Chapter 31 – Althea
ALTHEA
These last two days have gone by in a blur.
My days have been spent with Vella as we plan my wedding day.
I made a few changes she wasn’t sure were considered traditional, but she said it’s my wedding, and has gone along with my plans so far.
When we ordered my dress the other day, I picked out the lingerie and shoes I’ll be wearing with a special surprise for the groom.
Vella smiled wide at my choices and told me, “You’re going to be everything Enzo needs.
I can see that now. Along with the cause of his high blood pressure and rising body count. ”
I’ve hardly seen Enzo during the day. He’s been holed up in Eliseo’s office with Nazario trying to track down The Bishop and now, Bash Malgeri, who we’ve learned has also gone missing.
There are too many things that don’t seem right about the whole situation.
Bash disappearing after he called Papa to report me missing is odd.
What does he have to gain in all of this?
Enzo explained the connection between his father, Sebastian’s uncle, and my brother’s disappearance.
But things still aren’t adding up. Why, after all these years, are they trying to take down the Venatti family?
After Gianni’s plan failed so miserably, ending in his own death—what’s there to gain for either party involved?
It’s all becoming too much, so I’ve chosen to focus my efforts on the wedding.
It’s strange.
A week ago, if someone would’ve said I was getting married, I would’ve laughed in their face.
Marriage was never high on my priority list. Mostly because I’ve never found anyone who held my interest long enough, or who cared about me or my needs above their own.
Most men have one agenda when it comes to me, but not Enzo.
He seems to know when to push his dominance on me and when to let me stand on my own two feet.
He doesn’t try to force me into the role of a dutiful, doting Mafia wife.
In fact, my vicious streak seems to be a major turn-on for him.
The last two nights I’ve spent sweat-soaked and sexually wrung out with Enzo in our bed.
He knows exactly what I need and doesn’t hesitate to give it to me.
When he found me hiding in the room, crying, mourning the years I’ve lost with Annanias—now Daemon—he didn’t mock me or coddle me.
Instead, Enzo used his leather riding crop to bring me to the edge over and over again until I agreed to stop holding myself responsible for a sin I didn’t commit.
When I finally gave in to the truth, Enzo sent me careening over the edge of bliss so hard I saw stars right before I blacked out.
When I woke up a short while later, cradled against his chest, he flipped me over and made sweet love to me.
It was a different feeling from all the other times, and I’m still not sure how I feel about it.
His gentleness didn’t scare me this time.
In a way, it felt like it was healing me, mending the torn and tattered pieces of my heart no one else knows exist. I don’t know how he does it.
I don’t know if he means it. But it means everything to me.
Which is scaring the fuck out of me.
I can’t be falling for him.
You’re going to marry him.
But this isn’t love. This is just really good sex. Right?
Riiight.
This morning it was more of the same, only this time with every thrust, with each kiss, he whispers the word mine and my heart is doing that twisting thing again. And now I find myself wondering if he really means it.
Hours later, we’re all in the dining room where Vella has had the staff preparing a large spread of a meal for everyone. We aren’t having a rehearsal, but people will fly in today.
Mama is still going to throttle both of us for not allowing her to be a part of my wedding plans. Oh, and Papa will probably make us redo the whole thing so he can walk me down the aisle and make Enzo squirm for stealing his baby girl away.
For now, we do this our way.
Giselle, Enzo’s sister, will be the first to arrive.
She’s due here any moment, and for some reason I find myself nervous to meet her.
From what Vella has told me, Giselle is the only other person in this world that Enzo has ever loved besides his mother.
To say I’m not jealous would be a lie. It’s stupid really.
To be jealous of a brother’s love for his sister.
But I won’t say it out loud, so it doesn’t count.
I just wish he loved me.
Knowing that Enzo chose not to spend his day hiding in the office today, when he knows Giselle will be arriving, was further proof that she means more to him than me.
I know I sound like a petulant child, but I had hoped that what transpired between us these last few days meant something to him.
That I mean something more than good sex to him. More than just the means to end a war.
I know he’s been busy trying to track down his enemies and protect the family, all those made men responsibilities, but I still find myself jealous of a woman I’ve never met, who I will never hold a candle to in the eyes of my soon to be husband.
