Bound By Love (Born in Blood Mafia Chronicles 6)

“Why are you back anyway? Shouldn’t you be having lunch with your husband?” Lily asked.

I couldn’t believe her. Didn’t she realize what kind of situation she was in? What kind of situation I was in because I’d caught them? “Are you blaming me for this? Luca got a call that there was trouble in one of the clubs. Something with one of the Russian underbosses, so he dropped me off in the driveway and headed straight to New York. You’re lucky he didn’t come in.”

“If you tell Luca…,” Romero began, as if I didn’t know what would happen if Luca found out Romero had touched the daughter of the Outfit’s Consigliere, as if I didn’t know what would happen to Romero because he’d gone against Luca’s direct orders.

“I won’t tell him,” I said angrily. “I know what he’ll have to do if I do.”

Romero helped Lily up, and the look they shared tore at my heart because I knew they couldn’t be together. Romero met my gaze. “He’s your husband. You owe him the truth.”

My insides turned because he was right, but he also knew I couldn’t tell Luca. He knew I couldn’t condemn both him and Lily. And more than that, I couldn’t baggage Luca like that. His family and the Bratva were still giving him enough trouble; he didn’t need the weight of having to decide what to do with Romero. Luca liked Romero, he valued him as his best soldier. If he found out what Romero had done, he’d be faced with a decision I didn’t want to burden him with.

Even as I warned them to stay away from each other, I knew it was too late for that—but I had to hope things would miraculously solve themselves.A few weeks later, after Father had called Lily back to Chicago, things really took a turn for the worse.

Shouting drew my eyes up from the folders with the Pergola’s forged earnings from the last months. Luca jumped out of his chair and stormed out of the office. I followed close behind him.

Romero was pummeling one of the other soldiers.

“Hey! What’s going on here?” Luca growled. He gripped Romero’s arms and pulled them behind his back. “Romero, what the hell are you doing? Calm the fuck down.”

Matteo knelt beside the injured soldier, who was bleeding from a wound on his head and from his nose. My fingers on the folders with the forged books tightened. If Romero was this rattled, it could only mean one thing: Lily.

Matteo helped the soldier up and sent him off, but I barely paid them attention.

I walked up to Romero. “Did something happen with Lily?”

“You can let me go now,” he told Luca, who released him, then turned his narrowed eyes on me.

“Why would Romero know if something was wrong with Lily?” Luca asked carefully.

I didn’t say anything, keeping my eyes on Romero, but Luca’s eyes remained on me. “Your father has arranged a marriage with Benito Brasci for her,” Romero murmured.

I gasped. “What? He never mentioned that he was looking for a husband for her!” I glanced at Luca. “Or did he mention anything to you?”

Luca’s expression was stone. “No, he hasn’t. But right now I’m more concerned about the fact that Romero knows about this before anyone else, and that he almost kills one of my men because of it.”

“Lily and I have been seeing each other during the summer,” Romero said, and my stomach did a flip. Now that he’d admitted to it, Luca would realize I’d been in on it.

Matteo let out a low whistle.

Luca got into Romero’s face. “Didn’t you tell me not too long ago that you weren’t interested in her? That there wouldn’t be a fucking problem when she was around? I remember that conversation pretty damn well, and now you’re fucking telling me that you were seeing Liliana behind my fucking back all summer?”

Luca looked murderous. I touched his arm and positioned myself halfway between them. “Luca, please don’t get mad at Romero. He and Lily didn’t mean any harm. They fell in love. It just happened.”

“And you knew all along?” Luca muttered. “You knew and didn’t tell me? Didn’t we have a discussion about loyalty and trust when you helped Gianna run away?”

I blanched. He was right. For him it was betrayal if I kept things like this from him, and it wasn’t like I didn’t know that. “They are my sisters.”

“And I’m your fucking husband.”

“Luca, she didn’t mean—” Romero began.

Luca jabbed his fingers against Romero’s chest. “You stay the fuck out of this. You’re lucky I don’t put a bullet into your head right this second for going against my orders.”

“Hey, calm down, Luca. Maybe it’s not as bad as it sounds,” Matteo said, surprising me. Usually he was the one adding fuel to the fire.