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GLORIA

I definitely should not have come to Italy.

“Get out of the vehicle now. Make any sudden moves and you’re fucking dead.”

The barrel of the gun flashes in my periphery, right outside the window of the rental car. My spine locks up, my legs start to shake. I haven’t been mugged like this since my first year in college.

My hands shaking, I let go of the wheel, reaching slowly for the handle.

It seems like I haven’t stopped shaking since I got here.

The barrel of the gun is all I can see in the glare of the sun clipping over the top of the building across the street, blinding me from seeing the approach or the face of my assailant.

Just stay calm.

There are too many people around.

There’s no way that he would try something out in public.

Maybe someone will call the police. I need to wait until I can get away, call for help.

“Hands up. Nice and slow.”

My eyes widen as I step out of the car, the growling voice somehow familiar. It isn’t until he steps in close, taking my keys and pushing my door shut while I stare down the street away from him that it clicks.

That scent.

It sends shivers down my spine, usually in the best way.

“Adri?”

“What the—Gloria? What the hell are you doing here?” I almost spin around, but something in his tone stops me. Or maybe it’s the gun still pressing into my back.

“Uh, I-I, Dad said you were just coming here for a vacation, like a bachelor party. I wanted to surprise you. I thought?—”

“Bullshit.”

“Alright. Bullshit.” I swallow hard. “Just let me explain, please.”

“Not here. Come with me. And do not make a scene or scream for help.”

He’s discreet as we shuffle back the way he came, around the corner, toward the entrance of the lower-end hotel. It’s the kind of place that’s nice enough to not have to worry about catching anything from one of the beds, but not so nice that anyone gives us a second look as we hustle inside. Just a woman wearing a scarf on her head, large sunglasses obscuring her face and a glowering man in all black. Adri’s shoulder presses right against the back of mine, guiding me, never letting a space form between us.

“Will you at least put that thing away?” I hiss, so only he can hear me.

“Sorry. I will once we’re in the stairwell.”

His apology almost sounds sincere, except for the way he rushes me through the door, being none too gentle. Two floors up I feel him release my arm, thrusting a keycard into my hand as he shoves me through the door.

“Open it. 303.”

“Ad—”

“Don’t say my name.”

The digital lock clicks. I push the door open.

As soon as it slams back, I round on him, swinging my fist. Adriano’s palm slaps against my wrist as he blocks, jerking me forward off balance and toward him. In a second, I’m locked up, pressed back against the closet door.

“Fuck you! Not fair.”

“You took a swing at me .”

“Because you scared the shit out of me. How dare you point a gun at me and?—”

“I had to. You were following me.”

“ I had to,” I parrot, raising my eyebrows challengingly.

“ Why ?”

My jaw tightens, instinctively holding back. I can’t tell him. I can’t tell anyone.

“Because Dom told you to?” he growls, pushing his forearm into my neck lightly, just enough to force me to look him in the eye. The stare off only lasts a few seconds before I gasp for breath, start to cave.

Immediately, he lets go, stepping back. His hands pull to his chest, twitching like he doesn’t know what to do with them.

Or like he regrets being rough with me.

No. I won’t fall for it.

And yet, all I want to do is trust this man. My lover, my soon-to-be husband. Or he was, before I considered running away.

“I followed you to figure out what you are up to. What your plan is. And to see if I could trust that you weren’t going to leave me high and dry.”

“What does that even mean, high and dry? And who says I’m planning anything?” His eyes narrow, the conflict within him clear on his face as I struggle to keep my face unreadable.

“Why are you driving around all of Italy with your brothers? Aren’t they supposed to be…I don’t know. Killing people somewhere?”

“You say that like they have a choice or want to be doing what they’re doing.”

“You’re right. None of us has a choice. But I made mine.” And then I backed down, chased him here.

Adriano scoffs, his lip curling. “To be his lap dog?”

“I told you before that I am in just as much of a predicament as you.”

Let him think what he will.

“Oh, so I should just take that on faith? That we’re the same . What does Dom have on you? To make you cave and sleep with me, manipulate me into trying to give him a child, for God’s sake?”

“Who says he has something on me? The pay is good. He’s my father. I don’t have to like him to do what I need to do to survive.”

“You play that part too well.”

“How dare you.” My control wavers, my hands clenching.

Adriano shakes his head. “You’re just as manipulative as he is. Every time. You suck me in, hook, line, and sinker. Just before you pull the rug out from under me. How long until it’s more than that, and you leave me hanging by a noose?”

“It crossed my mind, you know,” I snap, regretting the cruelty of it but pushing through. “Finding dirt on you, catching you in a lie.”

“ Dirt ? You’re living in a fucking movieland, Gloria.”

“I know you’re a traitor.”

“Look in the damned mirror.”

“Don’t try to turn this around on me.”

“Says the woman trying to deflect, mislead, run me circles.”

“Circles is right. You’re a traitor to the family. To my father. And if you aren’t, then you’re a traitor to your brothers, to your old life. Either way, you have no honor.”

“Honor. That’s rich coming from you. I’ve known Dom my entire life. He never gave any indication that he had a kid. Then you show up out of nowhere. What are you, a con woman? Or an idiot who saw dollar signs and didn’t know what the fuck you were getting into?”

“I am an idiot. For thinking that we could work together. That we could work at all.”

“The only reason I considered keeping you around was to keep up appearances, to stay close to the people my family swore to protect. Our assets, our interests.”

