Page 16 of Scorned Beauty (Scorned Fate #5)

Chapter

Eleven

Dom

“Thirty minutes to ball drop, Zio. What are you doing out here?”

Luca was standing on the balcony of a private room at Cardo.

It was New Year’s Eve and the party was getting too loud and too festive for my uncle.

Since he arrived last week for Christmas, it had been gut-wrenching to witness his struggle.

He smiled only for his son, and at times, sadness would cloud his features.

It didn’t take a genius to guess he was thinking of Natalya and wishing she was at his side.

The second Elias was out of sight, Luca’s face transformed into a remote, chilly mask.

I debated whether it was wise to secretly feed that cam sighting of Natalya to his hacker team back in November. It might not even be Natalya, just someone who looked like her. Now, weeks later, and without further leads, I worried about Luca’s sanity.

He turned to face me. “I checked on Elias.”

Luca had brought his longtime housekeeper, Martha, and his soldier, Tony, to help look after Elias. For this visit, they stayed over at Sera and Matteo’s Fifth Avenue penthouse so Elias and Gio could hang out together. “He should be asleep by now, right?”

“No, Samantha insisted on a pillow fort. They are watching the ball drop, too.”

Second to Luca, my cousin Renz and his wife, Liz, took some convincing to leave their seven-year-old, Samantha, on New Year's Eve to celebrate with adults.

“I shouldn’t have left Elias at all,” Luca grumbled. He checked his watch.

“He’ll be fine. Even Matteo and Sera were relieved to have an evening out.”

Luca’s mouth twitched as he glanced past my shoulder. “Sure about that?”

I turned around to see Matteo, Sera, and Liz already wearing their coats.

“Ready, Zio?” Sera asked. “Renz is waiting with the Expedition.”

“Why are you guys leaving before the ball drops?” I glanced at Matteo. “Didn’t you say you were looking forward to adult time?”

Luca clapped my shoulder. “When you have a kid, you’ll understand.” Then, addressing the trio, he said, “Give me a few minutes. I have something to say to Dom.”

I stiffened, wondering if he found out about who was behind the cam sightings. Matteo’s eyes briefly shifted to mine, and I figured he was thinking the same. Matteo was the head of the Archer Syndicate, so it was his head on the platter if Luca found out we’d been manipulating the information.

“Don’t take too long,” Sera said. “The penthouse is five minutes away, but traffic?—”

“I know,” Luca said. “Go on…”

When they disappeared, Luca faced me. “So, I was meaning to ask you, have you considered any of the arranged marriage contracts yet?”

“Did Ma get to you?” And why was he bringing it up now?

“She’s mentioned it, and I told her you will look into it when you’re ready.” His gaze bored into me. “But now I wonder if it’s because of that redhead you’ve been eye-fucking all evening.”

Goddammit.

I thought I’d been careful by not singling out Sloane for attention and I was sure I would have succeeded if Ma hadn’t planted the idea in Luca’s head.

Presented with a problem, he became a truth-seeking missile with a nose for bullshit.

He’d also become shrewder and more ruthless with each passing year.

All my efforts were concentrated on avoiding detection that I was helping him find Natalya.

Our goals were different.

His end goal was Natalya. Full stop.

The Syndicate’s goal was to thwart human trafficking but it so happened that our goals intersected. Our latest intel indicated that the head of the most powerful mafia in Italy was connected to Natalya’s disappearance.

“I hear she cleans for the Zahkarov bratva,” he said.

Not to mention, I was also working on Grigori.

I nodded, my chest screwing tight. If Luca had suspicions, who else did?

“I’m the last person to lecture you about conflict of interest, especially with those villas involved that Lottie wants you to get back.”

“And do you want them back?” I challenged.

His phone buzzed and he looked at the message. “I got to go.” His eyes were somber when they met mine. “Do you love her?”

His question shocked me, and I was a little disconcerted. Luca was the last person I expected to ask me this. “Sloane and I are not like that.” Did I just admit to Luca that there was something going on between me and Sloane?

“She’s your mistress, then?”

If it were anyone but Luca, I would tell him to fuck off.

“No. She’s too independent to be anyone’s mistress. Look, I’m not comfortable discussing her.”

“Fair,” he replied and made a move to leave, but paused and turned back to me. “But let me be your cautionary tale, Dom. You’re my nephew. I don’t want you to end up stuck in purgatory like I am. In our world, you make a choice. You protect that choice with your life, capisce ?”

