Blood & Marriage (Dark Mafia Romance) Read online

  “I’m sorry to have brought that up,” he muttered and smiled at me, leading the way between the flower-beds that created elaborate patterns around us.

  I nodded, eager to make him feel more comfortable. He didn’t seem like a mean person, so even if I wasn’t the ideal future wife he’d pictured, surely we could work something out. “Don’t worry about it. You must be as stressed as I am.”

  Seth exhaled and squeezed my hand lightly. “Yes. I wasn’t expecting all of this when I came back from the US. But the moment I saw you, I had no regrets,” he told me, and all of a sudden, something about his face changed, the earlier insecurity gone as if it had all been an act for the eyes of the others. Maybe it had been? Maybe he just wanted to reassure my father that he wasn’t a sexual predator, or something?

  I bit my lip, sensing the heat streaming to my face. “Thank you. I’m not disappointed either. The pictures didn’t do you justice,” I said, not wanting him to think I was a puppet of my father’s, who pushed me into the arms of a man I could potentially hate. Even though that was exactly what happened. The compliment made him flush slightly, and I mentally high-fived myself.

  Away from prying eyes, we walked into the shadows of a vine tunnel. The greenery and the soft singing of birds had a calming effect on me, and with each step, Seth’s arms felt steadier. He seemed like such a sweetheart, not like Santo, who was incredibly confident and sexy but lacked respect for me.

  “I heard you studied abroad. What was it?” I asked, eager for more information about him.

  Seth led me to a grand old gazebo at the end of yet another alley made out of shrubbery. Here, we were alone, and I could truly get to know him. Or at least skim the surface of who he was.

  “Yes, I did some courses in International Politics, some in Communication studies.” His smile became wider, as if those were fond memories, and I couldn’t help but wonder what a man like him was doing trying to become the future head of the Villani family. Was he simply chosen because he was the only son and his father wanted him to lead the business in the future?

  “That is so interesting. I can imagine you’ve seen many interesting things,” I said, leaning against one of the wooden posts. I couldn’t decide whether I was jealous of the freedom he’d had or sorry for him that as someone who seemed so normal he’d have to fill the mold prepared for him. But then again, I didn’t know him yet. For all I knew, he could have the nature of a brute.

  Though it was hard to imagine him hurting a fly when his eyes lit up. “They had a really good sports program at my university. I did climbing, volleyball, tried kite surfing when I went to California for a while. You have any favorite sports?” His hands, thick enough to break a neck, squeezed each other nervously.

  “You must teach me how to climb,” I said, hoping an activity could bring us together without this stiff atmosphere. “I like swimming a lot. Do you have a pool here?” I asked, leaning closer. He smelled nice, earthy and fresh. Even if there was a hint of wine on him.

  He nodded. “We do. It’s a good size too. I will show you another time.”

  No matter how big and charming he was, our conversation was more like that of acquaintances than future lovers. It didn’t have that spark of danger that my first meeting with Santo had overflowed with. But that was good. Wasn’t that what I wanted after all? Seth was nice. Handsome, young, friendly, he would make a decent husband who would not cause me misery with arguments and violence.

  I was so deep in my thoughts that I missed the moment of odd silence on Seth’s part, but when he went down on one knee, my whole body stiffened, backing away against the wooden pillar behind me. And yet he held my hand while pulling out a blue velvet box.

  A ring.

  He’d brought me all the way here to propose, even though everything had been fixed by our fathers long ago. It was so thoughtful of him to make me feel like this arranged marriage was real after all, as if I had a choice to say no.

  “Lucrezia Bruni, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?” Seth asked in that pleasing voice of his, and when I looked into his eyes, I believed that we could make this work. Maybe it was the fact that we were both being pulled out of our environments to bow to our families’ wishes that made me think so. Or maybe it was purely the urge to prove Santo wrong and show him what a wonderful life I could have at Seth’s side.

  I smiled. I would be a good wife to him, and with time we could surely work things out. It would be all right. “Yes. I’d love to,” I whispered, glancing into his warm eyes.

