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I catch his arm and pull him around to face me. “After you’re married, you’re going to make her so angry with your coldness that she will want to leave you. What then? Am I going to be taking Rieta out on apology dates for you? Buying her birthday presents because I know what she likes and you don’t? Am I going to fuck her for you and father your children?”
Luca points a finger at me, malice flickering in his eyes. “You will not lay a finger on my property. I’m the one who has to sleep with Rieta, and I will do that knowing that another man hasn’t defiled her first.”
My expression doesn’t flicker as I remember how Rieta looked spread out on my desk, taking my cock.
I knock Luca’s hand out of my face.Hasto sleep with her, like it’s a chore or something he’s dreading? He should be dreaming about that moment.
“I’m the public face of Nero Lombardi,” he says with finality. “You stand at the altar on the wedding day if you’re so concerned about her making precious memories, but I’m the one who needs a wife. End of discussion.”
I’ve never seen a morebeautiful sight than Rieta walking down the aisle toward me. The church is filled with delicate white daisies with yellow hearts, and Rieta carries a bouquet of the same flowers. There’s a daisy in my buttonhole. This is the day she wanted.
And she’s what I want.
My bride is wearing a lace veil that’s so thick I can’t see her face. I’m holding my breath as she reaches me, and I grasp the lace and pull it back. Rieta’s smile hits me like sunshine, warming me through.
I told myself I wanted the perfect wedding day for her, but I was lying to myself. I’m doing this for us. As Rieta speaks her vows, gazing up at me with sparkling eyes, I know I’m never going to be able to let her go. My life and identity are tangled with Luca’s, but we’ll figure something out. Rieta will accept the fact that her husband is actually two men, and one of them is in love with her. I’ll move into Luca’s home, and Rieta and I will share a bedroom and live as husband and wife.
It makes perfect sense to me. I just have to convince Luca.
I don’t know most of the guests at my wedding, but it’s not much of a problem. I happily accept anyone and everyone’s congratulations when they approach me and my bride. If a suited man I don’t know asks me a question I don’t understand, I flash him a smile and say,Hey, it’s my wedding day,and move on.
Rieta and I dance together. We kiss. We feed each other wedding cake. Before I’m ready for our shared happiness to be over, it’s nearing ten p.m., and my bride is upset.
She points out a man among the guests who she tells me was charged with child sex abuse. Twice. My bride is rightfully panicking that he’s at our wedding around so many children. I promise to get him out of there, but at the same time, this is goodbye. Only for now, but it still hurts.
Out of nowhere, a sense of foreboding sweeps over me. What if it’s forever? Was today too happy? Have I been entertaining fantasies that will inevitably be crushed? Luca has always been strict to the point of paranoia about no one finding out about our shared identity, and I’ve been happy to go along with that, until now.
I pull Rieta into my arms and kiss her. I’m not saying goodbye. I’m going to leave her for a short while so I can speak to my brother, and then I’ll return to her side.
“I will always be yours,” I whisper, meaning those words with every drop of blood in my body and every beat of my heart.
Rieta is bewildered by my strange behavior, but I haven’t got time to explain. I need to get Shields out of here, and then I have to talk to my brother.
I approach the man that Rieta pointed out. “Shields.” I jerk my head to the side, indicating that I want to have a word in private. He leaves the men he was speaking with and approaches me with a smile. “Time to go.”
The smile dies on his face, and he gives me an indignant look. “What? Why?”
“You know why. My wife recognized you. I don’t want a scene, so let’s just walk out together.”
Shields fumes silently, but his respect for Nero Lombardi convinces him to do as he’s told, and we leave the reception together. I’ll have a word with Luca about dropping this creep from his associates, but first I’m curious to know how much he’s willing to share about his court cases with “Nero.”
“Do me a favor, can you drop me somewhere?” I ask as we’re leaving the hotel and heading toward the car lot.
“You kick me out of your wedding and then you ask for a lift?”
“You owe me,” I say meaningfully, staring him down. I’m bluffing. I have no idea what the relationship is between Luca and this man.
“Sure. Whatever.” He unlocks a Mercedes and gestures for me to get in.
“Where can I take you?” he asks.
“My office.”
“On your wedding day? No rest for the wicked, I suppose.” Expelling Shields from my wedding seems to be playing on hismind still, and he huffs, “I don’t see why I had to leave. Those cases were thrown out of court.”
“You were making people uncomfortable. My bride wanted you away from the children.”
There’s a short silence, and then Shields laughs. Something about that laugh makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. I wish I knew what was in the news reports Rieta was talking about. “What’s so funny?”
