Matteo’s eyes were calculating as he pinned my wrists at my sides, his body straddling my legs. “Perhaps pain isn’t the thing you fear the most,” he said in a low voice. He was appraising me like a means to an end. Matteo harbored the same monster as Luca, but his wasn’t contained in my presence.

I wasn’t sure what I feared the most right now. Matteo was very high up, but there was also the fear of what this meant for his relationship with Luca. I doubted Luca would forgive Matteo for this; he’d kill him, and that in turn would kill Luca. “Let me go before you do something you’ll regret,” I muttered with false bravado. Goose bumps erupted all over my skin. Matteo’s eyes took my reaction in. His calculating quiet freaked me out.

He still hadn’t done anything. He was conflicted. I could see it in his face. I needed to use that opening. Matteo liked me, perhaps not enough to stop him, but he loved Luca, and Luca loved me. “I have only ever been with Luca. This is the first time I’m in bed with someone else, Matteo,” I whispered.

Matteo released my wrists. “You are Luca’s,” he said quietly. “I would never dishonor you like that. Not even when it’s obvious how easily I’d get the answers I want if I did. This isn’t Vegas and I’m not that kind of man.”

Still towering over me, he reached behind his back, and pulled out one of his knives. This wasn’t Luca. Matteo didn’t love me. And I’d heard the stories. I knew what he could do, what he enjoyed doing. Like Luca, he knew no mercy, but with Matteo there was no love protecting me.

“I won’t tell you where she is,” I lied, because it could only be a lie. I wasn’t that strong.

“You will,” he said. The blade gleamed in the dim light streaming in through the windows. “Nobody can hold on to their secrets when I deal with them.”

“If I scream Romero will be here in a heartbeat. He will protect me.”

“He will try. And who says I’ll give you the chance to scream?”

He lifted the hem of my camisole and I began squirming, not used to someone else’s closeness like that. I stilled when the tip of the blade touched my skin below my belly button. “This is a very sensitive area. Many nerve endings. Even a small cut will be very painful.”

“Matteo, please,” I whispered. Scream, an insistent voice in my head said, but I needed to give it another try, for Luca.

He raised his eyes from the blade to my face.

“I know you are angry that Gianna ran. You are angry at me for helping her. I know you would do anything to get her back, but Luca won’t forgive you for this.”

“He will kill me, as he should,” Matteo murmured.

Matteo and I stared at each other for a while because we both knew it was the truth. Slowly Matteo lifted the blade but he didn’t put it away. It was still there, still between us, still too close to my flesh.

“He trusts you,” I said.

Matteo glanced down at the way he was still straddling me. My fear was beginning to fade, knowing my words had gotten through to him. I could have cried from relief.

Matteo’s mouth thinned. “This is betrayal. You are his. I shouldn’t be here.”

He got off me, and I quickly sat up and scooted to the back of the bed. Matteo watched me, a flicker of regret passing over his face before it disappeared.

“We are monsters, Aria. Luca and I both. We have always been. We will always be. Don’t make the mistake of forgetting that. Everyone thought he was going to break you, that you’d kill yourself within weeks of your marriage. But here you are. That Luca treats you the way he does is a gift you should cherish and not trample on.”

He turned to leave.

“I won’t tell him about this,” I rushed to say before he could open the door.

Matteo looked at me over his shoulder, dark brows pulling together. “You should tell him. What I did was wrong.”

“Yes, it was, but no, I won’t tell him,” I said, determined. “I don’t want him to lose you.” And we both knew that it would happen. Luca would try to kill Matteo for today, and even if he wouldn’t go through with it, they’d never be like they had been. Luca needed Matteo. I wouldn’t take that from him.

Matteo inclined his head. “I swear I’ll never threaten you again.” He didn’t wait for my reply; instead he slipped out and closed the door without a sound.

I released a breath and put a hand over my pounding heart. My hands were shaking. Good God.

I was still rattled from my encounter with Matteo when Luca returned later in the night. I’d stayed up reading to distract myself from everything that had happened, but my mind had kept straying back. His eyes were still tight with anger and disappointment over what I’d done when he undressed and came toward the bed. “Matteo is on his way to Amsterdam now. He might be gone for weeks or even months until he catches your sister,” he said in a tense voice.

My fingers on my book tightened at the mention of Matteo. “Did you see him before he went to the airport?”

“No, he was already gone when I returned.”

I bit my lip, tempted to apologize to Luca, but I knew I’d have done it again—helped Gianna, that is—and he knew it too. Luca slipped under the covers, his gray eyes hard as they searched my face. I put down the book, and my fingers still shook slightly. They hadn’t stopped since my encounter with Matteo.

Luca took my hand. Of course he’d noticed. His eyes softened as he brought my fingers to his lips and kissed them. “I shouldn’t have gone so hard on you today, but you pushed me into a fucking corner, Aria.”

“I know,” I said quietly. “But I never meant to betray you. I love you, Luca.”

He leaned over, his hand cupped my neck and he pulled me toward him for a kiss. His tongue slid into my mouth as his other hand moved under my camisole, fingertips ghosting up my ribs until they found my nipple, which hardened under his touch. He pulled back. “I have to make it up to you for coming before you,” he rumbled, and I felt a trickle between my legs at the low timbre of his voice and the hunger in his eyes.

He helped me out of my camisole, then slid down my panties as his eyes left a possessive trail along my body. He lay back, gripped my hips and lifted me on his stomach.

“Ride my face, principessa. I want to taste you.”

My body flooded with need as I crawled up until I was positioned over his face. His hands came down on my hips and he held me in place, stopping me from lowering myself on his mouth like my body wanted to do. His eyes trained on my face, his tongue ran along my folds, slowly, barely touching, not enough. He retreated, smiling. “So wet for me.” I tipped my head down to meet his gaze. I loved to watch him as he loved to watch me. There was nothing hotter. He dipped the tip of his tongue between my folds and I jerked in his grip, but he still didn’t allow me to lower my body.

“Luca,” I gasped.

Again a long, slow lick up to my clit, followed by a small nudge of the tip. A low moan escaped my lips, but I needed more.

“Patience,” Luca rasped against my heated flesh, then kept up his teasing strokes. I gripped the headboard and surrendered to his sweet torture. With every stroke of his tongue, I grew more aroused, and Luca smirked as he slid his tongue along my opening, letting out a low humming sound as he tasted me. And then finally, mercifully, his grip on my hips loosened. I sank down, pressing myself against his mouth. His lips closed over my clit and he sucked. I cried out and almost came but held back, wanting to prolong this feeling. His fingers kneaded my butt as I moved against him. I wasn’t sure how long I’d be able to hold back. I was getting there too quickly. My fingers tightened, my back straightened, and then my body exploded with my orgasm. I arched backwards and Luca kept me in place, against his mouth. I rocked forward, gasping, jerking.