Chapter 27
Vivi
LUCA LEFT ME when night fell, but I had no intention of sleeping.
I paced as he had done, thinking about his potential for success.
If he couldn’t persuade Vigo with whatever he found at Piascere, I would run and exact revenge on another day.
I’d never marry an Angelini. I wouldn’t marry anyone unless it was my choice.
There was little to do but worry, so I searched my room for a safe I hid in my closet.
Silly things only I cared for were locked behind the wobbly turn of a three-number combination.
It was a present at a long-ago Christmas when Mama knew I needed a smidgen of privacy for my most prized possessions.
Like my eight-year-old diary. A picture of Mama and me at a carnival—I was six, and she was beautiful.
And my sketch pad, which now hid a cryptic note from my dead mother.
I took it and a knit blanket with me to the patio, where I snuggled under the weight and reread her words.
Everything you need is at the start of my favorite things that were yours too.
Mama’s favorite things? Clothes—the pink Alexander McQueen dress that had hidden this note.
Jewelry—the only thing I wanted was the locket buried beneath the rosebushes because Vigo was a gigantic asshole.
Her garden. I stared at the tulips and primrose, hyacinth, and finally, the lilacs she planted because they were my favorite.
The wind blew as I stood. My bare feet stumbled onto the cold grass, the crisp blades easing beneath each step. At the garden’s edge, I stopped and touched the leaves on the largest bush. But my vision settled on a smaller new addition wedged beneath the bigger branches.
The heavy weight of a guard’s gaze stroked my back, and I spun to face him. He nodded. “Signorina Cabello.”
To no one’s surprise, I walked away without acknowledging his greeting.
I trudged through Mama’s garden in a daze, frustration curling my fingers into a fist by my thighs.
This was such stupid cazzate. She buried treasure in our own backyard.
What was she thinking? Then I sighed, anger leaving me with my next breath.
She had nowhere to hide, yet she still found a way to gather evidence against Vigo and leave it behind as a safety net for her only daughter.
But when could I dig a hole in her garden without drawing the attention of twenty guards?
Never. Unless I stayed here and took over tending Mama’s pride and joy.
I retreated to the patio, curled into my blanket on the chair, and bemoaned my existence.
Hours ticked by while the moon moved through the sky.
My eyes stung. Grief sat heavy on my chest, but I wouldn’t cry.
I didn’t have the inclination—at least I hadn’t since I was six.
Back then, tears had rushed down my cheeks from the pain of my father’s closed fist, which only fueled his fury.
After that, I sucked in blood and snot, bit my split lip to stop the trembling, and raised my chin as an invitation for him to hit me again.
He didn’t have the courage, so the next time it was Stefano.
I had promised myself then, just as I promised Vigo now, that I would fight him with whatever strength I had left, and I was sure that mio salvatore would help me. I closed my eyes while my heart thump, thump, thumped the confirmation.
?
brIGHT LIGHT BURNED the seam of my lids before I blinked them open.
Luca stood ten feet away with his hands in his pockets.
He’d rolled up his sleeves and unbuttoned his collar by three.
Purple smudges bled beneath his eyes, an indication he hadn’t slept.
But my wakefulness didn’t change his posture or the clench of his shadowed jaw.
He was broad and brooding, powerful even in defeat.
Dread pooled in my stomach. I was to marry, and it would be soon. Questions flooded my mind. What would I take? What could I take during an escape that would be quick and planned even quicker?
The sun climbed behind Luca’s shoulders, and though he was solemn, he was also beautiful. His presence soothed the ache in my chest and gave me enough courage to climb out of my chair. I dropped the blanket from my shoulders and faced my penance.
“When?” I asked.
A knot worked its way down his throat. “Tomorrow.”
“That’s… sudden.”
His gaze flickered to the prison holding me and the man inside who wouldn’t let me go. “Today you’re either an asset or nothing.”
Vigo would kill me if I didn’t walk down the aisle toward a union binding me to the Cosa Nostra forever. I nodded my understanding, but I couldn’t say anything to Luca. I was promised to one man when I wanted another. I wanted him, and the damn stars aligned in such a way that we would never exist.
I stepped to the edge of the patio, gazing beyond the lilac bush.
