I never thought I’d find my woman.
But she’s here. She’s right here.
“I want two more men escorting her to the estate,” I say. “And if anybody even fucking looks at her disrespectfully, I will bury them myself.”
The sun is rising as we leave the city and head into the surrounding countryside, where my estate resides. I have apartments in the city too, but there’s no way I’m going to risk leaving my woman in one of those, prey to Franco’s revenge.
Aldo drives and I sit back, letting out a sigh, as the hills roll past and the sun makes the air hazy on the horizon.
“It’s been a long night,” I say.
“Luca,” Aldo says, using the friendly tone of voice he reserves for when we’re alone. “Everything’s sorted now. We’ve got guards posted on all our important business. We’ve called up hundreds of troops. We’ve moved all our cash and our assets to the safes. But I still don’t know why. Why her? Who is she?”
I laugh gruffly. “Cousin, I don’t even know her damn name.”
“What?”
I nod, tracking a flock of birds across the sky, the way they dart this way and that. Maybe I should be in a bad mood, but now that business is sorted I finally get to meet my woman, properly meet her, and tell her who the fuck she belongs to.
“I don’t understand.”
I smirk. “Neither do I.”
“So tonight is the first time you saw her?”
“Yep.”
“So why…” He trails off. “Just why?”
I glance over at him. He’s leaning against the steering wheel, eyes narrowed on the road.
“Aldo, you drive like an old lady.”
He chuckles, shooting me a look. “Go fuck yourself.”
I laugh and then he grows somber again.
“I deserve to know, Luca.”
“I don’t fucking understand it myself,” I tell him. “One minute I’m sitting there, convinced I’ll never find the woman of my dreams. More than that… Convinced the woman of my dreams, as a concept, is a lie. And then she walks out from behind the stage, looking shy and beautiful and—and I don’t know, Aldo. She captivated me. She’s going to be the mother of my children. We belong together.”
Aldo’s jaw goes tight and his fingers twitch, as though he wants more than anything to clean his already-clean glasses.
“What?” I growl. “You’ve clearly got something you want to say.”
“I’m just processing it.”
“You think I’m insane. It’s alright. You can say it. It’s just us.”
“I’ve never heard you talk like this before,” he says. “I never even imagined you could. You sound like a hopeless romantic. And that isn’t you. It’s never been you.”
“You’re not telling me anything new. Like I said, I can’t explain it. I just know it, more certainly than I’ve ever known anything. What fucking right did that drunk prick have to talk to her like that?”
“If she’s going to be the mother of your children, no right.”
“No right,” I growl. “Fucking exactly. He’s lucky I didn’t beat him to death.”
Aldo sighs. “We need to play this right with Franco.”
“Something tells me his consigliere, Octavio, wouldn’t care too much if Franco suddenly disappeared and he had to take control. Octavio has always been more reasonable this that bastard.”
“What makes you think that?”
“Instinct.”
But even as I say the word instinct, it feels phony and half-true.
The word has taken on a new meaning ever since I laid eyes on my woman. Since I felt what true instinct is. When I grabbed and throttled Franco before I had time to think about what I was doing and the war I was starting.
Instinct means claiming my woman like the predator I am, pounding her into a quivering orgasming heap, her body sending me shivering signals about how desperately she needs to give me children.
“I guess we just have to hope she feels the same now, eh?” Aldo jokes.
I smirk as my estate comes into view, the tall brick walls and the sentry turrets, the long gravel pathway leading to a fountain, and my massive mansion sitting in the middle.
“She will,” I tell him firmly.
But even a man like me experiences doubts, and there’s a small voice inside that whispers she might not.
I may have started this war for nothing.
Chapter Four
Lucy
I sit on the plush silk bed, worrying my hands at each other. It’s been a long night and I haven’t gotten much sleep. I didn’t think I’d get any after the craziness of being escorted here by Luca’s men.
“Ma’am, please, you have to come with us,” the leader said, a tall man with close-cropped hair called Vito. “Mr. Lioni wants to make sure you’re safe.”
“Safe?” I asked. No idea what the heck was going on.
As I stood in the back room with the other girls – the air loud with their confused voices, everyone chattering in confusion – I searched my mind for any connection I might have to Luca Lioni. I tried to work out if my dead parents knew him somehow, or if I’m his cousin… something, anything to explain why he’d come to my defense like a ferocious beast marking his territory.