CHAPTER SIXTEEN

GIANNA

T here are so many things I want to ask Braxton right now, but I've learned it's wise to keep my thoughts to myself in this family.

You can't trust anyone in this world.

Not my world.

I sometimes wonder if anyone is honest.

Yet, as I lay here in Braxton's arms, I feel my eyes prickle with emotion, wanting him to be someone I could trust. To hear him say that I am a woman he could love.

Even if I know it's not real.

As if I needed reminding, even after talking to Mama today, my darling brother joined me at the pool today.

"Hello, sister," Dante said as he sat in one of the wicker seats near my sun lounger.

"Hello, brother," I replied, dropping my book on my chest. "Shouldn't you be out doing mafia business?"

He didn't answer, simply tipped his head back as I watched him soak up the sun on his face. I silently snickered at his black suit and shirt. His shiny shoes.

It was hardly suntanning attire.

"Why don't you relax for once? Get your swim shorts on and jump in the pool. Let loose. Have fun," I said.

Like we used to when we were kids.

We rarely sit and chat anymore. Not that what we'd had could even be classed as a conversation. We'd barely said hello to one another.

Dante seemed perpetually pissed off at me these days.

Despite wearing sunglasses, I could feel his angry eyes on me.

"Fun? Is that a fucking joke?" He ground out. "I have to work so you can lie about being a beautiful mafia princess living the good life. You think this is fun?"

My mouth had dropped open. "No. I didn't mean it like that."

"How did you mean it, Gianna? Am I boring you? Sorry, sister." He stood.

"Dante, stop." I swung my legs over my lounger and dropped the book. "Are you okay?"

I watched as he let out a long, held-in breath. Taking a step closer, I lay a hand on his arm, but he nudged it away.

"Tell me," I said softly.

My brother is half a foot taller than I am, so when his eyes dropped to mine sharply and he lifted his sunglasses, I had to lift my face. When I did, I got hit with a blast of his pain.

"Adelina is engaged."

Oh, god.

Heartbreak and fury whirled in his dark eyes.

"I'm sorry." I put my hand back on his arm as Dante nodded and looked out across the yard.

I know how much he loved her. She may not have returned his affections—although I was sure Adelina returned them at one point—but Dante always told anyone who would listen that she was his.

I'm going to marry Adelina Baldoni.

I have heard that speech a thousand times since we were little.

"No, you are not," Papa told him one day. "Gianna is marrying Leo. It's inappropriate to have you both marry in the same family. I will not have it. Find another girl."

"I don't like Leo. Dante can marry Adelina," I said when I was only ten.

I thought I was being helpful.

I wanted to see my brother happy. He'd already fake proposed to the Baldoni princess at least twenty times as we were growing up.

"That's not up to you," Mama replied that day. "The decision was made long ago. You will marry Leo."

It's true. We've always known our fates. I'm twenty-five and Dante is twenty-eight. I'm surprised I haven't been married to him sooner.

I'm sure there is a reason, but what do I know? We're all just pawns in their little games. Our lives mapped out for business and to strengthen the families.

"Let's talk to Papa. We're adults. They can't force us," I say, thinking the world has changed and surely there is another way.

Suddenly the emotion in Dante's gaze vanishes and the coldness I've come to know in my brother returns.

"You will be married to Leo before the end of the year. Get prepared, Gia. Nothing can change this. It is the way it has to be."

I know.

I know this. But do we have to accept it?

"You will be don one day. Can't you do something?" My voice raised.

Dante turned to face me and took me by the shoulders, gripping hard. "Don't you think if I could fucking change this, I would? All of it!"

I gasped.

I'd never heard him say anything like that before.

"What are you saying?"

He released me and shook his head. "Nothing. Nothing. Fuck."

I kept staring at him in shock.

"Keep your mouth closed, Gia. Don't do anything stupid. And..." He glanced away and rubbed a hand over his mouth. "Don't get attached to Braxton."

I wrapped my arms around myself and nodded. "So everyone keeps telling me."

Dante watched me for a long moment, as if he wanted to say more, but couldn't. So I took a chance and whispered, "I want things to be different, too."

I didn't know how he would react.

Hell, he could have dragged me to my father's office.

So when he stepped up to me and embraced me, whispering in Italian, I closed my eyes, feeling like I had my loving brother back for the first time in many years.

Then he released me and walked away.

