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Soon enough, the crowd beginsMarzia - it seeet rid of hiinal bride She's like anize me, not withforthe man she should not want

I know just how to get Marzia's attention, but first I need to create a distraction to uard take his eyes off uys in the crowd and he gives a curt nod, sending a girl forward

She's stunning - blonde, tall and y, and not uard who does his best to avoid her sensual words and the way she trails her fingers down his lapels, but he fails fucking miserably Just like I kneould

It doesn't take long for the blonde to seduce the guard It's all I need to slip closer Meanwhile, Vitto is embroiled in a conversation with so to the side, looking abandoned This is my cue

I walk over to her, seeing her shoulders hunch as I get closer She can't see me yet, but she can feel me Her body is painfully aware offorward to ripping away everything she holds sacred So whether she'll like me as much as she seemed to at the docks, or whether she's turned into the shy, submissive mafia princess she didn't want to be when she was just a little girl

The thing about Marzia De Luca is, she's a fucking liar Because that day on the docks, we both felt soht harder to be withtheed to ive her a chance to prove herself to , it doesn't fucking make a difference to me

I stand behind her, leaning just close enough to see the hairs standing up on the nape of her neck She feelsto collect h onthan the one she'd have with that Donati bastard

Fingering the golden chain inon the floor Marzia's eyes go to it, widening in disbelief We lean down at the saertipsin the middle

She lets out the faintest of gasps e touch, and that's when I know she feels it too This current, this electric energy running between the two of us, re

"You d-dropped this," she whispers, finally looking down to pick up the chain And when she sees it, her eyes widen eventhe chain around in her hands, eyes locking with the engraving on that ring - her nonna and nonno's names

"A-Adrian?" she whispers, the chain glittering on her outstretched hand "Is it really you?"

I ignore her, pulling the chain back and pocketing it I walk away in a hurry, knowing full well she will follow in hter The corners ofupward as I hear the tell-tale click-clack of her heels behind me I walk briskly past the people in the room, down the hallway and downstairs into what used to be the dungeons of the De Luca rappa their fa

My steps echo out in the e behind h heels I hear her cry out forwhisper on her lips as she follows me deeper and deeper into the trap I've set for her I open a door to one of the storage roo the door open for her to follow It's cold down here, has to be for the grappa to stay intact

Marzia stumbles into the room a moment later, out of breath with her cheeks flushed a pretty shade of dark pink She tries to findbehind the door Thethe lock in the key andher my prisoner, completely at my mercy