32. Luna
THIRTY-TWO
LUNA
If it was true that blood was thicker than water, then a baby carrying the blood of the Vitali and Kingsley families would have to pull its weight.
Only problem was that there wasn’t a baby. And Luna had just declared there was.
She dropped the microphone on the stage, letting Valerio pull her away. She didn’t want to see the look on his face, not when she was sure it would hold betrayal. But before they could make a true escape, they were stopped by Cesare. His smile didn’t match his eyes and Luna was sure it never had.
“I think congratulations are in order,” he said, blocking the path. Luna’s heart beat rapidly, but she kept the look on her face neutral. “After all, a baby is a wonderful surprise.”
Valerio didn’t bother smiling or pretending he cared. His arm only tightened around Luna as if he could sense danger, which she appreciated. “Thank you. Maybe we can discuss things later; Luna is feeling a little bit faint.”
“Of course.” Cesare nodded as if he cared. “Can’t let the mother of the future Vitali heir feel unwell. I hope we’ll catch up soon, Mrs. Vitali .”
“Thank you,” Luna muttered, walking past him.
But missing one hurdle didn’t help the fact there was another coming straight for them in the form of Luna’s father. Valerio must have been as dazed as she was because for the first time ever, he was caught off guard by Reece Kingsley’s hands around his throat.
“How fucking dare you defile her before you’re married,” he screamed, attempting to slam Valerio against one of the pastry tables. “I will not claim an illegitimate grandchild.”
“Doesn’t fucking matter what you do,” Valerio growled, pushing him off. “That child is a Vitali.”
Luna’s brows furrowed. God, she had seriously screwed up not telling Valerio the plan before.
She stepped in, trying to ignore the guilt that broke through her. “What’s done is done. Both families are united now, despite anyone wanting anything different.”
“We’ll see about that,” Reece hissed, turning around to walk away. It wasn’t a walk as much as it was a stomp, but at least he was gone.
Luna’s mother approached them now. Luna expected to be screamed at, called any name possible, but instead her mother’s eyes were light, excited almost. Her smile actually looked genuine for the first time in her life.
She grabbed Luna’s hands, squeezing them in a motherly embrace she couldn’t remember ever feeling in her life. At least not since she was a baby. It stunned her to see such a drastic change in her own mother.
Eleanora’s eyes didn’t leave the space of Luna’s abdomen, not even when she reached her hand out to touch, but decided against it.
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” she said quickly. “We can talk, maybe get lunch or something. Okay?”
Luna could only nod, stunned. Then Eleanora was walking away to meet her father outside.
Valerio took her hand again. This time they were able to make their way back into the library they had been in before, only they weren’t alone. The room was entirely too small for all the girls, Allister, and Dante.
“So when were you planning on telling us about this?” Gianna asked.
“You didn’t know either? Makes me feel better finding out at my own fucking engagement party,” Valerio said sarcastically, taking off his suit jacket and throwing it on the floor. “These are things we need to plan to announce.”
She opened her mouth to talk, but the door flying open with Finn and Augustus stopped her once again.
Luna expected Finn to say something threatening, something awful and horrible, but he was silent. He just looked between Luna and Valerio. He was unusually pale for the outrage that was caused a moment ago.
“Save the fucking lecture; your father already made his point known,” Valerio told him, pacing the room.
Finn looked at her. “Were you pregnant when that man broke in? Did anyone know? Anyone like our father?”
Luna huffed, throwing her arms up. “I’m not pregnant.”
The entire room went silent. She was sure a feather falling would be heard like an avalanche. At that moment, she wished she could be buried by an avalanche to avoid the angry gaze Valerio threw at her.
“You’re not pregnant?” he asked, stalking toward her. “Then what the fuck were you thinking announcing something like that? Do you know what you’ve done?”
“Don’t talk to me like that,” Luna said. “I did what I had to do. My parents were going to do whatever they had to in order to get me out of our contract and marry me to someone else. I needed to do something to protect myself.”
“You protected yourself, but what about me? We’re in this together. We plan these things together,” Valerio hissed, running a hand through his hair.
“It doesn’t matter now. The damage is done. They’re expecting a baby in nine months,” Allister pointed out. “Both of the mafia leaders of two very important families are expecting a baby now.”
“Fucking hell, Luna,” Finn muttered. “You couldn’t think of anything else?”
“Someone wants me dead!” she cried out. “Someone you promised to catch tonight and didn’t. I took matters into my own hands.”
“You destroyed the plan completely!” Valerio screamed back. “Do you understand the consequences of what you did?”
“It tied us to each other,” Luna said.
“We would have been tied to each other when we got married. When we actually had a baby,” Valerio pointed out.
“And it would have been too fucking late because someone tried to kill me,” Luna hissed, her chest rising and falling rapidly. “Don’t you understand? We’re not safe. No one in this room is,” Luna told him, walking closer. “They’ll turn on any of us; they already have.”
The paranoia was thick in her voice, but she saw it out there. She saw it in her father, in his. She needed to protect herself, protect Valerio. This was the only way. And it had to work because if it didn’t then she just destroyed everything.
“That wasn’t your call to make,” he muttered, walking out onto the balcony. Luna’s mouth dropped open, her shoulders falling in disbelief.
