Chapter Two

Aurelia

I drift toward the surface, fighting against the darkness clawing at the edges of my mind. It threatens to drag me back under, but I refuse to let it. An urgent need to stay awake beats at me, though I can't remember why it's so important. Everything is fuzzy and scrambled.

What happened?

I search the depths of my mind, trying to remember. All I manage to pull forward is a deep voice and steely gray eyes.

A delicious scent tickles my nose—rich and decadent. It's familiar, soothing and exciting at the same time.

It reminds me of…

I'm not going to hurt you, cara mia.

There was a man in my room. A strikingly beautiful, intimidating man with gray eyes and a possessive touch.

My heart pounds at the reminder, fear striking through me like a gong.

I lay completely still, trying to get a sense of my surroundings, but nothing feels familiar. I'm not in my pretty cage at Brio's, I know that much. I'm not in a room at all. The vibration of the road beneath me is too obvious. I'm in a vehicle, going…somewhere.

Where?

I frantically search my mind, trying to remember.

Why can't I remember?

"Rafe is going to lose his fucking mind, Mattia."

Mattia.

I know that name. He said it to me.

Memory floods in like the sea. The man in my room was Mattia Agostino, Rafe Valentino's consiglieri. My brothers came for me…exactly like Brio said they would.

"I'm aware," Mattia murmurs to his friend.

My heart stalls as his chest vibrates beneath my ear.

He's holding me.

Heat shoots through me like a rocket, even though it shouldn't. It's an instinctive, unwelcome reaction. I don't want to enjoy the thought of being in his arms. I don't want to enjoy the thought of this man at all.

But part of me does anyway.

Good job, Aurelia. Out of the pan and into the freaking fire.

I fight to keep my breathing steady and my body lax so he doesn't know that I'm awake and listening. He drugged me. He doesn't get to know that I'm listening to every word he and his friend say.

"It's the best plan we have, Coda."

Coda. The other man must be Coda Passero, one of Rafe's captains.

"It's a shit plan," Coda mutters. "When Rafe finds out, you'll pay with your life."

"If that's the price I pay to protect this family, then that's the price," Mattia says. "The judge will meet us at the house to do what needs to be done." His hand drifts over my arm. "But this conversation is over. She's awake."

My heart slams against my ribcage again. How did he know?

"You can open your eyes, topolina . I know you're listening."

My eyes spring open, landing on his face. With it obscured in the passing shadows, his smile is almost sinister. But there's something soft in his eyes.

"You drugged me," I accuse. My voice is thick and uncoordinated.

"I did." He doesn't sound sorry. "It'll wear off soon enough. You'll be fine, Aurelia. I didn't give you much. Just enough to ensure we could get you out of there safely."

"Told you I didn't want to go." I sound like a petulant child, but I don't really care at the moment. He drugged me. I think I'm allowed.

Besides, he has no idea what he's done or who I am or what he's dealing with. He didn't rescue me. He did exactly what Brio wanted him to do. Now, thanks to him, I'm supposed to betray the brothers I don't know in the worst way imaginable to save my mother. If I don't, Brio is going to kill her. If I tell Rafe the truth, Brio will kill her. If I do anything other than what Brio wants, he'll kill her.

At least while I was there, I knew she was safe. Now, her life is in his hands. And mine is in Rafe Valentino's. And there's nothing I can do about it. All because this man couldn't just walk away and leave me there like I asked.

"Brio Cascella isn't the kind of man you should be living with, Aurelia," Mattia says, his voice firm and unyielding.

"And you are?" I scowl daggers at him. "He never drugged me, Mattia. You did."

"He'll use you against your family."

A bitter laugh breaks from my lips, tears welling in my eyes. I know exactly what kind of monster Brio Cascella is, but I can't let Mattia know that. "You mean the family that never wanted me? Some family."

" Cazzo ," he growls, his tone flat. "They didn't know about you."

"Vincent Valentino knew about me. He just didn't care." As soon as he found out my mom was pregnant with me, he fired her. He showed up a few weeks later and wrote her a check to make sure that she stayed gone. He was dead before I was born.

I've heard enough stories about the man to know it wasn't a great loss. But I've always wondered about my brothers. I've spent my whole life reading about them in the papers and seeing them in magazines. Nico is an astrophysicist. Rafe, Gabriel, and Luca run the entire city.

I've always ached to know them, but it wasn't in the cards for me. My mom spent my whole life hiding me in their shadows, ensuring our paths never crossed.

When I was little, I used to pretend that I was a princess and I had to hide so monsters didn't take me away to some scary fairyland. I turned it into a big game.

Eventually, the charm wore off, and I realized that I'm not a princess and this isn't a game. My mom didn't hide me because it was fun. She hid me from their enemies because even if they didn't want me, their enemies would still use me to hurt them.

