Born in Blood Collection Volume 1 - Cora Reilly Page 0,319

exterior. He’d tensed under me, but something in his eyes had made me fall for him that day. Often in the past, when I’d flirted with my father’s soldiers, I’d seen in their eyes that they wouldn’t hesitate to have their way with me if it wasn’t for my father. But with Romero I knew I would never have to worry that he’d take more than what I was willing to give. His eyes filled with confusion and worry as I sat on his legs. He didn’t push me off, didn’t move at all. His fingers rested on the armrest. He was a man in control. He’d seemed like a good guy, like the guys I ever only got to admire from afar because you couldn’t find them in the mafia. Like a knight in shining armor, someone dreams of silly girls were made of—girls like me. Aria had lost it and sent me off, but before I’d left I’d risked one more look at the man that had captured my heart and would never let it go: Romero. Soldier of the New York Famiglia.

* * *

Only a few months later, I found out that Romero wasn’t whom I thought he was, who I wanted him to be and had made him out to be. That day still haunts me after all this time. It could have been the moment that my crush on Romero disappeared for good.

My parents had taken Gianna, Fabiano, and me to New York with them to attend Salvatore Vitiello’s funeral, even though I didn’t know Luca and Matteo’s father. I’d been so very excited to see Aria again, but that trip turned into a nightmare, my first real taste of what it meant to be part of our world.

After the Russians attacked the Vitiello mansion in the Hamptons, I was alone with my brother, Fabi, in a room where Romero had taken us after the Famiglia under Luca’s lead had come to our rescue. Someone had given my brother a tranquilizer because he’d completely lost it after he’d seen our bodyguard getting shot in the head. I was oddly calm, almost in a trance as I huddled beside him on the bed, staring at nothing and listening for noises. Every time someone walked past our room, I tensed, prepared for another attack, but then Gianna texted, asking me where I was. I’d never moved as fast in my life. It took me less than two seconds to jump off the bed, cross the room and rip the door open. Gianna stood in the corridor, her red hair all over the place. The moment I jumped into her arms, I felt better and safer. She winced because of the bruises the Russians had inflicted on her. Since Aria had moved, Gianna had taken over the role as substitute mother while our own mother was busy taking care of her social responsibilities and catering to Father’s every whim.

“What are you doing?” I asked, my eyes darting left and right.

“I want to have a look downstairs.”

Panic overcame me. I didn’t want to be alone again and Fabi wasn’t going to wake for another couple of hours so, despite my fear of what we’d find on the first floor, I followed my sister downstairs. Most of the furniture in the living room was ruined from the fight with the Russians and blood covered almost every surface. I’d never been very queasy about blood, or anything really. Fabi had always come to me to show me his wounds, especially when there was pus because he hadn’t properly cleaned them. And even now, as we strolled past all the red on the white carpets and sofas, it wasn’t the blood that made my stomach turn. It was the memory of the events. I couldn’t even smell blood anymore because my nose was clogged from crying. I was glad when Gianna headed for another part of the house but then I heard the first scream from the basement. It was an agonized, high-pitched cry. It was a man, and I hadn’t thought it possible for a man to make that kind of sound. I would have turned on my heel and pretended there was nothing. Not Gianna though.

She opened the steel door, which led to secret underground rooms. The staircase was dark but from somewhere in the depth of the basement light spilled out. I shivered. “You don’t want to go down there, right?” I whispered. I should have known the answer.