Chapter 15

What a fucking mess.

The lights of Palermo shifted and sparkled as I viewed them through the swirling amber liquid in my glass. Lowering my drink, I took a large sip, relishing the whiskeys burn.

My head fell back onto the lounger as I propped my bare feet up on the boat railing. After changing into a loose-fitting white linen shirt and beige slacks, I had made my way to the upper deck, needing solitude.

The water gently lapped at my boat's hull, only muted snippets of conversation heard over the still waters as families and couples walked along the promenade nearby. Gone were the rowdy music, the flashing lights, and orgy bonfires of a few nights ago.

Like a cloak of sackcloth over a sinner, the solemnity of Lent had descended over the city.

The quiet, somber tone suited my guilty, reflective mood.

I kissed her.

Dammit, I kissed her.

My fiancée's sister. Her freaking twin sister at that.

While I didn't necessarily have the moral high ground over my promiscuous future bride, I had at least been committed to being faithful and demanding the same from her.

Technically, we were barely even engaged, and it was clear the bride objected to the union, but that was no excuse.

I rubbed my eyes. Her sister. Why did I have to kiss her sister?

The answer was dangerous. Too dangerous to even contemplate.

I wanted Ella. It was that simple, and that complicated.

The report I had on Ella emphasized her shyness. The reports were wrong.

She wasn't shy. She was oppressed. Between the crass personality of her father and the brassy one of Antonia, Ella was surrounded by brutish behavior and noise. No wonder she retreated into herself and her music.

It made a man want to swoop in and rescue her.

But this was no fucking fairy tale. She wasn't a trapped princess and I sure as fuck wasn't her knight in shining armor. This was real life, with deadly consequences.

"I need a cocktail immediately!"

I turned to see Aunt Gabriella, resplendent in head-to-toe Chanel resort attire, waltzing toward me.

Rising, I approached her. "Aunt Gabbie, what are you doing here?"

She rolled her eyes. "I really hate your father for teaching you to call me that as a child."

I smirked as I gave her a kiss on each cheek. "You know he does it out of love."

Her gold bangles rattled as she gave my arm a squeeze. "Where is the bar? I need a drink."

I crossed to the black marble-topped bar at the other end of the deck lounge and reached for the sterling silver cocktail shaker. "Not that I'm not thrilled to see you, but what the fuck are you doing here?"

After slipping her silk scarf, on point with its gold anchors floating on nautical navy blue, from around her throat, she gestured to the liquor bottles. "Vodka, dear. I never drink gin after noon. Make me a dirty martini. You know how I like it. Seriously shaken and absolutely filthy."

I hid a smile as I reached for the Belvedere bottle. We all knew how Aunt Gabbie preferred her cocktails. It was one of the first things she taught me and my cousins the moment we were old enough to be trusted not to drop the glass liquor bottles.

As I shook the cocktail shaker, I repeated. "Aunt Gabbie? Why are you here?"

Before she could respond, Dr. Pantona came huffing up the deck stairs. He took a barstool, reaching into his linen blazer for a handkerchief and mopping his brow while he glared at Gabriella. "You could have waited for me!"

She patted his hand. "My apologies, darling. I was eager to see my nephew."

Strictly speaking, I was her nephew-in-law. Typically, the sister of an uncle's dead wife didn't have a close relationship with the extended family, but that was not the case with Aunt Gabbie.

I placed the dirty martini in front of her with a clink, then nodded at the good doctor. "What's your poison?"

It seemed playing bartender was the only way I was going to get answers.

Dr. Pantona stuffed his handkerchief in his blazer front pocket and said, "I'll take a Tarocco Spritz."

I leaned on the bar top. "Do I look like I have blood orange juice behind here?"

A light flick of her wrist sent Aunt Gabbies bracelets jangling as she reached for her cocktail. "He'll take an Amarena Spritz instead."

Dr. Pantona frowned. "What is in that?"

