Matteo
"She's beautiful." Black had always been my favourite colour. Hidden. Silent. Deadly. I felt at home with it, like siblings whose bonds grew stronger every day. Yet in the span of a second, Valentina had upended that as she had every other thing in my life. Heat poured down my body as Valentina mixed various colours in a flat disk, creating a mixture to paint across the canvas. She was colour and chaos, a whirlwind of unpredictable energy I should have stayed away from. I hated it. I hated how she made me question everything. How she made me wish I didn't give up on my search. And I hated how much I wanted her. She wasn't supposed to be mine. She wasn't supposed to be anyone’s. But fate had always been cruel. The art gallery in the estate was small, almost quaint, but it had become a place of refuge for her. A sanctuary where she could lose herself and hide from Caterina, I guessed. Isabella had been the brain behind the idea. She thought it would be nice for me to have a place where I could stay and paint whenever I felt the urge to disappear. It was supposed to be our place. A little room we could stay in without anyone watching us or trying to harm us. Just her in front of the canvas as my muse. Isabella had been everything I thought I wanted. Carefree, strong, rebel. Everything I could never be. The ideal partner. Perfect match on paper. And I had convinced myself she was going to be my future. Then she ran away. "Stay away from her." I warned, my tone a low growl that barely masked my possessiveness. Valentina was a wide card. She wasn't a rebel like her sister, and I was pretty sure she had never broken a single rule in her life. Graceful like the Swan. The perfect wife. She was chaos. And she was mine. Even if she didn't know it yet. Ethan turned to me, his eyebrows raised in mild surprise, but the smirk on his lips told me he was enjoying this. I barely showed emotions. Not even to my friends. "I wasn't doing anything, Matteo." He replied, taunting me. "Just admiring the view from the screen. Very mindful. " My cold smile showed him how little I cared. "Perhaps if you channel that energy to your wife, you wouldn't be on time out." Satisfaction filled my chest at his narrowed eyes. If Valentina was my weakness, then Valerie was his. I wasn't interested in anything that happened in his relationship. After being a fuckboy for most of his life, he finally showed interest in one of the ladies who worked in the Nevaro mafia gang, and like a gentleman, I introduced them. Now, she was about to give us a little Ethan. "Point taken." He said with a tightened jaw. All humour was gone now, leaving behind the asshole I was used to. "But I didn't come here to discuss Valentina or Valerie, so let me get to the real issue at hand. When are we going to attack the Greens? I swear, their heads get bigger every time." I forced thoughts of blond curls and grey eyes out aside at the mention of the rival gang. Romanos, the mafia that had been the bane of my existence even before I was born. For reasons no one talked about anymore, the Nevarros and the Romanos hated each other. "No one told you to attack them in broad daylight." I walked to the bar at the side and got myself a drink. Ethan, that bastard picked up my Ipad the moment I walked away. "I told you they did not kidnap Isabella." "She happens to be Valerie's best friend, so I had to try. Unlike you, who just forgot her and hooked up with the little sister." Judgement flowed heavily from his last statement. "You have a problem, I explain why." I gave a careless shrug. "If Isabella had been taken, I would give my entire life to get her back.." And I had not hooked up with the sister. I avoided her at all costs. Secretly anyway. As far as everyone in the estate and beyond knew, I met up with Valentina every night to provide an heir. The Nevarro family was a nosy bunch. The whole lot. And I would be damned if I allowed them to know much about my private affairs. He examined me over the top of his glass. "You act like you no longer care about her. You got what you wanted, then cast her aside like trash." He added. "Everyone on the street wants to know." "I have my reasons." Just one to be exact. But he didn't need to know that. *** She sat on my chair, her legs planted squarely on my desk. If someone else had tried that, I would use my gun on them without asking for an explanation. "She's different, Maverick." Isabella had said, her eyes searching mine for some reaction. "She's not like me." "No one is like you." She chuckled. "Not what I meant. She's a rebel in her own way, hidden from our parents, and I'm scared she'll hurt herself one day." She added. "Especially with the sickness." ***** Ethan made an impatient noise, but he was smart enough to keep what he thought to himself. "Fine, but I'm not waiting forever. It's ruining my reputation as a man who kills his enemies." He grumbled. "Everyone thinks Isabella would be back now that I married Valentina. You're fine." I said dryly. In reality, they wouldn't. Questions would always be asked, and fingers would always point. "I'll go deaf from Valerie's complains." Ethan rubbed a thumb over his upper lip. "Speaking of complaints, Adrian was officially murdered last