Page 60 of The Hidden Heir

I chuckle softly, bringing the cocktail flute up to my lips. “For a second, I forgot I’m a Petrucci now, I guess.

“That’s alright. I’ll remind you later tonight, as well.”

The way he says it turns me all the way on. It’s a promise I long for him to keep.

Later, Luca takes me to the middle of the dance floor.

The atmosphere in the banquet hall has already shifted. Rumors are swirling. Impressions of shock and awe reverberate across the room as the rest of the Camorra learns about Luca’s response to Alex. At a glance, I can already see some of the higher-ups gradually distancing themselves from Alex and his wife.

Anne Marie tries to strike up a conversation with a Collasimo matriarch, and she gets a cold shoulder in return.

“I almost feel sorry for them,” I say, my hand resting on Luca’s shoulder while he’s holding the other, leading me.

“You shouldn’t,” he says. “They brought this upon themselves.”

“Caroline got caught in the middle again,” I say with a deep sigh.

Luca shakes his head slowly. “She chose this. She’s still trying to keep the bridge open between us, even when she knows what her father has done to your mother, to my brother. Mauro Mancuso has plenty of sins. And Caroline knows it.”

“Can I ever fully trust her?”

“I don’t think so. I certainly don’t.”

“What do I do, then?” I give him a pained, slightly confused look. “I barely have any family left as it is.”

He presses his lips against my forehead. His kiss fills my whole being with warmth and comfort, the kind of warmth and comfort I have always desperately needed but couldn’t find.

“You can always give the benefit of the doubt when and if needed,” Luca says. “But you must always remember you have a family of your own now.”

“I do, don’t I?”

“Your son—and me.”

“I didn’t really ask for you,” I chuckle softly. It’s become an inside joke for us, this forced marriage, this insanely difficult and complicated situation. The more intimate we are, the more time we spend together, the hazier those earlier memories become between us. “But I am grateful. I didn’t feel that way at first, Luca.”

“I didn’t feel certain things I feel now either,” he says. “Life has a funny way of working out, doesn’t it?”

“I’ll keep pushing for another meeting with Caroline,” I tell Luca after giving it more thought. “Maybe we can reach a consensus with the old man eventually.”

“You’ll have that meeting on our turf, otherwise, you’ll pass,” he says.

“I can’t really argue with you there, not after what happened.”

Suddenly, gunshots ring out through the hall. I freeze. Luca instinctively pulls me against him, equally stiff and suddenly tense as he looks around.

I know that sound all too well.

18

VALENTINA

Screams tear through the crowd. Tables are toppled. Glasses fly, liquor and blood splashing everywhere.

“Come on,” Luca says and hurries me across the dance floor.

Fear tightens its noose around my neck, but I cling to my husband as we move farther away from the incoming danger. I catch glimpses of the shooters advancing through a rapidly thinning crowd. It’s a deluge of hysteria and paralyzing fear.

“Stay with me,” Luca says.