Chapter 3
Aurelia
Iknow where the men are scattered.
Since it’s almost twelve, Dante’s closest are either with him, on the other side of the estate, or out handling business.
This is my father’s land, and technically all men on the property serve at the feet of the De Luca name. But not all of them report to the same one. My brother has his favourites and I have mine.
I pull on my loose light blue jeans and white tank, but I know someone—likely Leo, one of my dad’s bitches—is guarding the door, so I go where I know it won’t be a problem.
Quietly opening the sliding black trimmed glass door to my balcony, I scale the two-foot ledge on the wall and jump to the pool deck without injuring myself.
I love this floor since it only ever has James on it, watching TV and munching on chips.
And as usual, as soon as I open the door, I spot him, leaning over his shoulder. “Hey, birthday girl.”
“Hi, Jamesy.”
James taught me to write and used to read me my bedtime stories, so he lets me get away with a lot.
“Are they in the gardens or in the glass house?” I question.
“Glass house. But Levi, one of the new ones, is with them.”
I smirk. “That won’t be a problem.”
Even if one of my father’s new recruits is with Vince and Luca, they’ll still help me play him.
I leave out the side door and walk through the gardens of trimmed bushes and flowers, passing by someone I haven’t seen before, but they look like a low-level worker, so I should be safe.
Reaching the glass house, I push open the door and Vince immediately stands, but it’s Luca who makes his way to me, embracing me in a warm hug and spinning me around.
“My girl is so big.”
I laugh, trying to breathe through his squeeze.
“Let her go, you fat bastard,” Vince chimes in from the table that’s scattered with cards and poker chips.
Luca releases me and then cups my face with his hands. “Let me kill the cocky prick.”
I smile and keep walking, getting to Vince, who wraps me in a hug from the side.
“Come on, boys, don’t fight over me.”
Luca is about fifty, and Vince is thirty-six, so I’m pretty sure they are both married and have lives outside of here, but it’s still fun to tease.
My eyes glance at the man I haven’t met yet. But I keep my attention focused on my friends.
“It’s been three weeks, Ace, that’s a bit long,” Vince says.
“Yes, well, Enzo’s been more intense with my training.” I grab a seat at the table, take a handful of chips, and finally greet our guest, “Hi, Levi,” I hold my other hand to him, “you like cards?”
He smiles but turns to Vince and Luca. “Chi diavolo è questo? Dovevamo esserci solo noi.” Who the hell is this? It was supposed to be just us.
Smiling, I keep my eyes on him. “Rilassati Levi. Ci divertiremo, te lo prometto.” Relax, Levi. We’ll have fun, I promise.
He drops his eyes to my chest.
“Not that kind of fun.” I hold my smile and turn my attention back to the boys while they tell me about work and how shit Dante is at planning ahead. Cards are shuffled, chips are stacked, and soon enough we’re deep into a game of poker.
But after about two hours, Levi’s hands are already up in the air. “This is bullshit.”
I lean back in my seat and watch the manchild throw a fit over losing ten grand.
“This fucking slutty bitch is cheating.”
I let out a quiet laugh while lifting a leg to my chair, knowing I’m not in danger.
“Relax, Levi, it’s just a game,” Luca says as he blows out a puff of smoke, cigarette in hand.
My attention shifts. I don’t have my own phone, but I look for the ringing and see Vince’s going off on the table—it’s my father.
He takes the call quickly.
“Yes, understood,” he mutters, taking a sip of bourbon, wiping his hand on his black jeans, and pulling his gun from his back, firing a round into Levi’s skull.
His lifeless body falls to the ground, and I have to wipe his blood from my cheek.
“Yes.” Vincent’s tone is suddenly much more serious.
I look to Luca, who is still counting chips from the game, my head tilting to Levi’s body. “A little dramatic, no?”
He lets out a laugh. “Sweet girl, you know we don’t tolerate disrespect. But you should go while we deal with it.”
I stand, kissing him on the cheek to say goodbye, but just as I do Vince hangs up the phone and turns to Luca. “A shipment of girls are coming in so we have to prep for the transition.”
I look down, feeling a wave of disgust. “Sorry, Ace.” Vince squeezes my arm and walks past me.
I still wish I didn’t know what really happens here. I wish I could go back and unlearn it. Be naive as to why I’m the only girl on the De Luca estate. But I can’t. So I turn, look at Levi’s lifeless body with one pitying glance and then make my way out of the glass house.
When I return to the east wing, I know I can take the proper entrance back up to my room since no one will want to tell Dante they didn’t notice me leaving.
Walking through my kitchen and up the spiral staircase that leads to the hallway, I lock eyes with Leo, his gun held tight to his chest.
“You’ve gotta be kidding.” He huffs with annoyance, rolling his eyes so far back I’m surprised they don’t get stuck.
