Luca POV
The more Nina continued her rampage, the more I felt like putting my hands on her shoulders and shaking her until she shut the hell up. She was making the headache which had plagued me from the moment I had joined Eliana in the SUV infinitely worse.
“Enough, Nina. I understand your concerns, but this is a business deal, not romantically linked at all,” I told her firmly, slumping down on the plush sofa at the foot of the king sized bed.
“But she is your mate, you cannot tell me you won’t get your heart involved and neglect all that we have worked toward,” she threw back as she headed to the sideboard and poured a splash of brandy into a glass with ice before she handed it to me.
I gratefully took a sip, savouring the oak notes before I swallowed and pressed the cool glass to my forehead.
“Nina, I rejected her for that very reason. If it weren't for the fact that I spent far too much money getting her out of the hands of my enemies - and that she has a skill which we are desperately in need of for our plans to progress - I would have left her on the side of the road the moment our bond was broken.”
I took her hand in mine as she sat beside me, squeezing it gently. Her eyes met mine and there was obvious concern reflecting in the dark brown pools.
“I just worry about you,” her voice was barely a whisper.
“I know, thank you,” I managed to say, my words seeming empty to my own ears even though I knew Nina was one of the few people who knew the real me - the me behind the roles I played and the rumours.
She sighed and rested her head on my shoulder for a few moments before she turned her dark eyes toward mine again.
“Do you mind sharing with me what this grand plan of yours is? Or are you forgetting that we’re meant to be partners in this business,” her voice took on a steely edge and she moved away from me, turning her body on the couch so that she faced me.
My wolf, Bruno, growled at her disrespectful tone.
“We’re not business partners, Nina. You're my consigliere - in fact, you’re not even that. Your father is my consigliere, meant to provide his guidance and council and that is all. I’ve extended you the same courtesy because you are like family to me, but I am still the boss. And I’m still your alpha. Don’t forget that.”
Where most women would have crumbled at my harsh words, Nina merely lifted her perfectly waxed brow, issuing a silent challenge my way. "Family, Luca? I'm merely famiglia? A cousin or sister?" She pouted prettily before she continued, the devil on her shoulder clearly putting words in her ear. "I didn't realise you slept with your cousins."
My headache returned with a vengeance and I shut my eyes against her attack. It wasn't a secret that Nina and I had a complex relationship. By no means romantic, it was just that occasionally we found ourselves in bed together. Stress relief, if you will.
"You know what I mean, Nina. I don't need to run every decision I make past you and your father," I grumbled, draining the glass of the last few sips of brandy before I held my glass out to her for a refill.
"It would be nice if you at least gave me warning before you bring your mate into all of our lives. Rejected or not, she still poses a threat to you if one of Lenito’s or Antonio’s men gets hold of her.”
She poured me another brandy, taking a sip of it herself before she handed me the glass and sat beside me once again.
“And that is why she isn’t staying in this forsaken country. She needs to complete her final year at university so I’m sending her to enrol with Professor Bianchi at Cambridge University in England.” I announced with a smile into my brandy, watching Nina’s face carefully.
It took her a few moments before the full implications of my words permeated her brain and a bright smile lit up her face. “Oh, you’re brilliant! Scotland Yard uses their facilities all the time, it will be easy to access whatever is needed to hack their system and once she’s in there will be no stopping us.”
“Enzo is setting up her accommodation there, and Professor Bianchi has already messaged him to say he would welcome a fresh new mind for him to impart his brilliance into. It’s just about getting her to England.”
A knock on the door halted my conversation and Nina went and opened the door at my nod, my younger brother entering with his hands behind his back.
“And?” I prompted when I noticed that he was reluctant to speak. “Where is she?”
“She’s having a shower and changing into something more appropriate. She was a little taken aback that you still wanted her to complete her studies, and I mentioned that she would probably be asked to do her masters degree as well which she seemed thrilled with. She only had two concerns. Firstly, her mother. She didn’t know what to tell the old woman. Secondly, her twin brother. Apparently he was attacked at the same time as she was taken. I made a quick call to my contact in the area and they haven’t heard anything, but no body was found either. It was either a very clean hit, or he has been taken.”
He shrugged and moved to cross his arms across his chest as he leant back against the wall. “I don’t know what to tell her.”
I exhaled forcibly, wishing the bloody day would just end already.
“The truth. She can tell her mother she received a full scholarship to Cambridge but has to leave immediately. As for her brother, well we don’t actually know much, do we? Tell her what you know but don’t waste any more time on it. If her brother is dead, then he is dead. If he’s alive, well then good for him.”
“She’s going to be upset,” Enzo warned, his soft side showing - proving once again that he would never be able to lead this family the way a Don needed to.
“Let her be. It’s not like I can change what is out of my control. She needs to be in England within a week so if she needs to grieve she must do so now and get it out of her system.”
