Chapter Eight

Aurelia

"We still need to talk about what happened tonight, topolina," Mattia says, running his hand down my arm as we cuddle in bed. "You were crying when you came back into the dining room."

I sigh softly, hating that he's so upset about this. That I upset him so much. I think this man would set the world on fire for me if I asked him to do it. That's how much he cares for me.

No. That's how much he loves me.

He loves me.

I never meant to fall for him, but I didn't have a choice, either. He made me fall. Him and his steely eyes and autocratic ways and all-consuming touch. He kissed me and stole my soul.

I don't want it back now. If it means losing him, he can keep it for eternity. I'll give up everything if it means I get to keep him.

"Did someone say something to you? Do something to you?" he asks.

"No!" I roll over to face him, lifting my gaze to his. "Of course not, Mattia. It wasn't like that at all."

He cups my cheek in his rough hand, staring at me in the dark. "Then talk to me, little mouse. What were you so upset about?"

This is the part that terrifies me. I think he might hate me if I tell him the truth about what Brio really wants from me. At least, he'd never trust me again. I know I wouldn't.

I'll never go through with it. I never had any intention of going through with it. But I don't know if there's a world in which I could ever convince Mattia or Rafe or anyone else of that if they knew the ugly truth.

Some realities are too awful, and some betrayals are too great. Just speaking them into existence plants a seed that twists and pollutes everything. That's what Brio did. Now, I'm caught in a web of deceit that I don't know how to free myself from without losing everything that matters.

So I give Mattia as much of the truth as I can, and hate myself for not being able to give him all of it. I hate Brio more.

"I felt guilty," I whisper into the dark.

"Because of what Brio wants from you," he guesses.

"Yes." It's the first time I've acknowledged out loud that Brio wants something from me. Saying it should feel like a weight lifting from me, but it doesn't. Not really. It's still so damn heavy. "Everyone was so nice, but I was lying to all of them." I sigh sadly, a pitiful puff of sound. Every day, I lie to everyone. I lie to him. I lie to myself. I just want it to stop.

"Then tell me what he wants, cara mia. Tell me what he's holding over you."

"I…can't," I choke.

A growl rumbles in his throat before he gently flips me onto my back, crawling over me. He's a thick shadow in the dark, so much bigger than I am. "One of these days, little mouse, you're going to tell me all of your secrets. When you do, I'm going to fucking kill Brio Cascella, and then I'm going to spend the next fifteen years teaching you exactly how much I hate the fucking word no when it comes from your lips." His mouth touches mine in a hard kiss.

"I'm sorry," I whimper, wrapping my body around his and clinging to him. "I want to tell you everything, Mattia. But if I do, you'll never look at me the same way again. I know you won't."

"Then you know nothing, Aurelia." His lips skim my cheek, seeking my ear. "I know more than you think I do, topolina. And I intend to learn every goddamn one of your secrets. If you don't tell me, I'll find them myself."

"Mattia, please. I'm here with you, and I'm safe. Isn't that enough?"

"No." He bites my throat. "I want the truth. I'm not going to stop until I get it, Aurelia."

I sob in frustration, clawing down his back. Of course he isn't going to stop. He's Mattia, consiglieri to the most dangerous crime family in Chicago. My family. He'll push and pull and pluck at threads until he finds exactly what he wants. And then, he'll hate me.

Exactly like Brio wants. I'm not a partner in his machinations. I'm a pawn, something expendable. And my mother is the sword hanging over my head.

"Promise me," I plead with Mattia, digging my fingers into his back. "Promise me if I tell you what he's holding over me, you won't let him win."

"You know I won't, little mouse. I'm going to fucking bury him for threatening you. I just need to know how deep to dig the hole and how much to make his death hurt first."

I hesitate for a long moment…and then I take a leap.

"He has my mom," I gasp. "She g-got sick and we couldn't afford treatment. I was desperate so I went to Rafe for help, except Brio found me. He pretended to be one of Rafe's men. I told him everything, Mattia. About my mom. That she n-needed help. He told me that he was taking me to Rafe and that Rafe would help, but he didn't take me there. He k-kidnapped me."

"Cazzo," Mattia breathes, going rigid on top of me.

"He s-said if I helped him, he'd help her. But if I didn't, he'd kill her. If I told anyone the t-truth, he'd kill her, and then he'd k-kill me." I shiver, tears leaking from my eyes.