Hex sidles up beside me. I had almost forgotten he was here. He’s been holed up in his room since the first night he arrived. With his arm suddenly slung over my shoulder, he whispers in my ear, “You look like you could use a walk.”
I hadn’t realized how stuffy it actually felt in here or how much I could use some fresh air until he mentioned it.
“Yeah, I could. Let’s go.” I follow him out the back doors, past the patio and onto the path that leads down to the water. “We should tell them we’re leaving. Vella warned me her men would attempt to stop me if they saw me coming this way on my own.”
“You’re not alone. I’m with you.” Hex smiles. He looks different without all his makeup and costume. He’s fucking hot. And those crystalline blue eyes are stunning … and observant.
“Okay. But if they shoot at us, I’m telling them you kidnapped me.”
“Harsh,” Hex teases, his hand on his chest in feigned agony. “But I already told Vella I was going to take you for a walk because you wanted to discuss a possible wedding gift for Enzo. Since you can’t leave the property, but I can, we need to conspire on what I should bring back.” He winks.
“She bought your bullshit?”
Hex shrugs again. “Doubt it. But I don’t see anyone pointing their rifles at us either.”
“Fair point.” I laugh. “So, why did you bring me out here, Hex? What is it you want?”
We make it halfway down the trail where the trees cover the path before I ask, “Level with me. You knew my brother was still alive and hinted about my meeting Death and embracing him. Is this what you saw? That night at the party, did you know Enzo and I would get married?”
Hex smiles. “No. I don’t see everything. Sometimes I see fragments, other times I hear a voice. Each person is different. Each spirit chooses how it wishes to reveal things to me.”
“How does it work? Is it real?”
Hex turns to me wearing a smug smirk. “You tell me.”
“I mean, the costume could’ve been a coincidence. For all I know, you told Enzo who I was and …” I pause. “Did you tell Enzo about me?”
“Yes and no,” he says. We stop on the path, and Hex turns to face me.
“When Enzo came to see me with his sister, the Spirits told him who he would find and what he needed to do. I didn’t know it was you at the time, but when I saw your costume at the Halloween party, and the murderous way he was looking at everyone who even looked at you that night, I put two and two together. ”
“The Halloween party?” I think back to that night. Enzo and I had never had an encounter, other than the night I watched him perform a scene with a woman in a glass box. I hadn’t actually met him yet. “He knew then that I was … whatever I’m about to be? He was stalking me then?”
“Oh, I don’t know about stalking, but he damn sure laid his claim.
Although I don’t think he knew who you were to him at that point.
” Hex slides his finger under the black skull bracelet I got from The Mansion.
The one I’ve been wearing since Halloween.
“I guess you didn’t know who he was to you either, huh? ”
“Hex, you’re not making any sense.” I complain. “What do you mean, who I am to him?”
“You are the devil to his death.” Hex says as if it’s the simplest explanation in the world. “And this,” he tugs my bracelet. “Was his way of laying claim at the club. A collar of sorts.”
“What?”
Hex laughs at my surprise.
He laid his claim before he knew who I was. It’s never been about the family for him. Not until they thought I was a traitor.
But that doesn’t mean he loves me.
But it’s a start. He cares.
“I didn’t see it when I read your fortunes, but after seeing you both on Halloween, and how obsessed Enzo was with you, things sort of clicked into place.
I never thought Enzo would settle down or find a woman who could not only match his psycho ass but would embrace it.
” He chuckles. “But I think you’re up for the job. ”
“I don’t even know if I want the job.” We start walking. My chest twists inside, and my shoulders feel heavy with the weight of the lie.
Yes, you do.
“Let me tell you something few people know about Enzo.” Hex’s tone takes on a serious note. “His mother tells me he doesn’t think he deserves love or knows how to show it.”
“Hex, Enzo’s mother is dead.” Hex tilts his head and cocks his brow, an expression that says I should know better as he crosses his arms.
Smug bastard.
“I have only seen Enzo this possessive with one other person in his life.” Jealousy has me seeing red. My stomach feels sick, and the need to draw blood courses through my veins at the mention of an old lover.
“Giselle.” Hex shakes his head in disbelief. “He’s only ever this way with Giselle.” He chuckles. “You are a vicious little thing, aren’t you?”
I drop my eyes to the ground, embarrassed.