Page 26 of The Reaper's Bride

“It’s best to let her cool off when Aunt Bibi pisses her off,” Frankie answers. “But, she’s not wrong about the men screwing around. I overheard Rocco before the wedding yesterday bragging about how they closed Club Oasis tonight so the girls would be available to work the party here.”

Sofia scrunches up her nose. “Rocco’s full of it. He won’t be here anyway after he ran back to Reno with his tail between his legs last night.”

No, he won’t be here but, based on what Nico told me two years ago, I fear that Rocco may not be full of it in this instance.

Frankie yawns and says she’s going to bed soon after. Sofia nods and says she’s going downstairs for a snack before turning in.

When I leave the so-called nursery, I spot Armando seated down the hallway. Gia hasn’t gone to bed yet after all because she’s stopped to talk to him. Something about their posture and tense expressions has me slowing my steps. They’ve all known each other for years, and I don’t want to be an interloper.

“Ready for bed, Mrs. De Luca?” Armando asks, cutting off his conversation with Gia. It’s strange being called that. He smirks at Mr. Whiskers in my arms, but I don’t care.

“Yes, but I can find my own way back to the bedroom.”

He shakes his head and stands. “It's still my job to see you there safely when so many others are on the property tonight and your husband is occupied with business.”

Gia walks off without a word, and I allow Armando to follow me since he will regardless. “So, you don’t get to go to the Seconda? You were Alessio’s Best Man. Seems like you’d be there.”

“I’ll join Alessio later.”

I press my lips together, wanting to ask questions that I may not like the answers to. Frankie mentioning all the prostitutes attending and knowing what I know from Nico has me fretting. My marriage is designed to give me multiple things to fret about, I think.

“You seem well.”

I raise my head from my deep contemplation of the hall carpet at Armando’s statement. “I am well.”

“I knew you wouldn’t need your knife,” he says, chuckling.

I roll my eyes at him before deciding to ask about something else. We’re nearly to the room so I have to spit it out without any preamble. “What happened to the first Mrs. De Luca? Sil, Jr. and Alessio’s mother?”

Armando pauses, giving me a curious look, before he opens my door. I step inside and turn, waiting on an answer. “She died,” he says distantly before closing the door, leaving me alone and with no answer at all.

***

I was surprised I slept well last night beside Alessio. I’m not so surprised that I sleep poorly tonight. It’s nearly three and Alessio still hasn’t come to bed. I’ve tossed and turned, my handreaching for his solid presence even during my fitful sleep. How could I possibly be missing that after just one night?

“These horrible traditions,” I groan, pushing the covers back. I hate the whole notion of the Seconda, that a groom is encouraged to cheat on his wife after one night. I remember Mother’s face those nights my father wouldn’t come home. I remember the stranger’s perfume clinging to him and how she suffered in silence. Will that be my fate, too? Considering I’m still not convinced Alessio doesn’t intend to use me for revenge against my brother, maybe I should pray that unfaithfulness is the worst I’ll suffer as a wife.

Or, maybe I’m letting my thoughts carry me away. Surely, not all men participate in the fun after the business is done. Alessio may not have done anything but talked business, drank too much and fallen asleep in another part of the mansion tonight. He did say he wasn’t used to sharing his bed. So why do unwanted images and scenarios keep flashing behind my eyelids every time I attempt to sleep? It’s not like we’re a love match or I really know Alessio. Why does this hurt so much?

A half-hour later, the door opens and my eyes squeeze shut. “Caterina?” he calls, softly.

My heart pounds. Do I answer or feign sleep? My morning courage is long gone at this hour. I pretend to sleep, hearing every sound as Alessio goes to the toilet, brushes his teeth and strips out of his clothes. The bed dips with his weight. Will he touch me? I might like it if he-

My body stiffens as I catch a whiff of another woman’s perfume. I feel like I might vomit. Or, cry.

But, the one thing I realize I won’t do is suffer in silence.

“You’re awake, aren’t you?” he says from beside me, sounding amused.

Fury, jealousy and madness, unlike anything I have ever known, crashes through my veins. Faster than I thought I wascapable of moving, I snatch my knife from the nightstand where it sits and press it to the three-headed wolf on his throat. “You’re damn right, I’m awake!”

15

Alessio

This treacherous little Morelli bitch. I shouldn’t be surprised she’s pulled that knife on me. Again. I’m more pissed off that I let my guard down enough to allow it to happen. Again.You kill a fucker for the woman and this is the thanks you get.

Taking a deep breath, I study her glittering eyes in the darkness and, for once, think my words through carefully before I speak. “You have a habit of greeting me with a knife in hand, wife. Have I treated you so cruelly thus far? Is this the thanks I get for saving your life yesterday? For not forcing myself on you last night when you fully expected me to?”