Chapter 5
Five
Luca
I want to talk to Harper in private, but I have Zeke attached to my hip, and it’s getting well past his bedtime.
I shove open the bedroom door, glaring at Harper. She’s finished unpacking our bag, the empty suitcase open and shoved up against the wall. Seated on the bed, she’s got a book in her hands, capturing her attention.
“I’m going to put this little dragon down for the night. Do you want to tuck him in?”
Harper abruptly shuts the book without even glancing at the page.
“I’ll put him to bed.” Harper stands, without so much as meeting my stare. She holds out her hands to take him from me.
“No bed. Play time.” Zeke wiggles in my arms.
“I don’t mind getting him ready and tucking him in,” I offer. It’s as much of a peace offering as I’m going to make because I’m pissed at her betrayal, but I’m not about to take it out on our son.
“He’s mine. I’ll put him down.” She untangles Zeke from my hold and carries him out of the bedroom and into his room.
I bite my tongue, watching her walk away.
That stings.
I give Harper five minutes, enough time to get him changed for bed, before I poke my head into his bedroom. She’s getting him settled under the covers for a bedtime story.
He lies back and reaches for his stuffed dragon, gripping it tight in his arms, hugging it to his chest.
I have to walk away.
I need a minute to myself, to keep my head level.
Watching her interaction with Zeke, shouldn’t make me want to forgive her for what she did.
She betrayed the family, endangered all of us, including me.
But maybe she doesn’t care about me.
Harper married me to protect her son and herself.
Sighing, I head for the kitchen and grab a drink of water.
Liam glances back at me from his position on the loveseat. He stands and joins me in the kitchen, his beer in hand. “Do you want one?”
Ashton and Nova are cuddling on the sofa, whispering and laughing about some joke between just the two of them.
“Thanks, I’m good with just water, for now.” I’m not sure how I’ll be feeling after Harper and I talk.
“You weren’t in there very long with Harper,” Liam says, glancing in the direction of Zeke’s bedroom.
“We’re putting him to bed. I thought it would be a good idea to have the adults talk in private.” I don’t want Zeke hearing or watching what I intend for Harper after he’s in bed.
Liam nods slowly and takes a sip from his beer. “I know things are a bit complicated right now, but I’m sure whatever she did, it wasn’t intended to hurt you.”
“She went to the police. How could that not hurt me?” I grimace and suck in a sharp breath, biting down on my tongue.
I’m not going to have this conversation with Liam when I need to have it with my wife, the one who betrayed me.
Hearing her side, there’s nothing she could say that would make me accept what she did and forgive her.
I glance at my watch, take another sip of water, and then reach for Liam’s beer in his hand.
He willingly offers it up, and I take a long swig, hoping the pain will somehow be dulled.
It doesn’t help.
And I’ve emptied his drink.
I place the empty beer bottle in the recycle bin and then stalk toward Zeke’s room, glancing in. She’s finishing the last page and tucking him into bed.
I wait until she’s nearly out of the room before I wander in, give him a hug and a kiss goodnight, and shut the door behind myself.
“Our room, now,” I snap at Harper.
Her expression is sullen, and she wordlessly nods, walking into our bedroom.
I shut the door behind her, and while I don’t slam it because Zeke is in bed, it’s still a bit more forceful than I’d usually close it at this hour.
“You owe me the truth.” I stare at her, my back to the door. I fold my arms across my chest and glance her over.
I’m not convinced she isn’t wearing a wire, not after her little betrayal this afternoon at the police station.
Fuck me.
“I told you the truth,” Harper says, staring at me. She doesn’t look away or flinch as I stride across the room and come to stand face-to-face with her, although she’s staring up at me, and I’m glaring daggers down at her.
“You told me what you wanted everyone to hear.” We weren’t alone when she gave me her little version of the truth.
“I was doing it to protect you,” Harper says, her eyes wide, exasperated as I run my fingers down her bare arms and reach for her hands.
I lift her arms above her head, guiding her shirt up and off her body, tossing it to the floor.
Her gaze tightens with confusion, but she doesn’t question what I’m doing.
“Luca,” she whispers, staring at me in her bra and pants.
My fingers smooth down her stomach, her skin soft and warm, making this hell of a lot harder than I intended.
