Chapter 2
GIANNA
I’m in a strange bed, in a scary house, the room smells of dust and rot and old wood.
My sister Chiara is in my arms, shaking, I’m holding her as tight as I can, as tight as she’ll let me.
She’s my younger sister, but she’s actually the stronger of the two of us.
I’ve always known that, but right now, as I try to comfort her while shaking twice as hard as she is, I am certain I’m right.
Every time I let thoughts into my mind I see the same thing.
We’re at the beach house—my mom and dad, my twin sisters.
The sky is pitch black and we’re playing Monopoly on the terrace, laughing, and arguing.
The living room is filled with our security guards, including Matteo, the man I’ve fallen for so desperately I threw all caution to the wind.
The man I’d given my virginity to—my most sacred possession, if my father, the capo of one of the five families that rule the New York Mafia has anything to say about it.
I decided he doesn’t. Because I chose Matteo as the man I want to spend the rest of my life with.
But I trusted the wrong man.
The Monopoly game with the family was the perfect end to a great day. But then one of our guards, Rafaelle, came rushing at us, his white shirt covered with blood, his eyes crazed as he yelled for us to run.
We ran.
Across the dark garden, pursued by men I couldn’t see and chased by their bullets.
Then my dad was shot.
But we got him on the boat.
And then Matteo appeared out of the darkness, and I was certain we were saved.
But I was wrong. More wrong than I’d ever been about anything in my entire life.
He was the one who betrayed us. And I’m afraid he used me to do it. Every magical kiss we shared was a lie. The entire magical night on which I gave myself to him was a lie.
Now my sister and I are his prisoners.
And I have no idea if my parents and my other sister are even still alive.
I know all that happened.
But the pain that knowledge brings is so absolute I’d rather lose my mind than accept it.
Chiara screamed at the man who brought the carnage to us. The tall, black-haired one who wielded a tire iron dripping in blood and all the others took orders from. Including Matteo. She yelled and cursed until she lost her voice. I barely spoke to Matteo.
Because I have nothing to say to the man who betrayed my family.
And because words are useless, it’s actions that count.
My dad’s been saying that since I can remember.
But the advice was meant more for my older brother than me.
Because what does a woman have but her words?
In my world, not much. Sometimes not even that. This is one of those times.
I’m twenty-one years old and I always hated just how little freedom I was given by my father.
So I took what I wanted when I got the chance.
And destroyed everything.
Two grim-faced men enter the room my sister and I have been locked in once the sun rose. And behind them comes Matteo.
The two men grab Chiara and pull her from my arms. She’s yelling and screaming and kicking. I am too. So hard the whole room is spinning before my eyes, darkness closing in from the edges. A burning darkness.
But it’s no use. They drag her from the room and slam the door shut. Matteo is restraining me, his strong arms that I once longed to feel around me holding me tight. I hate his touch. It’s where all the burning darkness of my despair comes from.
He’s telling me to calm down, that I can’t stop this, that I’ll only get hurt, that my sister is getting married to the man she screamed at last night—the man responsible for the destruction of our world, I’m sure.
The mere idea makes me want to vomit. But I’m sure she’ll face her fate with her head held high and I should face all this the same way.
But what I’m faced with is Matteo.
He’s dressed in a silver-grey suit that makes the light I’ve always seen in him shimmer. The sun in his eyes is dulled, but still warms my face when I turn to face him.
But I could always also see darkness in him. And it’s that darkness that has won now. He might look like a good guy, but he’s the worst I’ve ever known. A devil in a pretty package. Death and destruction wrapped up as a present.
“She’ll be fine,” he assures me, his voice as warm as always, his tongue forming words I want to hear.
Lies. All lies. Evil, vile lies.
Then he tells me that they haven’t been able to catch my parents and my other sister.
More lies, I’m sure.
He knows now how much I hate him and wants me to stop.
“And I suppose you want me to do as you say, so you’ll take mercy on them when you do find them?” I ask, but the voice I’m hearing is foreign, cold, does not belong to the woman I was.
He doesn’t reply.
“You have me now,” I add. “But I’ll never be yours.”
“We’ll see about that,” he says and chuckles.
I used to love hearing him laugh. Loved seeing him smile. I tried hard to get him to do it.
I want to claw his eyes out, I want to scratch his face, I want to mark him as the monster he is so no one can ever be fooled by his lying charm and beauty again like I was fooled.
The darkness around him isn’t as black as it was. As though destroying my life gave him new life, finally let the entirety of his light shine through. And that’s sick.
He kicks the duffel bag lying on the floor closer to me.
“There’s some clothes in there. Clean yourself up and get ready. We have a wedding to attend.” Actual bile rises in my throat at the thought of watching my sister marry the vile man who shot my father and destroyed our world.
“Wear something gold, if it’s in there,” Matteo says and winks at me.
Goldie. That’s his nickname for me. I used to love it. So much so I only wore gold for him.
Can a person change in the space of just a few hours?
I have. I went from a dumb, naive girl to a bitter old woman from midnight to sun up. Nothing in between.
“From now on, I only wear black,” I say and pick up the bag. Trying to use my words as weapons again. But they’re useless like that. Absolutely useless.
“Careful, Goldie, you’re not in charge anymore,” he says and this time he doesn’t smile. The darkness around him is gathering again.
“My name is Gianna,” I say, locking eyes with him. “And we are not friends.”
The darkness around him deepens.
“You really should be careful how you are with me,” he says. “I am the only one standing between you and a fate you don’t even want to contemplate.”
I shake my head. “I trusted you once, but never again. There’s no fate worse than being betrayed by the one you love. None at all. I will never trust you again.”
He looks away first, but not before something that looks a lot like pain flashes through his eyes. But I must be mistaken.
He’s a liar and a cheat. A murderer.
And I will find a way to pay him back in kind. However long it takes. Whatever I must do.
He will pay for betraying me and my family.
He will pay with his life.
But I don’t need to tell him that. It will be a surprise. A terrible surprise like the one he had for me late last night.
“Just get dressed,” he says and strides to the door. “I’ll be right outside. Knock when you’re ready.”
Then he actually goes to stand outside my door just like he’d done when he was still my bodyguard, employed by my father.
I hate that I still feel him there just like I would back home. I hate that even all this hate I feel for him now can’t destroy the butterflies fluttering in my stomach and all the other loving feelings for him that still linger in me.
And I hate it that I think he actually feels the same.