Chapter 29 #2
“That’s where you’re wrong, Lena. It absolutely is my business. Because we still haven’t addressed the giant fucking elephant in the room—the one that wants to know if you’re going to sell my brother to our enemies once you two are done playing house.”
I feel a vein start to throb in my forehead. Stay calm, Lena. Stay calm. He’s doing what any big brother would do. A big brother who thinks his new sister-in-law is a scheming bitch who manipulates men through sex… I shake the thought out of my head before it makes me even angrier.
“We’re not playing house, Ari. We’re married.
” I shove my left hand in his face, wiggling my ring finger for effect.
“I can’t make you trust me in a matter of minutes.
I can’t force you to believe what I’m saying.
But I want you to listen to me and give me the chance to prove that I’m telling the truth. ”
Ari watches me, unmoved.
“My relationship with Rem started in a wild, unconventional way. We haven’t known each other long. We haven’t even been on a date. But he’s helped me through hell more times than I can count, and I’ve come to trust him. Deeply.”
“Trust? Is that all you feel?”
I love Rem. I know that. It would be so easy to let the little word slip off my tongue. But Ari isn’t going to be the first Cosenza brother to find out I’m in love with my husband.
“I care about Rem very much. I hate when he’s gone. I worry when I don’t hear from him. I want to kill anyone who hurts him.”
“How blood-thirsty of you. Appropriate.”
I ignore Ari’s dismissive tone. “I’m in this relationship for the long-haul, Ari. I’m a member of this family. And I would never intentionally do anything to hurt him. With one exception.”
Ari raises one dark eyebrow. “And that is?”
“You.” I poke his chest one more time. “If you continue to question my loyalty to or feelings for Rem, I might just hurt you. And that will hurt Rem by extension. So don’t make me. Rem means too much to both of us for that, agreed?”
Ari looks down at me. His expression gives nothing away. He doesn’t say a word. No sign of protest, no sign of agreement either. I think—hope—I see a glint of respect in his eye, but before I’m able to prod him again we’re interrupted.
“Fratello? What are you doing here?” Rem stands in the hallway leading from his office.
My heart races when I see him. Partly because he’s shirtless, his brutally honed chest on display above a low-slung pair of sweatpants.
Partly because he’s giving Ari an aggressive look, erasing the distance between us in a few long strides.
He finds one of my hands, locks our fingers together, his palm swallowing mine. I drop my chin to hide a smile from Ari.
“Good morning to you too, fratellino.” Ari flicks his gaze at Rem’s chest. “Looks like you picked pleasure over business for today’s agenda.”
Rem says something in Italian. It doesn’t sound nice. Ari smirks.
“What do you want, Ari?”
“To meet your beautiful bride. It’s been, what?—almost a week since the wedding? I was starting to worry that you were never going to introduce us.”
I expect Rem to make a joke. To brush it off as oversight. To tell Ari that, of course, he always planned for us to meet. We’re family now, after all, and nothing is more important to Rem than family.
He doesn’t do any of those things.
Instead, he wraps his arm around me, pulling me snug to his side. Effectively keeping me out of Ari’s reach. “Ari, this is my wife. Lena, this is my brother.” Rem keeps his eyes on the other man, tension locking his whole frame. “Happy?”
“Oh, you have no idea.” Ari goes back to spinning the spoon. It dances in his hand, and I instinctively know he could turn it into a weapon effortlessly. “Lena and I have been getting to know each other. The wedding. The proposal. The way you two met...”
“Ari.” Rem’s voice holds a wealth of warning.
“You haven’t told her, have you?”
I look between the brothers. “Told me what?”
Rem looks down at me, pulling me even closer. “I’ve told you what I could about that night, Lena. As much as I could and still keep you safe.”
“But safe from who, Rem?” Ari points the spoon at his brother, but his eyes are fixed on me. “Did you know, little sis, that prior to that night, Rem—my maestro di giornata, my fixer—had been tracking you for months?”
“What?”
“Lena—” Rem starts but Ari cuts him off.
“Our uncle gave us specific orders about you. Orders that never, ever included the two of you getting hitched. Quite the opposite, in fact.”
I look up at Rem. “What is he talking about?”
Rem’s expression twists in agitation. He touches my cheek.
I can feel him shaking. “I was never going to hurt you, Lena. I promise you. Promise you.” Urgency weighs the words.
“I will never hurt you. I’d rather die than do anything to harm you.
You know that.” Rem presses his forehead to mine, like he’s trying to imprint his truth on me. “Please, oddio, tell me you know that.”
I’m shaking now, too. Ari keeps talking, driving his verbal knife deeper. “You still aren’t telling her the truth, brother.”
“For fuck’s sake, Ari,” Rem roars, crushing me to his chest like it will stop me from hearing. “Shut the fuck up!”
Ari takes another step toward us, caging us in. “Our uncle’s orders were never to hurt you, little sis. They were to kill you. And guess which of us was ordered to do it?”