Romero shrugged. “The drug haze will be the least of his problems. His screwup will cause him bigger trouble, believe me. Luca doesn’t tolerate incompetence.”

Sandro winced visibly.

“Luca won’t punish him, will he? I have to talk to him—”

“No,” Romero said sharply. “You should start thinking about self-preservation, Aria. Be careful.”

I snapped my mouth shut.

The elevator jerked into motion. My eyes darted to the screen. It was going down to the underground garage. Luca.

My stomach tightened. I was nervous. Romero’s words had left an impact. But I knew Luca. And he knew me. He would understand. I hadn’t gone against him. I’d only helped Gianna. Right?

I realized it might look different from the outside. God. Fear began bubbling in my stomach. I turned back to the windows, needing time to control my expression.

Had I messed up everything?

The elevator stopped on our floor and the sound of Luca and Matteo in some kind of argument reached me. In the window I could see Luca’s tall frame towering above his brother. Matteo was tall, but Luca was…Luca. Magnificent. His gaze found mine in the reflection of the window.

I swallowed.

He was stalking my way. He didn’t say anything. I was about to apologize when his strong fingers clamped down on my forearm and he turned me around. I bit back a gasp. His grip was tight, though I knew he must have been restraining himself. I peeked up at him, and shivered. His face was a mask of barely controlled anger. He still didn’t say anything, and that made me realize how bad the situation truly was.

Matteo advanced on me. “Where’s Gianna?”

I ignored him, caught in Luca’s gaze.

“Answer,” Luca said quietly.

I tried to pull from his grip but he didn’t let go. Suddenly a hint of anger flared up in me. He was showing his power in front of everyone, trying to act all macho and Capo.

“She’s gone,” I said.

“Oh really,” Matteo snarled. “Don’t you think we know that? But where did she go? You ran off together, planned everything together.”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “We decided it was better if I didn’t know.”

“Bullshit.” Matteo smiled cruelly. “You know exactly where she is.”

“Aria.” Luca’s voice was steel as he brought my attention back to him. “So far no one knows about this. Not even your father and the Outfit. Soon we’ll have to tell them that your sister escaped while under my protection.”

It would make him look bad. He was Capo. He wanted to appear invincible. I hated these power struggles. Why couldn’t men just let it go?

I pressed my lips together.

Matteo growled. “I’ll find her anyway, if I have to search every club in New York. She wants to provoke me. If I find her fucking around with another guy, she’ll regret it.”

Anger surged through me. “You will never find her. She’s too far away. And Gianna won’t come back. Never.”

“Too far away,” Matteo said with a look at Luca. “So you do know where she is.”

I tensed. “It doesn’t matter. I won’t tell you.”

Sandro let out a snort.

Luca’s expression darkened even further. Matteo stepped very close to us. He gave his brother an imploring look. “We need to find her. Not just because I want her, but because it will reflect badly on the Famiglia.” Matteo evaluated me. His expression scared me. I’d grown to like him. Perhaps I’d too easily forgotten what kind of man he was, what kind of men both he and Luca were. “We need to get the information from her.”

I swallowed. I was about to tell him again that I wouldn’t say anything when I realized where he was going with his arguments.

“If you can’t do it, Luca, let me handle this,” Matteo said in an imploring murmur. “I don’t think I’ll have to hurt her too much. She’s not used to withstand pain.”

I jerked in Luca’s grip. My eyes flew from Matteo to Luca. “You can’t be serious,” I whispered harshly. I could tell that Romero and Sandro were watching in interest.

“Silence,” Luca growled, and I sucked in a breath. He turned his glare back to his brother. “I am your Capo, Matteo. I will handle my own wife. You won’t lay a finger on her.”

Matteo shrugged. “Then handle her, Capo,” he said in a defiant tone. Was he openly challenging Luca as Capo? Was he losing his mind? Was he that obsessed with Gianna to risk even his relationship to Luca?

But what had I done? I had risked my relationship to Luca for Gianna as well. Yet, I had to believe that it was different. I’d done it out of sisterly love. Matteo wanted Gianna out of possessiveness.

Luca pulled me away from his brother and toward the steps leading up to the second floor. “Luca,” I began, but he tightened his grip in warning and I fell silent. Everyone was watching us. What needed to be said was something that was only between Luca and me.

I followed him inside the bedroom, then tried again. “Luca—”

He banged the bedroom door shut behind us and pulled me forcefully against him. The air whooshed out of my lungs from the impact against his muscled torso.

If I hadn’t been married to Luca for months now, I would have cowered under his scowl, but I loved him and he loved me. I had to trust in that.

“Where is Gianna?” he growled.

I shivered at the undercurrent of fury in his voice.

“I won’t tell you. No matter what you do.”

He kissed my throat, backing me up against the closed door. “Don’t say that.” When he raised his head, his expression had changed. He’d raised his barriers, shut me off. He stared down at me, then he pinned my wrists above my head, his grip on the verge of being painful. I winced. A joyless smile twisted his mouth. His eyes were guarded like he was considering me anew, like he was trying to gauge me. Calculating.

Fear settled in the pit of my stomach. Fear of what he’d do. But even worse: fear that I was losing him. That’s I’d lost the trust of a man who’d never before allowed himself to trust someone as much as me.

Luca nodded. “That look in your eyes. I’ve seen it thousands of times in other people’s eyes, but it’s been a while with you.”

His thumb pressed against my wrist and I could feel my pulse hammering against it, but I couldn’t do anything against it.

“I’m a young Capo, Aria. Younger than most of the older Underbosses like. Many of them want me gone. They are lying in wait for a sign of weakness.” He tilted his head. I tried to glimpse past the mask he’d put on, but for once I couldn’t. “Don’t be that weakness.”

I tried to free myself from his grip, but he didn’t budge. He was much stronger than I. Finally I narrowed my eyes at him. I wasn’t one of his soldiers, and most definitely not a weakness. “I’m not a weakness. Let me go and stop being cruel.”

“I’m not being cruel to you,” he growled. “You have never witnessed my cruel side, Aria. You’ve never seen anything close to it. If you think this is the extent of my cruelty, then you don’t know me at all.” He shook his head. “You are a weakness I can’t afford. It would be easy to change it. I know it wouldn’t take much to make you give up your secrets. Not because you don’t want to keep them, but because I’m too good at breaking people. I could break you so easily.”