Born in Blood Collection Volume 1 - Cora Reilly Page 0,96

Teach her manners? His marriage to Gianna would end in an utter catastrophe.

Luca’s voice dropped an octave. “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.” They faced each other, and for a moment I worried they’d pull knives and fight each other. That wasn’t what I’d intended. I knew how much Luca cared about his brother—more than he cared about me, anyway. Matteo was the only person Luca trusted. For a while I’d thought I might be that person, but if that were the case, today would have gone very differently. I knew his protecting me was a power game and not about emotions. By touching me, Matteo had shown disrespect toward Luca, and of course Luca couldn’t let that slide.

“I won’t hit you again, Matteo,” I ground out, though the words tasted foul in my mouth. “I shouldn’t have done it.”

Both men turned to me in surprise. Matteo relaxed his stance. Luca didn’t.

“I’m sorry if I hurt or scared you,” Matteo said. I couldn’t tell if he meant it or not. He had the emotionless mask down just like his brother.

“You didn’t.”

Luca smirked, then he stepped up to me and pulled me against him possessively. Our eyes met and as if he remembered our earlier words, his smirk disappeared and his lips tightened. He didn’t release me, but his hold on me loosened.

I turned away from him, not able to bear his expression any longer, and faced Matteo. “Don’t marry Gianna,” I tried again, and Luca’s grip on my waist tightened in warning. I ignored him. “She doesn’t want to marry you.”

“You didn’t want to marry Luca either, yet here you are,” Matteo said with his shark grin.

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

Luca dropped his hand from my waist.

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

“You disgust me. You all do,” I said. With that I stepped back into the elevator. Luca didn’t follow. He didn’t even watch me to see if I was returning to our apartment. He knew I wouldn’t go anywhere. Even if I still wanted to run, I couldn’t. My heart belonged to him even if he didn’t have a heart that he could give me in turn.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

I twisted and turned, not able to fall asleep. I wasn’t used to being alone in bed anymore. Even though Luca and I had barely spoken in the last three days since our fight and hadn’t had sex, we’d always ended up in each other’s arms during the night. Of course, the moment we woke we moved apart. I missed Luca’s closeness. I missed talking to him, missed his kisses, his touch, his hot tongue between my legs. I sighed as I became wet. I wouldn’t give in. How much longer could Luca go without sex anyway?

What if he wasn’t? What if he’d fucked Grace again? She was supposedly in England, but who knew if that was the truth. Or maybe he’d found a new woman to fuck. My eyes found the clock. It was almost two in the morning. A heavy weight settled on my chest. Was Luca giving up on our marriage that easily?

Why not? He’d gotten what he wanted. He’d claimed my body. It wasn’t like I was the only person who could give him what he wanted.

A bang sounded downstairs, followed by deep voices. Romero was one of them, the other was Luca. I slipped out of bed and quickly rushed out of the bedroom in my nightgown. I froze on the staircase. The lights were out, but the moon and the surrounding skyscrapers provided enough light for me to see what was going on. Luca had Romero in a chokehold. I took another step down and Luca’s eyes shot toward me, furious and wild. The monster was back. His arms were covered in blood. Romero stopped struggling when he realized Luca was too strong.

“I would never betray the Famiglia,” Romero choked out, then coughed. “I’m loyal. I’d die for you. If I were a traitor, Aria wouldn’t be here, safe and unscathed. She’d be in the hands of the Bratva.”

Luca loosened his hold and Romero fell to his knees, gasping for breath. I walked down the remaining steps, ignoring Romero shaking his head at me. What was going