Chapter 6 Presley
Presley
Adrian’s smile couldn’t be brighter as we swayed around the dance floor.
It felt like he was branding himself on the entire room, and not a single soul refused it.
He was happy, charismatic, and joyful. I felt myself trying to keep up with him, continuously grinning as I greeted new people and shook hands.
I wore a beautiful green dress that swept over the floor with graceful wisps and swooped down to my navel, revealing more skin than I was used to.
My hair was down in silky waves against my back, and I wore makeup that hopefully aged me a bit beyond just my eighteen and a half years.
The reminder of time passing had me thinking of the twins’ birthday that had passed.
They were twenty now. I hated the curiosity that had curled along the edges of my mind, wondering if they’d celebrated or if they’d thought of me while they did.
Two years in a row without me…perhaps this was just the new normal for them.
“To the future Mrs. Adesso!” someone yelled across the room, and everyone around me cheered while lifting their glasses in the air.
A strange, choked feeling stuck itself in my throat like honey.
Too sweet. Too sticky. Too much.
Adrian gently squeezed my hand, and I held onto him as I lifted my arm in celebration, silently agreeing with the sentiments shared around the room.
We were celebrating our engagement with some of Adrian’s closest friends and employees.
There were a few familiar faces, but most of the people around the room were strangers to me.
“Do you want to at least FaceTime your parents?” Adrian offered by speaking closely.
His lips slid along the shell of my ear, and it made the fine hairs along my arm stand up.
I tried to relax into his embrace and fight the strange gut feeling I had that the twins had been right.
I didn’t want them to be right, not when they’d stood so firmly on their reasons to eviscerate my heart and piss on everything we’d been to each other.
Searching for my phone, I tugged it free and did exactly as he suggested.
I had given him a lie that they’d been tangled in something that prevented them from flying here to Italy.
He was under the impression that I’d have a separate party back home at some point.
The truth was, I didn’t want my father here, just in case there were enemies lurking everywhere, and I just didn’t realize it, but FaceTiming would give me the opportunity to have him see who was here and ID a few people.
“That’s a great idea, darling.” I leaned over and kissed Adrian on the mouth briefly before pulling away and standing up. I called Scotty, knowing he’d ensure my father and mother were carefully protected as I walked around the room, recording.
It rang twice before Scotty’s face appeared, and seeing him in the mansion made me immediately homesick. He wasn’t in our family wing, but in the shared space near the foyer that held our joint dinner table, and the various spaces to sit, leading out to the terrace.
“Presley! Congratulations, Lánya,” Scotty cooed approvingly. Reaper’s face appeared next, and I had to fight the tightness in my throat that threatened tears to the surface.
“Hi! I wanted you, Mom, and Dad to be able to see how beautiful my engagement party is.”
My uncle smiled and then shifted the phone the smallest bit. “Let me get your parents, hang tight.”
He disappeared, and for a few seconds, it was just the empty room in the manor staring back at me.
The emptiness felt odd, like visiting the grave of an old friend and hoping they’d somehow speak to you, only to be met with silence.
My focus moved to the space around me. Glowing lights from the room created a soft ambiance, along with the various teardrop chandeliers and gorgeous marble that shaped the historical building.
Every feature shouted opulence, as did the entire guest list with suits, dresses, and expensive jewelry.
I wasn’t paying attention to the phone screen when I suddenly froze at the voice coming from it.
“You look beautiful.”
My gaze slid down right along with my heart. Kingston’s handsome face came into view as he carefully took the seat Scotty had sat previously. He wore tattered clothes, covered in dust and bits of paint, while his hair was longer than I remembered, but it was messy and unstyled.
My mouth parted as my entire soul seemed to freeze.
“I always wondered what you’d look like when you danced at your engagement party. Guess this answers that question. Perfect and yet...” He shook his head as if he couldn’t believe it. “Somehow, you still look like you’re ours.”
“Well, I’m not,” I snapped harshly.
He studied me then dipped his face. The chaotic rapping against my chest was concerning, to say the least.
King’s voice came out quiet and calm as he replied, “Sorry…not ours. Gio’s. You look like you’re my brother’s. Even as you pretend to be Adrian’s, there’s a part of you that will always be his. I hope you don’t ever forget that, Elvis.”
He stood, slowly slid his hands into his pockets, and walked out of the room, somehow taking the air with him. Even though we were in different locations and in different countries, my chest felt empty, and my lungs felt weak.
Scotty was back moments later, a smile on his face, but the wetness against my face had me swiping away the evidence that Kingston had any effect on me.
Elvis. He didn’t say it sarcastically, or in that tone he’d used a thousand times, as if he were jealous that Gio called me it. He said it as though that were my only nickname, and he was trying to erase something that was once there.
What did he mean?
“You okay?” Scotty asked, curving his brows.
I nodded. “Just a big night. I feel a little emotional without everyone here.”
My uncle glanced over his shoulder and then faced me again. “Show me around the room, Lánya. Your mother and father are here next to me.”
A new thickness was in my throat as I did as he said and moved around the room, smiling and playing the part.
