Page 131 of Where Dark Hearts Devour
Allegra tuts from her own lounger but doesn’t appear to have the energy to challenge her niece.
“We should perhaps wait for Cristiano to get back. This doesn’t feel like my home yet.” As I say the words, I wonder if it will ever feel like my home. It’s huge and stately, and I never dreamed I’d be a “lady” of any house, let alone one of the grandest on Long Island.
Just as she’s about to huff out a sigh of supposed starvation, voices echo through the house, and my chest warms at the familiar timber. When Cristiano appears on the terrace, I have to fight every urge to run to him. Instead we saunter toward each other, biting back smiles, knowing the eyes of every member of my family are watching feverishly.
I reach him and inhale deeply as he bends to press a chaste kiss to my cheek. Then his lips brush the shell of my ear.
“Fuck, I want you alone.” He pulls away, taking my breath with him.
“Hi,” I rasp. “Good day at the office?”
His gaze coasts over me and warms with hunger. “Would rather have been at home.” He threads his fingers through mine and steps to the side.
Another figure looms large in the doorway—an older man, with thick brows, salt-and-pepper hair, and an expression too kind to be marred by Mafia blood.
“Trilby, this is Augie, my underboss.”
Underboss?He looks too old to be second-in-command to the don of a highly active crime organization.
I swallow and hold out my free hand. “It’s a pleasure.”
Augie steps toward me, and as if to prove my judgment is impaired, he rolls up his sleeves. His arms areenormousand laced with ink. His grip is like steel, and his expression is solid, as though a world of opinions is racing around behind it, but no one would ever know.
“Trilby,” he says with a smile. “I’m pleased to finally meet you.”
Finally?How long has he known I exist?
More steps echo through the house, and Benito Bernadi appears behind Augie. His eyes unashamedly roam the terrace until they land on something and harden like flint. I cast a look over my shoulder to see what his gaze has settled on.
Tess is stretched out on her lounger, one knee bent, her arms resting overhead like a Hollywood starlet.
“Augie and Benny are joining us for the evening,” Cristiano says, drawing my gaze back to his.
“Actually,” Augie says, “I’m just going to stay for a quick bite, then I need to pay Beppe a visit.”
Cristiano shoots him a questioning look.
“There’s been a bit of trouble with the Marchesis, but nothing for you to worry about ... yet,” Augie says.
Sera bounds over and throws her arms around Cristiano. “Congratulations!” she squeals. “Welcome to the family.”
I flick my lids shyly up at my fiancé, only to see him gazing down at me with an assured smile.
“Thanks, Sera. Welcome to mine.”
“Oh, um ...” My sister stutters her thanks. Clearly, she didn’t consider she’d be joining the Di Santo family herself through my marriage.
“Let’s sit,” Cristiano says brightly.
Tess leaps up at the suggestion of imminent food and doesn’t even tug down the hem of her dress. I catch Benito’s discreet glance at her bare thighs and the movement of his Adam’s apple as she slides onto a chair.
We tuck into grilled seafood, fresh salad, and stuffed eggplant and talk mainly about the house and the casino business Cristiano has handed to Nicolò. It’s too soon for any talk of Savero or the port or our impending wedding.
Cristiano’s thigh rests against mine, and his hand occasionally reaches down to graze the bare skin beneath my dress. I don’t need to glance up at him to feel the force of his presence. My heart flutters permanently these days, whether he’s around me or not.
On my other side, Augie turns to me every few minutes to share an anecdote from Cristiano’s past, making me giggle and almost spit out my food. The more I get to know him, the more I’m thankful he’s still in Cristiano’s life.
“You loved Gianni, didn’t you?” I ask Augie as the sky begins to darken.