  Would he kiss me now?

  He slipped the ring onto my finger, and the big, fat diamond spoke of his family’s wealth. Money couldn’t buy love, but it could aid in making a happy marriage. It would be one less thing to worry about, and if Seth was as kind and liberal as he seemed, in a few years’ time, maybe I could start a business and have my own little thing to care for, other than our future children.

  Seth licked his lips and sat next to me on the bench in the gazebo, not meeting my eyes. As hard as it was to imagine about a man as tall and handsome, maybe he was, in fact, shy. This was his future as well. We would be bound to each other forever, and that had to count as something different than weekend flings, or even past girlfriends.

  “My father is very conservative,” Seth said. “He doesn’t want us to spend too much time together before the wedding. How do you feel about that?”

  I wasn’t very happy about it, but disappointing my powerful future father-in-law was the last thing I wanted. “I would love to spend time with you, but we will be married soon, so maybe it will be better to follow his advice.”

  Seth exhaled deeply. “Big step, huh?” He got up and pulled me with him.

  “At least I have someone to stop me from falling over,” I said, wanting to tickle his pride.

  Seth chuckled as we started slowly walking back along the alleys. “Well, you are tiny. I’m pretty sure I bench press more than you weigh.”

  My eyes immediately strayed to the thick muscles packing Seth’s sleeves. “I wouldn’t be surprised.” Holding on to him put me at ease somehow, even though the ring on my finger didn’t feel any different than a regular piece of jewelry. It was just there, exactly like Seth was just there, pleasant in his manner and looks.

  He was a good choice for a husband. Easy on the eyes but kind. Who knew, maybe I’d actually struck gold without even trying?

  We talked about inoffensive topics on the walk back to the villa, and every time I looked back at his lips and sturdy body, I thought back to the way Santo kissed me all over and wondered what Seth would be like in the privacy of our bedroom. I hoped he wouldn’t be as polite as he was now, not even daring to kiss me yet.

  Maybe he knew something that I didn’t. Maybe we were being watched after all, and being the gentleman he was, he didn’t want to embarrass me. When we returned to the terrace, back into the view of all the people pretending we weren’t there at all, the cool eyes of Seth’s bodyguard were back on me, as if he suspected me of ill intent. Seth and I exchanged some more small talk, and I really found myself liking him, even though he was much shyer than most men I knew. I chose to consider it a good sign.

  In the end though, Seth needed to speak to both our fathers in private, which left me alone on the terrace, stripped of his presence, which at this point felt like yet another shield to protect me in this unknown environment.

  “How do you like your future husband?” Santo’s voice came from behind me, and for a moment I considered the question highly inappropriate, at least until I realized we were alone.

  “He is very pleasant, just like you said.” I moved my hand over the balustrade running along this side of the terrace and watched the colorful flower heads on the other side. His presence was yet another layer of discomfort at this point. What if someone noticed us standing alone? What if Seth didn’t want me speaking to other men?

  But it was Santo’s voice that had that annoyed edge to it. He couldn’t possibly be jealous,
could he? He’d known this would happen all along.

  “Glad you find him agreeable. I will escort you to your rooms,” he said, and his hand on my lower back startled me, sending a shiver all the way down my spine.

  “Someone’s gonna see,” I hissed, stepping away. I could smell the vultures watching us, ready to pick on my flesh when I was at my weakest.

  He let out a huff and pulled his hand away. “Fine. I forgot you’re engaged now.” He glared at the ring on my finger and started walking down a narrow alley running along the house.

  “I am,” I said, chewing on any other word that could have left my mouth. How dare he be jealous? Nothing happened between us, and the things that did happen were because of deception and a momentary lapse of judgment. “You on the other hand are free as a bird.”

  “I wish,” he grumbled, and I rolled my eyes at his mood. The last thing I needed today was dealing with his bad attitude. Couldn’t I get a more pleasant escort? And then on the other hand, around Santo I didn’t have to pretend to be the pleasing, pretty doll everyone wanted to see me as. It was a relief to stop standing so straight and smiling until my cheeks hurt.

