“You wanted to fight,” Luca said coldly. “Now fight me, Demetrio.”

The boy hesitated only a second before he attacked. Luca dodged the attack, gripped the boy and flung him into the ropes. Demetrio tried to catch his fall but Luca punched him in the ribs. The boy went to his knees with a pained gasp, yet Luca knew no mercy. He gripped the boy by the throat and punched him in the stomach. Demetrio fell to his knees, wheezing. Luca got behind the boy and wrapped his arm around his throat with a look that sent a shiver down my back. I flinched when he tightened his grip until the boy’s head turned red. Romero gripped my wrist because I had made a move to interfere. Was he going to kill the boy?

Luca stepped back, relaxing his hold and Demetrio fell forward, coughing. For several moments, he lay sprawled out on the floor of the ring, then Luca held out his hand and Demetrio took it. Luca jerked him to his feet and released him. The boy scrambled out of the ring. Luca pointed at the next boy. “Orfeo.”

The boy hung his head and climbed into the ring. I turned around and walked back into the changing room. Luca had to make sure his soldiers respected him, but it was difficult to watch him being like that. These were boys. I wasn’t naïve, I knew boys in our world were raised from a young age to be tough. They had to be to become Made Men, but I couldn’t help but wonder if Luca would be the same way with a son. Father had always been hard on Fabi, and I doubted that had changed since I had moved to New York.

I took a quick shower, always uncomfortable in the changing room because I knew I was blocking it for everyone else as long as I was inside. I pulled my clothes on when the door opened. I didn’t have to look up to know who it was. When I raised my eyes Luca stood across from me, his chest covered in sweat and blood, but his expression had lost the brutality. I stepped up on the wooden bench between us to bring us to eye level.

Luca’s gaze flickered with questions. I traced my fingers from his temple down his cheek to his throat. One second monster, the next loving husband. I would never understand Luca.

He touched my waist. “They needed to be taught a lesson. They are young but it won’t stop them from getting killed.”

I didn’t say anything, and Luca’s brows drew together. “Aria?”

“I can’t stop wondering how you will treat a son one day.”

He became rigid. “I don’t want children.”

My eyes widened. We’d never talked about having kids. I’d just assumed we would have them eventually—after all, Luca needed to produce an heir.

He shook his head. “Right now,” he amended. “Or in the next ten years.”

Ten years? I’d be thirty then, still not old, but I’d thought we might start a family sooner than that. “Oh,” was all I managed.

Luca searched my eyes. “You want children before then?”

“Well, not right away, but perhaps in five years?”

He didn’t say anything, and I decided not to push the matter now. We could still bridge the subject when the time was right.

chapter 11

Seven Months Later, LUCA

“The Outfit has upped their LSD and ecstasy production, and some of their shit makes its way over into our territory. I don’t think that’s by accident,” I muttered as I pointed at the email Durant had sent me. Pittsburgh made up the outer west of our territory, and he had reported the inconsistencies. Romero and Matteo nodded as they stared down at my laptop.

Aria’s phone rang, and I looked over to where she was hunched over her books in the corner of my office in the Sphere. She’d had to switch from going to college to online courses in accounting. Things were simply too tense with the Bratva and the fucking annoying MCs to risk it.

She picked up her mobile and I was about to return my attention to my laptop when her face turned white. I rose slowly.

“We’ll be there as soon as we can, Lily.”

Romero stiffened at my side at the mention of Aria’s sister, and I slanted him a sharp look before I moved toward Aria, who sat frozen on the sofa. I crouched in front of her and her tear-filled eyes met mine.

“Your mother?” I guessed. Ludevica Scuderi had been fighting a losing battle with cancer for months now.

“She’s dying. It won’t be long.” Aria swallowed, fighting for composure.

“We’ll be flying over immediately,” I said, then turned to Romero. “Get everything ready. I’ll need you to come with us. Someone has to guard Gianna while I keep an eye on Aria.”

Matteo cocked one dark eyebrow.

“You have to stay here to handle business, and we both know you’ll end up killing Scuderi if you meet him.”

“If he hurts Gianna…”

I held up a hand. “He won’t. I will make sure of it, don’t worry.”

Gianna and her father were at each other’s throats the moment they met. I could tell that Scuderi would have hit her if I wasn’t there. But even their constant fights didn’t worry me as much as the looks Romero gave Liliana whenever he thought nobody was paying attention. He was like her constant shadow throughout the days leading up to her mother’s death, and even at the funeral. If I hadn’t been busy consoling Aria, maybe I would have realized where his attention would lead.

ARIA

Lily spent the summer with us in New York after Mother’s death, and I was happy having her around, especially since she lost that forlorn air after a while. She returned to being the life-affirming sister I knew. I should have known Romero was the reason for it, but I had ignored all the signs, hoping I was wrong, until reality slapped me in the face one day during our holidays in our mansion in the Hamptons.

Luca and I had been on our way to have lunch in a small bistro close by when he’d gotten a call because of a Bratva incident and had to leave for the city without me. I headed back to the mansion to ask my sister if she wanted to join me for lunch instead. “Lily, I—” I froze when I spotted Romero on top of Lily on the couch, his hand shoved up her shirt. Romero jerked back, his arms draped in front of his groin area, but I had seen the bulge.

I closed the door, glad that Luca wasn’t here to see it.

Lily quickly tried to smooth down her hair, but there was nothing she could do about her swollen lips. “This isn’t how it looks,” she said.

I raised my eyebrows then glared at Romero. He had the decency to look guilty, as he should. “That’s why I didn’t want you alone with her, Romero. I knew this would happen!”

“You make it sound like I had nothing to do with it. It wasn’t only Romero’s doing,” Lily muttered, but I could only look at Romero. He was a man. One girl more or less didn’t mean anything, but for Lily to be caught with a man before marriage would be her ruin. He knew it.

“Why are you back anyway? Shouldn’t you be having lunch with your husband?” Lily asked.

I couldn’t believe her. Didn’t she realize what kind of situation she was in? What kind of situation I was in because I’d caught them? “Are you blaming me for this? Luca got a call that there was trouble in one of the clubs. Something with one of the Russian underbosses, so he dropped me off in the driveway and headed straight to New York. You’re lucky he didn’t come in.”