Bound by Hatred (Born in Blood Mafia Chronicles #3)

by Cora Reilly

I wasn’t going to end up in a loveless marriage. I didn’t care if it was my duty or if honor dictated it; nothing in this godforsaken world could make me marry for anything but love.

His dark hair was intentionally messy and his eyes were so dark, they were almost black. It was impossible not to check him out.

I squirmed, though part of me wanted to lean in, get closer, and claim his mouth for a kiss. That would have been the scandal of the wedding, no doubt.

I decided to ignore Matteo for the rest of our dance, hoping that my body would do the same, but then the bastard started moving his thumb back and forth on my back, and every nerve ending in me seemed to jerk to life. I wanted to kiss him, and not just to spite my father and every other male in our world who thought it was okay to keep women on a leash. I wanted to kiss him because he smelled delicious, and that was exactly the reason why I needed to get away from him quickly.

“I really want to fucking kiss you,” Matteo said in a rough voice, startling me.

I should have been anxious, embarrassed at the very least, by his words, but instead I found myself wondering how it would be to kiss someone, to kiss Matteo.

“Then why don’t you?” I heard myself say. Alarm bells went off in my mind but I ignored them.

“This is a bad idea,” he murmured, his lips less than an inch from mine, his eyes dark and devoid of the usual playfulness. My insides seemed to burn with need. “I don’t care.” And then Matteo kissed me, lightly at first as if he wasn’t sure if I was being serious. I tugged at his vest, wanting him to stop being careful, and Matteo crushed his body to mine, his tongue slipping between my lips, tangling with mine, giving me no time to wonder what I was doing. He tasted of whiskey and something sweeter, like the most delicious whiskey truffle I could imagine. His body radiated heat and strength. His hand cupped the back of my neck as his mouth set my body alight with need. God, no wonder Father didn’t want us to be around men. Now that I knew how good kissing felt, I never wanted to stop doing it.

“How was it?” she asked in a hushed whisper. “The kiss, I mean.” At first I wanted to lie but then I opted for the truth. “Amazing.” Lily giggled and followed me into my room. “So are you going to kiss him again?” I wanted to, but I knew it would be a majorly bad idea. I didn’t want to give him any ideas. “No. I won’t ever kiss Matteo again.”

Last night after our kiss, I’d returned to the party to drink myself into a stupor when I’d come across my bastard of a father and Rocco Scuderi, talking about Gianna and his plans for her to marry some old geezer who was known for his hard hand with women. I hadn’t said anything then because I knew Father. If he thought I wanted Gianna because I desired her, liked her or wanted to protect her from a worse fate, he’d never agree to set me up with her.

“You’ll have to teach her manners, Matteo.” “Don’t worry,” I said. I’d teach her a lot of things. Two days later my father and Scuderi came to an agreement and Gianna was mine. Now I just had to figure out a good time to tell her.

His eyes held a promise to me. I knew it was sick, but somehow this made me want to kiss him even more. Something was so wrong with me.

He and Luca were both monsters. I wasn’t sure yet who was more dangerous of the two. But the worst thing was that part of me felt attracted to Matteo’s monstrous side.

“That you are a sick fuck and that I’d rather die than marry you.”

“Maybe you think you could live in the normal world, maybe you think you could date a normal guy, but you’d get bored, Gianna. Maybe you don’t want to admit it, but it excites you to be with someone like me. If a normal guy tells you he’d kill and torture to protect you, he’d be lying, exaggerating at best, but I’m making a promise I can keep.”

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.

“This is Gianna’s fault. This girl is the root of every problem. Why couldn’t you stay the fuck away from her like I told you?” he muttered. If only I fucking knew. For some reason, I couldn’t get her out my head. And now she’d run. From me.

Once she landed wherever she was going, she wouldn’t stop running until she was sure she was safe. She’d be alone, unprotected. What if something happened to her?

But what worried me most was that I found myself comparing every guy I met to Matteo, and they always fell short. They weren’t as good-looking, as interesting, they didn’t have a six-pack, and most importantly being in their proximity didn’t give me a thrill. It annoyed the hell out of me that despite being thousands of miles away from Matteo, he still held some power over me. I wished I’d never let him kiss me then I wouldn’t have that problem.

I’d just have to find a nice guy who could make me forget Matteo and his annoyingly sexy and arrogant smile. Maybe my next destination, Berlin, would help with that.

“Jerk me off at least.” Anger shot through me at his demand. When I didn’t react, he grabbed my hand and pressed it against the bulge in his pants. Where was the peace-loving idealist now?

With a bang, the door flew open. Before either Sid or I could move, three men stalked in. Matteo was one of them. Oh holy shit.

Matteo was first to enter, his dark hair messy and wet from the rainstorm raging outside, his white shirt plastered to his upper body. In that moment, I almost felt silly for thinking I could ever forget him. He was more man than all the guys I’d met combined. His dark eyes settled on me, then on my hand, which was still pressed against Sid’s crotch. There really was no question what he’d walked in on, and his face twisted with fury.

She was supposed to be mine. Mine alone. For a moment, the fury was so blinding I wanted to hurt her, wanted to show her that she belonged to me, wanted to fuck her so hard that she forgot everything else.

She probably waited for me to do what everyone expected me to do, to fuck her even if she was unwilling, to hurt her until she begged me for forgiveness. And I could have done it but I didn’t want to. Despite what she’d done and how bad she’d made me look, I still wanted her, and not just her body.

“I don’t give a fuck about your father’s men, and I don’t give a fuck about your father. And if they lay a single finger on you, I’m going to kill them. They won’t hurt you, nobody will.”

