Bound By Love: Chapter 20

ARIA

“Do me a favor and don’t go,” Gianna pleaded. We’d been looking for new dresses for the party for close to two hours, and my nausea was becoming increasingly worse. I knew Gianna and Lily worried, but I couldn’t tell them. Luca was supposed to find out first, but how was that ever going to happen?

I browsed through the display of dresses. “It would raise questions if Luca went alone.”

“Aria, please.”

I glanced over my shoulder at my sister. Something in her voice worried me. “What aren’t you telling me?”

Gianna moved closer to me. “Matteo mentioned that Grace will be there.”

My fingers on the dress tightened. “I thought she was in England.”

“She was. She’s married to some rich English businessman but she will attend the party.”

I swallowed. “I can handle her.”

Gianna gripped my arm. “Aria this will get ugly. Don’t go. Please.”

I forced a smile. “Don’t worry about me.” I pulled out an elegant cream-colored floor-length dress, moved into the changing room and put it on. It was form-fitting with a low back. I scanned my stomach. Was it obvious that I was pregnant? Gianna poked her head in and I stiffened, but she only whistled. “Take that. You look breathtaking. Let Luca see what he is losing.”

No revealing dress would convince Luca to love me again. It didn’t work like that.

Sandro picked Gianna and me up in the mansion and took us to New York, where we met with Luca and Matteo in the garage of our apartment. Luca was dressed in a sleek black suit, accentuating his broad shoulders and narrow waist.

He didn’t bat an eye when he saw me in my dress. His face was stone, and his eyes froze my insides with their coldness. Without a word, I got into the passenger seat of his car. We drove in silence toward the Parker town house.

Before we got out, Luca turned to me but his eyes held no warmth. “We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves, so we will act civil.” He raised his eyebrows in silent question and I gave a nod.

Luca got out and opened my door. I braced myself for what would happen but the moment Luca’s palm touched my naked back, every muscle in my body sprang to life with need and longing.

Luca’s fingers tensed against my skin, and I looked up but found his face completely blank. He led me toward the house without a word or glance.

Gianna and Matteo were already there, drinking champagne and talking. They seemed to be getting along better again, or perhaps they were being civil in public like Luca and me.

Luca led me toward them and dropped his hand the moment we arrived. “I will get us something to drink.” He didn’t wait for my reply and left.

Gianna scowled at his back before she gave me an encouraging smile. I tried to give her a smile in return, but her brows drew together. She stepped closer and gripped my arm. “Aria, don’t let him win. Don’t give him that power over you,” she whispered harshly.

I nodded and put on my public mask, head held high. Luca didn’t return and when I scanned the room, I found him in conversation with Senator Parker. That’s when I saw her. Grace Parker. Tall, gorgeous and dressed in a tight jumpsuit that left little to the imagination. She was alone, no English husband in sight. I remembered when I’d caught him with her, remembered the feeling of disappointment and sorrow, and I hadn’t even loved him back then.

Luca spotted her about the same time as I did, and his eyes didn’t move on from her. Was that how he wanted to punish me?

“He wouldn’t dare,” Gianna hissed.

Matteo’s reply came through the fog in my ears. “He won’t.”

Grace stepped up to Luca with a sexy smile, and Luca smirked. I remembered that look from the photos I’d seen of him in his bachelor days—like a man who knew what he had to offer and who took what women offered him.

My stomach constricted so hard, sickness washed over me. I turned on my heel and hurried into the bathroom at the end of the corridor. I barely managed to close the door and reach the toilet before I threw up, retching violently until nothing was left in my stomach. Beads of sweat coated my forehead. I reached for the flush with trembling fingers.

Gianna’s soft knock sounded a few moments later. “Aria, let me in.”

I faced the mirror and touched my stomach.

“Aria, please let me help you.”

She couldn’t help me. This was a battle I had to fight alone because it was a fight against my heart.

Luca’s words from weeks ago flashed in my mind: We are done.

Yes, we were.

LUCA

Grace circled me like a vulture. She’d married some old fucker with millions in his bank account, but now she eye-fucked me like she’d done in the past.

