Page 14 of The Prices We Pay (Vittori Enterprises #1)

Dante

S he’s everywhere.

The smell of jasmine has seemingly taken over the club.

The sound of her laugh filters through my ears as she dances with Mac, Harper, Sebastian, and Enzo when “Up Down” by T-Pain blares over the speakers.

The beauty of her smile, her gray-blue eyes, her everything, is beginning to hurt my eyes from the intensity of my stare.

And the way her entire being softened when she looked at me after Enzo saved her from that horrid blonde bimbo has left an ache in my chest that I can’t seem to get rid of .

Just the thought of it has me rubbing my sternum to relieve the pressure.

Ronan notices my discomfort and laughs. “So, how’s it feel?”

I stare at him deadpan.

“That ache in your chest. The one you can’t quite seem to get to go away.” The knowing smirk on his face makes me want to punch it off.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I grumble.

“Mhm. Sure,” states Finn. “Why don’t you ask Luca? Maybe he’ll be able to tell you.”

“The two of you are particularly annoying tonight. You know that?” Luca’s speaking to them, but his eyes don’t leave Joe.

Ronan barks out a rare laugh. “Come on.” He elbows Finn. “Let’s go dance with our wife. Let these two stew in peace.”

They aren’t gone for more than thirty seconds when Luca sighs in frustration. “What are we gonna do?”

I don’t have to ask what he’s talking about. I already know. “I don’t know, boss.” For the first time since she went out there, his eyes leave the dance floor, only to pin me with a pointed glare. “Sorry. I don’t know, Luca. ”

He smiles softly before scrubbing a hand over his face. “I didn’t like seeing her out on a date. Woman or not.”

“Me either.” Quite frankly, it made my entire body burn with a blinding possessiveness that I haven’t felt in years. One I know Luca felt, too.

“Enzo wants her…”

“Yeah. Enzo wants her.” His eyes search mine, silently pleading for me to say more so he won’t have to, but we both know I won’t.

Unlike Enzo and Sebastian, Luca and I don’t need to say much to effectively communicate with one another.

Even though he’s not quite as withdrawn as I am, both of us operate by the less-is-more motto when it comes to our words.

We understand one another. We always have.

“Do you?” he asks.

I don’t confirm or deny it. Instead, I just repeat his question back to him. “Do you? ”

His gaze goes back to the dance floor, where Joe now has her hands wrapped around Harper’s neck as they sway to the upbeat music before looking back at me. He doesn’t answer my question either, which is answer enough. “What about Sebastian?”

I shrug, pulling at the paper on my lukewarm beer bottle. “You’d know the answer to that better than me.”

“He just said he wants me to be happy. But you saw how eager he was to bring her over here. And it was like he was an entirely different person after he met with her the other morning.”

I nod. “And do you think she could make you as happy as he does?”

His eyes move back to Joe, and I watch his breath still in his chest, likely drawing the same conclusion that I have.

It doesn’t make any sense. How could three—and judging by the way Sebastian can’t keep his hands off her as they dance—four men who have been more than fine being committed to no one but each other, whether intimately or platonically, seemingly fall for a woman we met mere days ago and know next to nothing about?

Well, besides Seb, that is. We haven’t pressed him for any more information after he said she was clear. If anything was pertinent, he would have told us. I get the feeling there are things about her that he wants us to learn for ourselves if and whenever she’s ready to share.

The four of us are all so different. It’s why we’ve worked so well together since Luca took over the company. We know the ins-and-outs of each other’s minds, moods, wants, and desires. As different as we are, we all mesh so perfectly. We’re a family that was never meant to be one.

But now… now, the foundation of our family is being shaken by a stunning woman in the form of Josephine Jenkins. And for reasons I don’t entirely understand, I think I’d be willing to bury myself under the rubble with her as it falls.

It makes no goddamn sense.

“The four of us are going to have to have a conversation about this, aren’t we?” Luca’s eyes close for a moment as if he’s trying to envision a world in which a relationship like this could exist.

Except… he doesn’t need to envision it. We’ve seen it firsthand, and they are four of the happiest people I’ve ever seen in my life.

But I don’t know if I have the capacity to love one person like they deserve, to commit my life to them in that type of way, let alone four.

But I don’t know if I have the capacity to love one person like they deserve.

To commit my life to them in the type of way I know a partner would need. In a way they would crave.

Let alone four.

Because to love and to be loved means to risk losing it all.

I want to. More than anything, I want that for myself.

I just… don’t know if I can.