Chapter 4
VALENTINA
Ifeel isolated.
Even though I'm allowed to go outside, I can't leave the property. Susie comes in to take care of Michael if I need some time to myself, and she seems kind and sweet enough. Eddie is good to me, too. Hell, everybody working for the Petrucci family has been nothing but good to me.
I haven't seen Luca since yesterday morning, though.
I heard him come in late last night. I noticed his shadow passing by my closed door. Just a hint cutting through the blade of light from the hallway.
"Mama, look!" Michael draws my focus back into the present. "Rosies!"
He's transfixed by a rose bush—one of many adorning the front garden. They're beautiful flowers, with rich, yellow petals, surrounded by lush green leaves. It's a thornless variety, and my son loves the texture of the petals against his fingers.
"They're wonderful, baby. I completely agree," I say with a soft smile.
The staff is keeping me out of the loop on everything, though.
I don't expect to hear any news about the Mancuso or the Petrucci crime families from the TV news, and I haven't had much luck through any internet searches either.
There's no email or social media access—Luca had all of those features blocked while I "settle in," according to Eddie.
I don't know what's happening beyond the mansion's tall fence. And it bugs the hell out of me.
"Miss Peroni." A young woman walks toward me from the main driveway.
My thoughts have been consuming me, and I didn't notice her when she parked her car outside the front steps.
"Yes?" I ask, but I don't get up, keeping an eye on Michael, who's busy admiring the yellow roses with wide, warm eyes.
"I'm Raquel, Mr. Petrucci's PA," the young woman says.
"Okay," I reply.
Upon reaching me, she exhales sharply and joins me on the bench, looking like she was close to caving in. "I hate this part," she mutters, then measures me from head to toe. "Mr. Petrucci sent me."
"What for?"
Perhaps I should be nicer, but something about Raquel doesn't sit well with me. A muted aggression comes off her in waves. She looks at me as if I'm not supposed to be here. I feel the same way, albeit I'm sure for different reasons.
"You need to go over this and pick out a model," Raquel says.
She takes a bridal dress catalogue out of her purse and drops it in my lap. I stare at it for what must seem like an eternity because Raquel feels the need to clear her throat in order to capture my attention again.
"Say what?" I manage.
"You'll need to pick out a model. I'd like to place the order by Wednesday, so it can be delivered by Thursday, which will give us Friday and Saturday to have the tailor adjust it where needed."
A wedding dress. For the wedding I agreed to at gunpoint, more or less. Somehow the catalogue makes it real in a way his ultimatum didn't.
Raquel chuckles softly at whatever she sees on my face.
"I get it. It came as a surprise to me, too, given that I was supposed to accompany Miss Mancuso to the bridal shop next week for her wedding dress fitting, but I guess that whole thing just got canceled. She won't be happy about it, I'll bet."
I sit up straight and lean back a little just so I can get a better look at Raquel, who speaks as if I know precisely what this whole thing is supposed to be about.
"Forgive me, Raquel, I haven't gotten all the updates from your boss just yet. You mentioned Miss Mancuso. Do you mean Caroline?"
She gives me a curious glance. "Yes."
"What does my stepsister have to do with whatever the hell this is?"
"Oh, shoot." Raquel finally realizes, and her cheeks go almost as red as her lips. "Oh, I made a mess, a huge mess."
I catch a glimpse of Luca's black Lexus pulling into the driveway.
"What is Caroline Mancuso's involvement?" I ask her.
"I thought you already knew."
"Clearly, I do not," I snap.
"Mr. Petrucci and Caroline Mancuso were negotiating a marriage agreement. It was supposed to establish peace between the families after decades of bloodshed and violence. Miss Mancuso proposed a peace accord through marriage. But then you came along and—"
"Ruined everything," I grumble. Luca never mentioned any of this. I wonder why. And why does the thought of him marrying my stepsister make my blood simmer?
"Well, yes," she concedes.
"And now, what? I'm supposed to marry him instead?"
"Yes."
Michael runs over with a yellow rose petal in his cute little hand, holding it up for me. "Mama, for you!"
"Oh, thank you, honey," I say, tearing up as I accept the gift. But it's not the rose petal or my son's adorable gesture that makes me cry. It's the hard reality that has rushed in and smacked me right in the face. I give Raquel a long, hard look.
"So it's really happening," I tell her.
