Page 4 of Saint Of Envy
So, I sit in my car staring at the street up ahead and the side of the church building and wait. I’m not sure if I’m waiting for the ceremony to be over and for Vincent to scold me for having rudely missed it, or for something else to happen. It isn’t until I see a window at the side of the building open and a wad of white wedding dress being shoved through it that I realize exactly what I’m waiting for.
As soon as Valentina clears the window, kicks off her heels, and takes off running down the street, I know that she’s in danger.
“What the hell are you thinking?” I murmur to myself as I put the car in drive, knowing that in a matter of seconds, she will turn the edge of the building and step straight into the line of sight of Leonardo’s guards. And when she does—I will be there.
There’s a split second of time between when the guards see her and when Valentina takes off running towards my car down the street, that I almost instantly deliberate on the consequences of what I’m about to do. There are immense personal and political risks in intervening here. If I swoop in to rescue her from Leonardo’s men, who are in hot pursuit of the runaway bride, it will start a war, not just between the Moretti and the Conti family, but likely also between me and Vincent since my cousin won’t take fondly to me crossing this line. But that deliberation takes less than a second before I slam on the gas and speed toward Valentina, because I already knew in my heart that I’m willing to protect her fiercely from anyone that she runs from.
She steps out in front of my car without looking, making a frenzied last-ditch attempt to cross the street and outrun these guys. Immediately, I roll down my window and shout for her to get in.
For a split second, she looks like a deer in headlights, frozen in shock and fear.
“Valentina, get in the car now!” I urge as I pop open the passenger door and pull my gun up toward the windshield to fire on her pursuers if need be.
Thankfully, she jumps into the car just in time for me to avoid firing any shots, and also, I get the bonus of running over one of the guys’ feet.
“Get down!” I say as I reach to push her below the window as I punch the gas and race away from the church, leaving Vincent and Isla behind in what is sure to be a hot mess of a situation that I just helped to create.
Beside me, Valentina is breathing heavily, her face as pale as snow, still in shock, her breasts heaving with ragged breaths at the top of her dress.
“What are you doing here?” She asks as she turns to look at me with grateful surprise. “How did you know I was going to run?”
I narrow my eyes as the realization of what just happened sets in, and I turn to look at her. She’s scared but still exudes a sort of quiet strength that is beautiful beyond words.
“I didn’t,” I say truthfully.
I don’t know what I’m going to do now, but the one thing that I know is that I will not let Leonardo come for her. Never again will I allow anyone to take Valentina from me or coerce her into anything against her will. I fiercely protect those I love, and though Leonardo Conti may think I’m a “saint,” that’s only because he hasn’t seen the unholy wrath I unleash on anyone who touches Valentina Ricci, because she belongs with me.
CHAPTER 3
VALENTINA
The moment I step into Luc’s car, the destination stops mattering. As long as it’s far away from Leonardo and his men, that’s good enough for me. With Luc, I feel safe—more than that, I know I am safe. He treats me like a person instead of like property, as both Leonardo and my father do. Besides, it doesn’t matter where I’m going because I don’t think I even have a home anymore. I’m in another country with no one to turn to, and back in Vegas, I have only Leonardo’s estate or my father’s house. But my father is part of the reason I ended up in this mess with Leonardo to begin with. He’s the one responsible for my arranged marriage to Leonardo, a “strategic family arrangement” as he called it. And as much as I love my father, I’m now deeply conflicted and frustrated with our relationship. What kind of man would put his daughter in this position, committed to a husband she doesn’t care for? I feel for my father. He was always a neutral man who kept a low profile and tried to get by without getting sucked into too much trouble. But his fatal flaw was turning to Leonardo when his business struggled, and he needed a loan. Asking a Conti for money means that you are in their debt—or, as the case turned out to be, I'm the one responsible for paying my father’s debt bygiving my hand in marriage. I tried to do my duty and passively go along with it, but that night with Luc changed things. It reawakened a personal desire that has been burning hot ever since and quickly led me to finding my agency outside of my family loyalties.
Still, this can never work between us. It’s a tragedy waiting to be written.
“You know we can’t actually be together, right?” I ask him, wanting Luc to convince me otherwise. “Neither of our families would allow it.”
“Do I look like a man who lets mafia politics and societal expectations impede taking what I want?” he asks without looking at me. “I know the risks of what we just did, Valentina. You left Leonardo Conti embarrassed at the altar during his own wedding, and I just stole you out from under him.”
Funny, I hadn’t thought of Luc as “stealing” me until just now. It seemed at first that he was just there in the right place at the right time to help me escape. But in truth, Luciano stole my heart a long time ago.
“You’re a consigliere, not a Don,” I remind him carefully. I’m used to having to tread lightly around Leonardo so as not to set him off, and those habits die hard. “You’ll have to answer to Vincent too, for what you did in helping me escape.”
“Yes, I’m well aware of that. It’s not something for you to worry about, though. I’ll take care of it. Besides, Vincent doesn’t have as much power over my life as he thinks.”
I can pick up on a hint of envy in Luc’s voice, as if he thinks he might be a better leader than his cousin. But there’s a quality that I’ve seen almost every Don share in common—a ruthless,cold, selfish demeanor that puts them above others. Vincent might be an exception to that with Isla, but he still has a hard edge around his heart. Luc doesn’t strike me as being that way, especially not with how he seems both so adoring and protective of me at the same time.
I look down at my wrist and pull the charm bracelet he gave me out from beneath the sleeve of my wedding dress. Luc catches sight of it and seems surprised that I’m still wearing it, especially on my wedding day. I can only imagine that Leonardo would have ripped it from me later tonight, behind closed doors, after the wedding reception was over. Thankfully, I don’t need to think about that scenario now.
“You know, being a don doesn’t seem like it’s all that it’s cracked up to be,” I say, trying to ignore the consequences we’ll both face if our families catch us. “There are sacrifices that men who are dons have to make.”
“Like their souls?” he jokes, lightening the mood a bit as we drive.
“I don’t think you could sell your soul if you tried,” I smile back at him. “You’re much too good of a man, Luc.”
“Why did you agree to marry him, Valentina?” Luc asks. “Did your father pressure you?”
“I don’t want to talk about that right now,” I say as I look out the window at the evening landscape rushing past the car window. “But you already know that my father commands respect with his mere presence. He doesn’t even need to raise his voice inside his house—his word is law within my family.”
