Page 51 of Useless Love

My brain is working overdrive to find an explanation. If I hadn't heard Victoria call out with the name “Arianna” I’d swear the woman who just kissed me was not Arianna. Bencivenga does have twin daughters.

Christopher walks up and interrupts my thoughts, teasing me. “Your Bencivenga princess leaving so soon?” When I don’t answer, he studies my face, sensing something is up. “What is it?”

“If you’re done with the lawyers, let’s talk in the car.”

Unfortunately, Christopher is working to keep my old man in line until I can officially announce my rule; otherwise, I’d have him follow the twins. For now, I’ll have to try to uncover the truth myself.

CHAPTER 16 — ONE + ONE DOESN'T EQUAL THREE

Arianna

As we’re driving home from breakfast, Victoria is relentless with her questions.

“Arianna, why did you kiss him?”

I roll my eyes. “Duh. To help Gaia along.”

“What?”

“Seems she has been avoiding him for two weeks. Carmine is starting to have questions. I showed him that everything is fine so he doesn’t have to fucking get paranoid.” I gaze out the window. Honestly, I didn’t expect Carmine to be such a pussy. Is he clingy or something?

Victoria keeps bouncing her knee. “No, this is bad. You shouldn’t have done that. You and Gaia are nothing alike.”

“Thank fucking God for that.”

“No, I’m serious. What if he realized something was off? You were snarky and aggressive. No way Gaia is like that with him.”

I wave a dismissive hand at her. “You’re overthinking this. Men are idiots and think with their cocks. I’m just throwing Jr. Gaudino a bone. Something to look forward to since I’m sure my saintly sister has given him blue balls.”

With a noticeable frown, Victoria adds, “You could ruin the peace between our families. You want Nico to die? Because that’s who Carmine will go after first to cut off the bloodline. You started this game, and now you’re trying to sabotage it? And what about Gaia’s happiness?”

I laugh. “Fuck. Stop being dramatic. Gaia doesn’t always know what’s good for her, and I heard her talking to Mother. She’s freaking out about having sexual feelings, so she doesn’t want to do this anymore. Didn’t you know that? She’s avoiding him for a reason. I’m just trying to move things along. You are too young to understand; a man needs to be enticed.”

Victoria snorts. “I’m not too young to notice Carmine's suspicious look as we left the restaurant.”

Shaking Victoria’s teenage ramblings from my head, I reflect on breakfast. Yes, Carmine’s sudden appearance was unexpected, and some of the things I said and did around him were met with a raised eyebrow. I wanted to avoid him until the marriage ceremony since there’s no way I can imitate my virginal sister. But I don’t think I did that bad. I’ve been using sex to get what I wanted for years, so that kiss should’ve given him a boner. All I have to do is give men a taste of my pussy, and they’ll willingly die for me.

That’s why Luca’s death angers me even more because I had that situation handled. I wasn’t being raped at all; I was willingly sucking that Gaudino guards dick because I knew he was a right-hand man to the head of the organization himself. I honestly don’t know how Luca was alerted. My plan was to suck off that soldier until he let his guard down, then I was going to pull the knife from my shoe and cut off his balls, followed by slitting his throat.

I had it handled, but Luca…

Poor Luca. The irony is that Luca taught me how to use a knife. Why didn’t he trust me to handle the situation?

Mother dragged me to the doctor after the whole ordeal was over. I never said much, but rape was implied.. Imagine my shock when the doctor. announced that I was still a virgin! If I was a virgin, then so was my mother. Obviously, my father got the actual results and had the doctor lie to maintain the Bencivenga honor. Can’t have rumors that one of the twins is a whore.

“Let your mother believe you are a pure daughter,” Father told me later that night.

“So you paid the doctor to tell Mother that lie?”

“Luca just died. She doesn’t need another goddamn kick in the gut.”

For once, I actually felt bad. Mother was going through a lot. I stammered, “I…I’m…”

"You what? My son is dead, and I also get confirmation my daughter is a whore on the same night. Your mother will have a heart attack if she learns the truth."

My moment of regret quickly passed. The rules are so sexist. "So I'm a whore, but none of your sons were?"

Eyes glaring, he added, "They are also fucking dead. If you want to join them, I'll grant your wish."

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