Velvet Lullabies

“Anyone and everyone.” Ely sighed. “I kind of, like, fucked up.”

Adelina waited a moment for her to elaborate.

“They had one arrangement and I ran away. I guess he’s pissed beyond belief and doesn’t want me anymore, which is honestly fine by me, but my father is livid.” She exhaled a long a breath. “Now I’m on house arrest, and apparently this is my one night of freedom.”

“Wow.” Adelina inhaled a sharp breath. “And I thought my life was bad.”

Ely burst into laughter, Adelina quickly following.

“What are you girls laughing about?” Enzo asked coming through the sliding glass doors with Lucian behind him.

“Our lives.” Ely smiled. “I should have known you would come to find me.”

Enzo chuckled. “I’ll always find you, Elle.”

“Come with me,” Lucian gestured to Adelina.

She following behind him, his arm slipping into her elbow as they walked.

“Lucian?” She asked as he guided her out to the patio.

“Yeah?”

“Uhm, where are we going to live?”

Lucian smiled down at her, and guided her over to the gazebo which was empty and slightly away from the party. “I have a condo, in the upper East Side. If you don’t like it though we can go somewhere else. Buy a house, yeah? Whatever you want.”

Adelina thought this over. There it was again: whatever she wanted. What did she want? A house, a condo, a life in New York City? She didn’t even know.

“What are you thinking about, bella?”

“You’re very nice to me.” She settled on saying. The gazebo was settled off to the right of the large back yard. There was a beautiful view of the lake, and she could still see Enzo and Ely over on the patio.

Lucian snorted out a laugh. “You’re my fiancé, shouldn’t I be?”

“I guess.” She shrugged.

He took both her hands into his, the warmth felt amazing on her cool skin. He looked into her eyes, she swore he could see deep into her soul.

“Beautiful girl, I know that men have not treated you fairly. I know you’ve been walked all over, but that stops now.” He told her, no hint of joking in his voice. “Whatever they did to you, I promise I never will. I will love you like you deserve to be loved. In every possible way. So, when I say that you can have whatever you want, you can. You want to move out to Rye and live next to my parents? Done. You want a sky rise in Manhattan? Done. Even if you want to ride down the aisle on a fake unicorn, I will get it for you. Understand?”

“A fake unicorn?” she asked.

“Whatever you want.” Lucian chuckled.

She smiled for a minute, not saying anything. “Thank you.” she finally settled on.

Chapter Sixteen

There are three major players in New York.

The first one being the Luchese’s. Anything that happens in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, or New Jersey is Luchese. If it’s not, well, they’re getting a pretty nice chunk of it.

The second big player would be the Morello’s. John Morello is verging on ancient and has yet to find a predecessor for his family. He only has two daughters, both of which are spoiled princesses, and have yet to bring in a decent man for their father. Pretty soon, he might just be irrelevant.

Next up, you have the DeLaurentis’, who run some streets in Brooklyn, Queens, and Long Island. Matteo Jr. is being groomed to take over their family.

Then, you have the Colombo’s. Also known as royal pains in the ass. Christophe plans to hand his family off to Leo, who in Lucian’s humble opinion is a major prick.