“I need you to hear me out before we go in there, Fiore,” he started. I nodded for him to continue. “What they did was wrong-” Then he corrected himself. “I mean, what they did was misguided. But their…wish to see us together didn’t come from a malicious or controlling place. Considering who they are, it’s ridiculous to say it all came from a fanciful place to see us together, but that’s what it was. To them, as important as your mother is to all of them, it made sense in their eyes, that we should be together.”
“That doesn’t make it-”
“Luca,” he snapped, “listen to me.” I shut my mouth. “Because I’ve been in love with you my whole life, I’ve paid attention. I’ve paid attention to everything about you. Every fucking little thing.” I wanted to hear what he was saying, but it was hard to focus on anything else when he said shit like that to me. “And since I’ve been paying attention, I can tell you…” He grabbed me by my shoulders and impaled me with those black eyes of his. “…you have the power to do something no one else in this entire family can do. And that’s destroy this family.” My head jerked back, and I blinked at him in shock.
What in the actual hell?
“What are you talking about?”
His head tilted and his face softened and, Christ, he really was beautiful. “Baby, you are Ciro Mancini’s only niece. You are Phoenix Fiore’s only daughter. And you are Luca Benetti’s daughter-in-law to his heir. If you don’t forgive them, if you don’t accept this marriage-accept me fully, sides will eventually be taken, Luca. Your unhappiness will begin to weigh on Aunt Frankie, and that is something Uncle Phoenix will not let stand. If he believes you are truly unhappy, he will support you in a divorce. And you and I both know my father will never allow that. Uncle Ciro will have to take a side, and we know he’ll take yours. Your mother is more important to him than my father is.” Tears started cascading down my face, and Francisco’s hands came up to cradle my jaw. “Be mad at them for what they did, but don’t punish them beyond what they deserve, Luca. Understand the power you wield but don’t abuse it. Don’t take it for granted, and don’t treat it carelessly. You, and you alone, have the power to destroy everything we’ve built here, and that’s…everything.” His hands ran up my face and into my hair. His fists tightened, and the look on his face took my breath away. “I’ll never let you leave me, Luca. I will never grant you even one night away from me. If you ever try to leave me, you will kick off an internal war that will burn down everything and everyone in Morgan City. Because I will never, ever let you fucking go.”
“I…” I was at a loss for words. I’ve always just been Ria Fiore. I knew I had special privileges, but I never considered myself more important than any of the rest of the kids.
His eye came alive with love, lust, and possessiveness. “God, I want to fuck you up against the wall right now.” My eyes widened. “I want to fuck you until you’re screaming that you’ll never leave me.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled his head down for a kiss. It was sloppy, painful, and frantic. His hands grabbed my thighs, and he had me up against the wall, my legs wrapped around his waist. I was wearing a summer dress because my body had ached too much to wear anything formfitting, so there was no protection against him except for my pink cotton panties. The friction burned.
“Francisco…” I breathed and wished I weren’t in pain or that we weren’t at Uncle Luca’s about to face them all. “Say it again.” I wanted to believe him. I wanted him to be telling the truth when he told me he loved me and would never let me go. I wanted what I was raised to believe in: a love that mattered more than anything else in the world.
“You’re mine,” he growled against my lips. “You’re mine, and I’ll never let you go. I will burn this entire city to the ground myself before I’ll ever let that happen, baby.”
“Uh…” the sound of someone clearing their throat had me dropping my head in Francisco’s neck.
“We’ll be right there,” Francisco bit out.
No one had access to the foyer, so it could only be Dad, Uncle Luca, or Uncle Ciro. But no matter which one it was, my face flooded with embarrassment at being caught with my legs wrapped around my husband’s waist like we were about to go at it in Uncle Luca’s foyer.
“Sure, no problem,” Uncle Ciro’s voice said. “Take your time, kids.”
“We’ll be right there,” Francisco repeated, and Uncle Ciro took himself off, but not before laughing at us.
