Chapter 30
FABIANA
My foot tapped out a nervous rhythm as I waited for Cosimo by the museum entrance.
The thought of spending the next thirty minutes trapped in the car with him made my body buzz all over. It was the same car I’d sat in only a few weeks ago when he’d hiked up my skirt and written three words on my bare skin with a pen.
I wasn’t sure how I was going to survive the ride, let alone the next five and a half months beside a man who was still insisting things were simple between us.
He was lying to me. He was lying to himself. Soon enough, these fragile lies wouldn’t be enough to protect us from ourselves.
My phone rang. The name on the caller ID made my stomach bunch into knots.
Vita.
Why was she calling me?
I hadn’t seen her since the wedding. Even then, we’d only exchanged a quick greeting. I’d spent most of the evening by Cosimo’s side, and she didn’t approach him once. Just like at the funeral.
I lifted my gaze from the screen, searching the crowd for Cosimo, but I couldn’t find him. What if Vita was calling because something had happened? To Rom, to Alessio… Maybe she’d tried to reach Cosimo, and he was ignoring her calls.
He didn’t want me talking to her, but I could answer a call. I’d tell him about it as soon as he came back.
I picked up. “Hello?”
“Fabiana, I hope this isn’t a bad time.”
“Is everything all right?”
“Yes, everything’s fine,” she said, but her voice didn’t sound as steady as it usually did. It was slightly reedy, as if she’d been crying. How much of that could I trust? After what Cosimo had told me about her, I knew she was manipulative and cunning.
I kept my guard up.
“I’ve been meaning to make this call for a while now, but I couldn’t find the right time. And… Well, judging by the way you’ve avoided me since my husband’s death, I figured Cosimo must’ve told you he and I haven’t been seeing things eye to eye recently.”
“He did.” Where was she going with this?
“My son is upset I’m making a bid to get the position instead of him, and I’m afraid this rift between us has gotten out of hand. At the end of the day, we both just want what’s best for the family.”
The position? What position?
Realization trundled through me.
Vita wanted to be the next don. What else could she mean? She wanted to lead the family instead of Cosimo.
My God. He hadn’t told me that.
“I’m appealing to you woman to woman,” Vita said. “Cosimo might listen to you when it comes to this. His brothers are… Well, they’re men blinded by their egos. You’re different.”
Unease slid down my spine as my mind raced to keep up. “I don’t understand what you mean.”
“When we spoke at lunch all those months ago about your expectations for the marriage, I could tell that some of the things I said didn’t land well.
I told you this marriage was first and foremost a political alliance, and that you’d be smart not to hope for more.
” She paused. “But my perspective has shifted.”
I frowned, my grip tightening on the phone. Her perspective had shifted?
“Now that Gino is gone…” She sighed. “Losing him has cracked me open. It’s made me reconsider some things.
I failed my sons in my attempts to prepare them for their roles.
There is nothing more important than our relationships with those we love.
” Her breath trembled. “And I taught Cosimo otherwise.”
She sounded so sincere. So remorseful. But I wasn’t buying it. She was working up to whatever it was she wanted from me.
“I saw how Cosimo looked at you at the wedding,” she continued. “My son feels something for you, Fabiana. I think, given the chance, he could find the same kind of strong, enduring love with you that I had with his father.”
Inside my chest, something twinged. God, she was good. She’d picked up on exactly what I’d wanted back when we first spoke, and now she was dangling the possibility of me getting it right in front of me.
“But the life of a don is a difficult one. And once he takes control of the family, I’m afraid his duty will crowd out anything that could bloom between you.”
She paused, letting her words linger. I rolled my lips. “What are you saying, Vita?”
“He thinks I’m trying to steal his birthright, but I’m only trying to give him a chance to experience love before the weight of leading the family crushes that possibility. Convince him to put his ambitions on hold for two years, and you can have the relationship you dream of.”
There it was. The ask. Framed as a favor she was doing for me and Cosimo, because Vita Ferraro was incapable of selfish acts. That’s what she wanted me to think. Did she really think I’d buy it?
She must think I’m an idiot.
A gullible idiot.
A bitter anger dripped into my bloodstream.
“You make it sound like it’s impossible to lead the family and have a strong marriage. I wonder how your husband managed to do both.”
“Gino still made room for other things in his life. Cosimo doesn’t. All I’m asking is for you to talk to him. To make him understand what he stands to lose.”
Across the atrium, a familiar figure cut through the crowd.
Cosimo’s gaze found mine and held it as he approached. He stopped right in front of me, close enough to hear the next words out of my mouth.
The noise of the gala seemed to recede, until all I could hear was my pounding heartbeat.
“Vita,” I said.
Something flashed in his eyes. For a moment, I thought he might take the phone from me, but he didn’t. He just stood there listening.
“As you so wisely explained to me at our lunch, my duty is to Cosimo, and his duty is to the family,” I said.
“I did say that—”
“You were exactly right.”
A notch appeared between Cosimo’s brows.
“I have no intention of trying to sway him or influence him on your behalf. It’s completely inappropriate of you to call me with this.
In less than a month, he’ll be the don. If you really want to help him, you’ll find other ways of making yourself useful to the family without trying to interfere with his claim. ”
Cosimo didn’t blink. He stood there, silent and unmoving, while a storm brewed inside his eyes.
Vita cleared her throat. “You misunderstand my intention.”
“I didn’t misunderstand anything. Cosimo told me everything I need to know about you. He told me how you’ve used women in his past to spy on him.”