“Have you gotten bored of your wife already? I told you she couldn’t satisfy you.”

“Don’t talk about her,” I said in warning. She seemed to have forgotten my warning from last time.

Matteo raised his eyebrows at me from across the room. I didn’t see Aria or Gianna anywhere, and I was fucking glad. Aria in that almost white dress, like a fucking apparition, a fucking angel.

A weakness.

“I’m not here to talk, don’t worry,” she purred. My eyes were drawn to her cleavage.

“What are you here for then?” I asked with a curl of my lip.

“To fuck.” She smiled. “Come on, Luca.”

I followed a few steps behind her, my eyes on her ass in that joke of a jumpsuit. She led me into her old bedroom, a room I had good memories of.

Grace closed the door and turned to me, licking her red lips. “Oh, I missed having your cock in me, Luca,” she crooned as she stepped up to me and leaned in to kiss me.

“No kissing,” I growled, glaring down at her. She pouted but didn’t try again. I had never liked kissing her, now less than ever.

Her long nails raked down my chest, then lower. I had to fight the urge to shove her hand away. I wasn’t hard yet, not even close. Her touch actually fucking disgusted me.

Confusion flickered on her face, then a daring smile. “Playing hard to get?”

“One of us has to,” I muttered, hating her and hating myself.

She flushed but didn’t let my harshness deter her. She got on her knees, making an innocent face. It looked fucking fake. And it had the opposite effect on me than she intended. I remembered Aria’s innocent smiles, her innocent touches as I’d made her mine.

Aria.

Fuck.

Always Aria.

Then I remembered the last time she’d taken me into her mouth, her perfect lips, her teasing. I loved how she’d grown more confident when it came to sex over the years. I loved her scent, her taste, her silky skin. Fuck it. I fucking loved everything about her, loved her still. Loved every fucking inch of her, but most of all her laughter and smiles, and the way she looked at me with love and trust.

I staggered back from Grace’s fingers on my zipper. She dropped her hand, eyes narrowing.

“What now? Don’t tell me you can’t cheat on your goody-two-shoes Aria.”

I grasped her arm in a death grip. “Don’t you dare insult her. Don’t even speak her name.” I pushed her away from me, so fucking furious I could hardly control myself. Furious at myself for my weakness, for my useless feelings. Then I turned around and went back to the party.

Matteo was at my side in a heartbeat. “That was a quickie if I ever saw one.” His voice was strange but I had no patience to analyze his mood.

“I couldn’t do it. Couldn’t even let her suck my cock. Fuck it.” What the fuck had I become?

“Because of Aria.”

I curled my hands into fists, wanting to destroy something, wanting to kill and maim. “I’m fucking weak,” I said quietly.

“Weak?” Matteo laughed. “Luca, you killed a clubhouse full of bikers, tore them to shreds, you tortured our uncle for hours without batting an eye, and you wouldn’t feel a flicker of remorse if you killed every fucker in this room. You aren’t weak because of your feelings for Aria. Our father was a sadistic asshole and insane.”

“I’m like a castrated dog.”

Matteo groaned, glaring. “You know Aria never cheated on you. That woman has always and will always belong only to you, Luca.”

“I know,” I growled. And fuck me, I knew she had been faithful, not only because the photographer had confirmed her story, but also because Aria wasn’t like that. She wouldn’t cheat. I’d realized it quickly, but I was still fucking mad at her for going behind my back, and I was too fucking proud to apologize. “And apparently I can’t cheat on her either.”

“She’s got you pussy-whipped.”

If it were only that. She had my cold heart in an unrelenting grip, and I couldn’t shake it off.

My eyes scanned the crowd again and finally I found Aria. Gianna was at her side, practically holding her up. Aria looked pale and then her eyes settled on me, and I knew she’d seen me leave with Grace. She straightened and held my gaze.

This was it. My way to get rid of the weakness that made me an easy target for Dante.

“Apologize,” Matteo muttered. “For fuck’s sake, Luca, apologize to her.”

“No,” I said firmly. “We are done.”