Page 136 of Matteo
“Don’t fuckingbuddyme. Your son better not touch a single hair on Arianna’s head or I’ll tear him into pieces.”
“Nico!” Bianca’s brow furrowed as she watched me like I’d lost my mind.
“Too late, buddy. I think the two of them are pretty set on each other.”
“Arianna. Doesn’t. Want. Him.” My molars were about to grind to dust.
“I’m pretty sure she does,” Luciano deadpanned. “Might as well accept it.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Grace murmured.
“Nico, don’t,” my wife warned.
“Why don’t they ever serve fucking popcorn at these things?” Sasha asked, his tone serious.
Everyone’s words registered like a faraway noise, all my focus on Luciano. “If anything, fuckinganythinghappens to either one of my daughters, there isn’t a corner on this earth that Matteo can hide where I won’t find him.”
“Maybe if you’d listened to my son instead of catering to Hannah’s every whim, we wouldn’t be in this mess, worrying that our children were being snatched and having their organs harvested.”
Bianca paled. Grace froze. Gasps from the Nikolaevs echoed.
“Nico,” my wife whispered. “What is he talking about?”
Luciano’s eyes darkened to almost black forest pools, his posture stiff. “Don’t tell me you didn’t share with your wife that her half brother’s bastard is scouting this earth and auctioning off our children’s organs?”
The buzz of the chatter around the lawn faded into tense silence, or maybe it was that my ears rang so loud I couldn’t hear shit.
All I could see was that fucking smirk on Luciano’s face.
“Make no mistake, Nico, my sonwillfind Arianna. And this time, he won’t be asking for permission to marry her, because she’s already his.”
My fist collided with his jaw, a burn traveling through my knuckles, but at least his smirk was gone.
Luciano only let out a sardonic breath, holding my gaze with dark amusement. He swiped a hand over his mouth, then turned around and left.
Grace said something to Bianca, but I couldn’t hear a goddamned word.
All I could hear was the thunder of my own heart and feel the loathing for the Vitale men.
The fuckers wanted annihilation? I’d offer it on a silver platter.
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
ARIANNA
Ididn’t want Matteo.
I didn’t want his attention. I didn’t want his eyes on me, watching my every move, even in broad daylight. I didn’t want his obsession.
At least that’s what I’d told myself every morning I woke up and every night before I fell asleep for the past two weeks, hoping my feelings for him would die.
Yet, I couldn’t help feeling like my soul was caught in the icy grip of winter whenever I thought of him. Nor could I ignore my body’s traitorous response to his proximity.
He knew it. And so did I.
After learning what Hannah had done, I’d had enough. Returning to my dorm, shell-shocked, I found a single note on my bed scribbled in her unmistakable handwriting.
The words cut. Yes, we’d faced hardships over the years, but we’d always stuck together. Always.
