39. Trilby

T rilby

I'm still walking through the rooms filled with all my stuff when I hear giddy voices making their way to the front doors. I lean out the window and see a few male members of Cristiano's staff offering their assistance, their bulging eyes set on Tess.

"Why is Trilby still here anyway?" Bambi whines.

Sera shrugs and hides a smile. "I've no idea."

She's such a bad liar.

"Lunch had better be decent." Tess. "I'm starving."

Our third sister is always starving. Eighteen years in, and I'm still at a loss as to where she puts it.

"Don't be vulgar," Allegra chastises. "We've been invited here by the don. We must always behave respectfully."

Tess goes to protest, but Allegra halts her with that glare. "And that means not eating him out of house and home."

Tess frowns.

"And one of these days, your metabolism is not going to burn through the amount you put away, dear," Allegra warns. She runs a finger up and down her own form in a rare show of self-effacement. "Case in point."

It shuts Tess up at least.

"Up here!" I call out, and four heads swivel toward me.

They forget their petty quarrels and hurry into the house.

I run out of the room and down the stairs, colliding with Sera at the bottom. She throws her arms around me and buries her face in the crook of my neck.

"I've missed you," she whispers.

" Caspita! You only saw each other yesterday." Allegra walks by as if she owns the place already.

Sera holds my face inches from her own and shakes her head. "I know it's only been one night, and I know you're just down the street, but ..." She drops her gaze to the floor and then looks up through auburn lashes. "I feel as though you're moving on, slipping away."

My brows knit. "I'd already moved into this place when Savero, well ..." I'm not sure how to refer to my relationship with my discredited, dead ex-fiancé, but it doesn't matter, because Sera places a finger over my lips.

"It feels different this time," she says in a soft voice. "This time, you want to be here."

I bite the side of my cheek. "Do I?"

"It's obvious, Trilby. You're smitten with each other."

My chest fills with a combination of dread and warmth. "How do you know?"

She laughs quietly. "Ever since he invited us to join you at the bridal gown fitting, I've watched the way you are around each other. You're like mirrors, bouncing light off each other."

"What?" My whisper is breathless. "If it was obvious to you, then ..."

The lightness in her face fades. "It was obvious to me because I care so much about you. No one else seemed to notice, but they weren't looking closely enough."

"Savero knew," I admit. "Or at least he suspected."

Sera trails her fingers down my cheek, and sympathy floods her eyes. "That explains a lot."

I force myself to smile as Bambi skips from room to room, assessing which TV to watch first. Then a thought occurs to me.

"Sera ... how did Cristiano move all my stuff in just a few hours?"

My sister can't hide her smile. "Allegra."

Cristiano has been speaking with my aunt?

"With the help of a few of his soldiers and some U-Haul trucks."

I turn around to see my aunt poised with an arched brow.

"You're not supposed to just ship my stuff out on a whim." I frown.

"Oh, Trilby," she says with a dark chuckle. "This was no whim."

"When did he talk to you?"

"A few days ago," she replies.

I'm about to say how that sounds like a whim to me, but she raises her brows.

"But I knew it was on the cards the second he showed up with half his brother's chest in a box."

I pin my lips together and dart my eyes to Sera, who turns green at the memory. I slip my arm through hers and guide her to the terrace. "Come on. I don't have you for much longer—I want to hear all about your plans for the Hamptons."

"Can I come back tomorrow with my bathing suit?" Bambi asks. The water ripples out from where her feet are dipping in the pool.

I help myself to more of the pink lemonade one of the servants placed on a table. "I can't see why not."

"I don't suppose you can click your fingers and magic up an early dinner, can you?" Tess's sunglasses glint at me from her pool lounger.

Allegra tuts from her own lounger but doesn't appear to have the energy to challenge her niece.

"We should perhaps wait for Cristiano to get back. This doesn't feel like my home yet." As I say the words, I wonder if it will ever feel like my home. It's huge and stately, and I never dreamed I'd be a "lady" of any house, let alone one of the grandest on Long Island.

Just as she's about to huff out a sigh of supposed starvation, voices echo through the house, and my chest warms at the familiar timber. When Cristiano appears on the terrace, I have to fight every urge to run to him. Instead we saunter toward each other, biting back smiles, knowing the eyes of every member of my family are watching feverishly.

