Luca Vitiello (Born in Blood Mafia Chronicles, #0)

by Cora Reilly

I’d never forced myself on a woman, and Aria was only a girl. My fiancée. Mine. Mine to protect.

“I trust you’ll keep Aria safe from male attention,” I said coldly, fixing Scuderi with a hard look. “I don’t want him anywhere near her. If I hear that someone as much as looks at her the wrong way, nothing will stop me from dragging Chicago into the bloodiest war you can imagine. I don’t share what’s mine, and Aria is mine. Only mine. She’s under my protection from this day on.”

My heart pounded in my chest, not just from the sprint, but from worry over my wife. My crying, hurt wife.

We’d been searching for Aria for almost two hours, but there was still no sign of her. My temple was throbbing, and I actually considered calling Scuderi after all. Screw the consequences. The only thing that mattered was getting back Aria.

“We were kissing, and you said you wanted to fuck me more than any other woman. Of course, I pulled back. I’m not some whore you can use when you feel like it. You’re never home. How am I supposed to get to know you?”

“You are far too beautiful and innocent to be married to someone like me, but I’m too much of a selfish bastard to ever let you go. You are mine. Forever.”

“I know,” Aria said, for once not sounding resigned. Fuck, Aria, you were meant to be our guarantee for truce, not more.

“You’ve got your Aria expression on again.” I frowned. “What the hell is that supposed to be?” Matteo smirked. “It’s a mix of protectively murderous and dreamily reverent.”

Aria nodded, but she didn’t look crushed. She actually looked determined. “Then so be it. I’ll go where you go, no matter how dark the path.”

“You won’t ever touch my wife, Father. Aria’s a queen, and I’ll treat her like one. I won’t be like you. Your legacy dies today. Matteo and I will make sure of it.”

For a second I was sure she was dead, that I’d lost the one person I loved more than my own life. I’d never known love meant being scared all the time, scared of losing someone you couldn’t live without.