Francisco set me back down on my feet, and I just dropped my head in his chest. “I cannot go in there now,” I mumbled.
Francisco’s arms came around my body, and he held me tight. “You’re the only person who can boast of being a Mancini, Fiore, and Benetti, baby,” he teased. “Fearlessness is in your blood.”
He was right.
I looked up at him, and grinned. “Well, then…let’s do this.”
He placed a kiss on my forehead. “Let’s.”
We walked into his parents’ house, hand-in-hand, and it felt good. It felt as if some of the control I lost with my parents taking away my choice in husband was reclaimed by choosing to make the most of it rather than fight against something that I knew, ultimately, I couldn’t win.
We walked in and everyone was in the living room. My parents were seated together on the right side of the couch. Uncle Ciro was standing behind Aunt Robbie, who sat in one of the single chairs. And Uncle Luca was standing near one of the bookshelves, while Aunt Remy sat in the chair closest to the fireplace.
Francisco escorted me to the empty side of the couch, opposite my parents, and he perched himself on the armrest behind me.
The tension was thick enough to feel suffocating.
Francisco was the first to speak. “I called this meeting because I refuse to allow us all to be anything other than the family we’ve always been.” I couldn’t help the pride I felt at how commanding he sounded in a room full of hardened killers. He was speaking as if The Holy Trinity didn’t have the power to snuff him out, and they did. “However,” he continued, “I’m not the one who feels like they were wronged here. I feel like you guys put me in a difficult spot, but I take responsibility for not taking what was mine when I should have.” I felt the tip of his fingers under my chin, and when he tilted my head up to look at him, he looked down at me and said, “I’m sorry, Luca. I should have taken this situation in hand that night.” Even though our mothers didn’t know about the night I killed Trent Hendricks, the men in the room knew what he was referring to.
I just have him a tight nod and, when he let go of my chin, I turned to my mother. She looked composed, but the misery was there in her yellow eyes for anyone who was paying attention to see. And I knew my father was paying attention. “I think I’m mad at you most, Mom,” I told her, and she lifted her chin, ready to take the assault. “You left Dad, Uncle Ciro, and Uncle Luca for six years because they left you out of the loop over something you felt you deserved to know. You felt betrayed enough that you left the man you loved, the only sibling you had, and your very best friend because they didn’t tell you they were becoming official Benetti Family members, even when you knew deep down that’s what they were eventually going to become.” Her eyes watered, but no tears fell. “We all know this story like the back of our hands. And even when they went and got you, you still fought tooth and nail because you were still hurt six years later. After everything you went through, how could you do this to me? How?”
“Because I wasn’t thinking,” she admitted. “Because all I saw was how you and Francisco were special. Because I wanted you to have it all, and I knew he could give it to you when you kids got older. Because I was being selfish.” It was hard to argue with honesty. She didn’t make up excuses or plead for forgiveness. I asked a question, and she answered it with no bullshit.
I looked at my Dad. “And you?” I asked. “Didn’t you think I deserved someone who looked at me like you look at Mom?”
“You have that,” he replied equa
bly.
“Maybe,” I conceded. “But at the time you made this decision for me, you couldn’t have known that.” I looked at all of them. “None of you could have known that Benetti would have come to care about me like that.” I wasn’t ready to say he loved me because I was still wrestling with my pride and I still had doubts. “There was every chance that you were saddling me with someone who’d tolerate me at best.” My voice cracked and my heart felt like it was breaking. “How you could guys love each other so damn much but still risk my heart on some fanciful whim of yours?”
“Ria, it didn’t feel like a risk,” Aunt Remy said. “We knew Francisco held you dear to his heart early on. I’m not saying we couldn’t have gone about it a different way, but it didn’t feel like a risk.”
I looked over at my aunt, my chest heavy and hollow at the same time. “Aunt Remy, for the rest of my life, I will never know what you six have. Don’t you get that?”
Her pretty face scrunched up. “What do you mean?”