She raised her martini glass to her lips and paused. "You'll like it. It's not a proper drink. It has cherries in it."

After measuring the balsamic vinegar and spiking the brandied cherries on a cocktail pick, I measured out the Carpano Bianco and Punt E Mes. I tossed them both over ice and finished with prosecco and soda water before sliding the glass in front of him.

I then refreshed my simple drink of ridiculously expensive whiskey and followed them to the lounge chairs overlooking Palermos harbor.

Before I could sit, Alfonso appeared.

"For fucks sake, Aunt Gabbie! How many more do you have in your entourage?"

Aunt Gabbie pressed her hand to her chest. "It's not my fault! He insisted!"

Alfonso headed straight to the bar and grabbed himself a beer. Twisting off the top, he tossed it in the trash can as he took a swig before smiling. "I did. She wasn't going anywhere near this place without me."

Aunt Gabbie rolled her eyes again. "Stuff and nonsense, Palermo is perfectly safe… now. It's not the eighties anymore." She swept her arm over the harbor. "There are pasty tourists walking all about."

I hooked my foot around the leg of the nearest lounger and pulled it closer to her before sitting on the end. "Aunt Gabbie, I need you to listen closely. Sicily is not safe for you right now."

She patted my cheek. "Darling, I'm a rich and beautiful woman. Everywhere is safe for me."

Alfonso choked on the sip of beer he had been taking when she spoke. While I rolled my neck to ease the tension from the fast-moving migraine her incredibly na?ve words were causing.

I tried again. "Our family is in a very dangerous position between two powerful factions of the Agnello syndicate. If Dante doesn't hold on to his power, there is a risk of retaliation against us for Salvatores assassination."

She pinched the metal cocktail pick between her fingers and tapped it against the rim of her glass before pulling the plump olive off it with her teeth. "And what has that to do with me? I'm a De Luca, if you recall."

She may not share our name, but she was a Cavalieri through and through and the de facto matriarch of our unruly clan.

"Nice try."

She shrugged. "I had to come and save you from a terrible mistake."

The burn from the swallow of whiskey I took was not enough to deal with this. "The only way Dante stays in power is with Antonius's support, and we don't get that without this… favor."

"Favor? Is that what the kids are calling it nowadays?"

"Aunt Gabbie…"

"Fine. If you are determined to ruin your life, the least you can do is make sure it's a long one."

My brow wrinkled.

She tilted her head in Dr. Pantona's direction. The man was currently asleep against his lounger, his untouched drink tipping at a dangerous angle in his hand. "It's why I brought the doctor. This girl has a… reputation."

I leaned back, already uncomfortable with where this was going.

She pointed at me. "As do you, so I'm not playing favorites. You both need to get blood tests before any marital relations. We should also be assured the girl isn't knocked up."

Well, this just kept getting worse and worse. "Knocked up? Really?"

"Don't tell me it hasn't occurred to you that is why they are in such a hurry to shackle this girl to you and ship her across the country to Abruzzo?"

I couldn't lie. The thought had occurred to me. After all, there were ways to get a subtle message to the capos she was toying with to keep it in their pants and back off without forcing her into a marriage with me.

I looked over at Alfonso, who was resting his forearms on the railing as he admired the view.

He cast a look at me over his shoulder. "Don't look at me. I'm just the driver."

Just the driver. Sure. And Aunt Gabbie was just the unrelated aunt.

"The situation is very delicate right now. I don't think I should cause any waves by insisting on a blood test."

Her eyes narrowed. "What did you do?"

I broke eye contact as I raised my glass. "What makes you think I did anything?"

"All my experiences with your gender. Now spill."

I cast a glance over at Dr. Pantona and Alfonso.

Alfonso turned and stretched his arms. "I'm going to get all her luggage."

She turned. "Don't think I didn't catch the inflected tone."

He winked at her. "I'd be disappointed if you didn't."