“Aw, relax, I’m still alive and have yet to be kidnapped,” I reply with a smile pursed to my lips. Then my eyes look down to see Hank, my German Shepherd running down the hall towards me.
I instantly drop to my knees, telling my pup he’s a good boy as he smothers me in kisses.
“Just get inside before anyone else sees you.”
I stand back up directly in front of the eighteen-year-old guard. “Say please.”
He huffs and looks away, but I don’t move. So he looks back at me and whispers, “Please.”
I smile and tilt my head. “See, that wasn’t so hard.” I scruff up his light brown curls, planting a kiss to the right of his lips before walking into my room with my dog at my side.
On my bed, there’s a wrapped, square box with a purple bow, a fresh cup of hot chocolate, and a DVD I love.
A smile warms my face because even though I will never have the passionate, romantic love I always prayed I could have, at least one person truly knows me.
I slip into my favourite black sweats, cozying into bed. The movie humming in the background, shadows flickering across my ceiling as Rita Hayworth struts onto the screen, owning every man in the room, when I hear harsh knocking.
I freeze, popcorn halfway to my mouth and glance out my floor-to-ceiling bulletproof glass doors that open onto my balcony.
He’s such an idiot.
“Hank. Bathroom,” I command.
We fucked once.
Once.
Luckily, we didn’t get caught, so he hasn’t been murdered for it. But what he’s doing now is just stupid.
I push open the door, letting the dumbass into my room. “What are you doing here, Davide?”
His lips clash with mine and without a word he’s pushing me toward my bed. “No one saw me,” he groans between kisses.
I shove him back, holding his eyes for a moment. “I don’t want to get you killed,” I say truthfully.
“Don’t kill me then,” he says, guiding me with his hands around my waist until I’m straddling him on the edge of my bed.
He claims my mouth, and instantly our bodies grind hard into each other.
I almost consider giving in to him when his mouth moves to my neck. His tongue circling and pushing deeper into skin, making my head fall back.
“We need to stop,” I moan.
My stupid heart doesn’t want to see him die, and I know he won’t be lucky enough to survive another night with me.
He pulls back, grabbing my head to face him. “Don’t you want to know more about the Orlovs?”
His warm breath brushes mine and I tilt my head, debating it before taking him in deeper. “You know I do,” I whisper.
Our bodies realign, and I feel his length growing through his jeans.
I nudge Davide down onto the mattress, following him, keeping our lips attached, only taking a breath to ask my questions. “The Bratva isn’t meant to be our rival, so what is his problem?”
His hands rake through my hair. “Nikolai doesn’t like your brother, and Enzo is starting to think Viktor knows about you.”
I shove off him—still straddling his hips but sitting up to wipe his saliva from my mouth. “They’ll kill me if that’s the case, Davide.”
“We know. But the priority is keeping the police from noticing the increase in missing tourists.”
And just like that, I’m suddenly uninterested in sleeping with Davide tonight.
I back off him and walk toward the open glass door where he came in. “You should go now, Davide.”
“Come on, Ace, don’t be a fucking tease. I told you what you wanted to know, so get back on the bed.”
“Get out,” I say firmly.
“No wonder Elijah isn’t fucking interested in you. I bet you fuck him around just like you do the rest of us.”
I don’t say anything, but I can’t act like their faces don’t still haunt me sometimes—the men who bragged too much when I tilted my head and smiled.
I didn’t pull the trigger, but I might as well have.
Their blood was the price of my questions, and I paid it with my silence.
Regardless of how I got the information, I did what I had to.
Davide makes a show of getting off the bed and adjusting his boner before pushing past me, making sure to hit me with his shoulder on the way out. “Bitch,” he mutters.
I smile and shake my head. How fucking predictable. I didn’t invite him to my room, yet I’m the bitch for not getting him to finish.
I make sure to flip him off as he makes his way down the wall outside my balcony.
Curling deeper into my blanket, fingers still slick with butter, I try to go back to watching my movie.
I don’t even realize I’m biting my nails until the gunfire starts. Two shots. Harsh. Close enough that the windows rattle.
The sound fades almost instantly under the crash of waves against the cliffs, the island swallowing it whole.
Well, rest in peace, Davide.
I can’t say I didn’t warn him.
The curtain stirs with the sea breeze, and I drag myself out of bed to latch the glass closed, eyes scanning the velvet-dark sprawl of Isola delle Ombre—the Island of Shadows.
The beautiful beaches, cathedrals carved into cliffs, streets painted in coloured glass when the sun hits at the right angle.
This paradise belongs to the two men who split this rock down the middle like a carcass: the De Lucas—my blood—and the Orlovs, the Bratva.
And now I wonder exactly how much longer I’ll have before they come for me.