Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Katya
The soft melody of Beethoven’s Pathétique Sonata comes to an abrupt and ugly end as my fingers dig hard into the piano. A flinch jerks through my whole body, and a gasp flies from my lips.
“Gotcha.”
“You little—” I hiss, cutting myself off before any words not safe for little ears leave me.
It’s too late for my baby sister to be roaming around the house, but with Gaia, you never know.
She’s only six years old, but she has the sneaking around skills of a teenager.
Glaring as I spin around on the polished wood piano bench, I huff at my best friend.
“I’ve told you to stop sneaking up on me. It’s not funny, Chloe.”
“I couldn’t help it.” She grins, wiggling her perfectly sculpted dark eyebrows. “You look so peaceful when you’re playing that dreadfully boring music. I always want to disturb you when I find you in here.”
“I locked the door,” I point out with a grimace. “How did you even get in? Actually, why did you even come over? It’s one in the morning, how are you at my house right now?”
She snorts as if the question is ridiculous. “Why are you playing piano at one in the morning, is the better question. You’re such a bore, my dear.”
“And yet, here you are pestering your bore of a friend,” I point out with a hint of snark. “I ask again, how exactly did you get permission to come over in the middle of the night, and how the heck did you get through my locked door?”
Playing piano at night has become a part of my routine since my days have gotten more and more busy.
It’s the only time where I can escape my family and get some peace and quiet recently.
I can’t complain too much, of course. I adore spending time with my baby sister, and my mother.
But a girl my age needs alone time as much as she needs to be surrounded by support and love. It’s a difficult balancing act.
“Father drove me here, he’s talking with yours—”
“Linus is not my father,” I remind her sharply. I don’t have any problems with the man who my mother remarried after my dad’s passing. Without him, I wouldn’t have my little Gaia, after all. But he is not my parent.
“Semantics.” She waves me off. “Anyway, as I was saying…We’re here together. He couldn’t exactly tell me to stay home when he was coming to my best friend’s house in the middle of the night. And you should know how I got into this room perfectly well. Ares let me in.”
“Of course he did.” I sigh, shaking my head and trying to hide a genuine disappointment.
Ares Gabris, my troublemaker stepbrother, is a decent person to live with, until you want space. He bulldozes over boundaries for fun, and he doesn’t seem to find his actions to be anything other than amusing. I don’t know if I’ll ever truly understand him, but he could be worse. He could be evil.
“Aren’t you going to ask why my father just HAD to come see yours in the middle of the night?”
Knowing correcting her a second time won’t make a difference, I bite my tongue.
Chloe is a great friend, but all friendships have sore points, don’t they?
Ours has always been when she refers to Linus as my dad.
It makes me twitchy, and sometimes, I get really close to snapping at her for it.
It’s like she doesn’t understand that I remember my dad.
MY dad. The man who raised me, named me, and taught me so many things before he unexpectedly died. He was my mother’s first love, and my first friend. I still carry his last name, even if my mother doesn’t. It feels like a slap in the face to call someone else my father in his place.
“You know I don’t care about mafia politics,” I tell Chloe in a huff. “Whatever brought him over here is none of my business or my concern.” If her gossip had anything to do with me or my family, Mom would have informed me before she even stepped foot in the house.
“Don’t be boring.” She rolls her eyes. “This news is juicy, and it just hit the scene.”
“You’re going to tell me even if I continue to be disinterested, so just tell me.”
She pouts. “You’re no fun, but I don’t care. There hasn’t been something this big for years! Leon Moretti’s wife died yesterday. Isn’t that amazing?”
My mouth drops open at the news and her insane question that followed.
“Amazing? How could the news of someone’s death be amazing? She…Leon and her have children, don’t they?” Two boys, if I remember correctly. “They just lost their mother and you think that news is amazing?”
Leon lost a wife, too. But everyone knows that their marriage was not a love match.
The two of them have never displayed an ounce of affection in public together, and the rumor mill may lie, but it’s known for some truths.
The second eldest Moretti has lived in a loveless marriage for years, and it’s been newsworthy for one very important reason.
Even in that loveless marriage, there have been zero reports of him sleeping with other women.
