Page 1 of Ruin
1
Tommy: New Year’s Eve, 10 Years Ago
Iforce myself to nod like I’m listening to whatever the fuck it is that Matti is saying, but my attention is over his shoulder, and focused on her to the exclusion of all else.
Giovanna’s long black hair is so shiny thateach strand catches and bends the illumination of light like a prism, reflecting the 47 strands of string lights strung from post to post around and across the wet rooftop. Her short white slip dress is so thin that I can see her nipples poking the fabric, which is maybe two ounces per square yard. Practically fucking tissue paper.
If she weren’t here, an event like this would be torture, a nonstop struggle to catalogue the temperature differential between the heat lamps and the weather, to manage the 31 different conversations taking place around me, to avoid eye contact with anyone. But she is here, and for that reason alone, all these other factors are quiet.
She is all I see.
She was wearing dark pink lipstick at the start of the night, but drink by drink, it faded. She must have reapplied becauseit’s bright again now, contrasting against her olive skin and white teeth that she keeps flashing in a brilliant smile, her hazel eyes sparkling.
The problem isn’t what she’s wearing or that she’s smiling. The problem is that she’s dressed like that when the rooftop is packed with Demonio family friends and associates for our New Year’s Eve gala. One hundred eighty-three people at last count, 98 of them men, 19 of those men currently stealing glances at my girl’s barely covered body.
The other problem is that she’s smiling at Tony the Hack. He shouldn’t even be here right now. We took out two men earlier today, the now former owners of Lumina & Co custom jewelry design house, and he should still be dealing with the bodies. I wish it was his body being left in a dumpster. Even though they were stealing the money my father was trying to launder through their business, I liked them much better than Tony the Motherfucking Hack.
But he’s not in a dumpster with them. He’s here. With her.
I don’t like the way his eyes keep straying to Giovanna’s tits every 12 to 13 seconds like he’s on a schedule. Like she’s wearing nothing at all. I’m about two seconds away from carving his fucking eyes out.
“You alright, man?” Matti asks, brushing a piece of confetti off his suit jacket.
Matti is my brother, four years older than I am, about the same age as my brother by birth, Vin. Even though I call Matti my brother, technically he’s not. Vin brought him to live with us when we were kids, and Aurelio let him stay.
He’s a lot quieter than Vin, though, less impulsive, less angry, so in a lot of ways I feel more comfortable talking to him about personal issues than anyone else. But I’m not in any mood to talk tonight.
I flickmy gaze in his direction and then back over his shoulder. “Fine.”
Matti raises an eyebrow as he takes a sip of his drink and turns, following my gaze behind him.
When he turns back to me, he is holding back a smirk. “Why don’t you do something about it already?”
“She’s 18,” I bite out.
I’ve wanted Gi for years, but I’m not doing the underage thing. I’m 22, and it doesn’t seem right to fuck with her when she’s just starting out on her own in college and I’m about to enter law school. She has some growing to do, and I’m not interested in parenting her. Far from it.
But there’s more to it than that, issues that complicate the equation. Her father hates our family—hates me specifically, though I’ve never understood why. My father sees her as a distraction from family business. Plus, the age gap feels bigger than four years when you factor in life experience. And then there’s the issue of what I can actually offer her in terms of a home and a life. Or more specifically, what I can’t.
Matti shrugs. “18 is 18. It’s not illegal. And isn’t she about to be 19? She’s a freshman at NYU, right?”
“It’s not about what’s legal,” I snap. “If it were, I could have fucked her when she was 17 legally.”
“So what’s holding you back then?”
I shift my gaze back to Giovanna, watching her hand settle on that asshole’s arm. The biggest thing holding me back is that I don’t have anything to offer. I’m second in line to run the Demonio family, and in this game, if you’re not first, you’re not shit.
Yeah, I’ll beconsigliereone day, and yes, I have access to my family’s money, but I don’t have anything of my ownto offer her yet. Her father is wealthy, so she’s going to have expectations. Her current lifestyle plus my future potential minus my current resources equals insufficient. I need to balance that equation before I can make her mine. Officially, at least. As far as I’m concerned, she’s been mine for a very long time.
When I don’t respond, Matti steps in close to me, both of us watching her flirt with that douchebag. “If you don’t make your move, someone else will.”
He clinks the ice in his otherwise empty glass at me and nods toward the bar, gesturing for me to follow. When I shake my head, he takes my empty seltzer bottle out of my hand, and I cross my arms over my chest and lock my stare back on Giovanna.
When Matti walks away, there’s no one standing between her and me anymore. She’d have to be wasted not to see me standing here in a wide stance, ball cap pulled down low, glaring at her.
She must not be that wasted, because she catches my eye almost immediately and smirks. Tony follows her gaze to me and grimaces, then moves so that he’s standing between us, his back to me, trying to keep her attention on him. Literal cock blocker. I hate this fucking guy.
She’s not having it though, keeping her eyes on me over his shoulder as she presses her empty glass into his chest. “Get me another drink while I go talk to my friend.”