For the first time, I saw the glistening regret in his eyes and it communicated the raw anguish he was experiencing tonight, the devastation Natalya’s disappearance had inflicted on him that he couldn’t move past, two years on. “Zio.”

“I gotta go.” His voice was gruff with emotion and I watched him go, shoulders drooped and defeated. A far cry from the proud Chicago boss I had known him to be. Luca would need a minute or two to collect himself before he faced the rest of the family.

I returned to the festivities. At least some of the De Luccis were still here. Cesar and Ava were standing beside Pop and Ma. Beside them stood my sister Lucy, who seemed bored. She arrived for Christmas and was staying until the New Year.

Nico and Ivy were in a huddle with Bianca, Sloane, and Divina, the wife of Sandro’s underboss, Tommy. I was glad Sloane could join us tonight. I’d been dropping hints to Bianca to invite her to the family gatherings.

This past Christmas, the De Luccis and McGraths went on a Christmas lights tour of Manhattan.

Sera organized the event and rented limousines, mainly to cheer up Luca and Elias, but Sloane was invited, too.

The tour ended up at the De Lucci mansion where Sloane and I snuck a hookup in the second-floor powder room.

We nearly got caught by my mother, but that was the thrill.

We’d been better about communicating. I texted her daily. She’d been busy with her nursing exams and I’d been fine with her one-word replies.

I wasn’t a texting guy. I lurked mostly in the family group chats. Sloane would send me a random meme. The queens of memes were Ivy and Bianca and they would send it to our family chat. Sometimes I’d forward one to Sloane, too.

Sloane caught my eyes across the room. I grinned. I hadn’t been planning on kissing her at midnight because I wanted to keep an eye on Luca. But now I was free.

Me

Want to watch the ball drop in the Lava room?

She glanced at her phone and texted back.

Firecat

You’re free now?

Yeah, Luca went home to be with Elias.

Aww…

My eyes scanned the room, making sure Ma wasn’t looking for me.

Sloane excused herself. Bianca said something to her, but Sloane yelled something back and walked away.

It was seven minutes to midnight. We walked parallel to each other.

God, she was breathtaking. I couldn’t wait to wrap all that red hair around my fist. She was wearing that black dress the night I behaved like a jealous boyfriend.

I didn’t dwell too much on my reaction. I was possessive of her.

End of. I wasn’t sure where our affair was heading.

I’d take the mind-blowing sex for now. Plus, that husky voice of hers got me hard in an instant and it also had the power to lull me into a deep, dreamless sleep.

I slept better when I was with her and woke up refreshed.

I didn’t see myself giving up Sloane anytime soon.

“Dom,” a low voice spoke in front of me while I was busy looking to my left, fantasizing about the ways I would bend Sloane like a pretzel.

Shit. Sandro. Tommy was standing right beside him.

“Where are you going?” he asked. “It’s almost midnight.”

Instead of answering him, I stopped a server handing out champagne. “Where are your drinks, man?” I handed them each a flute. I didn’t need one for myself because I had a bottle chilling in the Lava room.

“Go.” I pushed them toward Bianca and Divina. “Enjoy the evening with your wives.”

“I saw Luca…” Sandro started.

“Later, man. Gotta check and make sure everything goes off without a hitch.”

Confetti, balloons, and streamers were set to fall at the stroke of midnight, but I didn’t really give a shit other than their release camouflaged our escape.

As I reached the corridors that led to different rooms, the sound from the party receded.

Most of the guests had already taken their places.

I’d already done my host speech. The DJ and emcee were entertaining the crowd with a banging playlist. My job was done.

I caught a flash of black. I crossed the carpeted path connecting to the parallel hallway and slipped up to Sloane.

A vision of shapely legs and a short skirt made me salivate. I’d been semi-hard all night thinking about starting the new year buried inside her tight, warm pussy. Fuck me. I wanted to do filthy things to her.

She paused at the end of the hall beside a bank of elevators and peeked to where she was expecting me. I crept up behind her, snatched her around the waist, and clapped a palm over her mouth.

She squeaked.

I moved my other hand from her waist to grab a tit and squeezed. “Gotcha, baby.”

I hauled her towards the elevators. If anyone were viewing the CCTV, they would see me kidnapping Sloane and dragging her away, and maybe I’d earn my title as most eligible villain.

Once inside, I spun her around and pressed her against the wall.

“What are you doing?” she whispered into my mouth.

“I’ve been dying to be inside you all evening.” I punched the number for the floor above us. My hand snaked under her dress, straight for her hot soaked center, and plunged in. “You’re dripping all over my fingers, Firecat.”