Kiss Me in the Dark Anthology - Monica James Page 0,85
so now that we were in the Scuderi mansion. I was seconds away from punching him in the throat. “Stop sulking, Luca. You should be happy. You’ll meet your fiancée today. Aren’t you curious how she looks? She could be butt-ugly.”
She wasn’t. Father wouldn’t let the Outfit cheat us like that. But I hadn’t found a photo of her on the internet. Scuderi seemed to keep his family out of the public eye.
“I’m surprised the maid didn’t follow us. It seems like a risk to let potential enemies walk through the house without supervision. Makes me wonder if this is a trap,” Cesare said as he kept looking over his shoulder.
“It’s a power play. Scuderi wants to show us that he isn’t worried about our presence,” I said as we headed in the direction the maid had pointed us toward.
I could hear people running our way. My hand went to my gun. Cesare and Matteo did the same as we turned the corner. When I saw what caused the commotion, I relaxed. Children were chasing each other, hurtling straight toward us. The boy managed to stop, but a young girl rushed toward me, her arms flailing, and crashed into my body. My hands shot out to catch her. She stared up at me with wide eyes as I held her by the shoulders.
“Liliana,” one of the other girls shrieked. My eyes snapped toward her, then her golden blond hair, and I knew who she was. Aria Scuderi, my future wife. She was the oldest of the bunch, but damn it, she looked so fucking young. I mean, it wasn’t as if I’d expected a grown woman, but I’d hoped it wouldn’t be so fucking obvious that she was only fifteen. When I was that age, I already felt and acted like a man. I wasn’t sure what I’d have done if Cavallaro and my father hadn’t agreed to wait until she was eighteen.
She was beautiful in a childish way, but there was the promise of breathtaking beauty under her young features. She was small but, with my size, most women were. In a few years when she’d become my wife, she’d be stunning. She’d better learn to hide her emotions better until then. She looked fucking terrified. I was used to people giving me that kind of look, but with women I preferred admiration and lust to terror any day.
“Liliana, come here,” she said. It was pretty obvious that she was trying to look strong and grown-up. She would have been more convincing if her voice wasn’t shaking and if there wasn’t that petrified glint in her eyes. I loosened my grip on her sister, who bolted toward Aria as if the devil were at her heels. Had these girls never met other men? Scuderi probably kept them in a golden cage, which suited me just well.
“That’s Luca Vitiello!” a redhead blurted and actually wrinkled her fucking nose at me. I wasn’t used to so much rudeness. People knew better than to disrespect me. Not Scuderi’s brats, however.
There was a hiss and the boy shot in my direction and actually attacked me. “Leave Aria alone! You don’t get her!”
Cesare made a move to interject as if I needed help against a midget.
“No, Cesare.” I stared down at the boy. His fervor was almost admirable if it wasn’t so futile. I caught his hands.
Aria crept toward me as if she thought I might snap her brother’s neck and then her own. Fuck, what had her family told her about me? They should have lied. I knew I had a reputation and I was fucking proud of it, but Aria didn’t need to know about it—yet.
“What a warm welcome we get. That’s the infamous hospitality of the Outfit,” Matteo said, as usual letting his fat mouth run free.
“Matteo,” I warned before he said more. These were children, even my future wife, and they didn’t need to hear his colorful vocabulary.
The midget was squirming in my grip, snapping and growling like a wild dog.
“Fabiano,” Aria said, her eyes darting up to me for a millisecond before she grabbed her brother’s arm. “That’s enough. It’s not how we treat guests.”
Despite her breakable appearance, Aria seemed to hold some power over her siblings. Her brother stopped struggling and looked at her as if she were the center of his world. “He’s not a guest. He wants to steal you away, Aria.”
Sorry, buddy, nothing about this fucking arrangement was my idea. And yet I had to