Or her sleeping with other men, for that matter.
Affairs in arranged marriages are fairly common on the man’s side, but it’s not unheard of for the woman to have lovers either.
Depending on her husband, stepping out on the marriage can be discreetly allowed, or expressly forbidden.
Some men will fuck whoever they want, whenever they want, but as soon as his wife tries to do the same, he’ll kill her and her lovers.
Chloe’s excitement falters, but it doesn’t take long for her to lift her chin and shake off my opinion.
“Of course it’s sad for them, but this is incredible news for plenty of other people.
There hasn’t been an eligible bachelor at his rank and status for years, Katya.
Don’t you get it? He’s an Underboss, and he’ll need a new wife.
Even if he doesn’t pick me—and I really fucking hope he does—some other girl around our age will get the chance to have a Moretti husband.
She won’t have to worry about being thrown to some wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing soldier or a man from a violent, lesser family.
It’s like finding out the prince of a small and noble country is looking for a suitable bride, babe. That’s something to celebrate.”
I don’t know how to reply to her lack of empathy for the family that just lost a member, but Chloe has always had a strange outlook on life when it comes to these things.
I’ve told myself not to judge her for it.
She doesn’t know the loss of someone close to her, of someone she’s loved.
But we also live in an odd world. Death is to be expected, and dwelling on it can be difficult.
“Is he even looking for a bride?” I ask doubtfully, crinkling my nose. “She died yesterday. It’s a bit soon to be planning another wedding.”
“Pshhh.” She waves a dismissive hand. “Of course he hasn’t announced that he’s looking yet. Her death hasn’t even been formally announced. But in a few weeks or months from now? He’ll be looking and I’ll be ready.”
“He won’t pick you.”
The sound of my stepbrother’s voice startles me so badly that I actually jump out of my seat this time.
“Ares!” I hiss, finding him casually leaning against the wall by the door.
He’s in a crumbled suit, and his dark hair is an absolute mess.
I’m guessing he was at one of the Gabris casinos entertaining a horde of women while winning money he doesn’t need when he got the call to come home. “How long have you been there?”
He scoffs. “I let your little friend in, and she was too excited to notice that I came in as well. You two aren’t very entertaining, you know? I’ve been getting bored.”
I’m about to reprimand him for eavesdropping when Chloe puts her hands on her hips and steps in his direction, scowling. “What do you mean he won’t pick me? Why shouldn’t he? I’m hot, rich, from a good family, and younger than him. I’m perfect.”
Something about my best friend? She has enough confidence for both of us.
It’s one of the things that drew us together all those years ago.
She found me at my first dinner party as Linus’ stepdaughter, took my arm in hers, and declared I was going to be her new best friend.
She liked my hair, and my dress, and I liked that she was standing tall in a room full of murderers, thieves, and millionaires.
She can walk into any room like she owns it.
“You’re terrible with kids,” Ares points out as if it’s obvious.
“I am not,” she denies hotly.
“You run away from Gaia anytime she’s less than perfectly clean.”
“She gets sticky,” Chloe defends, nose scrunching up. “She got pancake syrup on my Prada skirt, and put Hello Kitty stickers on my Jimmy Choos!”
“She’s six,” Ares drawls, rolling his eyes. “Leon’s sons are five and four, they’ll be just as messy, if not more so. You think he wants a wife who scurries away from them anytime they get near her while they’re eating, or coloring, or running around in the mud?”
My friend frowns, contemplating. “Surely he has a nanny—”
“Nope,” Ares replies with a grin. “Morettis raise their own, sweetheart. He doesn’t even live with the horde of the rest of them, so there won’t be any brothers around to help you take care of the kids either. You’d be all on your own.”
Not one to be told she can’t do something, Chloe lifts her chin. “I could do it. For the right man? I can do anything. He has enough money to buy me new clothes when the rugrats ruin mine.”
“Do you ever get bored of living in your world of delusion?”
“Do you ever get bored of acting like you know everything?”
“Can you two stop?” I ask with a groan, pinching the bridge of my nose. “I feel horrible talking about this. You didn’t even say how she died. Was it an accident or an attack or—”
“She was sick,” Ares tells me, looking almost softened by my concern. “Huntington’s disease, I believe. Something her family failed to mention before marriage negotiations, no doubt. Meaning the Morettis most certainly will be looking for a replacement wife from them.”
