Empire (Eagle Elite Book 7) (6 page)

Pissed that he was bringing up something that was real in front of a complete stranger I jerked away and muttered, “Bathroom?”

The woman pointed down the hall. I made a beeline around the table heaped with food, careful to keep my eyes averted lest anyone actually recognize that they were the same as Nixon’s, as the Abandonato boss, as the one family who had basically crushed any dreams the Alferos had of being the leaders of the Cosa Nostra.

Hell, they’d probably shit themselves if they knew who they’d just invited into their home.

The Abandonatos and Alferos in Chicago had buried the hatchet a year ago.

But something told me the Alferos in New York were still fixating on a mistake that had happened long ago, when a family turned against itself and blamed the easiest target — the Alferos.

They were powerful — but they’d never recovered.

After going down a maze like hallway with doors on both sides, I finally found the bathroom and was just about to knock on the door when it swung open.

A girl about the age of eighteen let out a little gasp. “You.”

“Me?” I frowned. “I’m sorry, I don’t believe we know each other.”

As if horrified, she took a step back then placed her hands against her cheeks, it did nothing to hide the red tinging the outer corners of her sharp cheekbones. On second thought, she looked older than eighteen.

And then it hit me.

It was my turn to take a step backward.

“Valentina,” I whispered her name as fresh pain sliced through my entire body causing every single muscle to tense with anxiety. “You’re Valentina.”

The one that was meant for me.

The girl who, months ago, I would have married, had it not been for Andi. Not that Valentina was even aware of her father’s matchmaking. But that was what the mafia was built on, power, power, and more power.

She looked different than the pictures.

Older.

Andi’s words haunted me. “
You’ll love her, Sergio
.” I tensed even more, my fingers digging into the door frame. “
She needs you… needs you to push her. She loves reading
.” Andi’s voice died in my head.

Just like in real life.

And I was struck with such resentment that the only reaction I was capable of… was anger. “Are you going to move?”

Valentina jumped a bit, her hands clasping in front of her as if she was afraid to touch me. Then, with a slow nod, she moved out of the way. It wasn’t until she left that I was able to breathe again.

But when I did.

I really wish I hadn’t.

She smelled…

Exactly like Andi.

Jack shall have Jill;

Nought shall go ill:

The man shall have his mare again, and all shall be well. —A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Valentina

TEARS OF EMBARRASSMENT
stung the back of my eyelids, making it impossible to see straight as I ran away from one of the most dangerous and sexy men I’d ever encountered in my life.

He’d been perfect.

Until he opened his mouth and basically demanded I move.

I’d never actually been spoken to that way before. Did that make me soft? Or maybe just stupid. Maybe I was so ridiculously sheltered that I couldn’t go to the bank by myself, and I stared at complete strangers with such rapture that I basically blocked them from being able to take care of a basic human function.

Ugh… more embarrassment came as I cringed and slowly unclenched my hands. My nails had made actual imprints into my palms.

He was just a guy.

A really good looking guy. So gorgeous that, when he made his entrance into the party, I’d nearly stumbled backward into the dessert table.

He came in with the same man from the bar.

Both of them were of the same transfixing beauty. One was older, rougher, while the other was probably in his late twenties, with haunting dark circles beneath his eyes and a strong jaw. I couldn’t even comprehend how a man could appear so beautiful yet so masculine at the same time.

Full lips had pressed into a hard stare as he silently dared anyone to say something to him. And he didn’t march into the room, he seemed to glide, as if he owned the entire house, as if the house was no longer a house but a castle and us his servants.

Had someone bowed I would have thought he really was royalty.

It was unfortunate he was so rude.

Then again, I had been blocking the way. Oh no! I stomped my foot. Had he been talking to me that whole time and had I done the whole stare off into space thing that I often did when Dante talked to me? Bad enough that I’d escaped to the bathroom to add more perfume, perfume one of my best friends had gifted me with before basically disappearing out of my life forever. That’s so not what I needed to be fixating on.

“Shoot,” I grumbled then started basically tearing off my thumbnail with my teeth.

“Bella,” Nico said in a heavily accented voice. It was the first time that night I’d actually heard him before I smelled him, so either he’d showered or I was becoming immune to his scent. A shudder rippled through me. That couldn’t be a good sign. The last thing I needed was to be used to his musk. “You look so stressed! You should be celebrating with me!” He let out a low chuckle then, kid you not, licked his forefinger and thumb and patted down his own eyebrows.

Was he for real?

His suit was black velvet; he wore a red tie.

I wanted to strangle him with it.

He was the reason I had been hiding in the bathroom in the first place. I’d seen the two men enter, and he was as transfixed as everyone else, so I’d quickly bolted as fast as I could to the nearest bathroom, only to remember, as I was halfway out the window, that my uncles would be sorely disappointed in my behavior, even if all of this was really their fault. Then my eyes had fallen to the perfume, and a hair tie, the rest was history.

“Nico,” I said his name curtly, like I was ready to give him the speech, when all of a sudden he looked behind him, then backed me up into the corner and tried to kiss me.

I wasn’t tall, not by any means, so when I shoved him, it only made him chuckle and try to kiss me again.

Wanting to puke, I tried turning my head as his lips landed on my neck.

“I knew you would be so soft.” He licked me. The bastard licked me!

I was just getting ready to knee him in the balls as a total last resort when I heard a throat clear.

Nico backed away.

And the same guy, who I’d just embarrassed myself in front of, took a step forward.

“I don’t think she wants you to kiss her,” the man said in a very calm, yet coolly detached voice that had me wondering if he even had a heart in that chest or just a soulless box that collected dust.

“But she does,” Nico argued.

“She doesn’t,” I argued right back. “You were hurting me, and I don’t even know you!”

