Page 32 of Ravage God

I shook myself out of the horrid thought.

There would be nothing I could do. Once an engagement was agreed upon, very little could be done to break it, especially with a De Luca.

Please don’t agree.

As if he could hear my thoughts, Elio turned and looked back at me once more. I froze when our eyes connected, and it felt as if my heart had slowed, and my breathing became heavy as everything else in the room slowly vanished. Until it was just me and him.

Please be mine.

An impossibility, I knew that. Elio De Luca could never be mine, could he?

Chiara pressed her hand on his chest, bringing his attention back to her and breaking our eye contact. I felt like I had just lost something, and I didn’t know why that was, or what it was that I had lost in the first place.

I walked over the threshold and into the ballroom, going back to my small corner, waiting for this night to just be over so I could finally bury my head under my covers and pretend for a small moment that I was ceasing to exist.

7

ISA

It was getting late,and a lot of people were beginning to leave, but Dad and Valentino were still here, which meant I was still here.

I sat down in one of the chairs and looked around. Valentino was by Elio’s side. The two were speaking in hushed tones, and for a moment, I was afraid Elio might have been telling him about what happened earlier on the balcony, but judging by Valentino’s tensed face, I thought it might be something else.

Work-related stuff, perhaps.

Dad was surrounded by the group of traditionalist men he belonged to. There were seven men altogether, including Dad. There were Aldo and Dario, along with Federico Accardi, Mattia Amato, Giuseppe Bruno, and Marco Conti.

Of the seven men, it was Marco I was most wary of. While Dad and Federico were the only ones considered “retired,” the others were still very active in the life, with Marco Conti being considered the so-called leader of the group.

While I didn’t know much about the dynamics of the group, I knew enough from seeing them come and go from Dad’s house and the way they interacted. Marco was close to Enzo De Luca, Elio’s uncle. So close, Enzo even named his only son after him.

But unlike the man he was named after, Marco De Luca was a careless man who was desperate for even a little bit of power. He let that desperation get to his head and made a big mistake when Massimo and Elio discovered he had been working with the Bratva in New York.

I hadn’t been there for Marco’s punishment, but from the bits and pieces I heard, Massimo killed Marco with his bare hands in front of his men, Enzo included.

Enzo was found to have been helping the Bratva along with Andre Lombardi, Luna’s stepfather, who had been betraying hiscapo dei capiin Chicago.

Both men were no longer alive.

The only reason Marco Conti was still alive now was that there was nothing connecting him to Enzo’s betrayal. But I didn’t believe it was because he was innocent. It was because he was smart.

And I knew Massimo didn’t think Marco was innocent either. And sure enough, I could see Massimo looking over at the group of traditionalist men with an impassive look on his face.

I shivered from the coldness of his gaze, even if he wasn’t directing it at me. Massimo wasn’t someone anyone should ever want to cross.

Even if he was Elio’s brother, there had always been something…inhumanabout him that made me want to stay as far away from him as possible.

A shadow fell, and I looked up to see Dad standing in front of me. He surprised me enough that, for a brief moment, I wasn’t able to hide my facial expression.

He smirked at the obvious fear on my face. “Come on, Isa. We’re going home.”

I nodded and stood up. Dad grabbed my bicep and tried to lead me toward the door. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from making any sound. Valentino came up to us then.

“I’ll take her home,” he said to Dad, his voice brooking no room for argument.

Dad hesitated, and I tensed, wondering if this would be the moment Dad lost it on Valentino. He would be no match for my brother. Surely there was a part of him that knew that to be true. Dad tightened his grip on me marginally, and I bit down harder. I let out a small sigh of relief when he finally let me go.

I slowly moved over to Valentino’s side.