I undo the button on her pants and slide them down her hips, my fingers trailing over her skin, teasing her.
Harper sucks in a sharp breath and spreads her legs for me as I help her out of her bottoms.
It takes all of my willpower not to kiss a path back up her thighs or nestle my nose in her panties and lick her through the thin fabric.
Anger seeps through me, but want and desire floods my senses.
“Luca,” her voice is soft, warm, easily forgiving, but I can’t pretend she didn’t hurt me. Betrayal ices my veins as I force myself to fully undress her.
I need to know she’s not wearing a wire.
That her betrayal doesn’t run so deep as to intentionally hurt me.
Her fingers move to my chest, lifting the hem of my shirt, and I shake my head no, capturing her hands with mine.
This isn’t about sex or desire.
I need to know she’s faithful to me and only me.
I reach around and pinch the back of her bra clasp, letting the material glide down her arms, revealing her perfect breasts to me.
My tongue darts out to the corner of my lip, wanting to taste her nipples, kiss a path down to the juncture of her thighs, but I refrain from giving her pleasure.
“Luca,” her voice breaks, when she meets my stare and her hands move from my chest to my waist, her fingers snaking into the front of my pants, teasing my waistband.
I let out a hiss, heat flooding my senses.
The woman has the power to bring me down to my knees with just a simple touch.
Fuck.
I hate being weak.
Control. I need to be in command.
I push her hands away, my fingers hooking into the sides of her panties and sliding them down her legs. My nose is just inches from her pussy, and hell, she smells fucking amazing.
I bite down on my tongue to keep from doing something stupid, like giving in to desire.
Temptation is just a breath away, and I pull back, glancing her over, convinced she’s clean and not helping the police. At least not with a wire.
“Now, talk,” I demand, folding my arms across my chest, doing everything in my power to keep from falling weak to her body, her charms, the desires that ebb and flow at me.
Harper’s brow pinches and she purses her lips, taking a step back. “What was that, Luca?” She fumbles backward another step, and the back of her knees hit the bed. “Were you just searching me for a wire?”
“Figured me out,” I huff with indignation, and she covers herself with her hands, moving to the bed, climbing under the covers, hiding her body from me.
“You’re just like your father.”
I can’t tell if her words are meant to burn, but they hurt far less than I imagined. Perhaps she’s right, and I’m becoming more like him every day. Working for him is bound to do that to a man, eventually.
“If you’re going to the cops, then I can’t trust you.” I pin her with my stare and climb toward the bed, feeling heat and need inundate my senses.
“I was doing it to protect you!” Harper shouts at me, her eyes cold as ice. “Why do you have to be so damn stubborn, Luca?”
I laugh.
It’s dark, throaty, and filled with disappointment.
“Me, stubborn?” She’s the fucking stubborn one, running off before the wedding, going to the police trying to destroy my father’s business. At every turn, she’s causing trouble. “I’m not the fucking problem!”
Harper winces.
I climb atop the mattress, straddling her.
She’s buried beneath the blankets and I’ve trapped her, made her stare at me, feel my weight as I press her into the bed.
“I’m not the problem. Your father is the problem!” Her shouts are no match for me. They come out weak, raspy. She sounds exasperated as my weight crushes her beneath me. Good.
Let her see who has the real power this time.
“You going to the cops is my problem.” I find her arms, pinning her down on the bed, restraining her. “Do you know why it’s my problem, princess?”
Her top lip snarls at my nickname.
I love how much she hates it. It makes me want to call her that a million times over, to stir her up inside.
The war between us is on.
“I’m not your princess,” Harper bites back.
“I’m not your anything if you keep acting like a monster.
Get off me.” She wrestles under my weight, the blanket inching down from her neck, exposing the rise and fall of her breasts as I pull back just slightly, admiring the flush of her cheeks and how it spills down to her chest.
“See, that’s where you have one thing right. I am a monster.” I don’t deny it any longer.
After what I did to Massimo, I’ve become the man I swore I’d never be.
Now, all that’s left is to embrace the darkness as it devours me.
“Luca.” Her voice cracks and I roll away, feeling her pain and anguish as I release my grip on her.
She pulls the blankets tighter and sits up in bed, her back to the wall, her knees pulled toward her chest.