I reach him and inhale deeply as he bends to press a chaste kiss to my cheek. Then his lips brush the shell of my ear.

"Fuck, I want you alone." He pulls away, taking my breath with him.

"Hi," I rasp. "Good day at the office?"

His gaze coasts over me and warms with hunger. "Would rather have been at home." He threads his fingers through mine and steps to the side.

Another figure looms large in the doorway—an older man, with thick brows, salt-and-pepper hair, and an expression too kind to be marred by Mafia blood.

"Trilby, this is Augie, my underboss."

Underboss? He looks too old to be second-in-command to the don of a highly active crime organization.

I swallow and hold out my free hand. "It's a pleasure."

Augie steps toward me, and as if to prove my judgment is impaired, he rolls up his sleeves. His arms are enormous and laced with ink. His grip is like steel, and his expression is solid, as though a world of opinions is racing around behind it, but no one would ever know.

"Trilby," he says with a smile. "I'm pleased to finally meet you."

Finally? How long has he known I exist?

More steps echo through the house, and Benito Bernadi appears behind Augie. His eyes unashamedly roam the terrace until they land on something and harden like flint. I cast a look over my shoulder to see what his gaze has settled on.

Tess is stretched out on her lounger, one knee bent, her arms resting overhead like a Hollywood starlet.

"Augie and Benny are joining us for the evening," Cristiano says, drawing my gaze back to his.

"Actually," Augie says, "I'm just going to stay for a quick bite, then I need to pay Beppe a visit."

Cristiano shoots him a questioning look.

"There's been a bit of trouble with the Marchesis, but nothing for you to worry about ... yet," Augie says.

Sera bounds over and throws her arms around Cristiano. "Congratulations!" she squeals. "Welcome to the family."

I flick my lids shyly up at my fiancé, only to see him gazing down at me with an assured smile.

"Thanks, Sera. Welcome to mine."

"Oh, um ..." My sister stutters her thanks. Clearly, she didn't consider she'd be joining the Di Santo family herself through my marriage.

"Let's sit," Cristiano says brightly.

Tess leaps up at the suggestion of imminent food and doesn't even tug down the hem of her dress. I catch Benito's discreet glance at her bare thighs and the movement of his Adam's apple as she slides onto a chair.

We tuck into grilled seafood, fresh salad, and stuffed eggplant and talk mainly about the house and the casino business Cristiano has handed to Nicolò. It's too soon for any talk of Savero or the port or our impending wedding.

Cristiano's thigh rests against mine, and his hand occasionally reaches down to graze the bare skin beneath my dress. I don't need to glance up at him to feel the force of his presence. My heart flutters permanently these days, whether he's around me or not.

On my other side, Augie turns to me every few minutes to share an anecdote from Cristiano's past, making me giggle and almost spit out my food. The more I get to know him, the more I'm thankful he's still in Cristiano's life.

"You loved Gianni, didn't you?" I ask Augie as the sky begins to darken.

He smiles. "Like a brother," he says, then he catches himself. "Like a brother should ."

I place my fork on the plate. "I wish I could have met him."

"I wish you could have too. He'd have adored you."

My chest warms at the thought.

"He certainly wouldn't have forced you down the aisle with Savero." He takes a long slug of wine.

I follow suit and sip at my lemonade.

"Poison," he mutters. "The weapon of the weak."

I place my glass down carefully. "I thought poison was known as the woman's weapon."

He brings a napkin to his lips and then looks sideways at me. "Frankly," he says, "I find that an insult to women."

I run a tongue over my teeth and grin. I like Cristiano's underboss.

He places the napkin on the table. "It's been a pleasure, Miss Castellano. And before I go, may I just say thank you?"

I peer up at him as he stands. "For what?"

"For bringing our boy home." His eyes flick in Cristiano's direction. "If it weren't for you, he wouldn't have stayed. Dead brother or no dead brother."

"That's not true," I whisper, hoping Cristiano can't hear me.

Augie leans toward me. "He is the rightful boss of this family, but he hasn't taken that role out of some sense of duty to his father. He's taken it to protect you."

I blink. "Protect me from what?"

