Luca was quick to react, swinging his legs out of bed, sitting up and snaking his arm around my waist to pull me back against him. I tried to resist but he was way too strong. I let him pull me flush against his body so I was peering down at his tense face, but my body didn’t soften in his embrace. I needed him to see how important this was to me. Since Gianna had run I had done a lot of thinking. I knew I’d grow depressed if I stayed holed up in the penthouse.

“Aria, you are my wife. When you married me, you knew your options would be limited. This life will always be a golden cage. You need to be protected from the Bratva and other threats.”

“If I went to college, that wouldn’t pose an additional risk, Luca. It’s not like the Bratva is going to attack campus. What you mean is that you prefer to have me where I’m not surrounded by other people, especially men.”

Luca’s lips thinned, his arm muscles twitching. “Yes,” he said in a low voice. “I don’t trust men around you. Every guy with eyes in his head is going to want a piece of you. You are fucking gorgeous.”

His compliment did nothing to appease me. I’d heard those words all my life, from everyone around me. My beauty was all I’d ever been known for. It was why I had been given to Luca in marriage. “I’m surrounded by Romero and Sandro and other men all the time.”

“They are my men, and they know the consequences of touching what’s mine,” he growled, eyes filled with the promise of violence. “They would never dare to even leer at you, but outsiders aren’t bound by our rules. I would kill them for touching you like I would my men, but that would only be after the deed was done because they don’t know who you are. They might risk touching you.”

“You know what’s funny?” I said, my hands coming up against his chest to push away, but again he didn’t give in. “You never once considered my reaction to their advances. I don’t care if a Made Man or an outsider makes a move on me, because my reaction would be the same. I would refuse them and tell them that I’m married, because I’m faithful. You’re in contact with women all the time and I don’t run around worried that you’ll be touched by them, even though I have more reason to be distrustful considering what happened with Grace.”

He became rigid. “It’s not fair to hold that against me, Aria,” he murmured. “I made a mistake. Back then our marriage existed only on paper, and I never even thought about anyone but you after that. I’m faithful. No other women will ever change that.”

I sighed. I shouldn’t have brought Grace up. She brought back memories I didn’t want to relive and like Luca said, she was a thing of the past. Luca had never given me reason to doubt his faithfulness again. “Why can’t you trust me around other men?”

“I trust you, but I don’t trust them, and while I am capable of refusing advances, you are a small female who wouldn’t stand a chance against a male opponent.”

“We’ve been working on my self-defense skills. I’m getting better,” I said, but really, it was still a long shot before I’d be able to fight off an attacker half Luca’s size. Besides, in the last six months we’d hardly found the time to train at all, because Luca had been busy taking over Matteo’s work as well. “And not all men are ignorant to the meaning of ‘no.’”

“One asshole is enough,” Luca said.

“Romero could be at my side, as he is when I go jogging or shopping.”

Luca searched my eyes. “What would you want to study anyway?”

“I thought about it for a while. It needs to be something useful for the Famiglia. I can’t really work in the outside world. The only way for me to have a job is if I could be part of our business, and that limits my choices. I doubt you’d be happy if I became a chemist and produced our drugs.”

Luca’s mouth loosened, and his embrace became less of a cage. “That would be interesting, no doubt.”

“I thought perhaps I could get a bachelor’s in accounting. That way I can do our books.”

Luca nodded slowly. “An accountant—that’s something even the old-fashioned family members might be able to accept.”

“Does that mean I am allowed to go to college?”

Luca sighed. “If it makes you happy, you can get a degree, but Romero will have to be at your side at all times, and I don’t want word to get around that you are attending college. You know how wary my family still is regarding my capability to be Capo. My uncle Gottardo thinks he should be doing the job, and my aunts would love to see their husbands or sons in my position. I can’t kill them all, not without being provoked. That wouldn’t bring me my men’s respect, so I will have to keep them silent as best as possible.”

“We don’t have to tell anyone about me getting a degree. Romero won’t tell anyone. I won’t even have to tell Gianna right away if you worry she might let something slip.”

Luca stroked my hair from my face. “That’s probably for the best. Your sister is a ticking time bomb at the moment. Let’s only keep Romero in the loop.”

“So you’ll really allow me to do it? When can I start?”

“Whenever you want.”

“The application deadline for NYU’s business program is January 1st. I could try to get my application in by then. I’m not sure if I’ll get everything I need, though, but I could try…” I trailed off.

Luca pulled me down so I straddled his lap. “If you want to get into NYU, you will get in, Aria.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck and buried my face in his shoulder. I’d have thought he’d fight me more about this. Getting a business degree and becoming an accountant for the Famiglia wasn’t my dream job. If I’d been raised in a different family, I might have chosen to become a teacher or social worker. I wasn’t sure, but I knew a business degree would be most useful in my position. When I pulled back, I caught the hint of concern on Luca’s face before he masked it and I promised myself I’d show him that me doing something outside the penthouse, me getting a degree, wasn’t a risk for our marriage or his position as Capo.

“With your hair and given our presence in the newspaper, people might recognize you,” Luca said.

“And that would draw unnecessary attention,” I concluded. “How about I wear a wig? It worked for Gianna.”

Luca frowned. “You and her together are a dangerous combination.”

I leaned closer and pressed a kiss to his tense mouth. “Don’t worry. This time you’ll know everything. So what do you think? A wig. Perhaps you’ll like me better with brown hair.”

“No,” he said, twisting a strand of my hair around his long, strong fingers. “Your hair is perfect. Like spun gold, nothing can come close to it.”

I laughed. His fascination with my hair was almost cute. I’d lost count of the times he’d played with it.

“A wig might work. Luckily, Romero is good at staying in the background and he hasn’t been in the public eye.”

“It’s still months before I could even attend college. We’ll figure out everything then. If they accept me.”

“They will,” Luca said without a doubt. I knew my grades had always been top-notch, but I had a feeling he would have his ways to get me accepted even if they weren’t.