“I don’t like to be called that, Dominic,” Maria told him harshly.
The way she responded definitely came as a shock to him—her green eyes lit up every time.
Maria might not liked to be called princess by other people, but from her pretty little face, she secretly liked it when he did.
“Well, that’s too bad,” he told her with a sly smile.
“May I help you?” Crossing her arms had her perky breasts raise higher. The motion had him about to ask her to show him the way to her bedroom.
Stepping into the doorway, he put his body an inch from hers, paying her right back for coming into his home uninvited. He couldn’t help but notice she wasn’t as tall as she was the last time, since she was barefoot and not in her stilettos. He had more of a height advantage, and he fucking liked it.
“Sure.”
He rudely pushed past her, getting to the real and only important reason he came here—his sister. “You can take me to Lucca.” His tone was serious now, his mind back on track.
Maria studied his changed demeanor before finally asking, “Is Lucca expecting y—”
“Take me to him.” He was slightly rude when he said it, but he couldn’t waste any more time talking to Maria. The power she held over him could have him forgetting everything.
Thankful that she seemed to silently understand his urgency, Maria show him the way.
The huge, wrought iron staircase in their foyer was only the beginning of the family’s wealth. Going down a hall that led to a door, he could smell the hint of smoke, knowing the one he wanted was on the other side before she even opened the door for him.
The moment he saw the Caruso underboss patiently waiting behind his desk staring at the burning flame of his lighter, Dom didn’t even notice Maria leaving, closing the door on her way out.
Not waiting to be asked to sit down, he took a seat in the chair on the other side of his desk.
“How did you know?” he asked, trying to keep his rage in check.
“Know what?” Lucca asked coldly, flipping shut his Zippo lighter.
This time, he failed when his voice came out guttural. “About Katarina.”
“I have my ways—”
“No.” He stopped his bullshit answer, getting frustrated that he was more interested in opening and closing the Zippo than their meeting. He hoped this would get his fucking attention. “I want the fucking truth.”
Lucca flipped his lighter closed again, letting it hit the desk, then finally look at him. “You sure about that?”
“Yes ….” He now feared the answer.
Smiling, it appeared Lucca didn’t feel an ounce of remorse. “Cassius.”
Dom’s brows furrowed in confusion … until it hit him. “Luke …,” he whispered the name of Cassius’s friend. He’d been talking about a Luke since before Dom had run into Lucca at the gas station on his side of town. That was why Lucca had been there. “All these years?”
Lucca slowly nodded.
Dom had thought Cassius’s friend was a fucking imaginary one at first, but then he figured it was just a kid from school … Not fucking Lucca Caruso.
“You … You …” Dominic’s confusion quickly turned back into fury. “You know fucking everything about us, don’t you?”
His blue-green eyes confirmed Dom’s fears.
Dominic ran his hand roughly through his hair. “He told you everything, and there isn’t a goddamn thing you don’t know about us.”
“He didn’t know it was me,” Lucca tried to excuse Cassius. “Not until I walked through the door the day Katarina was chosen.”
Dom wanted to fucking kill him, suck the life out of him with his bare hands, like he had wanted to do to his father. Every time he thought it couldn’t get worse, it did. He had officially reached his boiling point, as Lucca had managed to ruin every one of his brothers’ lives. Angel had been taken, Matthias was slowly withering away every day without him, and all the work he did to keep Cassius away from his father was for nothing, considering he’d been hanging around someone just as fucked up. All he had untouched by the boogieman was his Kat, and now he definitely wasn’t going to give her up.
“I’m not forcing my sister to marry.” Pausing, he made it clearer to the underboss. “I cannot do it.”
“Force is such a strong word,” Lucca told him, pulling out a cigarette from his pack that sat on his desk. “We like to use the word arranged.”
“Call it whatever the fuck you want, Lucca, but Kat’s no longer doing it, so Drago will have to pick someone else.”
“Pity.” Lucca flipped his lighter open to light the end of the stick he held in his mouth. He took a few quick puffs, letting smoke blow through his mouth before he continued, “I was just starting to like Angel working for me.”