“You want to protect her after what she did?” “Yes.” “Matteo, this is Outfit business. She isn’t your wife, and nobody expects you to marry her after she went around fucking with half of Europe.” “Careful,” I hissed. “Damn it. Can’t you just get over her? Fuck her, it’s not like it matters anymore, and then hand her back to her father.” “Is Aria still around to hear you talk about her sister like that?” I asked. “No. I need to think about the Famiglia. Gianna brought this upon herself. You have to take her to Chicago, Matteo. I won’t risk war over her.”

“You’ll go against Scuderi if he disagrees for some reason?” “I will. For you and for Aria.” “Swear it.” Luca sighed again. “I swear it. You and Aria are going to be the death of me.”

“So you trust me to protect you but still don’t want to marry me.” Surprise shot through me. “You still want to go through with the marriage?”

“You could probably ram a knife into his back and he’d still want to go through with it,”

“He’s a stubborn ...

“He hates me. He wouldn’t even hesitate to put a bullet through my head after what I did.” He’d have to go through me, and I had no doubt that I could take him down with one arm tied to my back. I hooked a finger under her chin and turned her face around to me until her blue eyes met mine. “I won’t allow it.”

Gianna was practically pressed up against my side as we walked past him. Protectiveness burned through my veins. Maybe she didn’t realize it but that she sought my closeness when she was scared was all the confirmation I needed for her feelings for me, even if she wasn’t aware of them yet.

“That would mean war between Chicago and New York,” I said simply. “Seeing your father bleed to death at my feet would be worth the risk. You are worth it.”

“You shouldn’t leave sharp objects in my reach when I’m pissed.” “I think I’ll take the risk,” he said, bracing his palms to both sides of my thighs, leaving me no choice but to lean back to bring some distance between us. “Stop it,” I growled because he smelled too nice and I felt my body wanting to move closer

“You can’t possibly want to marry me looking like this.” I pointed at my face. “We should postpone the wedding.” Matteo shook his head with a small laugh. “No chance in hell. You won’t slip out of my hands again, Gianna. We will marry today. Nothing will stop me.”

If she liked to play with fire, fine. I didn’t mind getting burned. I’d walk through flames for her.

“What’s that about?” I asked after a moment. “How should I know?” “You and Aria are practically soulmates, haven’t you mastered the art of reading each other’s mind yet?” Luca gave me the finger. “I know your wife will make your life hell, so I’ll cut you some slack.”

It didn’t matter what Gianna had done before today. Now she was mine, and if I didn’t put a stop to my rising wrath, I’d only do something that I’d regret later on.

Nobody had ever looked at me like that, like I was the only source of water in a time of drought. And by God, I enjoyed it.

“Stop it!” I gasped between laughter. “What’s the magic word?” he murmured against a particularly ticklish place right above my hip bone. “Fuck you,” I said sweetly.

This was the first time I saw him without a shirt. I’d caught glimpses of his six-pack through his white shirt before but it couldn’t compare to seeing him bare-chested. My core tightened with desire. Even if Matteo’s personality grated on my nerves, my body definitely reacted to his looks.

And, boy, was he gorgeous. Everything about him was, his chiseled chest and six-pack, even his cock. I hated him for it. Hated how my body reacted to him so quickly and easily when it had never reacted to Sid or the other guys I’d made out with.

“I’m going to make you forget every fucking guy you’ve ever been with.” I glared, and was about to give him a nasty comeback, when he pulled at my hips sharply and slammed into me in one hard thrust. I arched up with a cry as pain shot through me. Damn it. Aria hadn’t been kidding. This was fucking painful. So much for keeping it a secret. I sucked in a few quick breaths through my nose, my eyes clenched shut. “Oh fuck,” I gasped out when I could speak again.

Matteo had frozen above me as he stared down at me in surprise. “Gianna?” My face turned hot. “Shut up,” I muttered. I loosened my fingers, which had clawed at the bedsheet. Matteo’s eyes were soft. “Why didn’t you tell me?” I decided to play dumb. Maybe I could convince him this wasn’t what it looked like. “Tell you what?” A sly grin twisted his lips, and I wanted nothing more than to wipe it off his face. Of course he didn’t buy my lie. He wasn’t an idiot. He was a master manipulator and I obviously had a lot to learn before I could trick him. “That I’m your first,” he said. Did he have to sound so…relieved and proud?

“Because I didn’t want you to know.” His grin got even cockier. “Because you didn’t want to admit that you waited for me.” “I didn’t wait for you. Now stop talking and fuck me, damn it.”

Matteo raised himself on his arms again and sped up even more, slamming into me over and over again, and then he tensed above me, his face twisting with pleasure, and damn he looked magnificent, like something even Michelangelo couldn’t have created better. Matteo’s movements became jerky and then he stilled, eyes closed, a few strands of dark hair stuck to his forehead.

Matteo grabbed my hand, stopping me from disappearing into the safety of the bathroom. Our eyes met. His were almost…regretful. “I shouldn’t have gone so hard on you, but you know how to push my fucking buttons, Gianna. Did I hurt you?”

“Don’t pretend you didn’t like it.” “I don’t. I loved every fucking second of it. I’ve waited a long time for this moment. I’ve spent almost every waking moment of my search for you imagining having your hot body under me. But in my imagination you were moaning my name and having multiple orgasms. You definitely weren’t in pain.”

“Keep imagining that. It won’t happen.” Matteo braced himself against the doorframe, trapping me between his arms. “Your body reacted to me, Gianna, even if you don’t want to admit it. Next time you will come when I fuck you, trust me.”