I yank my gloves off, peel back the soaked wraps from my fists, and snatch the phone. Theo’s name flashes across the screen. I swipe to answer, voice clipped and cold, the mask snapping back into place.
“What is it?”
“The Mancinis have re-arranged the meeting. No longer in person. They want a conference call.”
For a second, I just stand there, breathing hard into the silence. A bitter laugh almost claws its way out. Here I am trying to beat the thought of a woman out of me, and my enemies are the ones knocking on the door. To be honest, I did not expect them to insist on the meeting after I walked out dragging out that damn brat.
“Fine,” I say at last, my tone cold and lethal. “Set it up. I’ll handle it.”
I hang up before he can respond, drop the phone back onto the bench, and look down at my hands. Bruised, bloodied, shaking. It feels almost right.
My phone humson the desk, Theo’s name flashing on the screen, but I don’t pick it up. My knuckles are raw, split from the rigorous decompressing session on the bag earlier. I flex them once before planting them against the edge of the desk. Leather creaks; wood groans.
I glance up, out the wide glass window that overlooks the back gardens.
I shouldn’t. I should bury myself in sorting this mess with the Mancinis. In logistics, in their demands and routes and ledgers. But my eyes betray me. They seem to always do that these days.
And there she is. Trouble incarnate.
Sunlight spills over her like it’s been ordered to, gilding her hair, catching on the hem of her skirt as it flutters in the breeze.
She’s not alone. Luca stands beside her, leaning too close, his posture loose and unguarded, as if he belongs there. His shirt is open at the collar, sleeves shoved to the elbow like he’s some boy at ease inmyterritory. He says something to her, something I can’t make out, and she laughs. Her head tilts back, that sound tearing through the window and slicing through me.
A sound I want to keep only to myself. The sound I haven’t been able to stop hearing since she stepped through the Castello’s doors. My jaw locks so hard it aches.
And then she does it. She leans in and presses her mouth to Luca’s cheek. Quick. Playful. But the heat of it ignites like gasoline in my chest.
The glass of vodka slips from my grip, hits the floor, and shatters into a thousand pieces splintering through the silence.
I don’t even look down. I’m already moving. The halls blur, my steps pounding across stone, guards stepping aside without a word. They feel the storm rolling through me, sharp enough to blister skin. By the time I shove open the glass doors to the garden, Luca’s head snaps in my direction. Mara startles, eyes wide when she sees me.
I don’t give her a chance to speak. My hand clamps around her arm, hot and possessive, and I drag her back toward the house. She stumbles once, protesting, but I don’t loosen my grip.
The doors slam shut behind us. Marble. Shadows. My office looming like a cage I’ve already built. I shove her inside, kick the door closed, and pin her to it with my body.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I growl.
Her chest rises fast, her mouth parted, defiance already sparking in her gaze.
“Jealous, Nicolo?” she taunts, voice cutting like glass. “Or just mad that I can kiss whoev?—”
My mouth crashes down on hers before she can finish.
27
MARA
His mouth is on mine before I can finish the wordwhoever.
There’s no hesitation. No gentleness. Just heat and fury as his body slams into mine and pins me to the office door. His tongue shoves into my mouth like he’s punishing me for opening it. And I let him. I kiss him back with teeth, with hunger, with every bit of rage I’ve been storing since the moment he caught me when I fell from my balcony trying to escape him.
His grip is brutal—one hand in my hair, the other locking around my waist. His thigh presses between mine, grinding up into my core like he already knows how wet I am for him.
“You want to flirt with my men?” he growls against my lips. “You want to put your mouth on another man like it’s nothing?”
“I didn’t know I belonged to you.”
His hand tightens in my hair and yanks. My head jerks back with a gasp.
