The moment we entered the living room, I knew I could kiss that plan good-bye. Lily let out a small sound in the back of her throat, her nails digging into my palm. Father was talking to Dante Cavallaro, Luca and Matteo, while the other men, as well as Aria, my mother and Matteo’s stepmother, Nina Vitiello, stood around them. Father’s eyes narrowed immediately when he saw me with Lily. Fabi quickly rushed toward him and Father scowled at him, probably giving Fabi a lecture under his breath.
Matteo’s gaze captured me with its intensity. He was dressed in black pants and a white shirt.
“Gianna,” Father said in a tight voice. “We’ve been waiting for you.”
Everyone expected me to walk over to my Father, so he could hand me over to Matteo, and I would have if Lily hadn’t started shaking beside me at the sight of Matteo, Romero and Luca.
Her eyes darted to me. There was a flicker of fear on her face. I didn’t want Father, much less anyone else, to know that she was terrified. Father would be furious. Maybe he’d even hit her, and Lily really didn’t need another bad experience. She’d been struggling enough in the last few months.
She was frozen beside me.
“Gianna, stop the nonsense and come over here,” Father growled.
Aria came toward me. “What’s wrong?”
Lily and I exchanged a look. So far we hadn’t told Aria anything, but it would be hard to explain Lily’s strange behavior.
“Long story,” I said. “Can you take Lily’s hand?”
But Father had had enough. He stalked toward me and grabbed my wrist in a crushing grip before dragging me toward Matteo. “I’ve had enough of your insolence.” I almost stumbled on my heels.
Matteo pulled me against him, forcing Father to release me. The look on Matteo’s face bore a remarkable resemblance to the one he’d had when the Russian had kicked me. I was glad to escape Father’s wrath for now and didn’t pull away from Matteo. Aria was hugging Lily to her side and both were whispering quietly. I hoped Aria could calm our sister down. I hated seeing Lily so distressed.
“I know what you did there,” Matteo murmured in my ear once he’d put the engagement ring on my finger.
“And what would that be?”
“You helped your sister.”
I slipped out from under his arm. “I wouldn’t have had to help her if she wasn’t terrified of you.”
Matteo didn’t look sorry. Maybe he wasn’t capable of guilt. “I’ll have a word with her.”
“Stay away from her,” I hissed, but he seemed to find my threatening tone funny, and I blew. My voice rose. I was beyond caring if the others would hear. “And while you’re at it, stay away from me too. I don’t want anything to do with your fucked up world.”
Unfortunately Father heard, and so did probably everyone else in the room, and while Matteo didn’t seem to take my outburst to heart, Father’s scowl promised punishment. I had a feeling Matteo would have stopped him, if I’d asked for his help, but I didn’t want to be indebted to Matteo. I’d rather bear Father’s beatings.
CHAPTER SIX
Gianna
I hated having to involve Aria in any of this, but she was my last option. The biggest problem was actually asking her. I didn’t trust the phones. I wouldn’t put it past our father to rig them so he could keep an eye and ear on me. I had to ask her in person but as a punishment for my misstep at the engagement party I hadn’t been allowed to see Aria since our family’s Christmas party. But after weeks of begging, Lily and I had finally managed to convince Father to let Lily and me fly to New York for Lily’s birthday in April.
Lily was practically bouncing with excitement during our flight. I was still surprised how quickly she’d recovered from the horrible events of last September. I really hoped she wouldn’t be set back by being back in New York. She’d been avoiding Matteo and Luca the last few times we’d seen them but this time we’d be staying at Luca’s penthouse, so there was no way she could do it.
The moment we walked into the waiting hall buzzing with voices, I wanted to groan. Matteo stood beside Aria and Luca. I should have realized he would come. He seemed determined to ignore my antipathy. Sometimes I almost considered to give up on running away and to try to come to terms with my marriage to Matteo, but then there were the moments when he gave me that cocky grin like now, and then I wanted to run away as fast as my feet could carry me because I actually wanted to kiss him, despite what I’d seen him do in September.
Lily kept close to me. It was the only sign that she hadn’t forgotten what had happened almost seven months ago. She didn’t take my hand like she might have done a couple of years ago but her arm brushed mine as we walked toward Luca, Matteo and Aria. “Are you okay?” I whispered.
She jumped, flushing. “Yeah.” She squared her shoulders. “I’m fine.” She almost managed to hide her nerves from me. Aria ran toward us when we’d almost reached them and threw her arms around both of us. “I missed you so much.”
“We missed you too,” I whispered, kissing her cheek.
Lily beamed at both of us.
Aria shook her head. “You’re as tall as me now. I still remember when you didn’t want to go anywhere without holding my hand.”
Lily groaned. “Don’t say anything like that when Romero is around. Where is he anyway?”
I rolled my eyes, and Aria laughed. “He’s probably at his apartment.” Lily must have managed to get over her anxiety around Romero at some point. Puppy love turned you blind.
“Come on,” Aria said. “Let’s go.”
As expected, Lily turned shy again the moment we stood in front of the guys. My protective side wanted to step in front of her and shield her from everything, but I knew she’d be embarrassed if I did something like that. My gaze found Matteo’s eyes; they were warm; they were a normal guy’s eyes, and for an instant I wanted to believe the lie he was so good at telling, but I forced myself to break our staring contest.
“The birthday girl,” Matteo said with a smile at Lily, arms crossed over his chest. He looked so approachable and harmless, and I knew he was doing it on purpose because of Lily. Despite my best intentions not to, I felt grateful, and at the same time couldn’t help but wonder how he could be so kind and funny one moment, when he was capable of the horrible things I’d seen in September.
“Not yet,” Lily said, biting her lip. “Unless you have an early present for me.” I almost exploded with relief. I’d worried Lily would be as nervous as last time when she’d see Matteo, but he was a master manipulator and had her wrapped around his finger again.
“I like the way you think,” Matteo said with a wink. He took her suitcase, then held out his arm for her to take. She glanced between Matteo and me. “Won’t you carry Gianna’s luggage?”
“Luca can take care of it,” Matteo said, eyes dancing with mirth as they settled on me. Why did he have to be so…tolerable? If I didn’t know it any better, I’d say he had a suspicion I was trying to figure out a way to run away from our impending marriage.
I narrowed my eyes at him before turning to Lily. “Go on.”