“We still have the issue of everyone expecting a baby,” Dante said. “From where I’m sitting, we have a few options.”
“Like what?” Blair asked. “She gets pregnant and pops a kid out?”
“That or we tell everyone she lost the baby. It’s believable enough,” he said.
Luna was nauseous listening to them talk. She made her way out onto the balcony where Valerio stood, gripping the white rail in a death grip with his head down.
Her heart was broken, empty. She didn’t mean to cause so much heartbreak and chaos. It was miscalculated, she’d admit, but she only did what she thought she had to. If her father was willing to send someone to kill her, then what was stopping him from doing the same to Valerio? Especially after their engagement party and everything he had told her.
Reece Kingsley wouldn’t harm the father of her child, wouldn’t harm her while she was pregnant. At least she prayed to God he wouldn’t. It bought them some time.
“I’m sorry,” she told him, walking closer. “I only did what I thought would protect us.”
He lifted his head slightly but still didn’t acknowledge her fully. “You could have warned me. I thought you were pregnant, Luna. That really fucked with my head.”
She stepped closer, running her hand along his arm. “You’re right. I should have told you.”
He sighed, lifting his head. “I don’t know how we’re going to get out of this.”
“I’ll get pregnant,” she said. “If it’ll make things easier, then we’ll have a baby.”
“I will not use my child as collateral in this war,” Valerio said. He turned to face her now, towering over her frame with his. “We’ll figure something out.”
“Please don’t be mad at me,” she whispered, her vulnerability peeking through. “I mean, you can be mad at me all you want, but please don’t leave me. I need you on my side. Please.”
“I’m on your side for the rest of our lives,” Valerio said, pulling her body into him. “I’m never leaving you. I’ve already told you as much. I wish it was true that we were expecting, but now isn’t the time.”
“I would never announce it to you like that either,” she said. “You will be right beside me, finding out at the same moment I do.”
He gave her a small smile, leaning his forehead against hers. “We need to discuss what your father said to you.”
“And we need to discuss this war,” she added, taking in every ounce of his warmth. “Something has changed with my father, Val. I don’t trust him. I can’t.”
“We have some time now, as long as they believe this is true. My father, he’s not to be trusted either. Something has to be done about both of them.”
“What are you saying?”
“We’ll talk about it later, I promise. Just remember, we’re a united front,” he said. “For the rest of our lives.”
She pressed her lips to his, savoring the moment. It was their engagement party and they had yet to even share a kiss to celebrate. She’d destroyed the night and yet, here he was, holding her like she was going somewhere. She didn’t deserve him; that much was true. Maybe she never would.
She pulled away first, immediately missing his taste. “Let’s go inside. It’s cold.”
He nodded, letting her move first.
She had just turned her back when she caught the sound of something whooshing through the air. She watched Valerio fall onto his knees, his face filled with confusion.
Time slowed down when he held his hands in front of himself to stop the fall, but it didn’t seem to matter. Not when Luna saw the blood leaking through the back of his white button-up, falling like a waterfall down his back.
She let out a bloodcurdling scream, falling to the floor to hold Valerio so his face didn’t rest against the cold, dirty concrete of the balcony. She touched his back, trying to apply pressure as if she knew what she was doing.
“Dante!” she screamed and didn’t stop screaming even when everyone ran out to see what was going on. Cecilia dropped to the floor, ripping Valerio’s shirt off to see where he was hit.
Dante stood across from Luna on the other side of Valerio’s body, too stunned to do anything. Valerio’s eyes closing finally snapped him into action. He began slapping his brother’s face, begging him to stay awake.
Luna let out screams and cries, desperately wanting to see Valerio’s face.
“Don’t move,” Cecilia told her. “You’re the only thing stopping him from bleeding out right now.”
So Luna stayed there, pressing firmly to slow the bleeding despite how horrified she was at how much was coming out.
“We need an ambulance,” Gianna said. She took out her phone with trembling hands.
“There’s no time,” Finn told her. “We can transport him. As long as Luna keeps pressure, it’ll buy us enough time to get him there ourselves.”
“There’s a hospital a few blocks from here,” Allister said. “We can take him there.” He handed a pair of keys to Blair. “Go downstairs with Gianna and get the car pulled up to the back entrance. We’ll go through there.”
Blair nodded, pulling Gianna with her as they ran out of the room.
“I need you all to line up around his body,” Cecilia said. “Two to support his head and shoulders and two to hold his legs, especially his torso. Be gentle. I don’t know how close the bullet is to his spine.”
They did exactly what she said, slowly lifting him off the ground. A groan reassured Luna that Valerio was at least a little bit conscious. That had to be a good sign.
“Please stay with me, Val,” she begged him. “Please. Please.”
She stood along with them, keeping her hands pressed against his back, even while they walked out of the room and down the stairs. Luna’s mind was fuzzy. She had no idea how they got out of the library or into the car or even to the hospital.
The warmth she’d felt earlier was completely gone. All that was left in its wake was loneliness as she stood in the hospital hallway in her white engagement dress now soaked in the blood of her dying fiancé, watching him get wheeled away.
And she had never even told him she loved him.