“You and Aria have been married for longer than Dante and Valentina, and yet they are onto their second child and Aria isn’t even pregnant yet,” Scuderi said sharply as he walked up to me. We had been married for more than four years, and I knew people in the Famiglia were wondering when Aria would finally get pregnant, but I had no intention of becoming a father anytime soon. I enjoyed having Aria to myself, and she was still young, only twenty-two. We had plenty of time.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “That’s none of your business. You should worry about your new wife now.”
“She will be pregnant before Aria, I can guarantee you that,” Scuderi said with a disgusting leer at his wife, who stood amidst girls her age.
Soldiers from the Outfit I didn’t know joined us, and I used the excuse to leave. I would have cut Scuderi’s tongue out if I’d talked to him a moment longer. It was none of his or anyone’s business when, and if, Aria and I decided it was time to start a family. My father had been a fucking nightmare, and I wasn’t sure that he hadn’t rubbed off on me. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to subject children to that kind of thing. Eventually, I might need to produce an heir, but definitely not anytime soon.ARIALily was a sight to behold in her wedding dress, a sight that broke my heart to pieces because she wasn’t allowed to marry the man she loved. “You look beautiful,” I told her as I arranged her veil over her shoulders. Her face reflected misery as she met my gaze in the mirror. I’d felt the same way on my wedding day, had been terrified and hopeless, but unlike Lily I didn’t have someone I wanted to marry instead. Lily’s marriage wouldn’t turn out to be a blessing in disguise like my marriage to Luca had. There were no consoling words I could offer my sister that wouldn’t have sounded false.
“This is crap,” Gianna muttered. She touched Lily’s shoulder. “Lily, get the hell away from here. Let us help you. What’s the use of being married to the Capo and the Consigliere of the Famiglia if we can’t force them to start a war for our little sister? You’re going to be miserable.”
Gianna knew I had tried everything I could to convince Luca, and she hadn’t stopped bugging Matteo about it either, but to no avail. I couldn’t go behind Luca’s back again, not when he was still hurt because I’d kept Lily’s relationship with Romero a secret. It was so very difficult to take care of my family like I wanted and not go against Luca.
“Luca said I could get rid of Benito in a few months when it won’t look suspicious anymore,” Lily whispered. A few months? The mere idea of having to bear Brasci’s touch sent shivers of disgust down my back, and I knew Lily felt the same way.
Gianna snorted. “Oh sure, and what until then? My God, could Luca be any more of a jerk?”
Luca was Capo. He was willing to put me before the Famiglia, but that was all. He wouldn’t help Lily, no matter how much I begged.
“Are you and Luca still fighting?” Lily asked.
“I wouldn’t call it fighting. We’re basically ignoring each other. He’s angry at me for keeping you and Romero a secret from him, and I’m mad at him for making you marry Brasci.” Though ignoring wasn’t quite right either. We talked and we slept with each other but there was a barrier between us, an invisible wall of disappointment and hurt.
“He isn’t making me, Aria. Father is. Luca’s acting like a Capo should. I’m not his responsibility, but the Famiglia is.”
I knew she was right but I didn’t like it. I didn’t like that we women always had to pay the price so the men could stay in power.
“Good God, Romero has really rubbed off on you. Please tell me you don’t really believe what you just said,” Gianna said.
“I won’t have you all risk everything for me.”
Gianna smacked her forehead in exasperation. “We want to risk it for you. But you have to let us.”
I wasn’t sure what to do if Lily said yes. I had to tell Luca about it if we helped Lily escape. I was too scared to lose him completely.
Someone knocked and a moment later, Maria, the girl my father had married, poked her head in. “You need to come out now.”
She disappeared without another word. I shuddered when I thought of Father being married to a girl Lily’s age. It was wrong.
“I can’t believe Father is married to her,” Gianna said, echoing my thoughts. “I don’t like her but I still feel sorry for her. Father is a bastard.”