“If Benetti truly does love me, I’ll never know if it’s because he really did fall in love with me because we’re destined for each other, or if he fell in love with me because you guys guided his decisions and manipulated his emotions to believe he was supposed to,” I explained. “I will never know the absolute security in knowing that my husband loves me more than anything in the world because he can’t help himself. Every time he tells me he loves me, I’m going to have these pockets of doubt, wondering if he loves me because what we have is real, or if he loves me because it’s what was expected of him by all of you.” I wiped at the tears that escaped. “And that fucking hurts.”
My mom’s tears finally escaped, and her sob was heartfelt. “Oh, Ria…” Aunt Robbie was already in tears, and Uncle Ciro had to pull her from her chair and wrap her up in his arms. And Aunt Remy looked gutted.
“I don’t know how to watch you guys be in love with each other and not resent you for it,” I told them honestly. “So, I’m not going to apologize for being angry. And I’m not going to apologize later when I don’t want to celebrate my anniversary or go on couples’ vacations or any of that shit.”
“Saveria…” My dad stopped himself. He couldn’t continue, and I didn’t feel bad about it.
“We can’t change what’s been done,” Uncle Luca said, finally speaking. “What do you need from us now? That’s all we can give you, Luca. We can’t give you a gateway to the past, or else, believe me, I would. So, what do you need from us now?”
I looked over at the man who gave me everything. The man who made it possible for my family to have everything they had. The man who brought us all together in a way that even blood families couldn’t fathom. I looked at him and the crash hit me hard and violently.
I started crying, and it was gut-wrenching sobs I felt from my soul.
I stood up and pain radiated from every part of me. “How could you?!” I screamed at him. “You gave me your son, but you took away my ability to love someone freely and completely!” I didn’t care who I hurt with my words. I needed to purge this helpless feeling that was threatening to pull me under. “You robbed me of the very thing you hold above everything else!”
“What do you want from us, Luca?” He asked again, his voice tortured. “I will give you whatever is in my power to give you.”
I felt Francisco’s hand on my shoulder, and it burned. “Don’t touch me,” I begged, my voice razor sharp. His hand fell away as I took in my mom, my dad, Uncle Ciro, Aunt Robbie, Uncle Luca, and Aunt Remy. “I…I don’t know,” I whispered brokenly.
“We’re so sorry,” Uncle Ciro said. “We really are, Ria.”
I wiped at the tears on my face and took a few deep breaths. I really didn’t know what to do, but I hadn’t forgotten what Francisco had told me outside either. So, I gathered the courage to push my feelings aside and do the right thing. “I don’t hate you guys,” I said. “I’m hurt and saddened, but those feelings won’t be forever. I’ll heal. I’ll move on.” Aunt Robbie started crying harder and Uncle Ciro looked broken. “I’ll also honor my marriage. I won’t seek a divorce and I’ll give Benetti the wife he’s deserving of and the children that are expected of him. I won’t let this tear apart my family and I won’t let this…steal my happiness. It just might take some time.”
And then, Uncle Luca said the one thing none of us would have ever expected. “I’ll support an annulment, if that is what you wish, Luca.” Then he pointedly nodded towards the marks on my neck. “Or a divorce if that is what’s needed.”
Before I could agree or disagree, Francisco was standing in front of me, his arms wrapped around me from behind him. “Over my dead body will I allow her to divorce me,” he seethed. “I will see everyone burn in Hell before I let you guys come between me and my wife.”
Everyone froze.
Everyone except me.
I reached up and pulled on his suit jacket until he was facing me. He looked positively lethal as he said, “They’ll have to kill me before I let you go, Luca.”
I couldn’t speak. He sounded like I’d always hoped my husband would sound when faced with the choice. “Let’s go home, yeah?” I whispered.
He shook his head. “Tell them.”
I stepped around him and addressed Uncle Luca’s offer. “That won’t be necessary, Uncle Luca. Just…give me time to figure it out. That’s all I need. Can you do that?”
He gave me a terse nod. “Whatever you need.”
