are,” Matteo said, nodding toward us. It was true, but he wasn’t taking Gianna’s character into consideration. She wouldn’t be as sensible as Aria.

“Gianna isn’t like me. She won’t come to terms with an arranged marriage.”

I regarded Aria, wondering if this was only accepting the unavoidable, or if this marriage was really more to her, if her words about love could really be true and not her way to make this easier for her. But more than that, I wondered why the hell I cared.

“She will become my wife the moment she turns eighteen. No power in this universe will stop me from making her mine,” Matteo said.

Aria shook her head. “You disgust me. You all do.”

She walked past me, but I didn’t follow her, not even when she took the elevator back up to our apartment.

“And you say Gianna is trouble,” Matteo muttered, rubbing his cheek. “Your wife is quite a handful.”

I made a noncommittal noise. Aria was growing more confident, and even though part of me was annoyed by her outburst, I couldn’t help but be relieved that she wasn’t so painfully submissive around me anymore. I loved her fiery side as much as the rest of her.

I loved every little thing about her, even her frustrating emotionality.

Love.

I loved Aria.

“You look as if you had a stroke,” Matteo said.

Love was a risk. A weakness. Something I shouldn’t entertain.

“Luca?”

I shook my head at him, and at myself. I wasn’t capable of love.