9. Giulia
“ S tay out of it?” I smirked. “Too late for that.”
It felt so natural to climb onto his lap. I gravitated toward Renzo, and it made my heart sing with rare happiness that he didn’t protest, ward me off, or ask what the hell I thought I was doing, seeking his comfort. He got me. And I knew not many others would.
“What do you mean?” He furrowed his brow, rubbing his fingers back and forth on the small of my back.
We’d leapt from enemies to, well, something else, but this easygoing camaraderie, this closeness without the feral lust, was even better.
I hadn’t taken the risk to sneak into his car just to straddle him and get a hug. That was an unexpected bonus I hadn’t known I’d ask for. Nor that he’d give it so freely.
I’d come to talk about my father’s death. Hearing him suggest that Father’s passing could have been involved with a marriage arrangement for me made me pause. Narrowing my eyes, I shelved the news I had planned to tell him. “Who was my father supposed to talk about my marriage with?”
He sighed, and I worried that he’d clam up with that slight hesitation, but he didn’t. “Nickolas Romano.”
I cringed, unable to hide it.
“I know.”
“You know what?” I snapped.
“Your face said it all. Being married to him would be…”
“Hell?” I finished for him. Nickolas was a sadist, an abusive asshole, always spoiling for a fight. I rolled my eyes. “Being a woman in our world is already hell.”
He licked his lips and nodded, watching me closely. “Not many choices, are there?”
Unless I want to try to run away from it all. I’d considered it before. But now wasn’t the time to mess with wistful thoughts. “Are you implying that Nickolas could have killed my father?”
“He did just fight him at my brother’s funeral.”
“Nickolas fights people all the time,” I reminded him.
“As I left that club, I overheard him saying he could marry you and take over the Acardis.”
I dropped my head, groaning, and he hugged me close until I was flush against his chest again. Turning to rest my cheek on him, I let his heartbeat soothe my frantic mind. “My uncle is worried about the same thing. Without a patriarch, without my father, we’re vulnerable.”
He rubbed my back, nodding.
“My mother still isn’t herself either, drugged up and acting confused.”
He pushed me up to stare into my eyes. “What?”
“My mother.” I frowned. He hadn’t been surprised by the news that Father was dead. Word had spread, regardless of Mother trying to control what was said. But it seemed like no one knew she’d been drugged too. “I found her at the same time, unconscious but alive.” He let me fall against him, and soon, he rubbed my back again, calming me enough to continue. Of all places to find solace, it was in the arms of my enemy. “My whole family is practically coming apart, and Uncle Dario and I won’t be the only ones who are aware of how easy it would be to take over us all. Nickolas isn’t slow to realize it either.”
But I’d rather die than be married off to him. I curled my fingers into Renzo’s shirt, clutching him tightly.
“There’s no head of the Family anymore, and aligning with me, marrying me, would secure the end of the Acardi rule.”
Renzo sighed, shaking his head. “But why bother? The Romanos don’t need the Acardi name. You’re not their rival.”
Nor were the Bernardis. “It would eliminate us as a separate power.”
He chuckled. “Have you always been this strategic and observant?”
I knew not many other young women were. And why should they pay attention? Our fates all ended the same, married off and possessed by the man who’d use us as they saw fit. “More or less. What else is there to do than wait for my marriage, then roll over for some asshole who’d want to make me pop out babies?”
He growled, lifting my face with two of his fingertips under my chin. His mouth smashed against mine, and the instant hit of arousal made my pussy clench with need.
“I don’t want to think about you rolling over for anyone,” he said.
“Except you?” I teased, wondering if he’d admit it. Renzo had made his life nothing but a party, living wild and chasing women.
He groaned, kissing me hard again. I leaned into his kiss, slanting into his hungry touch, but I knew I couldn’t forget what I’d come here for. Besides his comfort. Kissing him, with me seated on top of him like this, would quickly slip into this desire that I wasn’t sure I could restrain for long.
I reared back, smoothing my hand over his jaw. He breathed hard, glaring at me as though he damned me for backing off. He proved his worth, though, and didn’t demand that I kiss him again.
He wouldn’t be just another asshole to dominate me. He’d do so in a way I craved, but I’d never find out.
“I don’t want to talk about my having to marry anyone,” I said. As I licked my lips, tasting him still, he squeezed my ass.
“Me neither.” He scowled, staring at my mouth like he hated being held back from temptation. “Besides, I don’t know if Isabella would allow you to marry into the Romanos.”
I huffed. “Yeah, right. She’s already super cautious about trying to stay in Marcus’s favor.”
“But then she’d need to answer to someone else. It seems like she’s always worn the pants in your family. She bossed Rocco around, and if you married into a higher power like the Romanos, she’d lose that.”
I nodded, but the gesture evolved into a shrug. “That’s not what I wanted to talk about, though. That’s not why I snuck in here to see you.”
He pulled me over the hardness beneath his pants, and I hissed quickly at the delicious friction I wanted more of.
“You want to talk ?” he taunted, kissing my neck then licking up toward my ear.
I shivered and pushed his chest until he slumped back in the seat. “Yes. And it’ll suggest that you shut the fuck up about telling me to stay out of this business.” I slanted him a stern look, knowing I was crossing significant boundaries to tell him this. “Luka was drugged.”
He frowned.
“And so was my father. And Mother.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“I’m not ‘suggesting’ anything. Dario overheard the men talking with my mother at the hospital while she recovered. It sounds like the same thing that Luka was given when he died.”
He narrowed his eyes, pensive.
“Whoever gave my parents that poison did the same thing to Luka.” That connection was a huge detail that I struggled to keep to myself. Knowing how badly Renzo wanted to find his brother’s killer, I was pushed to tell him what I’d learned.
“You swear on this?”
I nodded. “I didn’t hear it myself, but yes. Dario believes it was the same poison. And that complicated how convinced he was that you killed my father.”
“I didn’t,” he argued.
“I doubt it, because why would you use the same poison that was used on Luka? And I highly doubt you killed Luka because you were too busy with me at that time.”
He grinned, moving his hands from my ass to shove my dress up my thighs. “I remember.”
“And—”
Knocks sounded on the window, and we both flinched, turning to look out the windows. They were tinted. All these Mafia men drove in privacy like that.
Two Bernardi soldiers stood outside, likely curious and concerned that their new Mafia prince’s car was still idle here.
“Shit.” Talking with Renzo had taken longer than I anticipated, and I hated to go at all. “Cover for me.”
“What? Wait?—”
I scrambled off his lap, going for the opposite door. “Get out on that side and make an excuse. Cover for me while I slip away.”
He scowled, adjusting his semi-erection in his pants.
“It’s the least you can do for my sharing that intel with you, isn’t it?” I snapped.
“I thought we were supposed to be enemies.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, me too.”
“Not… partners.”
Damn, that sounded too good to be true. To have a sexy, strong man like him to rely on, that would be a dream. “Co-conspirators,” I amended.
He did as I requested, stepping out to address his men, and I went out the other door to run to the car I’d driven here.
Being seen with him wouldn’t bode well, but as I got into my car, I wished I could be running to him, my supposed enemy, rather than hurrying away.