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Come, Gianna. I pulled her with me toward the couch and plopped down. Lily was already
kneeling on the armchair, watching Romero in rapt attention. Gianna s eyes flitted down to my hand.
What s this?
Birth control.
Don t tell me that asshole gave it to you just now so he can screw you on your wedding night.
I pressed my lips together.
You aren t going to take them, right?
I have to. It won t stop Luca if I don t. He ll only be angry.
Gianna shook her head, but I gave her a pleading look. I don t want to argue with you. Let s watch
a movie, okay? I really need the distraction. After a moment, Gianna nodded. We picked out a random
movie, but it was difficult to focus with Romero guarding us.
Are you going to stand there all night? I asked eventually. You re making me nervous. Can t you
sit down at least?
He moved toward the vacant armchair and sank down. He shrugged off his jacket, revealing a white
shirt and a holster holding two guns and a long knife.
Wow, Lily breathed. She stood and walked over to him. He kept his attention on the door. She
stepped in his way and he had no choice but to look up at her. She smiled. She quickly slipped into his lap
and he tensed. I leaped off the sofa and wrenched her off him. Lily, what s matter with you? You can t act
like that. One day a man is going to take advantage of you. Many men had trouble understanding that
provocative clothes and actions didn t mean a woman was asking for it.
Romero straightened in the chair.
He won t hurt me. Luca forbid him, right?
He could steal your virtue you and cut your throat afterward, so you can t tell anyone, Gianna
said off-handedly. I shot her a glare.
Lily s eyes grew wide.
I wouldn t, Romero said, startling us with his voice.
You shouldn t have said that, Gianna muttered. Now she s going to fawn over you.
Lily, go to bed, I ordered and she did under loud protest.
I m sorry, I said. She doesn t know what she s doing.
Romero nodded. Don t worry. I have a sister her age.
How old are you?
Twenty.
And how long have you been working for Luca? Gianna turned off the TV to focus on her
interrogation. I settled against the backrest.
Four years, but I ve been a made man for six years.
You must be good if Luca chose you to protect Aria.
Romero shrugged. Knowing how to handle myself in a fight isn t the main reason. Luca knows I m
loyal.
Meaning you won t paw at Aria.
I rolled my eyes at Gianna. Romero probably regretted ever leaving his spot at the door. Luca
knows he can trust me with what s his.
Gianna s lips thinned. Wrong thing to say. So if Aria came out of her room naked tonight and you
got a hard-on because you can t really help it, Luca wouldn t cut off your dick?
Romero was obviously taken aback. He stared at me, as if he actually worried I would do that.
Ignore her. I won t.
Where are Luca and the other men going for stag night?
Romero didn t reply.
Probably a strip club and afterward one of the whorehouses the Familia has going, Gianna
muttered. Why is it that men can whore around while we have to save our virginity for the wedding
night? And why can Luca fuck whoever he wants while Aria can t even kiss a guy?
I didn t make the rules, Romero said simply.
But you make sure that we don t break them. You aren t our protector, you are our warden.
Have you ever considered that I m protecting guys who don t know who Aria is? he asked.
I frowned.
Luca would kill anyone who dared to touch you. Of course, you could go out, flirt with a guy and
move on, because you wouldn t be the one Luca would gut.
Luca isn t my fiancé, Gianna said.
Your father would kill any man that got near you, because he wouldn t want anyone to spoil his
most prized possessions.
For the first time, I realized that only because I d been given to Luca that didn t mean Gianna
wouldn t be forced to marry someone else. I felt suddenly very tired. I m going to bed.
I lay awake most of the night, thinking of ways to get out of the wedding, but the only option would
be to run, and while Gianna would definitely come with me, what about Liliana? I couldn t keep them
both save. And what about Fabiano? What about my mother? I couldn t leave everything behind. This was
my life. I didn t know anything else. Maybe I was a coward, though marrying a man like Luca probably
required more courage than running away.
CHAPTER FOUR
The living room of the suite was decorated for the bridal shower. I d hoped to be spared that
tradition but my mother had insisted it would be an affront to the women of Luca s family if they couldn t
meet me before the wedding.
I smoothed out the green cocktail dress. It was a color that was supposed to bring good luck. I knew
my interpretation of what would be good luck at this point differed widely from Luca s and my father s
interpretation.
Lily wasn t allowed to attend the bridal shower since she was deemed to young, but Gianna had
argued her way into staying. Though I worried that there might be another reason behind mother s
agreement. Gianna had turned seventeen a few days ago. That meant she was almost old enough to be
married off as well. I pushed the thought aside. I could hear mother and Gianna arguing in the bedroom
about what Gianna was supposed to wear when a knock sounded at the suite door. It was a bit early; the
guests weren t supposed to arrive for another ten minutes.
I opened the door. Valentina stood in front of me, Umberto behind her. She was my cousin but five
years older than me. Her mother and my mother were sisters. She smiled apologetically. I know I m
early.
It s okay, I said, stepping back so she could walk in. Umberto sat back on the chair outside my
door. I really liked Valentina, so I didn t mind spending some time alone with her. She was tall and
graceful, with dark-brown, almost black hair and eyes that were the darkest green imaginable. She wore a
black dress with a pencil skirt that reached her knees. Her husband Antonio had died six months ago, and
my wedding would be the first time that she d wear something other than black. Sometimes widows,
especially older women, were expected to wear mourning for a year after their husband s death, but
Valentina was only twenty-three. Luca s age. I caught myself wishing her husband had died sooner so she
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| Cytat |
Dobre pomysły nie mają przeszłości, mają tylko przyszłość. Robert Mallet
De minimis - o najmniejszych rzeczach.
Dobroć jest ważniejsza niż mądrość, a uznanie tej prawdy to pierwszy krok do mądrości. Theodore Isaac Rubin
Dobro to tylko to, co szlachetne, zło to tylko to, co haniebne.
Dla człowieka nie tylko świat otaczający jest zagadką; jest on nią sam dla siebie. I z obu tajemnic bardziej dręczącą wydaje się ta druga. Antoni Kępiński (1918-1972)
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