Alfonso tapped on the doctor's shoulder to rouse him, and they both left us alone.

Aunt Gabbie quirked a brow over the rim of her martini as she finished it.

Taking her glass, I crossed back to the bar.

She followed. "Quit stalling."

Stuffing ice into the shaker, I let out a frustrated sigh before blurting out, "I kissed her sister."

Aunt Gabbie threw her head back and laughed.

My jaw clenched. "It isn't funny."

She waved her hand in front of her as if catching her breath from all her laughter. "I disagree."

"Dammit, Aunt Gabbie. I'm in a real mess here."

Covering her lips to stifle her chuckles, she nodded. "So why the sister and not the bride?"

I cleared my throat. "I kissed Antonia too."

Kissed and fucked her with the handle of a riding crop before shoving my cock down her throat. But my aunt didn't need to know the details.

She bent forward over the bar and rested her forehead on her hands, bursting into laughter again.

Her martini sloshed over the rim as I slammed it down in front of her. "I'm not telling you any more."

"Okay, I promise I'll be serious. So you kissed them both. Any chance you mistook one for the other? They are twins."

I shook my head. "Not a chance in hell. Ella is sweetly innocent and intelligent, with a surprisingly sarcastic wit. Antonia is loud and bold and over the top in every way, from her behavior to how she dresses."

"Any chance you could convince the father to give you Ella instead of Antonia?"

"This isn't a market stand in the piazza, Aunt Gabbie. I can't just switch out my purchase. Besides, as I've explained, there are reasons why it needs to be Antonia."

She lifted her martini as she winked at me. "Her whorish ways."

I rubbed my eyes as the migraine moved to my temples. "Please don't refer to my future bride as a whore." Even if she was one.

"There is no shame in it, darling. Only men have an issue with womens sexuality. Besides, if a rake can be reformed with marriage, why not a whore?"

"You're not helping. I need to tell Antonia that I kissed Ella."

"Are you insane? That is the last thing you should do."

"It's the right thing to do. I don't want a marriage built on lies."

"It's the stupid thing to do. Besides, you're marrying for all the wrong reasons as it is. One more won't hurt."

When I didn't respond, she reached over the bar and laid her hand over mine. "Are you sure that is why you want to tell her?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

She patted my hand, her gold bangles jangling again. "I'm just saying it would be a clever way of ruining everyone's marriage plans if you pissed off the bride by kissing her sister."

Fuck.

Could that be the real reason I kissed Ella?

After all, despite our issues, Id had an amazing connection with Antonia the night before. It hadn't escaped my notice that she seemed to be a completely different person when I got her alone, away from her father's and other men's influence.

The moment we were alone, she seemed to drop the brassy, over-sexualized attitude and was as unaffected and innocent-seeming as her sister.

Was it possible that while Ella hid inside of herself behind a wall of shyness, Antonia reacted to her surroundings by putting on a promiscuous show, like her father seemed to enjoy? It hadn't escaped my notice how her father seemed to encourage his men to admire his two poor daughters as if they were trophies on his mantle.

That must be it.

The innocent demeanor I witnessed the other night with Antonia was not an act like I assumed. She must be closer to her sister Ella's sweet personality in real life, when away from corrupting influences or trying to please her father.

And if that was true, then most of the rumors about her behavior must be false.

"Aunt Gabbie, you are a genius."

"Of course I am, darling. But why?"

"They are twins. Twins!"

"And?"

"Don't you get it? The sisters are not opposites after all. They are the same! It explains everything. Why I kissed Ella. Why I had a connection with Antonia on the boat, but not at dinner last night. Why her personality seems to keep changing. Everything."

"If you say so, dear."

The tightness in my chest eased.

This arranged marriage might be off to a shit start, but at least I finally saw a light at the end of the tunnel. Once I got Antonia out of Sicily and away from her father, her true nature would come out.

My future bride would be as sweetly innocent and charming as her sister, Ella.