8. Lelia
Chapter 8
Lelia
T he name rings in my ears like alarm bells.
Montesano.
Oh God.
I cringe inwardly when I realize my father will have my neck and his for what we just did. It may have just been a kiss, but they’re our enemies. I’ve never seen Domenico Montesano before. My father kept me far from the family he would love to see decimated.
“You’re Domenico Montesano?”
He glances my way before smiling. “Indeed I am.”
“Oh God,” I mumble, running my hands down my thighs in an attempt to calm myself. To stop the shaking from taking over my whole body.
“Why?” He doesn’t know. He still doesn’t realize who I am.
“Lelia.” Cassio’s voice comes from somewhere in the maze, and I realize he’s going to get here and see me with Domenico.
“You have to go,” I hiss quickly, panic taking over as I push Domenico toward the side of the maze where there’s a secret exit. His two friends follow, their laughs echoing in the darkness. All I can do is pray Cassio doesn’t hear them.
“Lelia Vitale, where are you?” Cassio seals my fate and I wait for Domenico to do something. To hurt me. To wrap his hand around my neck and squeeze the life out of me. I wonder if he has a weapon on him. Perhaps he’ll kill me quickly.
“Go out there,” I tell him quickly before he hurts me. But what he does next is something I don’t understand.
He swipes his thumb along my lower lip. “An angel with the mouth of a sinner,” Domenico murmurs as the corner of his mouth lifts slightly. It’s a small, infinitesimal movement, which makes my spine tingle. He releases me and turns to his friends, who are watching our display with rapt attention.
“Let’s go,” one of them shouts. They disappear into the darkness, and I flop back onto the bench, my knees weak as I ponder the kiss he’s just given me. What I told him is true. I’m not at all an expert with boys, men. He was my first kiss. And I’m almost certain he will be my last.
It can’t be love because I don’t know him. He’s nothing but a stranger to me, but deep down, I have a feeling he’s about to become so much more.
“There you are,” Cassio says as he reaches the middle of the maze. “I’ve been calling you,” he tells me. “Did you see some guys running this way?”
“No.” The word is out of my mouth with confidence. I never lied to anyone before. But right now, the need to hide the fact that Domenico was here is the only thing I’m focused on.
“Fuck,” he curses, turning to two of his soldiers. They’re angry. I can tell from the way their fists clench and their jaws tick.
I should be loyal to the Vitale name, but I can’t bring myself to confess what just happened. That I saw Domenico, that I kissed him when I should have known better. Cassio leaves me to my thoughts, and I watch as he and his two soldiers make their way out of the maze.
Laughing and chatter from the party break the silence. But my thoughts are still on Domenico. His kiss still lingers on my lips. The taste of him consumes me, even though he’s long gone.
I push to my feet, but before I can leave the area, I hear a whisper from behind me. I turn, glancing over my shoulder before I fully face my enemy. He’s far too handsome, but that’s what they say about the devil—his beauty is a lure.
Domenico crooks his finger, calling me to him, and like a butterfly caught in his net, I move toward him. When I stop inches from him, I take him in.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“I shouldn’t,” he agrees. “But you’re here, so that means I want to be. Even if I’m killed.”
“That’s stupid,” I tell him as I shuffle on my feet. “Go. Now.”
“Promise me you’ll meet me tomorrow,” he says suddenly. “At the Bow Point Cemetery near the Vitale mausoleum.”
My mouth pops open in surprise that he knows this. But then again, he seems to know more about my family than I do about his. I’ve only ever heard of the hatred between our clans. I don’t know the reason because my father believes girls shouldn’t be a part of the life.
I agree with him on that count.
“Why?”
“Because I need to see you again,” he tells me. “Don’t you think that a hundred-year-old feud is stupid?” It’s a challenge. He’s gauging my response to our history. Well, not ours, but our family’s past.
“What if I don’t want to see you?” I challenge as a small smile curves Domenico’s perfect lips.
“Oh, little star,” he coos, “I think you want to see so much more of me.”
“I’m getting married,” I blurt suddenly as fear skitters down my spine, a poison trickling over my skin as those brown eyes turn black as they seem to shimmer with pure rage.
“You’re not,” he tells me confidently as if he has the power to stop this. “The only person you’ll marry one day is me, and it won’t be when you’re not even old enough to know what my fingers feel like inside that pretty pussy.”
His words cause heat to spread across my cheeks, my chest, and down to my core, where my thighs squeeze together to calm the pulse of need. Domenico leans in, his lips brushing along my cheek as he nears the lobe of my ear.
“When you come tonight in your bed, all alone in the dark, think of me. When you touch yourself, when you’re wet and needy, and when your little clit is hard and throbbing, you will imagine it’s my tongue flicking across your slick wetness.”
