“Why?” Matthias’s smile remained with his gloat. “You let Dom call you that.”
“Yeah, not for long.” She took a step closer to the end of the bed so she could go around and snatch the device from him. “Now, hand over the phone.”
“Don’t do it,” Cassius told him, standing by the door, watching it all unfold. “Dom doesn’t want her leaving.”
When Matthias seemed happy about that, Maria gave him a final warning. “Last chance ….”
Matthias practically laughed. “Or what?”
“I wouldn’t—” Cassius’s warning stopped the second Maria moved.
Taking a shortcut, Maria jumped on his bed.
Fear set in Matthias’s eyes, but before she could cross the bed and jump him, he shoved the phone down the front of his shorts.
Maria was about to take a flying leap, but watching that action, she had never stopped so fast in her life.
“If you want it, you’ll have to come and get it,” the fully tatted brother teased her.
“Ew, no.” Maria jumped back off the bed and in the direction she had come, realizing Dominic was right—there were scarier things that went on in this house with three brothers. That was fucking saying a lot coming from her. She’d been raised with three brothers of her own, but they were nothing compared to the Lucianos. She was about to rip her hair out from having to deal with them. At home, it was her three brothers that had to deal with her.
Maria suddenly realized she had whipped her brothers into shape, for the most part. They knew not to be gross around her and had learned the hard way not to get their disgusting germs anywhere near her food.
Boys were gross, teen boys were even grosser, and young men still were. Lucca’s, and especially Nero’s, girlfriends should be thanking her for her handiwork, because God knew how much worse Nero would have turned out where girls were concerned if it wasn’t for her. These Luciano brothers were proving her to be right.
Matthias looked offended as he watched her leave the room.
Seeing stairs, Maria made a run for them, deciding to try her luck for a phone up there. Getting to the top of the old creaky steps, she found it strange that there was only one door when she should have found it stranger that Cassius and Matthias hadn’t followed her up.
Maria turned the rusty doorknob. Creaking open the door, the room was dim and only lighted by a single, odd-shaped window. The room was canted due to the roofline angling down, but that wasn’t the only thing strange about it.
There was an unavoidable feeling that emanated from within the room; she felt it the second she walked in. There weren’t many things in there—only a bed and nightstand—but the energy was insurmountable. Standing in the center of the room, it was like being right between good and evil.
Or heaven and hell.
Turning away from the eerie feeling, Maria went back to trying to get the fuck out of there. With nothing around, she reached out for the nightstand, hoping to find something ….
The door coming to a creaky close behind her had her quickly dropping her hand and turning around, seeing Dominic’s back. Instantly, she knew whose room she was in.
It didn’t feel like it would be Dom’s, as the only warmth in the room came from what she had missed seeing, but now the fiery smells enveloped her.
After shutting the door, Dominic reached above the doorframe, grabbing an old, intricate silver key that was resting on the lip. He pushed it into the doorknob, then turned it. Taking out the key in the now locked door, he placed it back.
Maria was tall but not tall enough to get it from its spot, even if she were wearing heels. Not wearing heels gave her absolutely no fucking chance.
When Dominic slowly turned around, her breath caught in her throat—his presence telling her that she just might’ve pushed him too far. Dom had clearly reached the end of his rope. The slack he had given her had run out. The moment reminded her of the night he came to her house and confronted her about Kayne.
“I-I …” Her words came out breathy at first, but she quickly righted herself. “I want my phone back, Dominic.”
Dominic took an intimidating step forward. “Tell me why you came here, Maria, and I will.”
Crossing her arms, she wasn’t going to let him intimidate her. “I told you, it was stupid.”
“It only became stupid to you when you saw me with another woman.” Dominic gave her an incisive look. “So, that means it had to do with your feelings … for me.”
Maria shot him a cold look. “What feelings?”
“My father is the only one of your kind that I’ve seen truly heartless.” Strolling into the room, he stood a foot in front of her. “Lucca somehow loves Chloe.”