Eliana POVEnzo’s banging on my door set me into a panicked frenzy, and I dressed hurriedly. Snapping a photo of my outfit and sending it to Cassie for her approval, I ran a brush through my hair one last time and opened the door to see Enzo leaning against the wall. “The others went ahead, but Mama forced me to wait for you,” he said grumbling slightly as he pushed away from the wall. His eyes widened as he saw what I was wearing and he mouthed “wow”, before he offered me his arm. “Luca's going to lose his shit when he sees you.”“What do you mean?” I asked innocently, fluttering my fake lashes Cassie had insisted I wear. She had coached me through my rushed makeup, declaring my lessons completed when I managed to achieve something passable with my face. Putting on the thigh length white dress with strings of silver sequins hanging off of it. It somewhat resembled a 1920s flapper outfit. I'd left my hair flowing loose down my back in gentle, understated waves, while my makeup was b
Eliana POV“What is happening here?”Luca's voice was stern and my eyes darted in his direction as Lacey slowly let go of my hair.“I said, what is happening here?” he demanded again, his voice icey.Stacey fluttered her lashes and flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Oh, we were just helping by getting rid of this woman. She's somehow managed to sneak onto the island and wants to attend the party but doesn't deserve to get in. We were about to alert the security.”“Yeah, she's even made herself a bracelet to make it look like she has a ticket. Too bad it's the wrong colour,” Lacey chimed in, lifting her arm up to show the red bracelet on her arm. “I know Mr. Castello would not want a nobody like her sneaking in between his guests. She's low class, and his guests could be at risk!” Stacey sounded aghast as she used Luca's surname like a weapon. “She could be a thief!” Tracey added, the warning she had received about loyalty to her possy still fresh in her mind. Luca looked thoughtf
Eliana POV “Please, have a seat,” he gestured to the deck chair facing the ocean. I sat down and stared up at him, his jaw clenching and releasing in the moonlight. His body was tense, his hands gripping the bannister as he leant against it in an attempt to look casual.“Are you okay?” I asked after a few moments of silence passed.“Yes, this is just not my forte. Unlike Vasilios, I do not have a way with words and women. And I'm struggling to piece the two together.” A frown creased his forehead.“Alright, take your time then,” I replied, leaning back in the chair and crossing my feet at my ankles.He huffed in frustration and hit the bannister with a fist, causing it to vibrate with the impact.“Listen, I don't want you as my mate, Luna, or wife, but I have a business proposition for you.” He studied my face carefully before he continued, although I'm not sure what he hoped to see there. “Your brother will need assistance to reintegrate back into society. He's been through a lot a
Eliana POV“An incident? What's happened?” I asked, suddenly frantic with worry. Luca looked at me, a thoughtful expression on his face as he probably was contemplating whether or not to tell me information about the situation. After what seemed like hours, he shook his head and bent down to pick up and pass me my panties. “You might want to put them back on,” he said unemotionally, his eyes not meeting mine. “We're going to the clinic.”My stomach felt as if it had rocks in it, hard and heavy rocks. Was it Elijah? Was he okay? Had the blood results come back? I pulled on the panties, not realising that they were the wrong way around until we were sitting in Luca’s SUV. He drove like a maniac, and I'm pretty sure the vehicle left the ground a few times. We parked in front of the clinic, Luca cutting off the engine and opening the door as soon as we arrived. He didn't wait for me as he rushed indoors. You would think that I would have quickly pulled off my panties and put them ba
Eliana POV“No,” Ayla barked as my hand reached for the book which hid the entrance. “What if the person in there is dangerous? It's clear they're not wanting to be found out, so they'll probably hurt you if you startle them.” I stopped, knowing she was right. “Someone is spying on Luca and I feel that the least I can do for him is find out who it is,” I told her.I could almost see her as she sat down and cocked her head to the side. “How about you tell him about the secret passage and let him deal with it. He's the alpha after all. Or you could hide somewhere in the library and see who comes out.”That sounded like a good plan, so I found a good hiding spot and waited. And waited. And waited. Only, no one came out. Eventually, I gave up and went back to my room. “There must be another exit,” I told Ayla grumpily. “Yeah, but we can already guess who is doing the spying,” she responded casually. “Who?” Ayla rolled her eyes and sighed loudly. “Come on! Who has a reason to spy on
Luca POVI wasn't entirely shocked when Eliana told me about the presence of the tunnels. I always knew about them, but didn't know where they were. The story was that some eccentric ancestor of mine had put them in, feeling the need to have an escape route in case his family turned on him and tried to kill him. My grandfather had sealed them up, although my father had once told Enzo and myself that he'd found one or two of the tunnels as a child. We were never sure if he was telling the truth or not, though. He'd been completely drunk when he'd told us, and we both knew how he liked to embellish the truth to his liking. “Show me,” I told Eliana roughly, exhaustion making me sharp tongued. She nodded solemnly and walked ahead of me, pushing the door to the library open and heading straight to a bookshelf with archaic books. Pulling one out, she pushed on a button and the bookshelf creaked as it swung aside. “I wasn't meaning to spy, I was just curious,” she said softly, her strang
Eliana POV I opened my eyes and the first thing that popped into my mind was, “not again!” It seemed like people thought I was just the perfect person to kidnap and keep captive in a tiny room with no windows - scratch that, there was a window, it had just been boarded up from the outside. Luca was going to be pissed.It wasn't as if I'd just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. No, these guys came out of nowhere while I was working in my room, the two of them managing to overpower me and hit me over the head. I had a faint memory of being put onto a boat and then being hauled into a car, so where I was being held was anyone's guess. I pressed on the sore spot on my head, quickly removing my hand when pain jolted through my body. “Fuck, Elle. What did you do now?” Ayla grumbled and I sighed with relief knowing that she was still with me, and that I clearly hadn't been given wolfsbane. I shrugged off her comment and struggled to my feet, heading to the window. A small sliv
Eliana POV “Eliana?” The man who looked so strangely familiar looked at Lorenzo, his purple eyes burning with unbridled anger. “What is she doing here, Lorenzo?” The older man barked. Lorenzo looked startled, his face turning pale as he took a step backward. “I… I…” he stammered, looking from me to the older man. “Don Carnera, I had no idea. I'm sorry, this was a mistake.” The two men who remained at the fireplace stared at me as if they were dissecting every inch of me with their critical eyes. “What is the meaning of this, Luigi?” The man with a Scottish burr asked, scratching his chin through his messy beard. Luigi Carnera? My mind mulled over the name, feeling as if it were important for some reason. Luigi Carnera… Car-ne-ra… Butcher? “Oh my…” even Ayla was at a loss for words as I slowly pieced together the information. “Out!” Luigi shouted, the two men at the fireplace jumping in fright at the anger in his single word. Like scared sheep, the men filed out of the room,