"Where's your mom now, topolina?"

"I don't know!" I cry. "He took her somewhere. I haven't seen her in two months. When I was with him, he let me call her. But that's it." A sob catches in my throat. "I don't want to do what he wants, Mattia. I never wanted to do it. But if I don't, he's going to kill my mom, and then he's going to kill me."

"What does he want?"

"I can't…" I sob again, unwilling to tell him this part. "Please."

"Tell me, Aurelia. You have to tell me, or I can't help you, cara mia."

"His baby," I gasp. "He wants his baby, Mattia. I'm s-supposed to t-take their baby."

"Take?"

I sob, pressing my body closer to his. "In e-exchange for my mom. I b-bring him their b-baby, and I g-get my m-mom."

"What does he want with the baby?"

"I d-don't know! I don't know!" I sob, the words breaking on my lips. I never had the courage to ask him that question. The possibilities were too fucking awful. I know what kind of monster Brio is, and I know that I was never going to let him get his hands on that baby.

My mom is going to die, and I'm the one who signed her death warrant. There is no other way out of this. Not one I can live with. There never has been.

"Easy, little mouse." Mattia rolls us, dragging me into his arms as I fall apart again, sobbing until I can't breathe. He holds me through it, rocking me back and forth and murmuring to me in English and Italian. "I've got you. I'm right here. Sei al sicuro ora."

Each syllable is a shield, his arms, a fortress. As I cling to him, my tears soaking his skin, little pieces of myself begin to stitch themselves back together.

Mattia's fingers run through my hair with a gentleness that belies his iron nature. "I will find her, Aurelia. I swear to you, I'll find a way to bring your mother back to you." The pure steel in his tone leaves no room for doubt. He believes what he's saying.

And I want to believe him, too. But I don't. I can't. The wounds Brio carved into my soul are still so profoundly raw that his faith does little to soothe them.

I miss my mom.

I feel like an impostor and worse. I don't deserve this man or his protection. Since the moment he carried me out of Brio's, I've been nothing but trouble for him. And still, he's here, holding me together. Loving me. Giving me every piece of him. All I've given him in return is lies and distrust.

He deserves so much more.

"Mattia," I whisper, "I love you. I don't deserve you, but I love you."

"Cara mia," he breathes, so much tenderness in his voice another flood of tears falls down my face.

"Make love to me," I plead quietly. "Make me yours again."

"You're already mine, little mouse. Tutto mio."

But he doesn't tell me no.

With an intensity that takes my breath away, he lowers his lips to mine in a kiss that obliterates thought. It is not just a meeting of mouths but a clashing of souls.

"You are the light in my darkness," he murmurs.

I believe him. I have to believe him because nothing else makes sense anymore.

His fingers trace the curve of my hips, down to the soft flesh of my thighs. He parts them with an ease that speaks of his absolute certainty in his right to claim me.

The cool air hits my heated skin, making me shiver. And then his mouth is there, hot and demanding. He worships me with his lips and tongue.

I gasp as he eats me, clawing at the sheets, at his hair, trying to root myself to reality. His name falls from my lips like a prayer as he brings me to the brink again and again.

His touch is both a torment and a delight. He knows exactly how to drive me wild and does everything in his power to shatter me into pieces too fine to put back together again.

Only when I'm pleading, every lick making me cry out, does he finally relent.

"Look at me," he commands softly as he positions himself between my thighs.

I obey immediately, caught in the intensity of his gaze.

"Sei tutto per me." His eyes never leave mine as he enters me slowly, stretching me. It's torturous and exquisite all at once. His full lips part slightly as he watches the pleasure ripple across my face.

"Mine," he growls, each thrust deeper than the last.

"Yes. Yours."

I feel owned by him—body and soul—as he claims me over and over.

"Every inch of you," he whispers against my skin, "is a treasure I intend to cherish."

His grip on my hips is both an anchor and a catalyst, rooting me to reality and sending me reeling into oblivion.

And when he finally drives me over the edge, it's with a growl that rips through me—a sound so viscerally male and satisfied that it tears another climax from deep within me. He comes with me, spilling into me again and again as he groans my name.

We collapse together in a tangle of limbs and sheets. His chest rises and falls rapidly against mine.

"Ti amo più di ogni altra cosa," he whispers against my ear, holding me tightly to him. "I love you more than anything else, little mouse."

