Romero straightened in the chair.

“He won’t hurt me. Luca forbid him, right?”

“He could steal your virtue you and cut your throat afterward, so you can’t tell anyone,” Gianna said off-handedly. I shot her a glare.

Lily’s eyes grew wide.

“I wouldn’t,” Romero said, startling us with his voice.

“You shouldn’t have said that,” Gianna muttered. “Now she’s going to fawn over you.”

“Lily, go to bed,” I ordered and she did under loud protest.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “She doesn’t know what she’s doing.”

Romero nodded. “Don’t worry. I have a sister her age.”

“How old are you?”

“Twenty.”

“And how long have you been working for Luca?” Gianna turned off the TV to focus on her interrogation. I settled against the backrest.

“Four years, but I’ve been a made man for six years.”

“You must be good if Luca chose you to protect Aria.”

Romero shrugged. “Knowing how to handle myself in a fight isn’t the main reason. Luca knows I’m loyal.”

“Meaning you won’t paw at Aria.”

I rolled my eyes at Gianna. Romero probably regretted ever leaving his spot at the door. “Luca knows he can trust me with what’s his.”

Gianna’s lips thinned. Wrong thing to say. “So if Aria came out of her room naked tonight and you got a hard-on because you can’t really help it, Luca wouldn’t cut off your dick?”

Romero was obviously taken aback. He stared at me, as if he actually worried I would do that. “Ignore her. I won’t.”

“Where are Luca and the other men going for stag night?”

Romero didn’t reply.

“Probably a strip club and afterward one of the whorehouses the Familia has going,” Gianna muttered. “Why is it that men can whore around while we have to save our virginity for the wedding night? And why can Luca fuck whoever he wants while Aria can’t even kiss a guy?”

“I didn’t make the rules,” Romero said simply.

“But you make sure that we don’t break them. You aren’t our protector, you are our warden.”

“Have you ever considered that I’m protecting guys who don’t know who Aria is?” he asked.

I frowned.

“Luca would kill anyone who dared to touch you. Of course, you could go out, flirt with a guy and move on, because you wouldn’t be the one Luca would gut.”

“Luca isn’t my fiancé,” Gianna said.

“Your father would kill any man that got near you, because he wouldn’t want anyone to spoil his most prized possessions.”

For the first time, I realized that only because I’d been given to Luca that didn’t mean Gianna wouldn’t be forced to marry someone else. I felt suddenly very tired. “I’m going to bed.”

I lay awake most of the night, thinking of ways to get out of the wedding, but the only option would be to run, and while Gianna would definitely come with me, what about Liliana? I couldn’t keep them both save. And what about Fabiano? What about my mother? I couldn’t leave everything behind. This was my life. I didn’t know anything else. Maybe I was a coward, though marrying a man like Luca probably required more courage than running away.

CHAPTER FOUR

The living room of the suite was decorated for the bridal shower. I’d hoped to be spared that tradition but my mother had insisted it would be an affront to the women of Luca’s family if they couldn’t meet me before the wedding.

I smoothed out the green cocktail dress. It was a color that was supposed to bring good luck. I knew my interpretation of what would be good luck at this point differed widely from Luca’s and my father’s interpretation.

Lily wasn’t allowed to attend the bridal shower since she was deemed to young, but Gianna had argued her way into staying. Though I worried that there might be another reason behind mother’s agreement. Gianna had turned seventeen a few days ago. That meant she was almost old enough to be married off as well. I pushed the thought aside. I could hear mother and Gianna arguing in the bedroom about what Gianna was supposed to wear when a knock sounded at the suite door. It was a bit early; the guests weren’t supposed to arrive for another ten minutes.

I opened the door. Valentina stood in front of me, Umberto behind her. She was my cousin but five years older than me. Her mother and my mother were sisters. She smiled apologetically. “I know I’m early.”

“It’s okay,” I said, stepping back so she could walk in. Umberto sat back on the chair outside my door. I really liked Valentina, so I didn’t mind spending some time alone with her. She was tall and graceful, with dark-brown, almost black hair and eyes that were the darkest green imaginable. She wore a black dress with a pencil skirt that reached her knees. Her husband Antonio had died six months ago, and my wedding would be the first time that she’d wear something other than black. Sometimes widows, especially older women, were expected to wear mourning for a year after their husband’s death, but Valentina was only twenty-three. Luca’s age. I caught myself wishing her husband had died sooner so she could have married Luca and then I felt horrible. I shouldn’t be thinking like that. Romero hovered beside the window.

“Could you please wait outside? A bridal shower is no place for a man.”

He tilted his head, then walked out without another word.

“Your husband sent you his own bodyguard?” Valentina asked.

“He isn’t my husband yet.”

“No, you’re right. You look sad,” she said with a knowing expression as she sank down on the sofa. Champagne, soft drinks and an array of fingerfood were set up on a table behind it.

I swallowed. “So do you.” And I felt immediately stupid for saying something like that.

“My father wants me to remarry,” she said, twisting her wedding band.

My eyes widened. “So soon?”

“Not right away. Apparently he’s already talking to someone.”

I couldn’t believe it. “Can’t you say no? You were already married.”

“But it was a childless marriage, and I’m too young to stay alone. I had to move back in with my family. My father insisted on it to protect me.”

We both knew that code. Women always needed protection from the outside world, especially if they were in a marriageable age. “I’m sorry,” I said.

“It is what it is. You know that as well as I do.”

I laughed bitterly. “Yeah.”

“I saw your husband when I visited the Vitiello mansion with my parents yesterday. He’s…imposing.”

“Terrifying,” I added quietly. Valentina’s expression softened, but our conversation was cut short when Mother and Gianna came out of the bedroom. And soon after that more guests arrived.

The gifts were everything from lingerie over jewelry to certificates for a day in a luxury spa in New York. The lingerie was the worst though, and when I opened the gift from Luca’s stepmother Nina I had trouble keeping a straight face. I lifted the barely-there white nightgown and smiled tightly. The entire middle was see-through and it was so short it wouldn’t even cover much of my legs. Beneath it in the gift box was an even smaller piece of clothing; white lace panties that revealed most of my butt and were held together by a bow in the back. A chorus of appreciative murmurs came from the women around me.