40. Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty
Mialina
Vittoria looks radiant in white, and Maximo is annoyingly handsome in his black tuxedo.
I sit among the guests gathered inside the Marco family chapel, watching them exchange vows beneath a sea of flowers.
This is perfect.
Exactly what I wanted.
Maximo gets his suitable Mafia bride, Vittoria gets the man she’s always wanted, and I get to return to Sicily without any further discussions about marriage and heirs.
Then the chapel dissolves around us.
One moment, Maximo is sliding a ring onto Vittoria’s finger. The next, they’re alone in a bedroom, and considerably less dressed.
Maximo slowly unbuttons his shirt.
One button.
Then another.
My eyes are riveted to the spot where the dark fabric parts to reveal a broad chest sculpted with hard muscle.
Vittoria watches from the bed with justified appreciation. I can’t even blame her. Nature was generous when constructing Maximo Marco, and she’s about to enjoy the benefits.
His hands move to his belt.
My gaze follows. Vittoria smiles.
Something hot and unpleasant twists through me as Maximo turns toward her.
Then he reaches for the zipper on his pants.
My eyes fly open.
For several seconds, I stare into the darkness of my bedroom, breathing as though I’ve just sprinted across Aldo’s entire estate.
Heat clings to my skin beneath the blankets. My thighs are pressed together, and there’s an ache low in my body that has no business being there.
Damn Sienna. This is all her fault.
After our disastrous Chicago outing, we decided to stay home yesterday. When Maximo didn’t show up all day, she kept teasing me that he was probably with the blonde siren he’d walked in with at Aldo’s birthday ball.
Apparently, that was all my subconscious needed to give Vittoria and Maximo their happily ever after and have them remove most of their clothes.
I shove the blankets away and sit up. Cold air rushes over my heated skin, but it does little to settle me.
I should be pleased.
My subconscious clearly agrees that Vittoria marrying Maximo makes perfect sense. She wants him. He needs a wife. They come from the same circle and would produce six perfectly behaved children who never question anything their father says.
So why did watching him turn toward Vittoria feel like a splinter lodged beneath my skin?
I refuse to examine that question before sunrise.
Or ever.
There are some places even I’m not reckless enough to go.
Several hours later, having successfully pretended that stupid dream never happened, I’m in the sitting room playing board games with my sisters, waiting for Mamma and Aldo to return from their trip.
“Stop sabotaging me,” Sienna accuses.
“I’m not sabotaging you. I’m winning,” I tell her. It’s the perfect revenge for giving my subconscious ideas.
Across the coffee table, Ari studies the board with the grave concentration of a military strategist. She moves her piece, draws a card, and sends both Sienna and me back several spaces.
“You’re both wrong. I’m the one winning,” she announces.
“You’re cheating too, bug,” Sienna mutters.
Thanks to the fire crackling in the marble hearth, the sitting room is cozy and warm despite the snow falling steadily outside.
Ari studies her next card before glancing toward my phone on the sofa beside me.
“I still wish we could have kept Gray,” she says for the umpteenth time since Maximo sent a picture of the little stray nestled against the chest of a boy yesterday afternoon.
The child’s grin stretched across his entire face while his parents smiled beside him. The cat looked content in his arms, his paws tucked against the boy’s coat as though he’d already decided he belonged there.
“Don’t you think it’s a little weird you named him after he went to another family?” Sienna says.
“He needed a name.”
“I’m fairly certain his new family already gave him one.”
“Gray suits him better.”
I hide a smile as Ari picks up my phone and opens the photograph again, staring at it.
Yesterday, I listened to her sing Maximo’s praises for most of the day. According to her, rescuing her and the cat from the alley elevated him from an ordinary Mafia don to some sort of superhero and patron saint of stray animals.
By midafternoon, I was beginning to regret not leaving her there.
The fact that Maximo hadn’t appeared at Aldo’s made her admiration considerably more difficult to tolerate.
Even now, part of me is in disbelief that an entire day passed without him showing up, inserting himself into my plans, or finding a new way to interfere in my life.
I take my phone from Ari before she can start swooning again over the man invading my dreams. She sighs and turns her attention back to the board.
My thumb hovers over Maximo’s message.
After expecting him to appear all day, all I received was a short update about a cat.
Maximo: The cat has recovered well. A foster family has agreed to take him. It’s a good home.
That’s it. That’s all he said.
No greeting or mention of our outing. And no attempt to continue the conversation.
Somehow, his entirely practical message was worse than hearing nothing at all.
I lock the screen and set my phone face down beside me. Sienna watches me from across the coffee table, one eyebrow raised.