  “What’s stopping you? I’m certain there are many girls around here who’d love to go out with you,” I said, watching my feet, to not repeat my earlier mistake and trip. Santo wasn’t holding me, so I might’ve ended up on the ground.

  He frowned at me, and pulled me with his arm until we reached another terrace. “Freedom is not about how much pussy I fuck.”

  I took a deep breath. “You don’t have to be so crude.”

  He shrugged but still opened the door for me as we got to another part of the villa from the outside. The house was even larger than I thought, judging by its facade.

  “It’s the truth. You feel free with that rock on your finger?” He was like an agitated shark, circling me as if waiting to sense some blood in the water.

  “Not really,” I said quietly, but walked through the door, facing an elegant staircase leading upstairs. There was a large modern landscape painting on one of the walls, but the decoration consisted mostly of fresh flowers and framed photographs. It had to be a more personal part of the house.

  Santo zeroed in on me, and lent me his arm for support on the stairs. “Precisely,” he hissed out. “Seth is not the man for you.”

  A chuckle escaped my lips, and I shook my head, carefully stepping up. “How can you know who’s right for me? You don’t really know me.”

  I was trying to remember my way, but the house was a maze of marble-floored corridors with large mirrors on the walls. I wouldn’t let Santo set the pace of our walk and stopped by every other photograph, trying to learn the faces in them and decipher who the people were.

  “I know that you are not oblivious to the business your father does. Seth on the other hand, would be a match for a fellow student at his university, where they could have 2.5 babies and move out to fucking rural Montana.”

  I traced my fingers over a black and white photograph that could have been taken in the middle of the past century. Santo’s attitude was slowly getting on my nerves. “Well, what do you propose? I don’t see you snatching me away or making promises,” I said sharply and glanced at him, trying to communicate my anger with the glare alone. Not that I’d want to marry a man who kissed women he had no rights to.

  The long silence told me all I needed to know.

  “I promise…” He licked his lips, his face no less tense than throughout our walk. “I will keep an eye out for you. I’m sorry. I know your situation is an impossible one.”

  His apology took me by surprise, snatching all snippy comebacks out of my hands.

  “I—thank you. I shouldn’t have spoken so harshly. It’s no one’s fault,” I said, even though the ring on my finger suddenly felt too big for my hand, uncomfortable.

  I couldn’t help but lean a bit closer, until I could sense the heat of his body on my hand. As infuriating as Santo could be, with him I could be the closest to my real self.

  Santo took a deep breath and pointed to a man in a picture I’d been looking at earlier. “That’s my father when he was little.” The boy stood next to two others, straight as an arrow.

  I smiled at the picture. He was taller than both of his friends, with narrow eyes and a wide mouth. “Have I met him already?”

  “You might have seen him. Here he is next to my uncle, Seth’s father.” He pointed to a color photo, one that must had been taken closer to the nineties. In this one, I could recognize Dino Villani, even though he’d aged a lot since it had been taken.

  “And the third one? Another uncle?” I asked, nudging him with my elbow. I appreciated that he was trying to put me at ease.

  Santo shook his head with a long breath. “No, my other uncle was dead by then.” He glanced down the empty corridor and, only after that, he put an arm over my shoulders, and I couldn’t force myself to push away the comfortable security it gave me.

  He led me farther down, to another set of photos. A tiny smile surfaced on his lips when he pointed to a photo of a row of boys in front of a church, all in their white albs and with green amices covering their shoulders. “That’s me.”

  I couldn’t help a smile blooming on my face at the sight of a pretty little boy with a mop of dark hair and an expression so serious as if he were about to be enthroned as a king. “That is so cute! You didn’t…have the scar yet back then. How did you get it?” I wasn’t sure if it was appropriate to ask, but curiosity has been killing me, and the time seemed right for the question.

  Santo shook his head. “It’s an ugly scar, and an ugly story, I’d rather not talk about it.”

