Page 57 of Luca
“Hello.”
Aiden Callahan sounded tired. And I knew exactly why. His baby sister didn’t stick to the plan and instead of her going to Northern Italy, Margaret decided to hide in Sicily. According to Nico’s reports, he’d been worried sick. Much to his dismay, he learned of the agreement between Marchetti and Callahan much too late so his worry magnified.
He thought he threw her to the wolves.
He did, just not the kind that he thought.
“Aiden,” I greeted him. “Luca King here.”
“What the fuck do you want?”
Ever since Cassio’s plan of switching brides, I’d been on the Callahan brothers shitlist. Just by blood relation to my brother. Plus, it didn’t help that Margaret had despised me. Until now.
“I hear you’re looking for your sister,” I drawled, leaning back in my chair and keeping my eyes on Margaret and Nonno in the garden. I could see them from here and though I couldn’t hear them, I could see every time their backs shook from laughter. Damn if it didn’t make me love her even more.
My heart stilled.Love?
No, it couldn’t be. I shook my head as if to confirm my thoughts.
No, not love. Obsession, yes. Lust, yes. But not love.
“What’s it to you?” Aiden spat. I could hear the anger and frustration in his tone. Margaret was so much like her brother. More so Aiden than the twins. Those two seemed to have their own thing going on that nobody else was privy to. Like their goddamn ménage à trois they seemed to love.
“I could help.” Or hinder, depending on how he looked at it.
A pause, a heartbeat too long. “You know where she is.”
It was a statement. Aiden wasn’t stupid. It was the reason his uncle chose him to run the Callahan mafia. He had been grooming him for a long time.
“I do. And I’m marrying her.” There was certainly a better way to drop the happy news on him, but fuck it. Might as well jump all the way in.
“You’re what?” he growled.
So to ensure he understood, I repeated the words slowly, “I am marrying Margaret.”
“You motherfucking Kings,” he growled. “Always zooming in on our women.” Okay, so he didn’t take the news as well as I hoped. “You touch her, Luca, and you’ll be a dead man. Fuck the alliance. Fuck everything. I’ll make you scream in agony.”
He loved me already. I could feel all that love traveling through the line and just warming my heart. If only he knew I touched Margaret already. More than touched. And she… fuck, just thinking about that night and those moans eight months ago had all the blood rushing to my groin.
Bad timing.
“You can make me scream, but it will be after I wed your sister,” I told him calmly. “Now, you can calm down and join us for the wedding. She’d want you here. Or you can steam like a fucking crab in New York.”
Truthfully, I was too happy to gather some grudge or anger towards him. Margaret agreed to marry me. Of her own free will. Yes, her clause was no sex, but we’d overcome that bridge too. We were what people called a work in progress.
“Steam like a crab?” Aiden muttered. “Who in the fuck says shit like that? And what do you mean, she wants me there? You make it sound like she’s agreeing to wed you when you’re forcing her. Margaret despises you. She set your car on fire just because you defended her.”
Okay, I spoke too soon. Now he was pissing me off.
“No, I’m not forcing her,” I gritted. “The two of us came to an accord.”
“Bullshit.”
“Believe what you want,” I told him. “Or you can ask her yourself if you want to come for the wedding. I want to surprise her.”
That must have made him pause, but before he could come up with some brilliantly stupid plan, I added, “Only you and your brothers. And all the arrangements will be made for you. All you have to do is give me a yes or a no.”
Aiden let out a few Gaelic curses. “Since Margaret has left New York, I learned that there is an unwritten rule between the Callahans and Marchettis. We can’t cross into his territory, and he’ll stay out of ours. I’ve been worried sick about my sister.”
