Chapter 67

Her mouth, now cleaned of blood, twisted in anger and disgust. Without a word, she turned to go back inside.

Shoving my gun into its holster, I grabbed her arm before she could get far. "Answer my fucking question."

"Fuck you." She practically spit the words at me.

"Were you flirting with him?" Just the thought of her smiling at another man made me want to tear apart every room in this house, piece by piece.

"Let go of my arm."

"Tell me what happened," I insisted.

"Why?" she cried. Her eyes blazed with anger behind the fake blue. "So you can blame me because that dude can't keep his dick in his pants? Fuck that."

I yanked her toward me, and she stumbled, landing hard against my chest. My own dick was swollen and hard. I needed to be inside of her. To claim her. Make her remember just who the fuck she belonged to. The urge was overwhelming, even though I knew it made no sense. Wrapping my fist in her hair, I pulled her head back until she had to look down her nose to see me. "You are mine, Veda," I told her quietly, using her proper name. "It would do you well to remember that."

She glared up at me. "So someone in your family attacks me when I'm just trying to pee, and it's my fault? Is the dress you picked out for me too slutty? Is that it? Maybe the heels you insisted I wear are too high? Hair too blonde? Too much makeup?"

My anger was misplaced. I knew this. But I couldn't contain it. I was angry at my cousin, not at her. And I was angry at myself for giving a shit.

Madness rose inside of me, screaming for release. And since it would be hours until I was home to take it out on my punching bag, that left the woman standing in front of me. My woman. With my hand still tangled in her hair, I marched her over to the side of the building where we'd be hidden from prying eyes. She didn't whine. She didn't cry out. She just stomped on over there. Her body tense. Ready to give back as good as she got.

Around us, the night was dark, with only the slightest bit of light coming from a window in the kitchen, a structure that had been added on as a separate piece to the side of the house, and the occasional headlights from a passing car. With the property being on a slight rise from the road and surrounded by trees, no one would see us here. But Enzo would be able to hear me if I needed him.

I leaned into her, pressing her back against the siding with the weight of my body. "Do you feel what you do to me, vita?" My life. The word slipped out with barely any notice from me. "Do you feel how crazy you make me?" With my hand in her hair to hold her still, she could only press her palm against my chest in a feeble effort to keep me off of her, the bloody napkin still fisted in the other, her eyes staring at nothing over my shoulder. A roar of laughter came from inside the restaurant. But it was muffled by the thick, stone walls, and not loud enough to hide her sharp breaths.

"I did nothing wrong," she bit out.

"Did he kiss you? Hmm?" I nipped at her lips as she tried to tighten them against me. "Did he stick his tongue down your fucking throat?" I licked the seam of her mouth.

She wouldn't look at me. Wouldn't open for me.

"Did you fucking like it?"

Her eyes shot to mine, and I saw a fury there that rivaled my own. I wanted to rip out those contacts and watch the storm brew, and barely contained myself from doing it.

Instead, I tightened my grip on her hair until she winced. "Tell me what he fucking did to you."

"It doesn't matter."

Touching my forehead to hers, I took a deep breath. "But it does, amore. It does fucking matter." "Not to me," she said.

"No?" I asked her.

She tried to shake her head, but my grip was too tight. So she repeated, "No."

With a growl, I lowered my head and caught her mouth with mine, biting her lips until she succumbed to my kiss. Opening her hand, she let the napkin fall to the ground to grip my shirt with both hands, and I felt the struggle inside of her. "Kiss me, vita," I begged against her mouth. "Kiss me, amore."

My eyes never left my cousin. "Do as I say."

But, of course, that was expecting too much. "I'm not going anywhere without you."

Fine. Before either of them knew what I was about, I stepped around her and pulled my Glock. Lifting my right arm still in the sling, I didn't even feel the pain as I shoved Gio against the wall with my forearm against his throat. Pressing the muzzle of the gun to his temple, I gave him a little time to confess. "Do you have anything to tell me now?"

"Luca! What are you doing?" Veda cried. But my girl was smart. She didn't try to pull me off of him.

"Did he touch you?" I asked her calmly without taking my eyes from my scumbag cousin.

"I didn't do anything." Pink spittle ran down Gio's chin and soaked into my sling. "Now let me go, you fucking prick."

I pushed the nozzle of the gun harder against his skull, my finger resting lightly on the trigger.

"Fucking hell, Luca!" he raged at me, his face a mottled red.

"Did he touch you, amore?" I repeated. The thought of this asshole's hands on Veda sent me spiraling into a rage such as I'd never experienced before.

Not even when Maria had died. My gun hand shook. "DID HE TOUCH YOU?"

"Yes," she yelled back. "But I handled it, Luca! Now stop it before you shoot him!"

"Oh, I plan to shoot him," I told her. "I just want him to piss himself a little first."

"Luca, please."

"What the fuck is going on back here?"

I didn't turn to see who had asked. I didn't have to. If I knew my family, and I did, the entire party would be crowded behind Veda to watch what was going down. Witnesses were important.

"Luca, Luca," my uncle called my name as he had since I was a boy. "Put down the gun. You can't go splattering your cousin's brains all over the wall. Think of the cleaning bill."

"I will personally see to it myself," I told him without taking my eyes from Gio. "It will be like it never happened." Sweat began to bead at his temple, and although he tried to keep up the tough guy act, his eyes swung over to our uncle, silently pleading with him to save him.

"Luca, please," Veda whispered behind me. "I don't want any bloodshed."

"This stronzo should've thought about that before he put his hands on something that's MINE.”

"I didn't know who the fuck she was!" Gio shouted. "Jesus Christ, Luca."

"So, what? You think any of us would bring a woman to our uncle's birthday, a family event, and that we wouldn't care if you fucking raped her in the men's room?"

"I wasn't gonna rape her, man!"

I pushed the nozzle of the gun harder into his temple. "Then what, exactly, were you doing to her in there? Why does she have blood on her mouth?" "Because the bitch fucking bit me! That's why!" Spittle hit my face and ran down my cheek.

"Luca..." My uncle slowly made his way toward me until he was standing right next to the two of us. Pulling out a handkerchief, he wiped off my face as I debated whether or not to kill my cousin. "Don't ruin my birthday by killing family at my dinner. It might be my last celebration. If, tomorrow, you still feel that you need to avenge your lady's honor," he shrugged, "you can kill him then."

Gio turned wide eyes to him. "What the fuck, Zio?"

But our uncle just took a step back and raised both arms out to the side with another shrug. "What? You bring this shit on yourself, Giovanni."