Bloodied Hands (Bellandi Crime Syndicate 1)

I nodded to both men, giving Matteo a relieved smile that he'd made the right choice. "I'll let the guards know," Donatello said, bowing out of the room to give us a moment of privacy.

"You and me, Angel. I know Sadie comes along with you, just don't let her talk you out of this." It almost sounded like an insecurity, a question of whether my friend could convince me that the relationship we were building was unstable. There was a time when a stranger could have convinced me it wouldn't last, but that time had gone.

Somewhere along the line, I'd started to believe that Matteo loved me as much as I loved him—needed me to feel whole. Maybe it was in the way he clung to me at night and slept later than he should so he knew I could rest peacefully. Maybe it was the way he had called my Uncle to let him know he'd made things official and invite him to the wedding. Maybe it was the way he'd agreed to bury the hatchet with Duke so he could be a part of our lives, despite Matteo's possessiveness.

Whatever it was, I knew without a doubt that it was real.

"Just yell if you need anything," he murmured, leaning into my space again to give me an affectionate kiss.

"Always." I stood from the desk, smoothing his papers for him and retreating from the office. By the time I made it to the kitchen, Sadie sat in one stool waiting and Donatello was nowhere to be seen. She’d taken Smaug from the tank Don had set up for him against the wall where the kitchen connected with the dining room, snuggling him in the way she didn’t like me to see. Nobody could resist the tricky little bastard. Even Matteo was growing fond of him, and Don was a goner.

"So, this is the great Bellandi Estate," she sighed, eyes darting around the room as she took in the pristine, gourmet kitchen.

"Did you come to sightsee?" I said, every bit of the bitterness I still felt over her betrayal coming through those words. It was enough to make her wince.

"You know I didn't," she sighed, finally turning to look at me. When our eyes connected, relief seemed to flood through her. "I was half worried I'd come, and you'd be miserable. Heaven knows that he's intense and controlling enough to smother you."

I crossed my arms over my chest to stare her down. "And yet, you called him when I went on a date. Did you call Duke too?"

"Yes," she admitted. "You did that thing where you just bury your head in the sand and keep digging your hole! You needed someone to force you to deal with the problems instead of just pretending they didn't exist."

I sat down on the stool next to her with a sigh. "I needed to do that," I agreed. "But that wasn't your decision to make. I should have been able to come to that on my own."

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I wanted to tell you a hundred times, but you're never home anymore—"

"Matteo moved me in here the day after the club," I sighed. I didn't want to remember those days and the tumultuous storm of emotions. Having my will stripped away, locked up in a glorified prison, was not a feeling I wanted to relive.

"God, I'm sorry, Ive. I'm sorry it hurt you, but you look good. You look happy. So I don't regret it. The way he looks at you...." she trailed off with a secret little smile. "I hope one day I find someone who looks at me like that."

"Intense? Like he wants to eat you alive? Is that what you mean?" I giggled, and the tension broke as she burst into laughter along with me.

"I guess so, yeah. Things are good?"

I grinned. "Yeah, you could say that. He's...intense. I don't think I've ever met someone as strong-willed as Matteo, like everyone in his vicinity just has to do everything he says. I know he has power, and that's part of it, but there's also just that something about him, you know?"

She laughed. "Yeah, he's dangerous. Not just because of the title, but he just gives it off."

I fiddled with the ring on my finger, turning to face her finally with tears in my eyes. "It's a good thing you finally came to your senses and came to apologize. You were running out of time to pick out a Maid of Honor dress."

"I was, what? What?!" she shrieked, snatching my hand to stare at the ring. "You're getting married?"

"July 6th," I grinned.

"Holy shit!" I could hear Matteo's chuckle drift in from the office.

"Eavesdropping creep!" I hollered at him, and the chuckle transformed into a roar of laughter. "Come on, let's go for a walk outside where the stalker can't listen in."

I took her out the front door, going around the rose garden on the side of the house. I'd never spent much time in it, mostly just run past it in the mornings. I knew I'd need to remedy that, because it was gorgeous. "So, tell me about the sex. I need to live vicariously through you. I'm in a dry spell."

I rolled my eyes, Sadie had always been a little more op

en to casual sex than I had, but the recent dry spell had lasted six months. Her opportunity for sex hadn't changed. What had changed was her willingness and desire for something more, but she wasn't ready to hear that. "It's pretty much constant. I mean, I always knew we were attracted to each other, obviously. But lately I swear all he has to do is look at me, and I'm dragging him off to bed."

Sadie laughed her ass off. Her voice was teasing when she spoke. "You're sure you aren't pregnant, right?"

I smiled back at her, even though I knew my body froze solid. "Of course not. You know I'm on the pill."

Except I'd been due for my period the day Matteo proposed. I'd spotted a teeny bit a few days after, so hadn't thought anything of it. I'd gotten so wrapped up in the wedding and being happy that I never realized it didn't come.