Page 13 of Luciano

His smile faltered, just for a second, before it returned, wider and more dangerous. “You’re wrong. This is exactly where you belong. Your mother made a deal, and now it’s your turn to honor it.”

I felt a chill crawl up my spine. “What deal?”

“She asked for my protection after your father died. For my help. And in return, she promised me herself—and you for collateral.” he paused before lying, as if he has to make himself. “When she ran, the debt for that favor became yours.”

I stiffened

He’d said 'collateral' like I wasn’t a person. Like my momma had the right to trade me off before I was even grown.

His voice was too calm and casual for me when every one of his words was hitting me like a punch to the gut.

I couldn’t even blame Momma because you do what you have to when you’re drowning. She was just trying to survive the only way she knew how.

“The families need some diversity—new times and all that. And your father’s name still holds some sway over certain communities.” He smiled, too pleased with himself. “You’ll marry Luciano. Give him a few kids.”

It took a moment for what he was telling me to really register. When it did, I shot up from my seat. Panic roared inside me, but before I could fully stand, Luciano’s heavy hand pressed on my shoulder, gently pushing me back down.

“Sit,” he whispered.

That single word and the look in his eyes chilled my blood.

I jerked away from his touch, sinking back into the chair, my heart racing. Vito continued as if everything was normal.

“Your wedding is tomorrow,” he said.

The room was spinning at that point, but I refused to let them see me waver.

I clenched my jaw and forced my spine straight, gripping the edges of the chair to anchor myself. Because if I let go, I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t crumble to the ground.

Chapter 7

Luciano

I was leaned against my father’s heavy wooden desk, my eyes fixed on Ava. I watched her reaction as my father laid out the inevitable terms of our arrangement. Ava sat straight-backed, chin lifted, her entire body a lesson in defiance. She was stunning to look at.

She shook her head. “Mr. Genovese, you know I don’t belong in this world. I don’t have the bloodline, the upbringing. I’m an outsider.” Her voice was deceptively soft, trying to appear less hostile, reasoning her way out of this. But I could see past the performance.

The signs all pointed to her being scared.

It was in the subtle tension in her jaw. The way she gripped the chair, then her purse. Her body language was a textbook case of fear masked by defiance. She was attempting to project control, but her physiological responses betrayed her. Her dilated pupils, the faint tremor in her hands gave her away.

She was scared. But she was also strong. She was holding on to control when most would have been frantic. It was proof that she was strong enough to endure this world.

“You can’t want that for your son. He needs someone else. A woman like you all. Who wants this.”

My father merely leaned back in his chair, hands folded over his stomach. His expression indifferent, he looked down his nose at her as if she were a child throwing a tantrum. Ava read him well. She turned to me.

“You don’t want this,” she tried, shifting tactics, her eyes searching mine for something—mercy, doubt, anything she could work with. I gave her nothing.

“Just marry someone else,” she pressed, leaning forward. “For an heir. You can have anybody.”

She was right. I could have anyone. Many women would gladly take my last name, bear my children, slip seamlessly into the life that came with being my wife.

But I didn’t want just any woman.

I wanted this. I wanted her. I had wanted her since the first time I saw her. I had just killed a man for the first time when we crossed paths. Most people would have looked away after seeing my blood-stained clothes. She hadn’t. Her wide eyes had locked onto me, not with fear, but with something else.

That moment had sealed her fate. My blood had flared in my veins. It wasn’t lust, nor infatuation. It was like an instinct. She was mine and my mind and body had knew it.

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