“I know that look,” she says, smirking at me.
“What look?”
“The one where you’re thinking about something you don’t want anyone to know you’re thinking about.”
Perceptive little devil.
“I was thinking about how much I dislike you,” I huff.
“That isn’t a secret.”
Ari giggles.
Before I can retaliate, Simon appears in the doorway.
A tiny spark of expectation flares before I can smother it, mostly because I’m beginning to recognize the particular expression he wears whenever a certain visitor is involved.
“Miss Accardi.”
All three of us look at him.
“Yes?” we reply in perfect unison.
Simon blinks while Ari grins.
“Miss Mialina,” he clarifies. “Don Marco is here to see you.”
A flutter stirs to life somewhere beneath my ribs.
“I want to see him and thank him for saving Gray,” Ari shouts.
Sienna smirks over the top of the rulebook she picked up to settle our latest dispute.
“I’ll happily stay here.”
“Where is he?” I ask Simon.
I’m surprised Maximo had himself announced instead of just marching in. What is he up to now?
“In the front hall.”
I frown. “Well, he knows where the sitting room is.”
Simon doesn’t even attempt to hide his amusement. “He’s asked for you to come to him.”
Seriously? What kind of power play is this?
I briefly consider sending Simon back to inform His Majesty that I’m staying where I am. The problem is that Maximo will no doubt have an infuriatingly sensible reason, and despite my best efforts, I’ll still end up doing exactly what he wanted in the first place.
I hate when that happens.
Besides, curiosity is already getting the better of me.
I rise from my chair as gracefully as possible.
“Stay here,” I tell my sisters.
“Have fun,” Sienna teases.
I roll my eyes at her and follow Simon from the room, telling myself my pulse is perfectly normal. The fact that it isn’t is irrelevant.
Maximo stands near the front doors, a dark coat draped over his broad shoulders and black leather gloves still in one hand. Snowflakes cling to the wool, evidence of the short walk from the driveway.
For one absurd second, relief washes through me.
Relief.
As though he’s been gone for months instead of a single day.
What is wrong with me?
I blame that dream for leaving me off-kilter.
His gaze finds mine. The quiet conversation he’d been having with Leon, who is, as usual, glued to his shadow, trails off as Maximo’s attention settles fully on me.
Something shifts in his expression. The change is subtle enough that I probably couldn’t explain it if asked, yet I feel it all the same.
“Good afternoon, Mia.”
My stomach gives another traitorous flutter.
“Hello, Maximo. Are you checking in on us again?” I ask, and before I can think better of it, I add, “You neglected that duty yesterday.”
One dark eyebrow lifts.
Oh dammit.
Then the corner of his mouth twitches. “Did you miss me?”
Heat creeps into my cheeks.
“Oh, please. You really are full of yourself.”
His expression remains entirely too satisfied. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
“You’ll take anything as a yes.”
“It’s a surprisingly effective strategy.”
I hate that I almost smile. Determined to recover some ground, I fold my arms and lift my chin.
“It was rather peaceful without you constantly appearing out of nowhere.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed it and weren’t thinking about me at all.”
The amusement in his voice makes me want to pinch him hard enough to wipe the smug look off his face. Instead, I change the subject before I provide him with more evidence for his theory.
“Why are you here?” I ask. “Oh, wait, you’ve come to return my album.”
His gaze drifts over me before returning to my eyes, lingering just long enough to make me aware of it.
“I’m taking you somewhere,” he says, ignoring the mention of my book.
Suspicion immediately flares. “Where?”
“You’ll see.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It’s the only one you’re getting.”
For several seconds, we look at each other. Behind me, I can practically feel Ari and Sienna listening from somewhere around the corner.
“Are we taking my sisters along?”
“No.”
“Then I can’t go. I’m responsible for them after all.”
“Your mother and Aldo are about to land and will be back here shortly. Simon will keep an eye on them.”
He nods toward Aldo’s housekeeper, who inclines his head in agreement as though he’s already been briefed on the matter.
“Well, that’s even more reason for me to stay here,” I point out. “Someone should welcome them home.”
“You can do that when I bring you back later. Aldo and your mother know I’m taking you out.”
Of course they do. Naturally, everybody knows about my plans except me.
I let out a dramatic sigh. “So organized.”
“Always.”
I should refuse on principle. But I’m curious to find out where he’s taking me. I bet that’s what he’s counting on.
Honestly, I blame cabin fever.
After spending yesterday trapped inside the mansion, almost anything sounds preferable to another afternoon of board games.
Even Maximo Marco.
I sigh again, and his eyes gleam.
“Get your coat, Mia.”