When I glanced up at the house, Papa was standing in the window of his office staring down. I watched for a long moment and, while he was far enough away, and I couldn't see his expression, I could sense he wasn't happy.

Why?

What is going on between him and Dante? Does he question his loyalty and commitment to becoming the next Baldassare don?

Should he?

For years I'd watched my brother change and distance himself from me. I thought it was because he was being immersed in the family business. He knows things I'll never be privy to—despite what I said to Braxton—and thought it had forged a distance between us.

I watched as Dante walked away, sad that he would never be with Adelina. It was inevitable, but that doesn't make it easier.

I wonder if that saying it's better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all is true? Surely, it's better to have loved and been able to be together. And if you never love, then you don't know pain or loss.

Who made that dumb saying?

Yes, I know Leo is the man I am meant to marry, but unlike Dante, I never wanted anyone else—or maybe I never allowed myself to fall in love knowing I couldn't—so the news hasn't hit me so hard.

I'm sure when our engagement is announced, I'll care more. Today, Dante grieves the woman he loves, and I am sad for him.

I hope Papa gives him some space.

So, as I lay in Braxton's arms, I'm reminded that I have no place wishing for love. From him or another man.

Leo and I have no chemistry, nor anything to say to one another. He is a womanizer, hard, and rumored to be a cruel future don.

I imagine how I'll feel after making love to Leo.

God.

It's going to be worse than ever now. I've experienced how it feels to be with a man...not any man...with Braxton.

Suddenly I wonder what he would do if he knew about Leo Baldoni. If he knew I was promised to another man and that it is not just a possibility, but inevitable.

And soon.

I have a few months left, that is all.

"What would you do if another man touched me?" I circle the tattoos on his chest.

"Kill them," Braxton answers without hesitation.

"How?" I lift my eyes and lock them with his.

He pulls me on top of him and I rest my chin on my hand, gazing into his gorgeous face.

"How would you like me to kill them?" He smirks.

"Who said I want them to die?"

Braxton smacks my ass and slides me down so I can feel his cock getting thick again.

"Don't tell me you don't like the idea of a man getting all bloody for you. Or slicing the throat of someone who has no right to touch you," he rasps.

Jesus.

I didn't know that I wanted that, but I might.

Images of Braxton holding a knife to Leo's throat is... yeah, that's hot as hell.

"Have you killed before?" I ask, eagerly pressing down on the head of his cock, but he holds me an inch from it.

Damn him.

"Yes." His answer is quick and sure. I don't doubt it at all.

"For a woman?"

"No," Braxton says, and the head of his cock slips inside, making me gasp. Then he pulls out. "Never for a woman."

I'm going to die if he doesn't let me have his cock again and as I moan and push down, I wonder if he's playing or distracting me.

"So, you wouldn't really, then," I say, my voice thick with need.

"Don't test me, Gianna," Braxton growls. "I might."

Our mouths are inches away, his lips wet and eyes wild.

"What is this?" I ask, my heart thumping loudly.

"Insane, that's what it is," Braxton replies, suddenly pushing my body down and impaling me on his cock. "Fucking insane."

I cry out as all of him fills me and pleasure consumes me.

My knees pull up and as I ride his thick hard member, Braxton cups my breasts, thumbs my nipples, and juts his hips to go deeper.

"Good girl. Feel my cock thick inside you," he says as I bounce and grind. "You fuck so good, Gianna."

I fall forward, palming his pecs as I feel my g-spot rub against him. "Brax, oh god."

"Does that make your cunt happy?"

Oh yes, it so does.

"Oh god, oh god." I cry as he takes my hips and speeds up the momentum. When I clench around him, my next orgasm almost there, Braxton locks his eyes with mine and I can't look away.

Rich consuming intensity connects us in a way I've never experienced before. A rush of something so foreign flows over me like an invisible sheet. I feel like we've left this plane of existence, and our souls are one.

God.

He terrifies me.

When my body contracts and I feel the heat of his semen filling me, Braxton pulls my mouth to his and lets go. Our orgasms explode and meld together, bonding us as my heart lets more of him in.

I can't stop it.

This man takes and takes and takes.

I am powerless to stop him.

This is not just fucking. This is more. And I'm not sure either of us wants it.

I'm not sure that I don't.

I may dream of living a different life, but I don't know how it would be possible. I don't want to marry Leo. I don't want to lose my family.

Surely there is more. Surely there is a way.

And what if it's with Braxton?

What if this man could love me and save me?