Filed to story: Bound by Honor (Aria & Luca) Drama Story
No revealing dress would convince Luca to love me again. It didn’t work like that.
Sandro picked Gianna and me up in the mansion and took us to New York, where we met with Luca and Matteo in the garage of our apartment. Luca was dressed in a sleek black suit, accentuating his broad shoulders and narrow waist.
He didn’t bat an eye when he saw me in my dress. His face was stone, and his eyes froze my insides with their coldness. Without a word, I got into the passenger seat of his car. We drove in silence toward the Parker town house.
Before we got out, Luca turned to me but his eyes held no warmth. “We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves, so we will act civil.” He raised his eyebrows in silent question and I gave a nod.
Luca got out and opened my door. I braced myself for what would happen but the moment Luca’s palm touched my naked back, every muscle in my body sprang to life with need and longing.
Luca’s fingers tensed against my skin, and I looked up but found his face completely blank. He led me toward the house without a word or glance.
Gianna and Matteo were already there, drinking champagne and talking. They seemed to be getting along better again, or perhaps they were being civil in public like Luca and me.
Luca led me toward them and dropped his hand the moment we arrived. “I will get us something to drink.” He didn’t wait for my reply and left.
Gianna scowled at his back before she gave me an encouraging smile. I tried to give her a smile in return, but her brows drew together. She stepped closer and gripped my arm. “Aria, don’t let him win. Don’t give him that power over you,” she whispered harshly.
I nodded and put on my public mask, head held high. Luca didn’t return and when I scanned the room, I found him in conversation with Senator Parker. That’s when I saw her. Grace Parker. Tall, gorgeous and dressed in a tight jumpsuit that left little to the imagination. She was alone, no English husband in sight. I remembered when I’d caught him with her, remembered the feeling of disappointment and sorrow, and I hadn’t even loved him back then.
Luca spotted her about the same time as I did, and his eyes didn’t move on from her. Was that how he wanted to punish me?
“He wouldn’t dare,” Gianna hissed.
Matteo’s reply came through the fog in my ears. “He won’t.”
Grace stepped up to Luca with a sexy smile, and Luca smirked. I remembered that look from the photos I’d seen of him in his bachelor days-like a man who knew what he had to offer and who took what women offered him.
My stomach constricted so hard, sickness washed over me. I turned on my heel and hurried into the bathroom at the end of the corridor. I barely managed to close the door and reach the toilet before I threw up, retching violently until nothing was left in my stomach. Beads of sweat coated my forehead. I reached for the flush with trembling fingers.
Gianna’s soft knock sounded a few moments later. “Aria, let me in.”
I faced the mirror and touched my stomach.
“Aria, please let me help you.”
She couldn’t help me. This was a battle I had to fight alone because it was a fight against my heart.
Luca’s words from weeks ago flashed in my mind: We are done.
Yes, we were.
LUCA
Grace circled me like a vulture. She’d married some old fucker with millions in his bank account, but now she eye-fucked me like she’d done in the past.
“Have you gotten bored of your wife already? I told you she couldn’t satisfy you.”
“Don’t talk about her,” I said in warning. She seemed to have forgotten my warning from last time.
Matteo raised his eyebrows at me from across the room. I didn’t see Aria or Gianna anywhere, and I was fucking glad. Aria in that almost white dress, like a fucking apparition, a fucking angel.
A weakness.
“I’m not here to talk, don’t worry,” she purred. My eyes were drawn to her cleavage.
“What are you here for then?” I asked with a curl of my lip.
“To fuck.” She smiled. “Come on, Luca.”
I followed a few steps behind her, my eyes on her ass in that joke of a jumpsuit. She led me into her old bedroom, a room I had good memories of.
Grace closed the door and turned to me, licking her red lips. “Oh, I missed having your cock in me, Luca,” she crooned as she stepped up to me and leaned in to kiss me.
“No kissing,” I growled, glaring down at her. She pouted but didn’t try again. I had never liked kissing her, now less than ever.
Her long nails raked down my chest, then lower. I had to fight the urge to shove her hand away. I wasn’t hard yet, not even close. Her touch actually fucking disgusted me.
Confusion flickered on her face, then a daring smile. “Playing hard to get?”
“One of us has to,” I muttered, hating her and hating myself.
She flushed but didn’t let my harshness deter her. She got on her knees, making an innocent face. It looked fucking fake. And it had the opposite effect on me than she intended. I remembered Aria’s innocent smiles, her innocent touches as I’d made her mine.