Page 15 of Damiano De Luca (The Five Syndicates)
Nothing about this felt like living on my own terms.
Don’t tell me of deception; a lie is a lie, whether it be a lie to the eye or a lie to the ear.
Samuel Johnson
“Impetuous” had never been the word to describe me. I had dethroned my father with careful planning and only a dash of outside help. It had taken years and more patience than most possessed, but I’d done it, and I’d done it well.
So, my reaction to Ren’s presence bewildered me. I spent the church ceremony boring holes into the back of her head with my eyes when I should have focused on the mystery of Ariana De Luca.
The burial at the cemetery had been spent studying everything that had changed since Ren left. The developed curves. The provocative disposition. The all-knowing upward tilt of her lips. That goddamned ring on her finger.
By the time the Romanos laid Vincent to rest, bad decisions pushed themselves to the forefront of my mind. I stood at the peak of the hill, Ariana walking away to my right and Ren slipping into her car on my left.
The right decision—the obvious decision—would be to turn right. To pursue Ariana and elicit answers. To put the De Luca organization before my unyielding heart.
I didn’t make the right decision.
Swerving left, I took five long steps to Ren’s town car and slid into the back seat beside her. The divider rolled downward, and a gun pointed at my face. I ignored it, steadying my eyes on the siren that, somewhere along the line, had replaced the girl with the sweats and messy bun.
She kept her eyes on the row of headstones out the window. “Yes?”
“Call off your lapdog, Princess.”
Her driver cocked the gun.
Ren’s lips curved up. “Is this role reversal? Did you find a new kink? You’re playing the Vitali, and I’m the subservient De Luca?”
Bitterness undermined her classical beauty and did nothing for me. Her insult brushed past me as I considered the agitation hidden beneath her façade. I’d done nothing wrong. All those years ago, she’d been the one to overreact. She’d been the one to threaten me. She’d been the one to leave.
She didn’t deserve an ounce of my sympathy.
Yet, I was tempted to give it to her anyway.
I leaned forward, and her lapdog waved his gun. I turned my head and pressed it against the silencer’s muzzle. “If you’re going to point a gun at me, use it.” The front sight brushed against my forehead, and the smell of Cheetos dust wafted from his finger situated on the trigger.
He retreated a millimeter, and I dipped left into Ren’s side, seizing the opportunity to unarm him. The gun went off, and the bullet pierced the window beside me before I snatched it from his grip.
His eyes grew as I released the magazine, and it plopped onto my lap. “Miss Vitali—”
Miss?
“You’re fine, Samford.” She met my eyes as he faced forward. “This will only take a few minutes.” Her eyes shifted to the shattered window. “Seriously?”
“Untrained dogs are the worst, aren’t they?” My gaze never wavered from Samford’s through the rearview mirror, even as my peripheral caught Romano, Camerino, Andretti, and Rossi soldiers approaching the car with their guns drawn.
“I don’t have time for this.” Her words were ice, but she leaned into me without realizing it, and I knew she was still hot for me. At least that hadn’t changed. It reminded me of before. Before we’d fallen in love, even. Back when we hated one another but still felt the lust that would never leave us alone.
“Somewhere better to be?” I faced her and struggled to process the frost in her eyes. “Why are you here, Princess?”
“Knight. Or Renata. Never princess.”
I’d never figured out why that nickname bothered her so much. That, in turn, bothered me. Back then, I wanted to unravel the mysteries that were Renata Vitali. Nowadays, I’d settle for an apology because, fuck, I deserved one.
I bellowed a laugh. “Knights don’t run away when things get tough.”
“That’s not what I did.”
“Sure.” Dissociative amnesia affected… what? Five percent of the population? Ren had always been the type to be in the minority. “You left, and it made no sense, and now you’re mad at me. That’s what happened.”
