Born in Blood Collection Volume 1 - Cora Reilly Page 0,15

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,