“And you knew all along?” Luca muttered. “You knew and didn’t tell me? Didn’t we have a discussion about loyalty and trust when you helped Gianna run away?”
Aria blanched. “They are my sisters.”
“And I’m your fucking husband.”
“Luca, she didn’t mean--” I began.
Luca jabbed his fingers against my chest. “You stay the fuck out of this. You’re lucky I don’t put a bullet into your head right this second for going against my orders.”
“Hey, calm down Luca. Maybe it’s not as bad as it sounds,” Matteo said, trying to be the voice of reason, which was a joke in itself.
“Oh, I suspect it’s exactly as bad as I think it is,” Luca murmured. His eyes fixed me. “Just tell me this, will we be in trouble on Liliana’s wedding night?”
I knew what he was asking.
“Lily won’t marry that guy. Isn’t he over fifty? It’s ridiculous,” Aria butted in.
“Over fifty and a nasty piece of shit,” Matteo added.
Luca ignored them. His eyes bored into mine. “Will there be a fucking problem on her wedding night?”
“I slept with Lily,” I said calmly.
Matteo let out another of his annoying whistles.
Luca cursed. He looked like he wanted to smash my head in with a sledgehammer. “Why couldn’t you leave your dick in your pants? Couldn’t you at least have drawn the line at actually fucking her?”
“I don’t regret it,” I said. “Now less than ever.”
Luca took a step back from me as if he didn’t trust himself this close to me. “This is a fucking mess. Do you realize what happens if Benito Brasci finds out his wife isn’t a virgin? Scuderi will figure out it happened in New York and we’ll be screwed.”
“I don’t think there will be a problem. I stood beside Brasci at the urinal once. That guy’s cock is tiny. He can’t possibly expect there to be any blood on the sheets with that small sausage. Liliana probably won’t even notice his cock in her,” Matteo joked.
I saw red. I lunged at him, my fist colliding with his jaw. But Matteo wasn’t Nino. After my first hit, he blocked my second and pulled his knife. Mine was out too. We faced off, knives pointed at each other.
“Enough!” Luca roared, stepping between us and shoving us away from each other. “I’m going to put you down like rabid dogs if you don’t get a grip on yourself right this second.”
“He started it,” Matteo said, never taking his eyes off me. We’d never fought against each other, and I wasn’t sure I could beat him in a knife fight, but I wouldn’t mind to find out.
“You provoked him,” Aria said. “What you said was horrible.”
Matteo rolled his eyes. “My God, I was trying to light the mood.”
“You failed,” Luca said coldly. “Now put your knives away. Both of you.”
I sheathed my knife and Matteo did the same. I exhaled. “I shouldn’t have punched you,” I said eventually.
Matteo nodded. “I should keep my mouth shut now and then.”
We shook hands and I leaned against the wall again. My legs felt heavy. I peered down at my phone. I needed to call Lily, to tell her I wouldn’t give her up.
“But she’s not pregnant, is she?” Luca asked after a moment.
I shook my head. We’d always been careful.
“Then maybe we’ll get out of this unscathed. Brasci might not notice, and there are ways to fake blood stains on the sheets.”
“She won’t marry that man,” I said.
Luca raised his eyebrows. “Oh, isn’t she? Are you thinking about stopping Scuderi? Maybe kidnap Lily and marry her?”
I didn’t say anything. I wanted to punch Luca too, but that would have definitely been the nail in my coffin.
“Luca, please. Can’t you talk to my father?”
“Talk to him and tell him what?” Luca growled. “That my best soldier screwed his daughter and wants her for himself? That I broke my oath to protect Liliana and now she’s lost her fucking honor? That will go over fucking well.”
“No, but you could tell him that Gianna and I want our sister in New York with us and if he wouldn’t maybe consider marrying her to someone from the Famiglia. You wouldn’t have to tell him who right away. It would give us time to figure something out.”
“I can’t get involved. It’s none of my business. And if your father has already promised Liliana to Brasci, he won’t change his mind. It would make him look bad and offend Brasci.”
“But we have to do something!” Aria exclaimed.
“I won’t go into war over this!” Luca hissed.
I understood him. He had to consider only the Famiglia. But I didn’t have to.***
Liliana
I was woken by the ringing of a phone. Slowly my conversation with my Father and then Romero replayed in my mind. My eyes darted toward my travel bag in the walk-in closet, thinking and hoping it was Romero again before I remembered that it was on mute. Disappointment crashed down on me once more. I sat up, disoriented and exhausted from crying. The clock on the nightstand told me it was only 10pm. I walked toward my desk where the landline phone was and picked it up. It was Aria. She must have heard already. Had Father called her to tell her the good news?
I picked up. “Hi Aria,” I rasped. There was no hiding that I’d been crying. Aria knew that voice.
“Oh, Lily. I just heard. I’m so sorry. I can’t believe it.”
“We’re not going to let Father get away with it. We’ll figure something out,” Gianna shouted in the background. They were together, they had husbands they loved, and I’d be stuck here with an old man I would never be able to love. How could things have gone so horribly wrong?
“Did Father call you?” I asked, my voice regaining some of the emotionlessness I preferred.
“No, he didn’t. We found out through Romero.”
“He told you.”
“Yes, he did,” Aria said slowly. “He attacked one of the other soldiers who said something to him, so Luca had a word with him, and figured it out.”