Page 12 of Heir of Darkness

“Let’s be honest, I don’t think Valerio could ever hate you. But if you make his father hate you, then maybe he can break the contract,” Gianna said.

“How could I make Cesare Vitali hate me?” Luna asked, frowning.

“I don’t know. Do something crazy? Destroy his things, become a burden, hook up with other guys? Become someone Cesare Vitali would never want his son with,” Gianna said.

“That sounds ridiculous,” Blair said with a scoff.

Cecilia cut in. “No, think about it. Think about your mom, Valerio’s mom—they both had clean reputations; they were essentially the perfect wives. Now, look at how you were raised. You were practically groomed for the position. You’ve never been in trouble at school or received a bad grade, you’ve never been on a date before in your life, you’ve never even had serious conflicts with people because you always resolve things right away. I mean, hell, you even stopped fighting your father when you should have been giving him hell for what he’s making you do. Anything you do outside of that would tarnish your reputation.”

Luna looked at Cecilia in complete astonishment. Everything she said was exactly on the nose and it hurt way more than it should have. From the moment she was born, she was shaped into someone who could bend to someone else’s whim. It worked in her father’s favor when Luna went down without much fight, then he could gain connections and business deals.

She couldn’t understand how Valerio was the exception. With him, it felt like she didn’t need to hold on to that version of herself that Cecilia described. She fought against him continuously, and of course it made her consider if her anger was misplaced. The harsh truth was that neither one of them was innocent.

But where Valerio had never raised a hand to her, her father did. Things like that made fighting painful, figuratively and literally.

So if her father wasn’t willing to let her out of the contract, and Valerio promised to never let her go, tarnishing her reputation and hoping it got back to her potential future father-in-law might be her only hope.

“What do you recommend I do?” Luna asked.

Blair groaned. “This is going to end in disaster.”

Gianna squealed, probably excited that she would get to see Luna live out her wild side for once. “Well, initiation weekend is coming up, but I remember some losers saying they weren’t going.”

“You know The Chase is happening this weekend,” Luna said. “I don’t want to be anywhere aroundhim.”

“Then we can go to parties that are affiliated only with the Kingsleys,” she said. “But otherwise, I fear I see a white dress in your future.”

Luna felt her internal panic set in. What choice did she really have at that point?

“Fine, we can go,” she said, giving in.

As soon as she saw the sinister smile on Gianna’s face, she almost wished she hadn’t. God save her.

SIX

LUNA

Somehow Giannaand Cecilia had managed to find a party that filled every single one of Luna’s requirements. The most important being no sign of Valerio anywhere. That was hard to do considering he was everywhere, but according to Gianna, he had too high of standards to go anywhere near a dingy, gross frat.

Still, Luna couldn’t stop herself from cringing at every sweaty body that passed by her. She couldn’t tell if it was because they were actually gross or if she was grossed out at herself for being willing to kiss anyone here. There were red Solo cups everywhere, the floor was sticky, and people were already drunk out of their minds.

“Was there seriously no other party we could have gone to?” Luna asked Cecilia.

She attempted to hold down the bottom of the dress that kept rising dangerously whenever she walked. It was shorter than she would have preferred, but as the girls pointed out, there was a mission tonight. Luna couldn’t show up in just anything, so instead she showed up in a strappy, sparkly lavender dress. The sweetheart neckline showed off her cleavage, and the dress managed to make her legs look longer than they were.

“You specifically said no party with any affiliation to the Vitalis,” Cecilia said. “I did the best I could without asking the devil.”

“Augustus will probably end up showing up anyway,” Luna pointed out.

Cecilia turned around with a glare. “Then you better hold me back so I don’t end up locked up.”

Gianna led them to the kitchen where the alcohol lined up the counters. She made them their drinks, opening a new bottle and not trusting anyone else to touch it for them.

Luna took a sip of the drink, nearly spitting it out. “Geez, did you pour the whole bottle in here?”

“Enough for liquid courage.” Gianna winked, drinking from her own cup. She tapped Luna’s cup for encouragement. “Come on, you have to be a menace tonight.”

“How am I even supposed to do this? I just go up to them and ask? And then what?” Luna asked. “I don’t know how to kiss.”

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