1. Luna
ONE
LUNA
The last place Luna should have been on a Sunday night was the Vitali mansion. Finn had made her promise she would be staying in bed tonight, getting a full night’s sleep before her first day of school tomorrow. Unfortunately for both of the Kingsley kids, Cecilia Hart was far too convincing when she wanted to party.
Luna hated the Vitali mansion. The home itself was beautiful and spacious. The walls were a soft cream, the floors a deep oak. The couches in the living room looked far too fancy to be sitting in the center, vulnerable to the drunk partygoers who overfilled their cups and danced erratically. One known fact about the Vitalis: They were loaded. Hosting a party of this size, they must have had a cleaning crew booked and replacement furniture on the way.
But that wasn’t why Luna hated the mansion. Rumor was he was living here again, back from his time abroad for the last seven years. She had been at the party for a couple of hours and he was still nowhere to be found. A relief for her and her best friends, who were able to continue partying until Luna was ready to leave.
Although the rivalry between the Kingsleys and the Vitalis rang strong, Luna was best friends with Gianna Moretti, cousin of the devil. It meant she was excluded from the petty fights that the boys got in to. She still had her own rivalry with the devil himself though, but it was personal and went beyond the rivalries their families had had for generations.
All night, she felt his shadow watching her like a predator stalking its prey. Her mind told her it wasn’t real; he wouldn’t have wasted time to make his presence known to her if he was actually there.
But it was his coming home party, a fact Gianna had conveniently left out until Luna walked through the door. That meant he had to be here somewhere, waiting for his moment to pounce.
She hadn’t intended to come, but when Gianna brought up the party to her, Cecilia, and Blair, the latter two jumped at the offer and forced Luna to come along.
She wished she’d stayed home.
Still, Allister Moretti and Dante Vitali knew how to throw a party. Gianna danced on the table, drunk out of her mind. Blair Adler, one of the top students at Grand Willow University, sat in the lap of some poli sci student who stood absolutely no chance with her, and Cecilia was lost somewhere in the sea of bodies. They were all in a state of carelessness, or maybe they were just drunk. She would have been too if she wanted to wake up with a pounding hangover for the first day of classes.
Any other night, Luna would have been dancing alongside them. Tonight, she hid against the wall, hoping the crowd of people covered her.
Until she had to pee.
Luna sighed, pushing herself off the wall. She shoved her way through bodies covered in sweat, making her way over to the bathroom beside the kitchen. The house was abnormally large, and yet, the number of people inside made it feel like she was walking through a tunnel. The floor was sticky and covered in gold glitter decorations, forcing her to kick off one that had stuck on her shoe.
The line for the bathroom was long. Luna wasn’t even sure where it ended and the urge to pee only got worse. She groaned.
Ducking under a fallen “Celebrate” sign that had been lazily hung up with tape, she climbed the stairs quickly, her heels clicking on the polished floors as she walked. Her feet were killing her and the straps of the black dress she wore dug into her shoulders. She was ready to go home and take it all off, turn on a show, and pass out on her bed before her anxiety about the new semester kicked in.
The upstairs was clear just as she knew it would be. There was a bathroom in Gianna’s room down the hall, but there was also one directly across from the study. Since he had been gone, the doors remained shut. She always passed by it when she came over to visit Gianna, and the room felt so much colder than the rest of the home. She assumed that any room he occupied frequently, like his bedroom, was probably just as cold.
This time, the mahogany doors were cracked open. Loud laughs escaped, drifting down the hall. Someone muttered something incoherently, stupidly—most likely drunk. Dante and Allister would be in there, but she wasn’t sure if he would be.
The last time she had seen him was for a second at some gala they both attended with their parents years ago. Seven years ago, to be exact. He had been young and boyish-looking, with black hair that was brushed back neatly but could be unruly at best. He didn’t smile back then, and she was sure he probably still didn’t.
That was when they first brought up the possibility of their union—her parents and his father. And it was for that reason she avoided him like the plague. It was also for that reason that she shouldn’t have been at his homecoming party either.
Another loud chuckle stopped her. Was there something really that interesting happening inside?
Luna’s curiosity was piqued. There may have been a small part of her that wanted to see if he was actually back. If she was quick with it, she could take one glance into the room and then continue her way to the bathroom. She huffed. Why did she even care if he was back?
Another howl of laughter rang through the hall.
One peek wouldn’t hurt. Luna looked around, making sure no one lingered before she approached the door silently. Her breath hitched as she leaned in.
The first person she saw was Allister, who carried a bottle in his hand as he walked with unsteady steps to the desk. His golden-blonde hair was lit up by the warm lights of the room, a big grin on his face. The other was a man she recognized for his dark black hair and the carefree smile. Dante. The youngest son of Cesare Vitali. He considered everything in life to be a joke and was known to be the life of the party.
Their leader was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps he ditched the party thinking he was above being celebrated.
