Blood Always

3

I looked down at our point of contact and watched as he slid a diamond ring on my finger. I didn’t want to like it, but I had no choice. It was exquisite. Not overly ostentatious but clearly a custom design. Most women saw a ring as the perfect embodiment of their commitment to love. I saw nothing but a sparkling life sentence.

I lifted my gaze to peer up at him and found his eyes fixed on my face. He’d been watching my reaction. Reading me—his scrutiny like tiny ants tickling my skin. “I hope you’re not expecting me to simper like an i***t. That’s not me.” “I thought this was business.” His voice was the rumble of distant thunder. I hated what the sound did to my insides. His lingering hand released mine, and my eyes dropped to his chest. “Of course … it is,” I stammer. “That’s what I meant.” I scolded myself ruthlessly for stumbling around like an awkward teenager. Matteo De Luca had the ability to turn me upside down. One week with him, and I would be Alice falling down the rabbit hole, with no idea how to get home. He was possibly the greatest threat I’d ever faced, and I had no choice but to walk myself right into his web. Without a goodbye, I turned toward the exit, hoping my need to flee wasn’t too obvious. “It was lovely meeting you, Maria,” he called out behind me, but I didn’t acknowledge his words. Opening the front door, I made my way toward the elevator. It was an exercise in restraint not to speed up my steps. De Luca would be watching me, and I didn’t want to give him any more evidence that he had affected me in any way. No doubt he already assumed his size and station had intimidated me, and that couldn’t have been further from the truth. I hadn’t been scared of anything since I was a child. I simply wanted to be free of him and anyone else who thought to control me. I prized my independence above all else—all but the family. My father’s mafia outfit had saved my life. Gave me purpose. Direction. It was an organization of men who lived outside the laws of modern society. Their unique code of silence and violence enabled me to channel the hatred that festered inside me until I could control it. Wield it. My father and his men transformed me from a reckless, sniveling child on the verge of self-destruction into a powerful woman capable of sending men to their knees and enemies to their graves. I owed them everything. Handing my life over to the outfit by means of an arranged marriage was hardly a sacrifice. I would have already been long dead had it not been for them. That was why I adhered to our code so stringently. My life was owed to the outfit, and I would live unerringly by its rules. Governmental laws and regulations? A joke. Common decency and morality? Tools used by the weak to help even the score. I would not surrender my power based on someone’s arbitrary, misguided attempt at justice and equality. The only laws I would allow to govern my actions were those set out in our family code. For the Luccianos, I would give up my independence. I would bind myself to the man whose family tore my life to pieces. OceanofPDF.com Chapter 2 Matteo If it hadn’t taken me so damn long to quit smoking, I would have lit up the second hurricane Maria blew her way through my door. I could almost feel the silky touch of nicotine gliding through my veins when I envisioned dragging a lungful of Marlboro past my lips. It had been ten years since I’d had a cigarette. Nothing in my stressful life had driven me back to the consuming habit, but if something could, it would be Maria. She wasn’t just a force of nature; she was a natural disaster of global proportions. World-ending. And it was my world she was about to rain down upon. So why the hell am I letting it happen? I wasn’t sure I wanted to answer that question. Maria was that spicy Korean dish you knew would make your entire face sweat, but you ate it anyway because it was too delicious to pass up. The woman was sure to make my life difficult in every way, but the tiny taste of sweet submission she handed over was enough to keep me from walking away. There was a split second during the kiss when her spine melted into my hold. I was suddenly a man stranded in the desert, given a teasing taste of life-saving water. I had known she wasn’t like most women. Our intel showed she rarely hung out with her sisters, or any other women for that matter. Her cousin, Camilla, had a girls’ night birthday gathering at a swanky bar days before our meeting. One of my men reported back that Maria sipped her drink, stood against the wall, and rebuffed each man who attempted to talk to her. I couldn’t find a single photo of her with a smile. Even knowing what I did, I had still been surprised by the woman who marched herself into my home. Not just surprised—I was intrigued. I could have refused the match. My life would have been far simpler if I did, but the maniacal masochist living inside me came alive at the hint of a challenge. Crazy fucker

Maria wasn’t just complicated; she was nuts. Her one saving grace? She wasn’t a doe-eyed millennial pining for a love connection. That had been my biggest concern about the entire arrangement from the moment her father proposed a marriage to link our families. Any other Genovese girl would have been a problem. Maria, on the other hand, would be explosive in bed without the ugly entanglement of feelings—the perfect combination. And she would end up in my bed. She could call her little lap dance a demonstration if she wanted. I didn’t have to sink my fingers inside her to smell the arousal soaking her panties. She took pleasure in her demonstration, and it was all the encouragement I needed. I wasn’t sure what Enzo Genovese had been thinking when he volunteered Maria for marriage, but he couldn’t have picked a more perfect woman. Of course, he was knee-deep in a flood of problems, so maybe he hadn’t actually put all that much thought into the match. Vincenzo, known to most as Enzo, was in the process of cleaning up after his underboss, Sal Amato, had turned against him. The man Enzo had called his best friend had committed a number of unforgiveable acts in an attempt to usurp Enzo’s role as boss, including kidnapping Maria’s sister, Alessia.