She stiffened, paling. Matteo glanced at her, then back at me, dark eyebrows climbing his forehead. I sent him a death glare.
“Excuse me. I need to freshen up,” Aria said in a formal tone, stepping back from me.
I would have stopped her if Grace’s father hadn’t come over in that moment and I couldn’t risk a scene in public. Aria turned on her heel and stalked off, her head held high. I could have killed Matteo.ARIAI had trouble breathing as I made my way toward the restrooms. Luckily, nobody tried to stop me. I wasn’t sure I could have kept up my mask if they had. The moment I stepped inside the bathroom, I released a shuddering breath. I washed my hands because I couldn’t wash my face without ruining my makeup. Lifting my face, I regarded myself in the mirror. I wasn’t vain but I knew people found me beautiful. I had received praises for my beauty all my life, and yet the mention of Grace’s abilities made me realize that it might not be enough to hold Luca.
He loves you.
I closed my eyes and counted to ten until I felt the necessary strength to return to the party. Grace was the past.
I moved out of the bathroom and stiffened when I saw Grace waiting for me in the hallway. She smiled but it was all fake.
Resisting the urge to lower my eyes, I met her gaze straight on. She moved closer, encasing me with her overly sweet perfume. With her high heels, she was several inches taller than me, but I straightened my spine.
“I hoped I’d get another chance to talk to you. At your wedding, I didn’t have much time.”
He will fuck you bloody. That’s what she’d said and fueled my own terror. She wasn’t that much older than me, perhaps twenty, but she had a world of experience on me.
“Maybe you think Luca is satisfied with what you can give him,” she began in a low voice. “But I’ve known him for two years, and he’s never settled. I was the only woman he returned to over all that time, because I gave him what he needed.”
Two years? Even if he’d been with other women in that time, why had he kept her around?
Grace’s smile widened. “I’ve let him do every kinky thing you can’t even imagine, Aria. You don’t look like you are willing to take his cock up your stuck-up little frigid ass.”
It was enough. I took a step toward her, bringing us too close, and narrowed my eyes at her. I was raised in the mafia world. I had grown up among predators. I had rammed a knife into a Bratva member. If Grace thought I’d let her intimidate me again, she was thoroughly mistaken. “You will stay away from him,” I said quietly but firmly. “The only reason why he used your ass was because he didn’t want to see your face. You have always been and will always be replaceable. One among many. You are nothing to him. Cheaper than a whore, that’s for sure.” I hated that her ugliness brought out my own viciousness, but I couldn’t take anymore.
She raised her palm to slap me when a shadow fell over us, and Luca’s strong hand clamped around her wrist. He shoved her back from me so she collided with the wall but he didn’t release her. His grip on her wrist made her wince, and she cowered under the force of his gaze. He looked murderous.
“She’s not worth it,” I whispered imploringly.
His mouth pulled into the cruelest smile I’d ever seen on him as he released Grace’s wrist. “You won’t ever speak to Aria again. You won’t go anywhere near her, or you will see a side of me very few have survived.”
“Luca, please,” she begged, clutching his arm, and I stiffened. “I’d do anything for you. I love you.”
He shook her off in disgust. “Don’t touch me, whore. You just swallowed my brother’s cum; do you really think I want your dirty hands on me?”
He turned to me, and some of the anger slipped away, but Grace wasn’t done yet. Her face scrunched up as she leveled her hateful eyes on me. “I wish that guy in Luca’s club had raped you when I paid him for it. I bet with roofies in your blood that was the first time you could take all of Luca’s cock inside your pussy. It was probably the only time he enjoyed fucking you.”
I gasped, but my shock lasted only a second because Luca reached under his jacket for his knife. I wasn’t quick enough. He turned and lunged at Grace, thrusting her against the wall and pressing the blade against her throat. The fury on his face halted me only a second, then I rushed toward him and gripped his arm, trying to pull it down but he resisted, and he was too strong for me. His hateful eyes never left Grace as he held the knife against her skin. I didn’t much care for Grace, but if Luca killed her here, Senator Parker would call the police, and not all of them were on the Famiglia’s payroll.