Page 38 of Luciano (Belles & Mobsters 1)

I turned my back to Luciano and bent over to pick up my laptop. Stuffing it into its slip, I glanced over my shoulder.

“Luciano, I want the annulment expedited. With your connections, I’m sure you can have it done fast.”

I was so lost in him, I didn’t even notice Massimo standing to the side. Of course, that man was always by his side. I narrowed my eyes on him. I wouldn’t forgive either one of them for that evening when they discarded me like some garbage.

I strode quickly away from both of them, and the memories that opened my heart and made it bleed. Even after all that time, it still caused physical pain in my chest.

I was almost ten feet away from them when Ella’s voice reached me. “Wait, Grace.”

My step slowed down but I didn’t stop. “Grace, what was that about?

“We have to get out of here,” I murmured low. “The sooner, the better.”

“What about the annulment?”

“I’ll give him a timeline. If he can’t make it happen within that time, we need to go.”

“Shit, are you falling for him again?”

Abruptly stopping, I glared at her. “No. I hate his guts,” I hissed.

Turning my gaze back to where I left Luciano, I noted he still stood there, his eyes on me and that damn, arrogant, ever-knowing smile on his kissable lips.

“Matteo is getting attached to Luciano’s father and to Luciano. You should have seen Matteo this morning, sleeping against Luciano. And it’s only been a day. The longer we stay here, the riskier it is.”

I took a big breath and locked eyes with Ella. “I want to figure out how to get my hands on my parents’ will. The sooner, the better. If Luciano doesn’t have an annulment done by then, we clear out of here. Can you work on hacking the Romano network?”

She nodded. Ella became really good at hacking, and our firewalls were strong, thanks to her picking up a few tips during her relationship with Dietrich.

“How are we going to get away from Luciano?” Her question was barely a whisper. “His guys are watching our every single move.”

Boom bum. Boom bum. Boom bum.

“I’ll move his attention to something else,” I replied in a barely audible voice.I just have to figure out what.

“The man is devouring you with his eyes,” she muttered. “Maybe sleep with him and keep him distracted that way.”

My sweet spot between my legs pulsed at the idea but my heart cringed.No fucking way.That man would ruin me, utterly destroy me because despite everything that happened, he was still my weak spot.

“More like he would be my distraction,” I muttered begrudgingly under my breath. “Forget that for now. Let’s focus on robbing Ian Laszlo of my will and finding my uncle’s kid. Tomorrow we'llaccidentallyrun intoIan.” I put an air quotation when I said accidentally. “And in the meantime, we keep digging for my uncle’s kid’s identification.”

“I couldn’t believe it when I read it,” she mumbled. It was the message that alarmed both of us. It was the reason she handed me this morning in front of Luciano. “Nor that I lucked out when I hacked into his network.”

“Honestly, I can’t believe he has a kid,” I told her, still shocked with that discovery. My uncle was a cruel bastard, and he shouldn’t be allowed around children or innocent people. As far as I was concerned, my grandmother’s and his evil was contagious. “I always knew him to be with other men. I didn’t realize he liked women too.”

“But do you realize what that means?” she whispered. “His kid is thirty-five. That means, you are not the one owed to Benito King. It is his kid.”

“Maybe it is a boy?” I understood what she was saying, but it didn’t make it right to be sold off, regardless if it was my uncle’s kid or me.

“But then why would he hide the fact he had a kid?”

Yes, indeed! Why?

* * *

Forty-eight hours.That was all it took. Barely two days, and I wanted to murder my husband more than anything else.

I was so furious I saw red. I barely stepped foot into his house, and he already dominated my life and my schedule. First at the pool, he swarmed me with his presence. Then demanded I change my hair color. Who in the hell did he think he was? But I bit my tongue and made the appointment. For the same day, just as he demanded. It was back to its ginger color.

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