And what I needed most right now was to be with my husband, so we left.
Chapter 20
Francisco~
The following couple of weeks had calmed considerably. Ria had gone back to work for Uncle Sal, and I made sure to spend every night inside her in one way or the other.
When she had made the comment that she’d never be able to love me freely and completely, it had felt as if she had reached into my chest and tore out my still-beating heart. She might come to love me one day, but I’d been robbed just as she had been. My wife might love me one day, but it’d be because she was excepted to, just like she believed the same of me.
And it fucking sucked.
The only solace to be found was when I had her in my arms. The sex was passionate, frantic, and insane. We couldn’t get enough of each other, and even when she was sore and in pain, she didn’t let up. The more it hurt, the more she demanded. But I suppose pain was an easier emotion to deal with than despair.
And, regardless of whether she believed me or not, I never stopped telling her I loved her when the words danced on my tongue. I didn’t hold back, but I didn’t ask for something she wasn’t ready to give either. I could wait. After all, we were in this for life.
Then there were her daily meetings with my father. He called on her every single day, and they were working their shit out. She still treated everyone rather coolly, but she was coming around. A couple of times I caught her crying after a meeting with my dad, but I let her be. Ria had to sort out her feelings for herself. None of us could do that for her.
I walked into the house and I heard voices coming from the game room. When I walked in, Cira was sitting on top of the pool table, Mattia was lounging on the love seat, and my wife was sitting on one of the bar stools. They each had a drink in their hands.
“Party?” Mattia smiled at me, while my sister side-eyed me. Ria just smirked. I walked over to her, and after placing a kiss on her forehead, I grabbed her glass and drank what was left of it. If my sister was here, I was going to need it.
“I didn’t realize you were the flashy type,” Cira said, nodding towards my hand with the glass in it.
“Hi, Cira,” I drawled out. “It’s good to see you. How have you been?”
She didn’t let up. But then, she was evil. “Since when do Benetti men wear wedding rings?”
Cira wasn’t wrong. None of the Benetti men from the Made Men on up wore wedding rings. It was dangerous. If our enemies realized we had someone of that kind of value, they’d surely try to f
ind a way to use it against us.
While Mom, Aunt Frankie, Aunt Robbie, and Ria all had wedding sets with tracker in the engravement of their bands, Dad had Mom’s name tattooed across the back of his entire left hand, Uncle Phoenix had a tattoo of a church with an F as its steeple on the inside of his ring finger, and Uncle Ciro had Aunt Robbie’s name tattooed in elaborate script down the inside of his ring finger. With a lot of us tatted up, the meaning of our tattoos was easy to camouflage. Even Uncle Sal and Uncle Leo had gone the tattoo route in lieu of wedding bands.
I was breaking away from tradition.
Oh, I had Ria’s initials tattooed on the inside of my ring finger, but I wore a wedding ring too. I made the decision a few days ago when I had to go to The Sapphire for Uncle Ciro. My biggest regret was using The Sapphire to satisfy my needs while waiting on Saveria. I was going to have to conduct business there for Uncle Ciro whenever he needed me to, and there was no way to avoid the mistakes I’ve made there. Ria befriending Jessica, even if it had been for only that night, was a souring reminder of something that never should have happened.
When I had left the meeting with Uncle Ciro, I had gone straight to the jewelry shop where I had purchased Ria’s wedding rings and found a ring that matched her set. The jeweler had sized it for me immediately, and I had gone straight to Dad’s and told him I had one and why I was going to wear it. Considering how Ria felt about our marriage, he thought it was a good idea. Besides, even if someone could get to me, Ria had a sea of family and protectors to make sure no one came near her. She’d always be protected no matter what happened to me.
The only disappointing thing about it all was Saveria hadn’t said a word when she saw it on my finger. It had made all the different in the world to me to be wearing it, but it hadn’t fazed her a bit.
The Vatican: (Standalone) (The Holy Trinity Series Book 5) Page 11