Gliding from one couple to another with gratitude and thanks for their attendance, all the while my mind was stuck on my best friend who had told me I looked beautiful and then reminded me that I was no longer someone in his life that he deemed worthy of keeping.
It cut me in a fresh way that I wasn’t even aware he had the power to unleash.
Yet my body radiated with pain.
Elvis.
Elvis.
Not, Mi Reina.
An hour later, my phone was nearly dead, and Adrian’s hand was on my hip as he guided me out of the party.
My left hand had a gleaming diamond that shone under the dim lighting of the exterior lights that guided us to our armored car.
Renzo and Benni met us there, like usual, but instead of having a driver, the two guards took up the places in front while Adrian slid into the back, pulling me with him.
Benni began driving, and I tried to calm my nerves.
“Where’s Viktor?” I stroked over Adrian’s hand, but he gripped my fingers and pulled me into his chest, where our mouths slid against one another.
Benni answered from the front. “He’s enjoying an evening off.”
I relaxed the smallest bit, knowing that it was typical for Adrian to give his staff certain days and especially holidays off. It was something that had endeared me to him.
“So, Presley. Did you enjoy your engagement party?” Renzo asked, while keeping his head straight, eyes on the road.
Adrian’s hand wrapped around my waist and slid me even closer to him.
“I did. It was beautiful.”
“You’re beautiful.” Adrian’s whisper heated my neck as he kissed me there. I wasn’t against showing affection in public, but he was starting to get more handsy than normal, especially when his hands slid up under my dress and he stroked over my thigh—dangerously close to my firearm strapped there.
“Adrian.” I held his wrist in place, unsure why he was being so bold in front of these two men, brothers or not. I still wasn’t sure, but I didn’t want anyone else to be present when I did physical things with him.
He immediately relented and let me go with a bit of a groan. “I’m sorry, Bellissima. I’m drunk, and horny as fuck.”
I heard the two men speaking Italian in the front:
Is she too shy to let him touch her?
Benni laughed and then replied in Italian: I doubt it. She wasn’t too shy to let two brothers fuck her at the same time.
My breath caught as Adrian tipped his head back against the seat. I glared at the two men in front, feeling a fresh wave of heat hit my chest. Did they see me with the twins?
Had Adrian had me followed, or were they simply assuming?
If I replied, they’d know I was able to understand them even though I was nearly positive they already did. My mind was all over the place, still lingering on the boy back in North Carolina who rejected me and somehow found a way to reject me again.
Who was he to tell me I was only Gio’s?
Anger stirred in my veins, making me frustrated in all new ways. Ways that had me wanting to get on the first plane back home just so I could fight with Kingston.
The car came to a stop outside of an unfamiliar home, and it seemed Adrian was nearly asleep. The two men in front exited the car and slammed their doors hard enough that it jostled the man next to me awake.
“Oh, we’re here.” He yawned.
I glanced around, seeing the modest single-story home, layered in white brick with a steep roof. A small garden fence bordered the yard, along with various pear trees.
“Where are we?” I asked, sliding out after Adrian as he opened his door.
Renzo came around the vehicle and smiled. “This is our—”
“Father’s home,” Adrian cut in while grabbing my hand and pulling me toward the entry gate.
“Your father’s home?” I glanced over my shoulder at the two men following us.
“Fuck,” Benni whispered while Renzo cursed at Adrian in Italian.
You idiot. We agreed to wait until you were married before you told her.
“Told me what?” I asked in English, which made them both stop in their tracks. Meanwhile, Adrian continued to pull me toward the gate. I spun out of his embrace and pulled my gun out and aimed it at Adrian while I took two large steps backward.
“Tell me what the fuck is going on right now.”
Adrian froze, and the way his face went white as a ghost made something in my heart crack the smallest bit.
“Bella—”
I slammed my eyes closed and cut him off. “Just tell me!”
“It’s harmless, Presley. We just had to be sure you were serious about this alliance before we shared that we were his brothers,” Benni said, while raising his hands as if he were trying to calm me down.
Renzo mimicked him. “Adrian never wanted to. He wanted to tell you from the start, but we outvoted him, and then with the final say coming from our boss…he had to keep it from you.”
The twins were right.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“Who gets the final say?” I heard a twig snap behind me, so I quickly side stepped and adjusted my aim so I could see who was approaching.
A middle-aged man with silver hair and a narrow jaw walked up. He wore a fine linen suit and had sharp blue eyes and tan skin. My stomach sank, all while my arm rose, and I aimed my gun directly at this man’s head.
“Who are you?”
He smiled at me. “I’m Markos Mariano. It’s nice to finally meet you, Presley.”
I pulled the hammer back on the gun with my thumb.
The man’s smile only grew. “You might not want to shoot me just yet.”
“And why not?”
He turned the smallest bit, looking over his shoulder, and that’s when I realized there was someone standing near the front door. The shimmery blonde color had me audibly gasping as the woman made her way over to Markos. Within a single breath, the ground seemed to slip from beneath my feet.
“Alex?”