She should have fled the city with me years ago, but I think she was afraid of what they would do to her if they ever found out she ran with me. So she stayed and kept me hidden instead—chained to a city that would kill me and brothers who didn't know I existed.

"Your brothers didn't know."

I squeeze my eyes closed, blocking him out…mostly because he's right. My mom never told them about me to protect me. And maybe to protect them too.

I thought about meeting Nico once about a year ago. I even showed up on campus where he teaches to do it. But halfway to his office, I saw someone reading the paper. He and Rafe were plastered across the front of it at some big charity event together.

I turned and ran.

I never worked up the nerve to try again.

If she hadn't gotten sick, I'd still be hiding now. But things didn't work out that way. She got sick, and I went running to Rafe for help.

Instead, Brio found me. I was naive enough to let him convince me that he was one of Rafe's men. I willingly walked into his trap, and I've been stuck like a rat in a cage ever since.

Now, if I don't do what he wants me to do, he's going to kill the one person in this world who has always put me first. And the absolute worst part is living with the terror that I'm going to be the reason she dies. Because I can't do what Brio wants. I won't do it.

Mattia Agostino should have left me there. So long as I was there, my mom was safe. I had a chance of finding a different way out of this mess.

It's too late for that now.

It's far, far too late.

But I can't even tell Mattia that. My mom means nothing to him. Neither do I. His loyalty is to my brothers. My mom and I are acceptable casualties. Just like always when men like this make war.

"Why were you with Brio, cara mia ?" Mattia asks, his hand drifting down my arm again. "Talk to me. I can help you."

I flick my gaze up to his, searching his expression in the passing lights, not sure what I'm looking for. Some hint of what he wants from me, perhaps. Some hint of who he is or why he looks at me the way he does. I don't know. He's a mystery—a dangerous man loyal to my brothers.

One who makes my blood sing.

He's so damn beautiful. His gaze is soft, but there's steel underneath. Those gray eyes hold secrets I can't begin to fathom…but part of me wants to learn each and every one of them anyway.

His dark hair is shot through with strands of gray that soften him, even though there is nothing soft about him. There's a cold ferocity about him that's captivating. He's deadly and demanding, used to being obeyed without question. He knows how to wield power and command respect without saying a word.

But can I trust him? Should I?

"I don't want your help," I finally mutter, not sure who I'm trying to convince—him or myself.

His only response is a smile. His eyes never leave mine. His gaze is like being trapped in quicksand—the more I struggle, the deeper I sink. It's a mystery how he can be so enthralling and threatening at the same time.

"You'll change your mind, topolina ," he murmurs, finally pulling his gaze from mine.

The way he says it—so cool and confident, as if he doesn't doubt himself at all, sends a shiver through me.

What does he know that I don't?

Half an hour later, I find out.

Coda pulls up outside of a small mansion on the opposite side of the city from Brio's and parks. I stare up at the dark stone facade, trembling. Brio's mansion was designed with beauty in mind. Not this one.

The dark stone is weathered and rough, giving it a sinister appearance. Curtains are pulled shut over the tall windows as if to keep the outside world at bay, but lights flicker within, casting eerie shadows on the marble steps leading up to the entrance. It's quiet and old, as enigmatic as the man who carried me out of Brio's.

"Welcome home, principessa ," he murmurs, sliding from the SUV with me still in his arms.

The way the words slip from his lips like a promise sends a shiver through me.

"This isn't my home, Mattia," I say, hating the way my voice shakes.

"It is for now."

I glower at him…only to get sidetracked by the stately, older man standing in the shadows of the entrance, his hands shoved in his pockets.

"It's not too late to change your mind," Coda mutters, climbing from the SUV.

Mattia grunts in response before striding straight toward the man waiting on the steps.

"I can walk."

"Good to know." He tightens his grip on me before his voice hardens. "Abernathy, I hope you weren't waiting long."

"Just arrived, Agostino," the older man says, his gaze drifting over me before he glances back at Mattia, wary. "Passero said this was urgent."

"Yes. The wedding can't wait."

I go rigid in Mattia's arms, my heart slamming against my ribcage. He can't be serious.

"I'm not marrying you," I hiss at him.

He flicks a look down at me, his steely eyes unfathomable. "My bride finds herself in need of urgent protection. If she doesn't take my name, she might not survive."

My soul quivers in terror as I stare up at him, our gazes tangled in a silent battle of wills.

Is he threatening to kill me if I don't marry him? Would he do it? Is he really capable of that kind of cruelty?

I don't know. I think he's a complicated man capable of incredible cruelty if pushed into it. But I don't think he'd hurt me. I'm not sure what makes me so certain. Call it instinct or intuition or pure madness, perhaps. But I see the truth lingering deep in his eyes. I feel it deep in my stomach. He wouldn't hurt me.