“Her poor kids,” I mumble, looking down sadly. “She was so young.”
“That’s life,” Chloe quips darkly. “People die.”
“And that’s why Katya has a million times better chance of marrying Leon Moretti than you ever will. She’s empathetic and compassionate. You’re cynical and brash. Kids adore her, and she’s a natural with them. You’d tolerate them at best.”
“No one asked for your opinion,” she snaps, cheeks tinting red. “And besides, Katya isn’t looking for a husband. Why would she step in to take the one I want? She wouldn’t do that to me. Right, babe?”
“I—”
“She might not have a choice,” Ares interrupts. “If our Overlord is offered a deal for her, he may not be able to turn it down. Friendliness between our families only goes so far. Marriages and shared blood through heirs? That’s where the true power lies.”
“My marriage would do the same as hers!” Chloe insists with a hiss. “We’re both daughters of The Gods. Our fathers are both high-ranking—”
“Hers is the highest ranking,” Ares cuts in, smirking.
I swear nothing makes him happier than riling people up.
“And she wants children, don’t you, Katya?
She’ll give him another blonde little baby or two for everyone to adore over.
Would you? Could you sacrifice your body changing, giving birth, and raising three kids? ”
“I could have a baby,” she snarls. “I’d be a great mother!”
“Maybe,” he acquiesces. “But could you love his babies as much as you love your own? Could you treat them all equally and share your time with three demanding little creatures while also enjoying all the things you hold dear? How would a shopping spree go with three kids clinging to you, I wonder?”
“You’re a prick, Ares.” My friend curls up a lip. “You don’t know me if you think I can’t do anything I put my mind to.”
He’s unaffected by her tone, merely lifting a brow. “But can you do it without being miserable?”
“My happiness is none of your concern. If Daddy has his way, I’ll get a shot with Leon. And if I get a shot, I’m going to bag him.”
“Daddy,” Ares snorts mockingly. “Will you call your new husband that, if he asks?”
“Can we please stop talking about the man who just lost his wife this way?” I ask, stomach twisting in knots. “I don’t like—”
“Ugh, you’re too good for humanity,” Chloe cuts in, sighing and patting me on the shoulder. “Honestly, no man deserves you. Let alone a made one. You should marry a woman, or I don’t know, a saint or something.”
“You’re ridiculous,” I mutter with a half-hearted smile. “I’m a regular person, just like you. I just find my joy in being nice, while you find yours being—”
“A badass bitch,” she fills in, grinning wide.
“That’s why we’re such a good pair, my dear.
Now, I’ve interrupted your solitude for long enough.
I need to go start game planning with Daddy.
If I can dig my claws into that man I will.
” Shooting a glare at my stepbrother, she adds, “And I won’t have you judging me for wanting to marry the highest quality man available when I have to marry one of them against my will either way.
Especially while you bury yourself in every available hooker within fifty miles, you self-obsessed little twat. ”
Despite the tongue lashing, Ares looks oddly pleased. “Do give me some credit, Chloe. It’s at least a hundred miles.”
She scoffs, strutting toward the door and sneering at him as she exits the room. “You smell like a walking STD.”
“You’re smelling me now?” he drawls, following her out.
“Goodbye to you too,” I mumble, shaking my head.
Looking back down at my shiny black grand piano, I sigh and tip my head back to groan. The music has officially left me, and I should be in bed at any rate. I don’t do well with a lack of sleep, especially when Gaia sneaks into my room and wakes me up at an ungodly hour.
But when I finally make it to my room and lay my head down to sleep, I can’t fight the wave of restlessness that takes over me.
I can’t stop my brain from lingering on Leon Moretti and his sons, wondering how they’re sleeping tonight knowing their wife and mother will never wake up from her last night’s rest.
It doesn’t feel fair, and I hope their loss doesn’t haunt them for as long as my father’s has haunted mine. Although, none of them are responsible for her death. They didn’t kill her, so maybe they won’t live each day with the memory of her feeling not only grief, but guilt.