  I swallowed, but his words were so final I didn’t dare pry anymore and quickly changed the topic. It looked as if we weren’t as close as I’d thought we were. “Are those other boys also your family?”

  Santo gave a nod. “This is Vincenzo, Seth’s brother, and this is Domenico Acerbi.” He pointed to a boy with long, black hair and the face of an angel. “You’ve seen him today. He’s Seth’s bodyguard at the moment, but he is much more.”

  I frowned. “Don’t take it the wrong way, but he’s a bit weird. If he’s Seth’s bodyguard, do I have to befriend him?” I asked, shifting as discomfort squeezed my stomach. “He was staring at me as if he expected me to have explosives under this dress.”

  Santo shook his head abruptly and squeezed my arm. “Stay away from him as much as you can.” His frown deepened as he traced the photo with his thumb, creating a halo over Domenico’s head where he pushed away dust. “I don’t like telling you this, but since you will be a Villani soon, you need to know who is who. Acerbi is dangerous. He doesn’t hesitate when orders are given. I’ve seen him do things that lead me to believe the man has no soul left in his body.”

  Ouch. That was harsh. It could be Santo’s unreasonable jealousy speaking, because Acerbi was as handsome as the devil himself, but what if he was serious? He certainly sounded very serious.

  I cleared my throat, eager to change the topic. “And Seth’s younger brother? Is he here?”

  “Older,” Santo corrected me, and my mind came to a halt, as if it didn’t compute the first time. If Vincenzo was the older brother, why was I marrying Seth? Was Vincenzo even more incompetent than his younger brother? “He’s around. Here’s a photo, so you will know it’s him when you see him.”

  Santo picked up a small silver frame with a photo of a man with short dark hair posturing with a rifle next to a dead crocodile. Vincenzo had a smug smile on his face, but was pretty average-looking compared to his brother, or even his cousin.

  I wasn’t sure how to ask at first, but from my very first interaction with Santo, he struck me as a man who valued honesty. “If Seth’s younger, why is he to be his father’s successor? I don’t have in-depth knowledge of how men deal with those things among themselves”--and by men I meant specifically men of the mafia--”but it seems a bit unusual.”

  Santo watched me for a long m
oment. “I’m actually glad you asked me, so you don’t ask anyone else about it. Seth might find the question offensive, Vincenzo could even get angry with you, and anyone else could feed you dangerous gossip. The truth is that no one knows or understands, but no one dares question Dino Villani about it. I won’t even pretend to know why he was brought back from the USA and chosen for the role, but Acerbi has been preparing him. Maybe Seth’s father knows something none of us do. As you can imagine, things have been tense around here since the decision had been announced.” Santo put down the frame and led me down the corridor. “Be very wary of what you say and to whom, until you’re sure you know what they’re about.”

  So I’d been thrown into a tank of poisonous fish, with immunity to only a fraction of them. But as scary as it was, I appreciated Santo’s honesty and squeezed his forearm as he led me toward my bedroom. Maybe it was a shark like him I needed to keep away the piranhas. At this rate, I couldn’t wait to have my own house, where I could have more privacy.

  “Thank you. I’m afraid I’d drown here without someone to guide me.”

  He opened the door for me as if he were a gentleman, not the predator in human skin I knew he was. “I just feel you don’t deserve to drown. You’re trying to do your duty, and I respect that.” But as soon as we were alone in my room, his ‘respectful’ hand went all the way to my ass and squeezed it, before he let go of me.

  I froze, looking away from him, but as long as he was there, so close to me I could easily touch him, the room itself disappeared into the background, despite its impressive size and fresh, modern style that could had been taken straight from my Pinterest home inspiration board. “This is all very nerve-racking.”

  Santo stepped closer, that cocky attitude right back in place. “You need to unwind then, let off some steam.” And I knew exactly what he meant when his hand slid to my hip.

  Stepping away, I caught his gaze, pinning him in place with as much willpower as I could muster. In my head, we were watched, and I couldn’t afford to make another misstep. “I can’t.”