“What the hell was that, Luca?” Her breath is ragged and her question sharp as I push myself to the edge of the bed, my back to her.
“Like you said, I’m becoming my father.” I try to hide the anguish in my tone as I stand, my back to her.
“Luca,” she sighs and stands.
From behind me, I hear her rummage through the dresser, and I glance over my shoulder as she slips into one of my t-shirts that reaches her thighs.
She looks sexy as hell, and I have to stop myself from letting my mind wander to her naked under my shirt.
“I did something unforgiveable today.” I won’t say it aloud. I can’t trust her, not one hundred percent after what she did. For all I know, the room could be bugged. I had foolishly left her alone earlier while I was in the living room.
“What?” Her soft voice tugs at me, and her hand finds mine as she turns me around to face her.
I shake my head, refusing to reveal all of my secrets, especially the ones encased in steel.
I murdered Massimo.
I exhale a heavy breath and stare into her darkened gaze. My fingers reach for her blonde tresses, tangling her hair into a fist, yanking her gaze up to meet mine.
“You went to the police.” I can’t just forgive and forget.
“It was to protect you,” Harper whispers, unable to move from my grasp.
I release my grip, expecting her to run, but she doesn’t.
“How does going to the police protect me?” I growl. Has she lost her mind?
“I thought if I had evidence about Rylan’s kidnapping, then maybe Dante would be behind bars and you could play hockey. You’d be free from your father.”
I laugh darkly and take a step back.
Her suggestion is absurd.
“Dante isn’t the villain.” I grimace, knowing deep down that he is, but he’s not the worst out there. Massimo was far crueler.
“He runs the mafia, Luca!”
“He protected dozens of girls today, teenagers being trafficked and held against their will. Do you still think he’s the bad guy?”
“And what did he do with those girls? How did he protect them?” Harper asks the tough questions.
I head for the mattress, sitting at the edge of the bed. “That’s above my pay grade.” I don’t need to know the specifics, but Dante wouldn’t take over the operation and continue what Massimo started. He didn’t send us there to kidnap the girls and run our own illegal brothel.
“I’m not answering your questions. Unless you intend on working directly for Dante, you’re going to have to accept you can’t know everything.”
Harper comes to stand in front of me, her legs between mine.
She runs her hands through my hair, her fingers soothingly drawing me closer. My heart and body want her, but my head is conflicted.
“I’m not asking to know everything,” Harper says, her voice soft, calm, like she’s the one who has mastered control. “I’m just asking for your help in taking down your father.”
I laugh darkly and pull away from her touch. “I can’t do that.”
“Why the hell not? You can’t honestly believe you’re happy working for the devil. You aren’t happy working for him, are you?” She raises an eyebrow, skeptical.
Is she interrogating me?
I scoff at her question. “My happiness is the least of your concerns.”
“What does that mean?” She pulls back, like I’ve just set fire to the room.
She ought to run.
“I married you to protect you, Harper. In case you’ve forgotten.”
Her mouth parts and her jaw drops as she steps backward, keeping her distance. “I’m not stupid enough to think you married me for love, but you said … you told me you loved me. Was that not true?”
I did—I do—love her.
But right now, being in the same room with her is causing me more pain and grief than I ever anticipated.
“Luca?” Her eyes widen and she fumbles backward, bumping into the dresser. She turns away, clearly hurt, and glances down at her feet. “I don’t believe you.”
“I didn’t say anything,” I admonish, rising from the bed.
“You didn’t have to, your silence is brutal enough. I thought we were becoming something more, but clearly, I was wrong.” She spins on her heels and heads for the door.
“Where are you going?” I call out to her.
Her back is to me.
I can’t see her face, watch her expression, to try to read what she isn’t telling me. The girl has no poker face, everything she feels is easily seen in her eyes, the curve of her lips, her brow line. She’s an open book.
Except when her back is to me, her shoulders tense.
“Maybe I should leave.”
“What?” That catches me off guard.
Honestly, I was expecting her to bolt into the other room, sleep on the spare bed in Zeke’s room. I’m tired of one of us being in there, but it beats what she just suggested. But her body language screams that she means something else … and that terrifies me.
“You heard me.” Harper spins around and meets my stare. “I want a divorce.”