Nina looked at me before she stood up and walked over to the window, shaking her head slightly.
“Oh, don’t you start too,” I chastised her, taking a swig of my brandy to wash away the bitter taste in my mouth. “That woman has far too many emotions, and she reveals them as if she is an open book.”
“And that’s a bad thing?” she shot back at me.
“Do you even need to ask me that?” I lifted an eyebrow at her, mocking her signature glare.
Enzo leant against the wall, his legs crossed at the ankles. “When you're done with whatever is going on between you two, we need to discuss our reason for being in this blasted country.”
Nina turned back to me but remained by the window, her interest peaked. “Have there been any new developments?”
“No, unfortunately not,” I swirled the brandy in my glass, watching the liquid as my brain categorised the events of the last few weeks. “Three of my personal subordinates have gone missing and not a single one of my contacts have seen or heard anything suspicious. It was a simple transaction and should have been seamless - make the trade and come back with the diamonds.”
“There's no evidence of foul play apart from their disappearance, ” Nina said matter of factly. “Besides, you've got the diamonds now. The three men were likely working together and are probably on some secluded island somewhere, sipping martinis.”
Enzo snorted and shook his head at Nina but didn't say anything as she continued.
“You've sussed out the local neighbourhood and there's been no sign of the men. Even your private tour of that auction house came up empty, although I'm not sure why you'd ever think someone would sell three men who are under your protection,” Nina’s monologue was emphatic. “The only thing you've picked up in this awful city is a mate.”
I clenched and released my fist, suppressing the urge to wring her pretty little neck at the blatant insult. “I know my men. They would not betray me.”
Enzo coughed uncomfortably before he moved toward the door. “I said I would help Eliana get in contact with her mother to let her know that she is safe. I will leave you two to it, then.”
The door closed with a bang behind him, shock waves reverberating through my skull. Did no one give a damn that my head was pounding? Apparently not. I got up and fetched some paracetamol from the cabinet in the bathroom and swallowed it with a gulp of brandy.
“What are your plans for the evening, and don’t tell me you’re planning on leaving me alone with your pain in the arse brother again. If you’re planning on getting him back to Italy in one piece you will find a way to keep him and I apart,” Nina complained, mimicking ringing someone’s neck.
I smirked at her, knowing full well how much she must have hated spending the whole day with my ever-cheerful brother. I secretly used him to punish her whenever I was particularly upset or annoyed with her - and it worked like a charm.
“I need to fetch a package at the strip club downtown,” I responded, leaving the invitation open for her to join me.
“You don’t need to ask me twice,” she jumped at the opportunity, already heading toward the door so she could get ready for her night on the town.
A few hours later we were sitting in our private booth, a gloriously fake, blonde stripper hanging upside down from the pole in front of me, her tits barely contained in the miniscule glittery bikini top. She twirled around the pole and dropped onto all fours, crawling toward Nina and myself seductively. Nina giggled and shoved a twenty into the woman’s thong.
Usually I enjoyed myself whenever we went to a club, but tonight my mind kept going back to the woman with strange purple eyes who was holed up in my hotel suite. I could almost see her sitting across the club, nervously fiddling with her hair as she sat across from Enzo.
Hold on... Enzo?
I wasn't just imagining it! Eliana was sitting a few tables away, smiling sweetly at my idiot brother while he ordered drinks.
I was going to murder him.