“We are to marry!” he announced loudly.

“Oh, dear God, save me,” I moaned. “What’s my middle name?”

Nico appeared perplexed. “We do not need to know such things to make babies.”

“Joyce,” the man next to me whispered. “It’s Joyce.”

“Who are you again?” Nico demanded to know as he puffed up his chest, it only made him look more stupid, if that was even possible.

The gorgeous man smirked. That was the only flash of amusement I saw before he put an arm around my body and said in a completely lucid voice. “I’m her fiancé.”

I nearly choked on my tongue as Nico sputtered and thumped his chest. “I am her fiancé!”

Something flashed in the guy’s eyes as he reached for Nico’s jacket and, literally, lifted him two feet off the ground then slammed him into the nearest wall, a few pictures crashed against the floor, glass went everywhere. “And now, you’re leaving. Touch her again, and I’ll reach into your weaselly little chest and pluck out your ribs. One… by…one.”

When Nico was released, he tugged on his jacket and pretended he didn’t look frightened. “We’ll see about that.”

He marched off.

Leaving me with a clearly angry and slightly insane stranger. Didn’t matter if he was gorgeous, he’d just claimed me as his fiancée, and he knew my middle name.

“Hah, know my social security number too?” I joked out loud to break the tension.

He didn’t even flinch when he said. “Why? Did you forget it?”

I laughed nervously and backed away. “I get it. You have one of those dry senses of humor or something like that?”

Still. Nothing. Though his lips did twitch a bit.

“A man of many words.”

This time he let out a low chuckle. “I’m more of an action kinda guy.”

No, he was more like perfect.

To look at that is.

Not one flaw.

Not even a scar.

Nothing.

How was that even possible? Especially if he was as violent as he appeared to be.

The letter I’d just read drifted into my consciousness, what were the odds?

“So.” Suddenly chilled, maybe from the shock of all the violence, I rubbed my arms. “Thanks for the save. I guess I’ll get a broom so I can clean up all the glass.”

“I’ll do it,” he said, swiftly walking by me. Then he paused, his shoulders tense. “Stay here.”

I wasn’t stupid enough to argue. He had just lifted a guy into the air like he was a toothpick.

When he returned he quickly swept up the glass into the dustpan, and then went back toward the bathroom, I’m guessing to dump the contents.

“Sorry about the pictures.” He lifted the worst of the two and frowned as another picture fell to the ground, one that had been behind the main picture.

“Hmm, that’s weird.” I bent down and picked it up and stared into the face of a vaguely familiar man. He was holding two small infants and smiling.

Memories flickered as if someone had turned on a movie, but before I could conjure up anything, the man ripped the picture out of my hand.

“Hey!” I reached for them.

He shook his head. “Your uncles will want to re-frame them. We have no idea how old they are. Imagine what a shame it would be if they were ruined.”

I guessed he was right, but still, how important could it be if it was hidden?

“Some of the most important treasures are ones we haven’t yet discovered,” he said in a whisper.

“So.” Something about him was definitely off. “Who are you?”

This time he did smile. “Your fiancé.”

I laughed. “No, seriously.”

He tilted his head as his eyes slowly inspected me from head to toe. “You’re extremely young.”

“And you’re rude, and, it appears you have an anger problem.”

“Hah!” He burst out laughing. “Valentina, you have no idea.”

“Val,” I corrected. “Everyone calls me Val.”

“And who’s everyone?” He held out his arm, so I looped my hand through it and walked with him back into the main room.

“My twin brother, my three uncles, all my nonexistent friends…” I leaned in and whispered. “My goldfish…”

His lips did that sexy twitching thing again, and then he turned his ice blue eyes in my direction. “You don’t seem like a goldfish type of girl.”

“Fine, I don’t even have a goldfish, but if I did.”

“He’d be a lucky fish.” He smiled, his straight white teeth were almost blinding in their impact. Geez, he shouldn’t flash those things around. Maybe that’s why he didn’t smile. He was afraid women would simply give up on life and fall at his feet in worship. His unruly hair kissed the back of his neck.

It should look ridiculous.

Instead, it looked hot.

I really needed to stop reading so much and actually find a boyfriend, or even just a man who wasn’t family.

Ugh, my lameness had never been so clear.

“What’s your name?” I asked. I needed a quick subject change so I didn’t suddenly fall into his arms and beg for a kiss or do something equally as embarrassing.

“Sergio.” His tone changed from warm to chilly, and then when I looked into the eyes of Papi, Sal, and Gio, I knew exactly why.

They’d blocked the way into the main room.

They looked ready to kill.

Who was this guy?

And why were my uncles so mad?

Of course, they’d always been fiercely protective, but this seemed like something more.

“So.” Gio’s voice was hard. “You have finally come to claim them? After all this time?”

Them? Who was them? Confused, I frowned and looked to Papi. He was reaching inside his suit jacket, probably for another hanky, while Sal stood straighter as if he hadn’t just been hunching over.

As if they’d just turned into transformers of the human variety, every single one of my uncles stood to full height and glared. What the heck was going on? They’d never appeared so… dangerous.

“Val,” Sal said in a clear angry voice. “Get your brother.”

“No need,” Dante said from behind me, and then I was shoved behind him and out of Sergio’s reach, as his muscled hand thrust me backward. “I heard there was something going on.”

“Guys,” I said in a pleading voice. “It’s an engagement party, have you all lost your minds? Besides, Sergio saved me from getting groped by Nico!”

All the men’s heads turned toward me, including Sergio’s. His face was a mask of complete indifference. I would have expected him to look smug, but instead, I couldn’t read him at all. Clear blue eyes blinked at me slowly. Geez, he really was attractive.