Page 28 of Luciano (Belles & Mobsters 1)

Grace lifted her eyes and smiled softly the moment she saw her son’s face. “Oh, Matteo. Your face has chocolate smeared all over it.”

The boy grinned, showing off his teeth stained with chocolate. Massimo chuckled next to me. Truthfully, I would have laughed too if not for Grace’s constant glaring my way. She pulled out a baby wipe and cleaned out his face while he kept trying to avoid it by shifting his face left and right.

“Did you know your uncle petitioned to have all your assets transferred to him?”

Her movements paused and she stiffened at the question, but I didn’t care. There was no time to waste. I would start digging till I got all my answers. Her lips pressed tight, and there was no doubt in my mind that she knew.

I waited for her answer, the tension thick in the car. The vehicle could easily transport ten people, but right now, it felt too small for the five of us. Foolishly, I wished it was only Grace and I. If it was just the two of us, I’d get an answer out of her. I remembered how she caved when I touched her, her body melting under my fingertips.

“Yes.” Her admission surprised me. Hell, the fact that she answered at all surprised me.

“Did you ask him to do that?”

Her eyes went to her friend and then returned back to me. “No.”

“Was he going to split it with you?”

Something crossed her face, it almost looked like fear, but she quickly composed herself.

“Luciano, keep my son and me out of your damn games with my family,” she hissed in a low voice. “Whatever is going on, I am not interested to be part of it.”

“You are Romano,” I told her with a smirk. “You have always been part of it.”

The loathing in her stunning eyes should feel like a victory. A twisted, bitter victory. She sat stiffly, her hands clenching in her lap. She didn’t even try to hide her contempt for me. I trapped her, and there was nowhere for her to go.

Let her hate me,I thought to myself.I don’t care.

She’d serve my purpose; once and for all, I’d get this woman out of my system and out of my head. If she was financing her uncle’s activities, I’d have her broke before the week was out. There was no room for her in my life. I’d take what I want and then send her on her way.

She can run back to her man,I thought bitterly. But I knew it was a lie. I’d never let her go to another man. The only way out was death.

“Mamma,” her son called out to her. As she glanced at Matteo, her features instantly softened.

“Yes, baby?”

“Bene?”

That kid worshiped his mother. For all I knew, he was still in diapers, yet he was already worried about his mother.

“Yes.” She pulled him into her arms and pressed a kiss against his forehead.

For the rest of the trip, she ignored me.

While she stared out of the window, stubbornly, I couldn’t help but admire her graceful pale neck. The last time we drove together, I couldn’t keep my mouth off her neck, nibbling and licking her soft skin. I wondered if she still tasted the same. My eyes roamed over her face, and I noticed exhaustion written all over it. While her son slept during our flight, she didn’t. Even Ella fell asleep, but Grace remained awake. As if she kept watch, which was ridiculous. Did she think I was going to throw them all out of the plane?

She probably did think that, considering how we parted ways. But what did she expect? Her family killed my mother and sister. There was no way she didn’t know what her uncle and grandmother had done to them, cornered them and killed them execution style in front of my father’s eyes. Even knowing what her family had done, Grace betrayed me by telling her family about my shipment. I just started to trust her, and she betrayed me at the first opportunity.

My father suggested that she might have been scared of her family and was forced to betray me. But if that was the case, why didn’t she just tell me? She knew I was stronger than her family. I would have protected her. Her family couldn’t hurt her while she was with me.

No, I didn’t believe she was forced at all.

We approached my property, and I sensed more than saw Grace tense. In fact, she was so tense, I feared she’d snap in half. The moment the car came to a halt, my father was at the entrance, eagerness and restlessness all over him.

I exited the car and extended my hand to help my wife who held onto her son for dear life. She ignored my hand and exited.

“Gracy, sei venuta.” It was hard to miss the happiness in my father’s voice. He gave me a nod, his face lit up like a Christmas tree. “Mia cara.”

I watched my wife in shock and disbelief. Her eyes glimmered and her lower lip trembled, as if she would burst into tears at any moment. She would have been perfectly happy to kill me and not look back, but emotions reflected in her eyes as she looked at my father.

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