My phone beeped from my purse, and I pulled it out to see Romeo had sent a text.
Romeo: Remember, nobody can know. Not even Gia and Nic.
I knew that. I sent an eyeroll emoji to be funny, but nothing about this was funny. Too many people I loved were in danger right now because of this marriage. Romeo was risking our dad’s wrath. Lorenzo was risking his life. And I risked losing the man I loved, plus whatever punishment Dad would dole out to me if he found out.
“You’re back,” I heard behind me.
I deleted the message like Rome told us to do. Anything incriminating, we needed to wipe. The phones were burner phones, so they couldn’t be traced, but we also wanted to make sure nobody in the house could read what was going on between us.
Gino was leaning up against the wall, studying me. His eyes moved over my body, and I wished I could dig my fingers into his eye sockets.
“Only just got back.” I shrugged and shoved my phone back into my purse.
“I’m surprised you had somewhere to go for a few days. That’s a little sudden, isn’t it?”
“What do you mean?” I tried not to react to his words, though I could feel fear clawing its way up my spine. I wanted to run to Lorenzo. I wanted to beg that he take me far away from here, but I knew it wasn’t possible.
“I mean, I’ve never known you to go out with any friends anywhere. Let alone to go to a wedding celebration down in Atlantic City.” He was on the hunt for information. I could tell. He was trying to lull me into a false sense of security and was searching for any weakness at all.
“I have friends.” Lies. My siblings and Lorenzo were my only friends. “I see them all the time at dance. Just because I don’t go out partying with anyone doesn’t mean I don’t have friends.”
The look he sent me said he didn’t believe me, but I didn’t care. The truth was, I was at a friend’s wedding over the weekend. I was at Lorenzo’s, and he was marrying me. It wasn’t a lie. Thinking of it in that way helped because it eased the burden of the lie and that I was hiding something.
“My mistake,” he said and held up his hands in defense. “I always thought you were a loner. Giana has friends, and so does Nic. I’ve never heard you talk about your friends.
I sneered, “To be fair, I don’t talk to you about my life. Why the sudden interest, Gino?”
“Just curious, Bianca. No need to get upset.” The grin he gave me was evil. Gino would have been an attractive man if his heart wasn’t so black and corrupt.
“I’m not upset,” I snapped at him, belying my words. I was upset because I was afraid he would pick up on things I didn’t want him figuring out. I hated Gino. I hated him with every fiber of my being, even more than I hated my father, and that was saying something.
“Sure you’re not.” His evil smile made me want to slap him. Instead, I went to the fridge, pulled out a bottle of water to give myself something to do, and tried to cool my temper, which was threatening to boil over.
“I’m exhausted,” I told him after taking a drink from the bottle. “I’m going to go catch a nap before I do a workout.”
I caught Lorenzo’s eyes before I headed upstairs. He didn’t react, but I could tell he understood what went unsaid, ‘I hate this. I want you.’
Chapter Eighteen
Lorenzo
I wasn’t Luca’s son, so I couldn’t go into the office uninvited to see who was in there. When Giana first told me about the unknown visitor, my mind went straight for Arias, but the way she described the man, I knew it wasn’t him. That didn’t mean it wasn’t someone from his organization, though. I took out my phone and fired a text over to Rome letting him know that I was here, and I’d be staying until he got here.
Three days, I was out of pocket for three fucking days, and the security on the girls wasn’t done right. Rome and I would be having a talk as soon as I could get him alone. We needed to have more than one talk, but I didn’t know which one to have first: security or the fact that Bianca was now mine, and I wasn’t letting her go. She’d been gone from my sight for less than five minutes, and I was anxious to have her back by my side.
I was proud of her for playing her part. She didn’t give anything away to Gia or Nic. Both of them gave me shit for making her cry again, not that I didn’t deserve it in the past, because we would get in these heated arguments where the sexual tension between us got too thick. There was nothing else we could do but argue to release the pressure. This wasn’t on me, though, not this time.
The atmosphere sizzled when Bianca came back into the living area after she had disappeared into the kitchen. Our moment in the car was still fresh; she had ripped into my soul when she repeated her vows as she removed my ring. I wish I had thought to do the same for her, but I didn’t. I just made the promise that her ring would find its way back on her finger and never come off again. It was a promise I fully intended to keep.
Her eyes met mine as she walked toward her sisters and me, standing near the entrance and stairwell. I had her bags at my feet. They were going to be my excuse to go upstairs and steal a kiss from her before I left, but as long as Romeo and their other guards weren't here and Gino and the mystery guy were, then I was staying.
“What did you do while Bianca was doing wedding things?” Nic asked about our trip.
“I did wedding things with her.” I shrugged, “I wasn’t going to leave her unprotected.”
“You must have been bored out of your mind.” She laughed. “I can’t imagine you at a bridal shower, rehearsal dinner, and a ceremony.”
I arched a brow at her for being a brat. “Why?”
