Page 51 of Luciano

“No, you’ll take my car.” Why did she have to fight me on everything?

“No, I won’t.”

“Yes, you will.”

Her eyes flashed annoyance. “Stop pissing me off, Luciano. I can handle getting transportation.”

She returned her attention to Matteo who was done with his dinner and getting crankier by the second.

“Let’s go take a bath, buddy,” she finally gave up trying to calm him down. “What do you say?”

He rubbed his eyes, smearing spaghetti sauce all over his face. Again, I wondered who the boy’s father was. Matteo hasn’t asked for anyone else since we left Sicily. I started to think he wasn’t in the picture at all.

Grace struggled with the high chair, while trying to keep Matteo from climbing out. “Here, let me help.”

I got up and lifted him out of the chair, his chubby hands gripping to my shirt. My heart swelled, causing another crack. The little guy was effortlessly breaking the walls with his small hands. Just like his mother.

Grace chuckled. “You are wearing spaghetti sauce.”

It was her first soft, open expression without any animosity towards me. Maybe it was because I held her son, but fuck it. I was such a sad case, I took it for myself. She leaned over, her hands brushing against my chest as she took Matteo out of my arms.

“C’mon handsome, let’s get you washed up and ready for bed,” she murmured softly. She left the kitchen and Ella hurriedly took her last two bites, giving me a weird look, and then headed out too.

“You are doomed,” Alessio muttered.

I lifted my eyes to find all the men, including my father and Massimo watching me. I raised my eyebrow in a silent challenge. “What the hell are you all looking at?”

“I didn’t say a word,” Massimo commented. “I’m just thinking about the code to break those firewalls.”

“Do it fast,” I spat out, agitated. “Those two are up to something.”

“Who is Ian?” Nico asked out of the blue. My father had a valid question there, and it surprised me she didn’t want to use him.

My father leaned back, so far, he just watched silently. “Ian is the Romano family lawyer.”

“He and Grace were an item before I got her.” I hated the idea of her with him. That guy was a cockroach.

My father shook his head. “No, son. They were not. You have to learn to watch things with a clear mind when it comes to your wife.”

I grunted under my breath. Easy for him to say. Grace had my head spinning and my dick rock hard.

My father chuckled. “Ah, Luciano. You remind me so much of myself with your mother.”

He rarely spoke of my mother since their death. I knew it pained him, so it was surprising to hear him bring her up.

He stood up and headed out of the kitchen. He lingered at the doorway and turned back to all of us.

“Boys, it is time you clean rotten apples out of the mix.” All of us watched him, and for the first time in the past ten years, I wondered if maybe my father didn’t keep tabs on what was going on in our world. “Together you can end women being traded like stock.” He nodded as if that explained it all, then his eyes returned to me. “Luciano, keep Gracy and Matteo protected. At all costs.”

I fully intended to, starting with her outing tonight.

* * *

My teeth clenched,the sound of grinding breaking the silence. I watched my wife dance with Ian fucking Laszlo and my fingers itched for my gun. Anger burned beneath my skin, searing the flames to all-time highs. The irrational part of me thundered in my ears, edging me on.

Go ahead and smash his head.

Red crept into my vision, and it took all I had not to smash every single item in Cassio’s office. The dance floor was crowded and each time someone bumped into Grace, she inched closer to Ian. I hated that fucking guy’s guts. My wife looked happy, carefree and beautiful, startlingly beautiful, her hair sparkling like flames even in the dark of the nightclub. The young girl of twenty-one was gone, and in her place was this woman who was sure of herself; she knew what she liked and what she wanted.