Born in Blood Collection Volume 1 - Cora Reilly Page 0,323

way to visit Matteo, Aria, and Luca in New York. Father had finally given in and allowed us to leave Chicago again to celebrate my fifteenth birthday. After what happened with the Bratva, he’d kept us on a short leash.

“Are you okay?” Gianna asked quietly when our plane landed, startling me out of my rising nervousness. Only being back in New York and seeing Matteo and Luca again was enough to fill my nose with the sweet stench of fresh blood.

“Yeah,” I said quickly. I wasn’t a little girl anymore who needed her big sisters for protection. “I’m fine.”

The waiting hall of JFK was crowded when Gianna and I stepped through the doors. Aria ran toward us when we’d almost reached them and threw her arms around both of us. “I missed you so much.”

Being reunited with my sister, I couldn’t help but smile. I would have walked straight down into that basement if that meant I could see Aria again.

Aria gave me a once-over. “You’re as tall as me now. I still remember when you didn’t want to go anywhere without holding my hand.”

I quickly looked around, but thankfully nobody was around to overhear her. “Don’t say anything like that when Romero is around. Where is he anyway?” I realized a moment too late how idiotic I sounded, and flushed.

Aria laughed. “He’s probably in his apartment. He got the day off but he’ll work the night.”

I shrugged, but it was too late. It wasn’t that I’d forgotten the blood on Romero’s hands but for some reason I wasn’t as scared of him as I was of Matteo, or even Luca. And I realized just how much they terrified me when we walked toward them. My heart sped up and I could feel a panic attack rising up. I hadn’t had one in weeks, so I fought it desperately.

“The birthday girl,” Matteo said with a smile. How could that charming guy be the same person whom I’d seen covered in blood in the basement?

“Not yet,” I said. I could feel my panic start to abate. In real life Matteo wasn’t as frightening as in my memories. “Unless you have an early present for me.”

“I like the way you think,” Matteo said with a wink. He took my suitcase, then held out his arm. I glanced at Gianna. “Won’t you carry Gianna’s luggage?” I didn’t want Gianna to think I was flirting with her fiancé even though she didn’t seem to like him very much, regardless of the fact that I’d caught them kissing on Aria’s wedding day.

“Luca can take care of it,” Matteo said.

Gianna glared at him before she sent me a smile. “Go on.”

I accepted Matteo’s arm. I wasn’t sure why Gianna despised him so much because it had started before the basement so it wasn’t that. But it wasn’t any of my business and Gianna didn’t talk about her emotions with me anyway. That was what Aria was for. In their minds I was always too young to get it. But I knew more than they thought.

* * *

Fifty minutes later, we arrived at Luca and Aria’s apartment building. I checked my reflection in the mirrors of the elevator, making sure my makeup was in place and I didn’t have anything between my teeth. It had been months since I’d last seen Romero and I wanted to make a good impression. But when we walked into Aria and Luca’s apartment Romero wasn’t there yet. My eyes darted around and eventually Aria leaned toward me, whispering, “Romero will be here soon, don’t worry.”

“I wasn’t looking for him,” I said quickly, but she didn’t buy it. I looked away before she could see my blush.

“Of course,” Aria said with a knowing smile. “He’ll come over around dinnertime to guard us when Matteo and Luca have to leave for business.”

Excitement bubbled up in me, but it was mixed with something queasy and nervous, too. I’d had the occasional nightmare about that night in the basement, not about Romero in particular but I wondered if a live encounter would bring more of the bad stuff up. But that wasn’t even the main reason why I was nervous. So far Romero had always ignored me, well not me, but my flirting. He’d treated me like a kid. Maybe he’d finally show more interest, or any interest at all. After all I was turning fifteen and it wasn’t as if I hadn’t caught many of my father’s soldiers checking me out. Maybe I wasn’t