Page 20 of Heir of Darkness

“No time,” he told her. They continued speeding down the streets, passing right by the campus cafe.

Luna’s eyes widened. “Where the hell are you taking me?”

Dante looked at her from the rearview mirror. “What you did yesterday was fucked up.”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, and forcing me into a marriage isn’t?”

She recognized the road they were driving down immediately. The neatly cut lawns, intricately shaped bushes, and the large, gated fence. They were at the Vitali mansion. Why did they come here? She couldn’t face Valerio, especially after the dream she had. Her body was still coming down from that high. “I’m not getting out of this car, so you might as well just drive me back home.”

Dante pulled up at the front door. Both him and Allister turned around to look at her. She crossed her arms, trying to cover how uncomfortable she was under their scrutiny.

“What do you think Valerio was doing for those seven years he was gone?” Allister asked.

Disgust filled Luna. She didn’t want to think about all the gross things he was doing out there, catching any and all diseases he could. “I don’t care.”

“Nothing,” Dante answered. “He did absolutely nothing because he promised himself to you.”

“He’s really pathetic if he made you guys pick me up just to lie to my face,” she said. “I don’t care what he’s done with anyone. It’s not my business, just like whatever I do isn’t any of your business.”

“You’re marrying him. What you do is his business,” Allister said. “And what you did last night was low.”

Luna narrowed her eyes in rage. “What I did was low? Do you even hear yourselves? He shot someone in the legs!”

“We didn’t say he was normal,” Dante said, shrugging. “He cut himself off from any fun in life, too busy plotting how to rule the world and staying loyal to your contract. The least you could do is the same.”

“You know he cares about you,” Allister said. “I don’t know why he would damn himself to marriage, but either way he chose it.”

“Well, I didn’t,” Luna spit out. “I don’t owe any of you a single thing, especially not him.”

“You should be grateful, considering the alternative. He’s willing to live a life of misery with you just because he’s in fucking love with you.” Dante spared her no sympathy, speaking his mind regardless of the fact Luna was ready to break down into tears. “He’s my brother, so that means I look out for him. If it was up to me, you would have had a bullet in your head for that stunt. Next time you hurt him, I won’t be so forgiving.”

Luna could only stare back at him. They all had reputations, but Dante was always thought to be the careless, fun one. That had to be a lie because the man that sat in front of her seemed just as lethal as his brother. It was a whole family of unforgiving souls.

“Is that a threat?” she asked.

“No, no threats. It’s a promise,” he said. “I want to like you, Luna. Don’t ruin that.”

She clenched her jaw hard, begging herself to not let the tears fall. At least not in front of them. She wouldn’t let them see her weakness, not now and not ever. “Protect your brother all you want; I don’t care. But remember, I am a Kingsley and if you everthreaten me again, you’ll wake up with a fucking army at your door.”

With that, she got out of the car, slamming the door behind her. She didn’t have anywhere to go, except inside the house. Gianna was home, but she was likely still sleeping. For now though, her room would be the safest place.

Luna let herself into the house, the front door thankfully unlocked.

She needed to go somewhere to cry. After she cried, then she could call someone to pick her up. Her driver or her brother. Whoever—it didn’t matter. The lump in her throat was suffocating and her eyes burned with unshed tears. She couldn’t even pinpoint why she wanted to cry so bad. Was it because she was threatened or because no one cared about the situation she was in? Why was she being punished for almost kissing a boy, but no one else was suffering for all of their actions?

That had to be what it was. Frustration. She was so frustrated that every action, every word, every movement she made was being judged and scrutinized. Every day, more and more, the small freedoms she enjoyed in her life were being ripped from her hands.

There was one place where she needed to go. The place she would sneak out into during sleepovers when she couldn’t sleep.

She walked through the kitchen, hurrying to make her way to the backyard where a gazebo stood, surrounded by wildflowers. They were beginning to lose their petals, but still, their colors blended seamlessly, creating a picturesque scene.

She sat down on the small bench inside of the gazebo, looking out into the flowers. The sob tore through her throat before she could swallow it down. The next one followed after and then another one. She gasped and choked on her tears, but they wouldn’t stop.

She must have been cursed. That was the only explanation. Maybe Valerio was a better option, but she never got an option. She was human; it was natural for her to fight when she was trapped. The minute she stopped fighting and gave into the marriage was the minute she lost herself. She saw what happened to her mother, what happened to countless numbers of women she met at galas and balls. They became a shell of a person, stuck in an endless cycle of infidelity and violence. There wasn’t real love in their world; it didn’t exist. Maybe she was naive for still believing in it and yearning for it, but what was the alternative?

She didn’t want that life for herself. She didn’t want the wars, and the violence, and the targets on their backs, never having anyone to turn to. That was her own personal nightmare.

She wanted to go on dates and fall in love. She wanted the option to break up if the relationship didn’t work out or to take it to the next level if it did.

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