Eliana POV When Enzo suggested a night on the town, I turned him down, hoping to bury my sorrows in the chocolate stashed in the hotel minibar instead. I understood that he was trying to get my head off of my brother and the lies I was going to have to tell my mom, but I didn’t really feel like partying. I knew that Elijah was alive - call it intuition or “twin-telepathy”, I could feel it in my bones that he was somewhere out there, alive. It took all I had in me not to break out of the penthouse suite and hunt him down, but the doors to the elevator were guarded by werewolves who looked like they were related to the Hulk, and abseiling to the ground from the balcony was a definite “no” from me. Enzo kept nagging though, saying it would be good for me to get out. I eventually caved, knowing that Enzo’s team were searching for Eli and that they had the man-power and skill I could never match. I had to believe that it would be alright, I had to trust him - even though it was extremely
Eliana POVThe bartender clawed at Luca’s hands, trying to pry them from his throat without success. He even tried kicking Luca, but this just made the alpha angrier and I could see the fury of his inner wolf flash through his green eyes.Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a rather round man dressed in black with a gold chain strung around his neck hurry toward us, his face pale."Mr. Castello! Oh my! Could you please put my employee down so that we can talk about this?" The man practically quivered in his shoes.Luca turned to the owner of the strip club and looked down at him, not releasing the bartender as the man continued to dangle in the air. He was turning a horrible shade of purple, s
Eliana POV “So? Was that so bad?” Enzo teased me as the small private jet eased into its allocated area on the tarmac, a mischievous grin on his face. I unclenched my fingers from where they gripped the armrest of my seat, blood rushing into the appendages. “I still don’t get why we couldn’t have taken a commercial flight. There’s a much less chance of us falling out of the sky in a Boeing 737 than in this tin can.” Enzo chuckled again as the captain of the plane and the female copilot, who was his wife, exited the cockpit to hear my slur against the small plane. The pilot didn’t seem overly impressed that I had compared his ‘baby’ to a tin can, but I was exhausted having not been able to sleep a wink during the almost ten hour flight to London so he was just going to have to excuse the fact that I was just a tad bit grumpy. Enzo, on the other hand, had slept practically the whole way! Memories of that night with Luca kept replaying over and over in my head - his soft lips consu
Eliana POVWith one last look at him, taking in the sadness in his eyes that I hadn’t noticed before that moment, I got out of the car and accepted my bag from the driver. I watched as the car drove off before I entered the apartment building.The foyer had a communal area set up, with an array of sofas and bean bags where the tenants could relax and use the free WiFi that was allocated to the area. It was decorated with potted plants, abstract art on the walls and a small water fountain in the centre of the room, making it seem like a high end establishment and less like the regular student accommodations. The room was empty except for three girls my age, lounging on the sofas and tapping lazily on their cellphones.In most places, there is some indication
Eliana POV “Shit! Sorry!” I burst out as her eyes met mine, heat flooding my face with embarrassment as I backed out of the room and started closing the door behind me. “Hang on a moment. Wait, you’re my new roomy, right?” the girl asked as she hopped off the counter and fixed her skirt. The guy stood up and leant back against the desk, arms crossed and glaring at me as if I had walked in on them on purpose. “I’m Cassandra - or Cassie as everyone calls me,” she smiled broadly, grabbing my hand and pulling me inside. “Sorry about that, I forgot you were meant to be arriving today else I would have put a sock on the doorknob. Oh dear, you’re wet!” “Eliana, and don’t worry. I didn’t see much,” I responded, feeling the blush return to my cheeks. “I had an accident with the fountain downstairs.” Cassie smiled warmly before she turned to the guy, fluttering her long eyelashes at him. “Mark, darling. I need to help get Eliana unpacked and we have to do some girlie bonding. I promis
Eliana POV “Oh! I’m so sorry! That was all my fault, I wasn’t looking where I was going and…” My eyes met his and I felt panic rise inside my throat. Darn, I had just walked into another werewolf a few short minutes after Luca had told me to get out of the area because it wasn’t safe - I had crossed into a territory I had no business being in according to werewolf law. “If you wanted my number you could have just asked,” the guy laughed, pulling the wet fabric of his once white shirt away from his muscular chest. “I probably would have given it to you.” I laughed in response as relief flooded me. At least I knew he wasn’t going to challenge me or call his pack for backup, or something along those lines. “Pshhht, the temptation of coffee was just too strong. It was a pity you were in the way,” I shot back with a smirk. “I do owe you a round at the laundromat though.” I looked at his coffee stained shirt and grimaced, it was probably completely ruined now. He pulled his shirt o
Eliana POV "Good morning all, Professor Harris is running a bit late due to a personal emergency, so he asked me to fill in for this introduction lecture," he looked so calm and collected as he stood addressing us all, as if he'd done this a thousand times. "Welcome to Economics and Management 302, where you will learn about… well, economics and management." He paused as there was some chuckling at his awful attempt at a joke. "My name is Nathan Campbell, and I'm Professor Harris' personal slave until my PHD is completed. So you may see me around now and then." I'm not entirely sure why, but I felt myself sink lower in my chair as he spoke. Maybe it was because I had secretly admired the washboard abs I knew were situated under that button down shirt, or maybe it was because I actually enjoyed my time with him as we waited for coffee and didn't want that image of him to be ruined. I can't be sure. I can honestly say that for the entire lecture, my brain was nonfunctional. While
Luca POV The sun filtered through the voile curtains, its warm rays falling onto my king sized bed where feminine legs lay entwined in my pristine white sheets. I, on the other hand, sat on the other side of the room on one of the overly stuffed high back chairs that my mother had insisted would look good in the room. The only reason the lumpy monstrosities remained was because I loved my mother, and throwing them off my balcony would probably hurt her feelings. "Did you sleep at all?" Nina asked as she freed herself from the linen and slipped into my dressing gown, a soft yawn escaping her lips. I leant on the armrest, watching as she moved elegantly to the other chair and sat down, turning to face me. I'd called her over late last night, hoping to blow some steam and rid myself of the frustrations I seemed to be collecting. Try as I might, I couldn't find release, my mind constantly returning to Eliana and the night I had kissed her. At the end of the day, Nina was not Eliana.