I melt into him, praying that this isn't some beautiful lie or dream I've convinced myself is real. That I'm not an impostor in his arms, but that, for once, I truly have found where I belong. Right here with him.

"I have something to do today, cara mia," he says over breakfast early the next morning. "And I can't take you with me."

"Oh." I glance up at him, my fork hovering near my mouth. "Um, is someone coming to babysit me?"

A tiny smirk dances at his lips. "Would you behave if they did?"

I roll my eyes at the question, refusing to dignify it with a response, which only makes his smile grow. Despite his opinion, I'm not difficult. He's simply a special case. I may not have been able to tell him the truth the last few days, but he's always had every other part of me—even the ugly, broken parts I hide from the rest of the world. But I think he knows that.

"No, topolina," he says after a moment. "No one is coming to babysit. I thought you might like a moment to yourself."

"I…" I blink at him. "You're leaving me here alone?"

"Yes." He eyes me levelly, those steely eyes boring into me. "I trust you."

"Maybe you shouldn't," I mutter, uneasy at the thought of being alone. It's been a long time—too long perhaps.

"You need time to yourself, little mouse," he says gently, almost as if reading my mind. "You haven't had that in a long time."

"What if—?"

"He won't." Those steely eyes flash deadly fire. "There will be someone watching the house to make sure you're safe."

"So I will have a babysitter."

"No. You'll have the same security every other principessa has, Aurelia. Ricci won't come inside. You won't see him at all unless you open the door and scream his name," Mattia says, laying his fork on his plate. "But we don't leave our women unprotected."

My nose scrunches. "Our women?"

He leans back in his chair, smirking again. "Jealous, topolina?"

"Nope." I bat my lashes at him as the lie rolls from my tongue. "You have women. Maybe I'll start a harem of men. We'll be one big, happy family."

He narrows his eyes on me, possessive jealousy rolling through them. He doesn't say a word as he hauls himself to his feet and stalks around the island toward me.

"What are you doing?" I ask, suddenly wary.

He doesn't answer. Instead, he hooks his foot around the bottom of my stool and drags it out. It screeches across the porcelain tile. Once I'm precisely where he wants me, he steps up in front of me, looming like a wall.

"Mattia, what are you—?"

His hand around my throat silences me.

His lips come down on mine, his kiss hard and unrelenting. Fire burns through his touch, branding me as he deepens the kiss, his dominance unmistakable. He's staking his claim on me, body and soul, his embrace fiery and possessive.

His other hand grips my hip, pulling me closer until there's no space left between us. Every nerve in my body screams, alive and electric under his control.

When he finally pulls back, he's breathing hard, and his eyes are dark and wild. "You won't have men," he growls, enunciating each word. "What you have is a jealous fucking husband who will kill anyone who touches you." His words are a fierce declaration, territorial and wild.

"Mattia," I whisper, my voice trembling not from fear, but from the desire clawing at my insides, begging for release.

"You're mine, Aurelia. I don't share."

"I know," I assure him. "I was only teasing." I glance down at my feet, feeling like a brat. "You said what you said and I…"

"Got jealous," he finishes for me.

"Yes," I admit. "I hate the thought of you with anyone else."

"Then I guess it's a good thing there won't ever be anyone else, isn't it, cara mia?" He tips my chin up, pressing his lips to mine. "It's you and me, little mouse. Until the earth chokes on my fucking bones."

"Longer," I whisper against his lips.

"Longer?" He smiles. "How about forever, topolina? Will that please you?"

"Maybe."

He chuckles and kisses me again. "Behave today. When I get home, we have something to do."

"What?"

"You're meeting your brothers."

"I already met them, Mattia."

He tips my chin up until my eyes lock with his eyes. "No, little mouse. You're meeting them as their sister. No more hiding. No more lies."

"But—"

"Brio has taken enough. It ends now, Aurelia. You're meeting your brothers."

He's right. Brio has taken enough. I'm tired of hiding. I'm tired of pretending. I'm tired of all the lies. I just want to be free. I want to get to know my brothers and love Mattia and believe that everything will work out.

It has to work out. Because if it doesn't…I'm not just going to lose my mom. I'm going to lose everything. Including Mattia. That thought is way too fucking painful to even consider.

"I'm ready," I whisper. "I'm ready to stop hiding."