"The only way he can guarantee no one else will come along and try to take the port from under your father is to assume the deadliest title this side of Chicago. The only way."

My mouth falls open.

"But don't misunderstand me, my love," he says with a wink. "He was born to do it."

He waits for the smile to form on my lips, then he walks around me to say a few words to Cristiano before darkening the doorway again as he leaves.

The rest of the night is filled with the sound of my sisters getting tipsy and Allegra rolling her eyes. Cristiano and Benito are locked in a conversation about things I probably don't want to know about, but every now and then, I notice Benito's gaze coasting to Tess. She's utterly oblivious, which is probably for the best. Benito is possibly one of her least favorite people in the town, though I don't quite know why.

It's almost midnight when Allegra gets unsteadily to her feet. "Our car is outside, girls," she says. "Serafina, help me carry Bambi."

My youngest sister is asleep on a sun lounger, having grown bored of the adult chat.

"I'll carry her."

We all turn to see Benito stride forward, not waiting for agreement or objection. He bends down and scoops Bambi into his arms as though she's as light as a puff of air.

"We would have managed just fine," Tess says in a tight voice.

He stops and drags his eyes over Tess. "You of all people shouldn't be settling for ‘fine.'"

Tess's brows knit together as we follow Benito through the house.

Cristiano threads his fingers through mine again and pulls me back to let everyone walk ahead. I'm drawn into the shadows under the veil of his gaze.

His lips brush mine, igniting every nerve ending. "I cannot stop thinking about you, Mrs. Di Santo."

I smile against his mouth. "I'm not your Mrs. yet."

"Maybe not on paper." He punctuates this by gripping my ass in one hand and squeezing it until I yelp. "But you are in every other way. Let's see your family out, then I'll show you exactly what I mean."

I shiver under his promise.

"Oh yeah," Cristiano whispers. "Why does your sister keep asking me what time I was born?"

I suddenly remember Sera's obsession with creating birth charts and relationship forecasts and pin my lips together to stop a smile as I shrug. "I have absolutely no idea."

We catch up with the rest of them. Tess is dragging her feet behind Benito, who has single-mindedly ploughed ahead with our little sister in his arms.

Cristiano puts a hand on Allegra's shoulder. "Thanks so much for coming, and for all your help yesterday. You must visit us again soon."

Allegra blushes like a beet and mutters something incomprehensible.

We wait for Benito to emerge empty-handed through the gates and watch as he settles a disgruntled Tess and a grateful Allegra into the waiting car, then he nods curtly and climbs into his Ferrari.

When the sound of tires has disappeared, I take a deep breath and turn to Cristiano. "What's going on with the Marchesis?" Augie mentioned a problem with them and I don't want to be kept in the dark.

His gaze softens. "I don't want you to worry about them."

"But they killed my mother, Cristiano. And I heard Augie say earlier there's been some trouble ..."

Cristiano sighs as his gaze roams my face.

"I can take it," I assure him. "I know what I'm marrying into, and I don't want you to keep secrets to protect me, especially when it comes to the Marchesis."

He clears his throat. "It turns out they too were in partnership with the cartel associates I shot at the port. They're not happy about the fact I eliminated two people who would've made them a lot of money."

My voice drops to a whisper. "Were they trafficking humans too?"

"I don't know the details." He grits his teeth. "But it wouldn't surprise me."

I take another deep breath before asking the one question I'm really afraid to know the answer to. "What's going to happen, Cristiano? Are we going to war?"

He nods slowly. I knew it, but seeing his response only makes me feel heavier.

Then a smile spreads across his face before he bites his bottom lip.

"What are you smiling at?

He chases his teeth with a swipe of his tongue. "You said ‘we.'"

"What?"

"You said, ‘Are we going to war?'"

I stand up on tiptoes and brush my lips across his. Augie's words are still fresh in my mind. Cristiano stayed to keep my family safe.

"We're in this together, Di Santo. Your war is mine too."

"Oh, Castellano." His eyelids drift shut, and he gently licks my top lip. "I will burn down the whole of New York for you."

The End.

Thank you so much for reading the first book in my Dark Hearts series - I hope you enjoyed it!

If you want more of Trilby and Cristiano, you can download the ‘hide and seek' bonus scene told from Cristiano's point of view, here .