Luna turned away from the door, but hands grabbed on to her hips, pushing her up against the wall. She gasped.
A big hand clenched her chin, lifting her head up so she would be forced to stare into the same electric blue eyes she hadn’t seen in years. His brows were narrowed, a permanent frown etched on his lips. There was a hint of satisfaction in his eyes, knowing he had caught her.
“Looking for me?” he asked. His voice was rough and reeked of power.
Valerio Vitali.
The man her brother hated. The man who had more rumors than truth surrounding his name. And the man her father had arranged for her to marry.
For the past seven years, she had prayed and pleaded with every God to ensure he wouldn’t come home. She even called different embassies, creating lies about him so he wouldn’t be let back into the country. Somehow, he had defied it all because there he stood in all his menacing glory.
Her words were lost on her as she stared at his beauty. He was older now, his face more stern, body more chiseled. Of course he was beautiful, but it was a dangerous type of beauty.
“I was looking for the bathroom,” she told him.
“And stopped to look inside my study? Were you disappointed I wasn’t there?” he asked. He moved his hand along her neck, settling it against the skin like a necklace.
Luna ground her jaw. “As if. I went years without seeing you. I can go for a lifetime.”
Valerio’s eyes narrowed. “Lucky for you, you won’t have to.”
“So you’re back? For good?” she asked, swallowing harshly.
“Don’t sound so disappointed.” He smirked, trailing his thumb along her skin. She hated the goosebumps that rose on her skin.
“You know what they say about hope and misery,” she said, pushing against him.
He gave her a sinister grin. “Oh, come on, Luna. There must be a part of you that is at least a little bit happy to see me.” He leaned in, his lips brushing against her ear. “I didn’t take you for a liar.”
Luna closed her eyes, before opening them again, realizing where she was and who she was with. She pushed him again; this time he moved away from her. “Sorry to break it to you, but I don’t want your disgusting hands or your miserable energy anywhere near me.”
“Is that why you came to my party?” he asked, crossing his arms.
Luna rolled her eyes. “If I had known what this party was, I wouldn’t be anywhere near it.”
“Here I thought my fiancée would have helped throw this party for me,” he said.
Luna’s face fell. She was completely over the conversation.
“I’m going home,” she said, walking past him.
He grabbed her arm, forcing her to fall against him. She quickly composed herself, pushing his hand off. “Is there an issue with that word?”
“You know why I hate that word,” she spit out, her composure completely derailed now. She tried so hard to act and look proper, the way her parents raised and expected her to act. There was something about Valerio that was always able to send her into a spiral. She’d had peace for seven years. Why did he have to come back? “I will never be your wife.”
“Let me make this clear for you, Luna. I gave you seven years to come to terms with the inevitable. Fight me all you want; I don’t care. I’m not going anywhere. You will be my wife and that is final.” Valerio’s voice sliced through the hall, loud and promising to anyone who listened.
Luna narrowed her eyes. She wouldn’t bow down to anyone; she never had and she wouldn’t start now.
“Over my dead fucking body, Vitali,” she hissed.
His eyes lit up with a dangerous gleam as if he wanted her to fight back.
He leaned down, his lips only a hair strand away from touching her ear. The goosebumps rose on her skin without control, coming alive with his presence near.
“Then so be it, Kingsley,” Valerio whispered.
Then he pulled away from her completely, leaving her frozen in space. She only snapped out of her daze when his stare traveled down the length of her body, taking in every inch of skin exposed from the dress.
“Run now. You know I’ll find you, fiancée.”
And Luna did. She wasn’t going to hang around to give him another chance to touch her. She wanted to stay as far away from him as she could.
Her skin crawled the entire way down the hall, knowing he stood there and watched her the entire time. She hated him. That was the one thing she knew for sure. There would never be any other word to describe the way she felt toward Valerio Vitali.
The air rushed back into Luna’s lungs when she could see the stairs once again. The music from downstairs engulfed her like a blanket, reminding her she wasn’t alone. Her need for the restroom was gone. All she wanted was to get the hell out of that house and never return.
“Where were you?” Blair asked, grabbing Luna’s arm when she spotted her. Sweat coated her tan skin, highlighting the tops of her cheekbones.
“Bathroom,” Luna lied. “I’m thinking about going home.”
“They’re about to bring out the guest of honor,” Gianna said, a random boy hanging off her hand. Her blue eyes were glazed over, a big smile on her face.
“We have to stay for that!” Cecilia squealed. Her makeup was smudged, her long black hair matted in the back. She stumbled and held on to Blair, who wrapped an arm around the drunk girl.
The man in question walked onto the balcony that overlooked the living room. Allister stood at his left, Dante at his right. Everyone was silent until Valerio lifted a bottle of alcohol, allowing the cheers of celebration to begin.
Dread settled in Luna’s stomach the moment his eyes landed on her. She stared back before she turned around, walking out of the Vitali home.
She desperately wanted to run, but suddenly it felt like there was nowhere to go.