My chin drops, my mouth parting into the shape of an O.
A chuckle vibrates through Domenico’s chest, and he steps back to regard me. “See you soon,” he promises, and the darkness swallows him. I’m still staring at the exit in the hedge when the fireworks go off, lighting the sky in colorful sparks.
Looking up at the inky dome above, now suddenly brightened by the beautiful display, saddens me. I wish I didn’t have to marry the man my father chose. I wish I could escape this life and have freedom of choice.
But that’s not who I am.
I have been born into a family that requires my loyalty.
I head back to the party with my heart heavy in my chest. The thought of never seeing Domenico again doesn’t help my emotions. It’s as if a cloud has floated across my sunshine, and I’m in perpetual shitty weather.
By the time I reach the house, most of the guests are drunk, my mother included. It’s her party, after all.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” my father calls, clinking a fork against his glass. “I need your attention, please.” The deep booming baritone echoes around us, and everyone stops their chatter, their focus on Dad.
When a hush falls across the living room and patio, I stop at the edge of the house behind everyone. I’m hidden from his gaze, but it feels as if my father knows I’m here. It’s as if he can sense my fear about what he’s going to say.
“I’ve taken a long time to decide what my family legacy will be. Since I have no son, no heir, I’ve chosen my brother’s son, Cassio, as my successor.” His announcement is met with cheers and elation, while my stomach sinks to my feet. I close my eyes, my mind slowly whirring with prayers for him not to mention my upcoming nuptials.
“And,” my mother intervenes, “since it’s my birthday, I’ve asked for Aldo to tell you all something exciting.” Her words are slurred, but it seems nobody notices as they clap and shout for news.
“My wife and I have made another leap forward. Since our families have always been close,” Dad says to the crowd of onlookers who are eating out of the palm of his hand, “we have agreed to have Lelia marry into the Mosca clan.”
Everything around me spins. The world tilts on its axis. My lungs struggle to pull in much-needed air. And all I’ve come to know is lost. I know who he’s sold me off to because I can feel the man’s eyes on me right now.
I don’t want to look at him. I don’t want to acknowledge that he’s going to be my husband, but I can’t stop it from happening. Unless I run away. But where would I go? There’s nothing else I can do about it but to smile and nod.
“Where is my princess?” Dad calls, and each set of eyes that turns to me sets me on edge. My feet are cemented to the spot, even though I wish I could turn and run. I should have stayed hidden in the maze. I should have just spent the evening at the fountain, dreaming of a perfect first kiss I can never have again.
I step forward, taking my time to reach my father, who pulls me against him when I reach him. His arm wraps around my shoulders, and his gaze is locked on me, burning through me. It’s a reminder that I’m nothing more than a puzzle piece in his large plan for the familia.
“My daughter is excited about her future,” he tells everyone the lie. I was excited before I learned about my responsibilities to the Vitale name. “She will soon be eighteen, which means she’ll live with the Moscas until the day of the wedding. We’ll miss her,” he says with a chuckle. “But this is something she’s looked forward to. Her place in the family is finally taking shape.”
The applause deafens me, and that’s when my fiancé, the man I’m meant to walk down the aisle for steps up to me. He’s nearing his forties, with dark hair and green eyes that remind me of slime. A slithering of ice trickles its way up and down my spine, and I have to fight back the shudder.
“It’s so good to see you,” he tells me. This is someone who has watched me grow up. He’s known me since I was a baby. The idea of that only makes the revulsion I feel for him even stronger.
I want to hit him.
I want to scream.
But I smile. The good girl obeying her elders. A movement in the garden catches my eye, and I realize there’s a shadow at the edge of the maze. I know who it is, even though I cannot see his face. The dark has stolen him from me, but he still lingers on the outskirts of my world.
I’m certain he heard the announcement.
There’s no doubt he knows I wasn’t lying when I told him I’m supposed to be married. And he also knows there is nothing he or I can do about it. Domenico will move on and find a beautiful woman to hang on his arm at events. She’ll bear his children.
The thought comes to me quickly, and I glance up in the green eyes of the man staring at me as if I’m a precious toy. Something he can use and abuse. And I realize I’m going to have to give him an heir.
“Let’s dance,” he tells me and my father shouts for music. The party continues as the rough, calloused hands of a man old enough to be my dad paw at me. Nobody thinks it’s wrong. They all laugh and sing along as he twirls me on the makeshift dance floor.
When the song comes to an end, I glance toward the shadows and see nothing.
Perhaps I was imagining Domenico was still here.
Or maybe he’s walked away, realizing I’m a lost cause.