Raquel doesn't seem too happy about it either, and she gives me quite the judgmental side-eye. "I was just as surprised as you are. I can't even begin to imagine how Miss Mancuso must feel, being thrown aside for the lesser sister."
"Excuse me?" I manage.
"Well, you know," she chuckles lightly, trying to brush the comment off.
Everything gets infinitely worse when Luca joins us. He has a stern, then confused look on his face as he checks out our expressions—gauging the temperature. My head tilts back so I can look at him, and I'm briefly annoyed by how handsome this bastard looks, particularly in the golden sunlight.
"What's going on here, ladies?" he asks, then focuses on Raquel specifically. "You were supposed to wait for me."
Raquel shoots up from the bench. "Oh, my apologies, Mr. Petrucci. I had no idea."
Luca sees the bridal catalogue in my lap. His eyes turn cold and dark.
Fortunately for him, I keep my game face on because my son is gleefully clinging to me, delighted by the rose petal he plucked for his momma. Michael is the only reason I'm not flipping the hell out, the dangerous mob boss being present or not.
"Care to explain?" I mutter, seething beneath the surface.
Luca looks around. He sees Susie by the front door, wiping one of the windows. "Susie," he calls out. Immediately, she leaves the spray bottle and cloth on the windowsill and rushes over with a tense smile across her face while Raquel looks like her head's about to explode.
"Susie, be so kind as to look after Michael while I speak to his mother," Luca says. "You can take him to the swing in the back. I had it installed for him earlier this morning."
Susie is petite, blonde, blue-eyed, and she has already told me once, quietly, that Luca is different from his brother. A good man, she said. The jury is still out.
I had no idea Luca did this for Michael. It softens my heart at the worst possible moment. I give my son a kiss and let him go off with Susie while I try to get my bearings. My knees feel weak, so I stay seated on the bench for the time being.
"Raquel was supposed to wait for me to tell you before presenting you with a bridal catalogue," Luca says.
"Oh, sure, like that makes everything better," I spit.
"My apologies, Miss Peroni," Raquel chimes in.
All I can do is scowl at her angrily.
"You may leave now, Raquel."
The way Luca says it sends a shiver down my spine. It's not just an order. It's a promise of worse things to come. My guess is Raquel will get an earful of the boss's fury later on.
Raquel nods at Luca before departing.
"What the hell are you up to?" I ask Luca.
"The only thing I can do is keep you and Michael out of Mancuso's reach," he says. I notice the muscle twitching in his strong jaw.
"You were going to marry Caroline?"
"Part of a peace deal. It felt like the sensible thing to do at the time."
I let a heavy sigh out. "Is that your role in the family? To fix what your brother broke, because it sounds like it is."
"I'm trying to avoid an all-out war. Mancuso still has enough power and influence to make it harder on everybody else, my business included.
And the bloodier it gets, the higher the risk of federal interference.
The last thing I need is a RICO operation blowing everything apart.
You and Michael would get tangled in that, too, and I know it wouldn't end well for either of you. "
My blood runs cold as I imagine the potential repercussions. He's not wrong.
"And Caroline just... steps aside?"
"I'm claiming you as my wife and Michael as my son. Caroline will adjust."
"He's not your son."
"He's a Petrucci. And once you and I say our vows, he becomes my son."
"This is insane."
He comes closer. My heart beats faster, making it harder for me to focus.
I already gave him my yes. He knows it, I know it, and hearing about Caroline changes nothing except how much I trust him. But it doesn't mean I will go quietly into that good night.
"What about Caroline? How will she react to this?"
"I'll speak to her. I'll mend that bridge. It's still a favorable peace deal for the Mancusos, because it unites our families through you. The old man will have some limited access to the boy. He can still leave everything to Michael," he says.
That's a devious power play, to say the least. "It would be the end of the Mancuso family."
"It'll be the end of the Mancuso family either way," Luca replies. "It's entirely up to Mauro if he wants to go down with honor or with shame. But our wedding is going to happen."
"Fine," I finally say, "just don't expect me to be happy about it. And put the idea of me wearing a wedding dress for this aside. That's not going to happen."
"It will happen," Luca says.
I shake my head. "Over my dead body. Get a judge to sign the marriage certificate and be done with it."
"It'll be a small but public affair. The people who need to witness it will be there. A message will be sent, loud and clear. Mancuso will have no choice but to accept it."
"No!" I snap.