The ocean was vast, with waves rocking onto the shore in lazy rolls—a complete opposition to my wild pulse.
I wrapped my arms around myself and gave Luca a part of my truth.
“I wanted something different than this. I wanted to love and be loved in my marriage. I want passion.”
The warmth of the day heated my skin as I looked to the flawless blue sky for one of Mama’s signs.
“Tu sei il mio uccellino, Vivienne.” You are my treasure. “I’ve never given my love to anyone, but if ever there was a chance, it would be with you. I’ll treat you with respect and the affection I already feel. That’s an easy promise.”
My heart stuttered. I shook my head. I couldn’t think, and I couldn’t understand. Because hope sparked deep in the hollow of my chest, and I was terrified that what I heard was wrong.
I spun to face him. “What are you offering?”
His eyes smoldered blue, sparked with passion, and flashed with animosity. Bitterness I understood with his next breath.
“It’s not an offer, uccello. It’s the only way. You must marry me.”
Hope shattered, sinking in shards to my stomach. “Did you ask for my hand?” I asked, though I already knew the answer. Father gave me the one man I wanted. He knew. They both knew. If we were married, I wouldn’t leave unless Luca went with me, and I could see in his eyes the intention to stay.
The slight shake of his head broke my heart.
I pressed a hand in the center of my chest, holding in the hard thump.
“I thought you wanted me.” I fell back a step.
“I thought… we and all that. Oh, God. It was just more of your cazzate. Sono così stupido. I told you I won’t be pushed into marriage, not with a man who’s forced to marry me. ”
Denying him cut me up inside. A sharp sound escaped my lips, and I wiped it away before it turned into a scream. I wanted Luca. I wanted to belong to him, and this was my chance. But I needed him to choose me because he loved me. Not because there was no other choice for either of us.
I stumbled back again, scrambling to find my footing. Then I turned and ran. I ran from Luca. From Vigo and his latest manipulation, sprinting past the garden, onto the beach, and into the maze of trees and fallen branches that slowed my escape. That’s where he caught me with his hands on my waist.
“Stop!”
I struggled against him and his hold on me.
He pulled me closer and squeezed tighter, his hard lines molding against the softness of mine. “Vivienne.”
My name was a painful breath. It was aching agony, lust, and longing, and my fight died in his arms.
His forehead dropped on my hair. I choked on a small noise of protest but melted against his body despite my objection to the intimacy. “Why are you doing this?”
“To save you,” he demanded.
“That’s not good enough.”
A tremor rocked my shoulders when his nose pressed into my neck, and he inhaled.
I felt the rough sound of approval vibrating through his chest between my legs, and on impulse, I angled my head, giving him more access.
“Is it not enough to want you, uccello?” he asked in that deep, silky tone.
“Is it not enough to fantasize and fist my dick each night, thinking of you naked and writhing beneath me? To speak to a God who doesn’t exist, asking Him for a future where you and I share a bed and our souls and our truth, begging Him for the chance to live free from the lies? ”
An unsteady breath parted his mouth, his lips dragging down my jawline, where he pressed his words next to my mouth. “Is this not enough?”
The outline of his rigid erection dug into my spine.
The beat in my core thrummed, desperate for contact, desperate for him, and everything we could feel together.
I wanted to believe everything he said, but…
“I won’t live a life my father constructed by his own design.
This is my prison, and you will be too.”
“I’ll go with you when it’s time,” he pleaded. “We, Vivienne. Now, and wherever the journey takes us. But do not run from me again. Give me your pledge as I give you mine.”
I fell from the precipice of reason, drowning in possibility.
I fell into temptation and the promise of our future.
He would stay, and we would go. I could have Luca, find Mama’s cryptic clues, and bring Vigo to his knees.
Everything was feasible with mio salvatore.
My heart thump, thump, thumped with a familiar melody—love, lust, and passion. Everything I had dreamed of.
“Will you have me?” he asked in a whisper.
I stepped from his embrace and turned, staring into his dark eyes.
“Do you want this marriage, Luca, or is it another choice that was made for you?”
His features crumbled into an avalanche of feelings. He reached for me again, wrapping me in his arms and burying his nose in my hair. That is where he gave me his confession.
“I want to hold and care for you, my little bird, protect and love you for eternity. But…”