I tried to calm myself and think straight, then gave a tight nod, before I took out my phone and opened the tracking app. And a second later Aria’s cell popped up. Surprise, then relief followed by suspicion shot through me. She was heading out of the city, up north.
“Do you think that’s them?” Matteo peered down at my cell. “They are too clever to keep their phones on them.”
“Perhaps this is a ruse, but it’s all we’ve got right now,” I said. Before Matteo and I headed out to hunt our women, I told Romero, “Call me the moment you’ve got news.”ARIAI drove for a long time, first in one direction, then in the other. I was sure they had discovered Sandro by now and knew that Gianna had run off. Would Luca think I’d gone with her? That the words I’d spoken to him had been a lie? I wasn’t sure. My heart ached when I thought about it. Luca wasn’t a man who trusted easily, or at all. But I had his trust. Perhaps not anymore.
I glanced at the clock in the dashboard. Gianna’s flight to Schiphol had left almost one hour ago. I needed to get home. If they’d tracked my mobile, they should have been on the wrong trace by now and not suspect that Gianna had taken a plane. Luca had tried to call me several times. He was probably furious.
I turned the car and headed back to Manhattan, my heartbeat picking up the closer I got to my home.
The moment I entered the underground parking garage, the desk clerk watching everything on his monitors was probably already notifying Luca of my whereabouts.
I took the elevator up to our penthouse. When the doors slid open, Romero was waiting for me. He shook his head, something close to anger on his face. He’d never openly displayed anger toward me. He lifted his cell to his ear but didn’t take his eyes off me.
I didn’t have to ask whom he was calling. I walked past him toward the windows and glanced out. Gianna was on a plane to freedom. She’d be landing in Amsterdam in a few hours, where she’d start a new life. Away from all of this. Away from the mafia and arranged marriages. Away from golden cages and man-made rules.
I hoped Gianna would be clever enough to evade her pursuers, because there was no doubt in my mind that my father would send his men out to catch her. And I had a feeling Matteo wouldn’t let her slip from his fingers that easily either. She would have to find someone who could give her a new identity. In this country, nobody would go against the mafia, except for the Bratva, and contacting them would have put the final nail in our coffins. But most of all I hoped Gianna would find what she was longing for.
“Luca, she’s here,” Romero said finally. “No, alone. Yes. I will.”
Romero came up to me. I glanced over my shoulder at his tall form. “I won’t run. You don’t have to stand two steps behind me to make sure of it,” I said jokingly.
Romero didn’t smile. He took another step closer, closer than he usually came, his brown eyes hardening. “Luca is Capo. And he’s the best there ever was. Because he rules without mercy. Because he rewards those who are loyal. Because he protects those deserving of protection.”
I turned to him fully, stunned by the fierceness of his words and not sure where he was going with them.
“You betrayed him.” He practically spat the words at me.
“I didn’t—”
Romero interrupted me. “You went behind his back and ran off. I don’t care why. In our world that means betrayal and you should know better, Aria.”
I stared up at him, shaken. Was that how Luca saw my actions as well?
“With anyone else, Luca wouldn’t hesitate to deal out harsh punishment. Betrayal means death, torture at the very least. But you are certain you are safe,” he said. He leaned closer, and again I was reminded that the man in front of me was a killer despite his easygoing nature. “Never forget that Luca is still a Capo who needs to keep face in front of his men. Don’t push him too far. Don’t force him into doing something neither of you will recover from.”
I swallowed, glancing down at my bracelet.
In the darkest hour you are my light
Romero wasn’t threatening me as I’d first thought. He was worried. I hadn’t thought it was that big a deal.
No, that wasn’t quite right. I’d suspected how bad it would be if I helped Gianna run, but I couldn’t not help. She was my sister and I loved her.
The door to the guest bedroom opened and Sandro stumbled out, his shirt pulled out of his trousers and crinkly. He looked pale and disoriented. When his eyes settled on me, anger flashed across his face, then he glanced at Romero beside me, and lowered his head. I had wounded his pride, which was the worst shame possible for a Made Man.