“Spy on him?” Her voice changed. “That’s not—”
“That’s exactly what you did. I don’t know what kind of power games you’re playing, but I won’t be your pawn, and I will certainly not be your willing helper.”
Cosimo’s jaw tightened, as if it cost him something not to interfere.
On the other end of the line, Vita had grown silent. For a moment, all I could hear clearly was the rush of adrenaline-driven blood inside my ears. Standing up to the Ferraro matriarch wasn’t easy.
“You stupid girl.” There was no waver in her voice anymore. Only poison. “One day you’ll regret squandering this opportunity to make yourself useful to me.”
Ice crawled through my veins. How quickly the mask had come off.
“You won’t be able to hold his attention for long, and when he moves on, don’t come crawling to me for help. You won’t find it.”
“I won’t need it,” I said quietly.
“You won’t survive a year in this world without powerful allies in the family. Maybe after all those years abroad, you’ve become too soft and too naive to understand how this all works.”
I swallowed past the burning in my throat. “Don’t call me again.”
I hung up with trembling hands.
Cosimo just stared at me. If it weren’t for the faint pulse beating at the base of his throat, he might as well have been made of granite. “Let’s go.”
Somehow, despite knowing Vita’s game in advance, her words had still found their mark.
I didn’t need to survive a year. I didn’t need to hold Cosimo’s interest. And maybe I was soft and naive, but I’d be gone in six months. Living a life far removed from this one. Living on my own terms.
Good. Great.
Her words should’ve rolled right off me.
And yet they burrowed deep inside like poisoned arrows and festered with each passing minute.
It didn’t help that Cosimo hadn’t said a thing to me since we’d gotten into the car. We were almost home. He wore a brooding expression as he stared ahead, apparently comfortable in the silence I found suffocating.
Wasn’t there anything he wanted to say to me? I didn’t stand up to Vita to get his approval, but I also didn’t expect to get the silent treatment in the aftermath.
My hands were clenched in my lap, my body tense and uncomfortable beneath the aquamarine dress. By the time we parked in the driveway, I was so desperate to get out of the car that I didn’t wait for him to come around to help me out. I just bolted inside.
The house was empty and quiet as I stumbled into the foyer. I kicked my heels off and moved toward the stairs.
A warm palm encircled my wrist. “Wait.”
“What do you want, Cosimo?” I snapped, my nerves too frayed to keep it cool.
“You’re not going to give me a lecture?” His voice was low. Hoarse.
“A lecture?”
“For not telling you Vita is after the position of don.”
I turned. There was only a small floor lamp illuminating the foyer, and it painted his face in dark shadows. My anger sizzled and burned through my insides. “Why would I? With a mother like her, I get why you have trust issues.”
His stony expression cracked, but I was too annoyed to parse through what was hiding beneath it. It was true. I wasn’t angry that he hadn’t told me about the succession issue. But it annoyed me that even now, after seeing me stand up to Vita, his response was to just keep shutting me out.
His throat worked. “You shouldn’t make her into an enemy.”
I tore my wrist out of his grip. “Who’s lecturing who? You know, you could at least give me a nod of acknowledgment for standing up for you.”
“I appreciate you doing that, but it was not necessary. She’s dangerous, Fabiana.”
My frustration spilled over. “And I’m too naive and soft to handle her, right? Is that what you really want to say? Guess what, that’s at least one thing the two of you agree on.”
His gaze narrowed. “What’s that supposed to mean? She said that to you?”
“Forget it.” I moved, but he appeared in front of me, blocking my way.
“What did she say?” he demanded.
“Cosimo, I’m tired,” I snapped. “It’s been a long night.”
“Tell me what she said. You’re obviously upset.”
I couldn’t do this anymore. I needed to get away from him. “Fine,” I spat. “She said that I won’t be able to hold your attention for long. She’s right, but it doesn’t matter. She has no idea this is all fake. Happy? Now can you please let me pass?”
His gaze flashed with contempt. “Can’t hold my attention?” Instead of stepping out of my way, he stepped toward me, forcing me to step back. “Can’t hold my attention?”
The anger in his voice stunned me.
“You’ve done nothing but hold my fucking attention since the day we met.”
I retreated on instinct, my bare feet moving against the cold tile floor, seeking to maintain some distance between us. Failing. The man was moving toward me like a freight train.
My back hit the wall.
His palms landed on either side of my head.
“My father’s dead. His killers are still on the loose.
I’m trying to keep everything running while my mother is trying to steal the family from me.
And yet do you know what I find myself thinking about most often?
” The contempt had morphed into something hotter, something that burned across my flesh. “You.”
“I don’t believe you.” My voice shook. Inside me, a confused hurricane raged. I told myself he was lying to make me feel better, but that didn’t make sense.
And if he was telling the truth…
Oh God. I was screwed.
His laugh was bitter. “I think about you all the fucking time. I walk through my front door and see your shoes. I go into my bathroom and smell your shampoo. I try to eat in peace, and there are your little mugs on the counter, reminding me you’re here.
You’re fucking everywhere. Inescapable. Even in my dreams, I can’t escape you.
If only you knew how fucking pretty you look inside them, spread eagle on my bed, not a stitch of clothing on that body.
And every fucking day, I feel it more and more.
That urge to make you mine the way a real husband would. ”
He stepped into me, pressed his hard body against my curves, and brought our faces close together. “That’s how thoroughly you’ve been holding my fucking attention. Still don’t believe me?”
My breaths were no more than harsh puffs of air. I was playing with fire, but I didn’t care if I got burned. “No.”
An angry huff. A palm around my throat. A muttered, “Fuck it.”
And then his mouth came crashing down on mine.