He…likes me.

The anger I've been clinging to since he drugged me begins to slip away. For the first time all night, I let myself imagine what it would be like to be his—what it'd feel like to have his lips on mine and his hands on my body. To feel his weight on top of me. To be his in every sense of the word.

Desire bubbles up hard and fast, sweeping through me like a hurricane. It strikes like lightning deep in my core, melting resistance, turning me weak and needy.

I've never asked for anything, and I've never wanted anyone, but I want this man. God help me, but I do.

" Cara mia ," he breathes, his thumb brushing along my lower lip as if he senses exactly how I feel. As if he feels the same way.

I whimper, trembling against him, caught in some painful tangle of emotions I don't know how to explain. I've never dated. I've never known what it's like to be touched by a man or even kissed by one. My whole life has been spent in the shadows of this man's world, not part of it, but not separate either.

Now, I'm in the thick of it, and it's nothing like I imagined it would be. In his arms, it doesn't feel dark and violent and overwhelming. I feel…painfully alive for the first time ever. It hurts and doesn't hurt enough.

What's happening to me?

"Mattia."

"Fuck," he mutters as if he understands exactly what I feel. Maybe he does. His eyes are dark and predatory, hungry. "Give us ten minutes."

I think he's talking to me, but before I can even process the way his lips shape the words, he's storming up the steps with me in his arms, past Abernathy, and into the house. He moves with grace, carrying me past the living room and down a dark hall.

Furniture slips by in blurs. But all I see is the clench of Mattia's jaw and the intensity in his eyes.

He storms into an office, slamming the door behind us.

"You shouldn't look at me that way, cara mia ," he growls, tipping my chin up until my eyes meet his.

"W-what way?"

"Like I'm your savior."

"What are you then, Mattia?" I ask, desperate to understand something about this man, anything at all.

"In ten minutes, I'll be your husband." His eyes eat me alive. So gray. So beautiful. "You'll belong to me in every way."

"W-will you belong to me too?"

" Dio ."

"Will you?"

"Are you asking if my cock will belong to you, Aurelia?" He brushes his thumb along my bottom lip. "My body?"

I moan.

"Do you want to hear me say that you'll be the only one who touches me, cara mia ?" He dips his head, his lips a mere breath from mine. "That I'll kill anyone who tries to come between us?"

"Mattia."

"That I'll keep you so full of cock and cum that no one else could ever possibly hope to compete?" His hand sinks into my hair. "What is it you want to hear, topolina ?"

"Please," I plead, burning up with a fever I've never felt before now. "Please, Mattia."

"Ah," he breathes, those gray eyes flickering across my face. "You don't want to hear it at all, do you, little mouse? You want this."

His mouth crashes down on mine, consuming and demanding. His tongue sweeps inside, flirting and fighting with mine in a dance that leaves me reeling. I moan into the brutal kiss. He swallows the sound like a starving man.

"Mattia," I breathe against his lips. My hands move of their own accord, sliding over his broad shoulders and down his rock-hard back. The feel of him under my fingertips is intoxicating. He's pure power wrapped in skin and muscle. "Please."

His response is immediate and maddening. He shoves me up against the wall, pinning my hands above my head. There's no room to breathe, no space for thoughts or words or anything but him.

"You're mine," he growls against my throat, nipping at the sensitive skin there. "Say it."

A shiver tears through me at the ruthless command in his voice. It's a terrifying confirmation of what I think may have been true since he stepped into my room tonight—I've been his since the moment he laid eyes on me.

A swift knock on the door jars us apart, but his grip on me doesn't loosen an inch.

"Time's up," Coda calls from outside. "Abernathy is getting antsy."

"Say it, Aurelia."

"Y-yours," I whisper.

Mattia takes a step back. His steely eyes run over me, his expression hot and wild as he reaches out to touch my cheek. "You'll have my loyalty, cara mia . I'll belong only to you."

He means it. If I marry him, I'll have his loyalty. But how loyal can he be when his loyalty is to my brothers, first and foremost? I may be able to trust him not to cheat on me, but can I trust him with the truth?

"I…"

Coda knocks again.

Mattia mutters a curse. "Give us a minute, Coda! We're on the way out."

"Will do, Boss."

Mattia glances back at me. "Did you have something to say, topolina ?"

I quickly shake my head, remaining silent. For now, it's the best option. Because whether he knows it or not, my life is in danger right now. Once Rafe knows what Brio sent me here to do, he'll kill me. But if I'm Mattia's wife…maybe that'll change things. Maybe it'll spare me.

Or, at the very least, maybe it'll give me time to find a way out of this. One that doesn't end with me losing everything that matters.