My chest cracks, my heart fractures.

“No surprise there. I know exactly who you are Adriano. I know what you’ve done . I’ve seen the files, the photos. And don’t even try to deny that you’re working on a plot against my father. I’ve seen your little secret hideout at your old house.”

His eyes widen at that, staring with uncertainty, growing colder, toward fear, then rage. Every pretense of our flirtation, the tension between us, heightens past the point of tolerability and my whole body starts to tremble.

I’ve never seen him like this.

He’s a cold, calculating criminal. And I’m just some stupid girl.

“Tell me exactly what you know.”

“I know you go there. Late at night. I’ve seen you go down that hatch.”

“And that’s your proof?” He laughs in my face, throwing up his hands. “And here I was worried. But it’s just more bluster. Trying to lay a trap for me to walk into.”

Adriano shrugs, pretending to blow me off. Still, I can see the spark of suspicion in his stiff posture.

“A trap like you tried to set for that guy in Orvieto? Looked more like he got the drop on you.”

At that he smiles, taking me aback. “You saw that?”

“Some of it.”

“Then you know exactly how far that got him . And you should know not to fuck with me.” He’s turning the tables, upending my anger and trying to roll over me.

He’s winning.

But something inside me snaps at his cool tone, his indifferent expression. It riles up a part of me that has been fighting tooth and nail to stay sane and lead a double life for months.

“And you will learn not to fuck with me,” I grit out.

“You want to play that game?” His nostrils flare, his gaze hammers into me.

“No. I’m done playing games . I’m done being incumbent to a madman, let alone two. I’m done with being owned, financially or otherwise.”

For a fraction of a second, I see him waver, hesitate. I know the feeling. The screaming desire that I am desperately trying to smother in the back of my mind, and a heart that aches for him and what we have. What we had.

“You really didn’t know who he was, did you?”

“My mother tried to make damn sure of that, actually.”

“He will never let you go. It’s not in him to let a slight go unbalanced, unpunished.” That’s when I see it, that look in his eyes, the true dread hiding in Adriano’s soul. “Which is why I never expected to survive coming back. I only wanted to buy my brothers a life not running. Not being hunted.”

“So you throw your life away? Throw your older brother’s sacrifice away? For what? Who wins in that situation, Adriano?”

“No one wins Gloria. Ever. Not in this life.” His tone drops, chilly, empty.

“I cannot accept that. There has to be a way through. There has to be.” Because I can’t bear the thought of a world where my sister suffers. Where she doesn’t get to live out her dreams.

“He has no idea that you’re here, does he?” Adriano huffs, an incredulous look on his face. “You were running .”

“I have to do something .” It sounds so hollow. So hopeless. Because it is. I had no plan.

He sees right through me.

“I keep saying the same thing. But every time, every idea I have blows up in my face. So what does that leave me?! What option do I have?! Maybe I should just be like you. Be just like you and throw anyone I can under the bus and make a run for it. Go as far away as I can and kill anyone who gets in my way. Hmm? How about that?!” His voice escalates, rising to a cracking shout, his normal, absolute control fraying to tatters.

All I can do is stand there, quaking as the torrent rains down on me.

“So what would it give me, Gloria ? If I took you back? If I dragged you back to Dom and told him everything that’s happened. Expose you for running. Tell him that you followed me to sabotage his plans. To find dirt on him .”

My throat constricts.

“What happens if I tell him about your secret account? The one that pays out monthly to a school in Paris .”

Tears spring to my eyes. Tears of anger, embarrassment, shame.

Who was I fooling?

“Please. Don’t,” I whisper.

“Don’t what? Tie you up and make you tell me what I want to know? I should make you spill your fucking guts on everything you’ve been hiding.”

I feel the break inside me, the collapse of my world.

“Do your worst,” I mumble, fighting back a sob.

Adriano pulls up short, a strange, curious look on his face. “He already knows, doesn’t he? Who you’re protecting.”

“And now, so do you. So use it. Hold it over me, shackle me in terror of losing her and make me do whatever you want. I’m done.” I failed. I failed Anna. My mother.

Silence chokes the room, thick with the smog of tremendous pain and loss.

Adriano exhales, his eyes red, despondent.

“I-I can’t.” His shoulders slump, deflating. “Even now, I can’t …”

“Yes. you can.” I take a step forward, resigned to my fate. “I’m not scared anymore. Not of him. Not of you.”

“But I am. You scare the fuck out of me, Gloria. Because of how much I want to trust you. How much I need to trust you. But one moment to the next, you change, turning a face I barely recognize—” he fumbles, scrambling for the right words, almost frantic. “All for what? For who ?”

“Her name is Anna. She’s fifteen. She’s my little sister.” Even now, the words stab like a betrayal through my own heart.

Adriano’s eyes widen, his mouth drops open.

“That’s who I am. A sister. Her protector. And I will do whatever it takes to protect her, even if it means staining my soul beyond repair. I already have.”

“That’s not true. I’ve seen who you really are. And I’ve prayed every fucking day that that side of you is real. The side of you that brings out the best in me. That lights the fire in my fucking soul! The woman that I gave myself to the other night completely,” he gasps out, agony burning in every word. “She is everything , Gloria. That woman…I would do anything for that woman.”

Just when I thought my world was falling apart…

“Why?”

“Because I love you, Gloria.”

He shatters my entire existence.