Scorned Vows: An Arranged Marriage Romance (Scorned Fate)

My husband was fucking hot.

Sweaty, muscles bunched, eyes glinting with killer instinct.

He was sparring with Ange on the mat. Apparently, they grew up doing this. This was a familiar scene from what I’d witnessed from my father’s men back home. Most of them thought they would be a Don Corleone one day and the The Godfather movies became their creed, but for the mafiosi interested in mixed martial arts and the allure of underground fighting, Bruce Lee was their idol.

Ange was built more powerfully, but Luca was faster. They’d been trading hits and kicks for the past half hour until Luca executed a spinning back kick. It struck Ange’s jaw so hard I heard a cringe-inducing thwack. The blow sent Ange to his knees, and his mouthguard went flying.

“Madone!” Dario called a break. “Enough!”

Luca smiled, his lips more puffy than usual with the mouthguard. When he held out a hand to Ange, his brother swatted it away.

Uh-oh.

Luca made a “what the hell” gesture and said something to his brother before he held out his hand again. This time Ange accepted the help. I couldn’t see his expression, but his body language indicated he’d accepted the hand-up grudgingly. When Luca hauled his brother to his feet, they exchanged quick hugs, but the way my husband clasped Ange’s neck with an equally swift neck squeeze made my heart clench.

Dario told me they hadn’t sparred in years since Luca took over as boss. Both kept in shape separately.

It was week two of Luca’s training, and what a revelation. Because I’d seen Luca mostly in elegant threads, no way did I picture him as this brutal fighter. What happened with Brad was a mere blip of what Luca could do, especially when up against an opponent like Ange. Since they’d fought before, they were familiar with each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

Luca came off the mat and stalked toward me. From the gleam in his eyes, I was his new prey, and my lady parts pulsed with excitement. I was already wet from all his grunting during practice. Another benefit of fighting was the adrenaline and being the recipient of the excess aggression. Sadly, we had to pick up my parents from the airport and that was why Elias was with me. Besides, Luca was at the beginning of his two-week sex moratorium.

He stepped straight into me and gave me a kiss. Heat radiated off him.

“Papà, up!” Elias chirped.

“Later, sport.” He ruffled his hair. “I need to shower.”

While waiting for Luca, I chatted with Dario. Around five minutes into our conversation, Tony walked into the gym and headed straight for Dario to whisper something into his ear.

They excused themselves and left me and Elias standing there.

“We go?” my son asked, pouting.

I led him to the dumbbell area so he would have something to occupy his mind, but I was getting impatient. Good thing Luca appeared.

“You’re by yourself?” he asked. There were employees and mafia soldiers working out around the gym but my husband didn’t seem pleased. “Where’s Dario?”

Before I could answer him, the man in question returned with Tony.

The expression on their faces made me uneasy.

“Detective Voss is in the lobby,” Dario said. “Ange had been giving him the runaround for the past week, but he refused to leave this time. He must have followed you to this building.”

“Who’s Detective Voss?” I asked.

“He’s the detective on your case.” Luca checked his watch. “We’re going to be late if we chat with him.”

“We can leave through the basement,” Tony suggested.

“Do you want to show your face to the detective?” Luca asked me. “We can decide when to bring him up to speed.”

“Will I get in trouble for the hacking?”

“I doubt it, baby. The money was illegal, but seeing you will give the detective a bone to chew on,” Luca said with derision. “Make him feel like he’s making progress.”

“He’s just doing his job,” I told my husband.

Luca gave me a long look. “We need to talk about your allegiances, tesoro. That detective wants nothing more than to put me away.”

Dario said, “Should we rethink letting Natalya meet the detective?”

Annoyed at the men, I went over to Elias and picked up his hand. “Come on. The sooner we get this over with, the better. Tony, you can bring the vehicle to the entrance of the building.”

Startled that I made the call, Tony’s eyes darted to Luca. “Boss?”

“You heard her.” Luca put his hand on the small of my back and led me into the elevator. I watched our reflections on the stainless-steel doors. Luca would steal glances at me, but I compressed my lips to keep from speaking. He’d just have to trust me how to handle the detective and I was glad he didn’t countermand what I told Tony. If we were going to work as a couple, he should trust me to do the right thing as his wife.

I heard more than a few exhales in the elevator. Particularly, Dario’s. Because he was Luca’s adviser and this was a significant moment where my husband didn’t defer to his suggestion.

When the elevator reached the lobby and we stepped out, I immediately clocked the detective. He reminded me of the hard-boiled investigators of noir films. Sort of like Humphrey Bogart with a craggy face that couldn’t be described as handsome or attractive, but he still had presence. He rose from the couched seating in front of the reception. Mafia soldiers patrolled the lobby along with security contractors.

His rough face softened with a smile directed at me. “Mrs. Moretti.” He approached us and we stopped a foot from each other. “Detective Terry Voss. I’m so glad to see you’re all right. I heard about your amnesia.”

Ange had already briefed the LEOs about the reason for my long absence. We shook hands, and before Luca could cut in, I said, “As you can see, I’m perfectly fine, but you caught us at a bad time. I’m sure we can arrange a meeting later?” I gave the practiced smile that Mamma always insisted I use in public. Not too wide and no teeth.

The detective scratched his jaw. “I have new information.”

“You know who took my wife?” Luca asked.

“We’ve established that outliers of both Orlov’s and your organization had planned it,” Detective Voss said. “All those men disappeared.” The detective’s eyes bore into Luca, and I feared Dario was correct and that we should have prepared better and had gotten our stories straight. “We’ve found remains that could be one of them.”

Luca tensed. “Who?”

“I can’t talk about an ongoing investigation.”

Dario cut in, “We’re done here. I know you have to take Mrs. Moretti’s statement at some point. We’ll contact you.”

“Wanna go.” Elias rubbed his eyes and was making a fuss. There was no better time for him to be on the brink of a tantrum.

Luca picked up our son. “We’re going, sport.”

“I’m sorry, but we really have to go,” I told the detective.

“That’s fine.” Voss smiled in a way that put me on edge. He handed me a card. “Give me a call anytime.”

We headed for the door. And it could be my imagination that my husband’s strides quickened more than usual, like he couldn’t get us away fast enough from the detective.

Detective Voss called behind us. “By the way…”

Luca stopped right before the doors of the building, but he didn’t turn around, and merely cocked his head to the left, waiting for Voss to say something.

“Have you heard anything interesting about that abandoned building at Bromley Industrial Park?”

My husband turned and shrugged. “There are several in that area.”

The detective walked up to us. Luca was relaxed, but tension pinged between the two, reminding me of gunslingers at high noon.

He stopped in front of us, the same distance as before, and that was when I realized he wanted to be far enough to see everything and everyone around him. “Just wondering if you heard anything unusual. Vehicles that belonged to some of your associates have been seen in that area.” The detective tipped an imaginary fedora. “Thanks for your time.”

He left the building ahead of us.

Luca lost his relaxed demeanor and cursed, “Fuck!”