night." The atmosphere shifted with the weight of the new topic. "I wanted to kill him." I had no love lost for the man who tried to marry my sister last year, only to be caught cheating on her with some lady. Adrian had always been a slimeball. This was just the first time something happened to him. Ethan and I talked about Adrian some more before he excused himself to make a call. As the CEO of Blythe Enterprise, a luxury tech company that prided itself in making the best tech products, he was always in the business of making and taking calls. In the absence of conversation, my mind moved towards a certain blond. Did she realize how much she had taken a life that was meant for her sister? Did she know that despite everything, I couldn't get her off my mind? The memory of her walking down the walkway, dragging that bag behind her because I had instructed everyone to stay clear, lingered in my brain. I shouldn't have agreed to her mother when she told me she would let me have the sister, and I damn well shouldn't have allowed her to know just how well I cared for her sister. I didn't care about the arranged marriage our family had planned for us. I raised my head up as Ethan walked into the office again. "I have to go to Paris." He grabbed his jacket from the chair close to me. "Something....happened." "Sorry to hear that." I said mildly. I waited until he was close to his car before I added. "The something wouldn't happen to be a certain friend coming to meet Valerie, right?" Surprise coated his eyes, followed by annoyance. "What did you do, Nevarro?" "I merely facilitated the reunion between old friends." One message from Valerie and the said friend came running. Pathetic if one asked me. "Since you enjoyed fucking with what's mine so much, I figured I'd return the favour." I slammed his car door in his face. Brutal, but effective. He was my best friend, but I didn't appreciate people talking about what's mine. I straightened my shirt sleeves and returned to the library, where my gaze travelled the length of the driveway until it landed on those fucking grey eyes.*Valentina*"You have to learn the names of everyone that would attend. Who likes who, who hates who." The days blurred together in a haze of unfamiliar routines and uneasy silence. Caterina, true to Maverick words, was always nearby, guilding me through each task like with a strict efficiency even my mom never had. She left no room for conversation. "Isn't that too much? Who they liked or who they hated? How am I supposed to learn that?" I asked. She gave no reply. The next day, a large book on the history of the Nevarros was lying beside me, and I had to learn about each member of the family. By the time the evening of the first event I was supposed to attend with Matteo arrived, I was well grounded on everyone in the mafia world. I was also numb. It felt easier that way. Like I was an actress playing a role, that this wasn't my life. However, standing in front of the mirror in my room, dressed in an elegant black gown that hugged my body in all the right places, I unders
Valentina"You look beautiful." The red-haired woman in front of me gushed. "Ravishing, really." Luciana Blythe, a woman known more for her connections than her charm, smiled at me as though I was the most important person in the hall.The thirty years old seductress was the latest wife to the sixty years old Chris Blythe, a man infamous in certain circles. He never attended these kinds of events himself. Rather, he sent whoever was newly married to him to handle whatever unpleasantness waited for him.Sometimes, the wives were able to leave. Sometimes, they weren't.I forced a smile, matching her enthusiasm. "Thank you, ma'am." I added a small, practised giggle. "But you're too kind. You look like an angel yourself."If Caterina was here, she'd have given me a thumbs up for the performance.It didn't take her a minute to find someone more important than me in the grand scheme of things, and she shuttled away.I let out a sigh of relief. "And some say you wouldn't be able to do this
Valentina"Is she the one?" Surprise crossed his face when he saw me."Hey! Did you wow him...." His sentence was cut off when I closed the distance and wrapped my hand around his arm. I had learned to read subtle cues in his body language, and tonight, he was on high alert.I didn't need him for anything else than to provide a front for which I would find my sister. He had no right to cheat on me so easily."Valentina, meet Sophia," Maverick said, his voice taking a softer tone that I rarely heard. "My half sister."She looked nothing like him. Her raven black hair cascaded down her back in loose waves, framing a pale face with sharp, striking features. Sophia’s eyes met mine, and for a split second, I saw something flicker in them. Recognition, maybe. But it was gone as quickly as it came."It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Valentina," Sophia said, her voice smooth as velvet. "Maverick has told me so much about you. And so did your sister."I kept my features plain to hide the
Valentina"This life," Caterina started, her voice clipped with precision. "is not for the faint of heart. As the wife of Matteo Nevarro, your every move will be watched, scrutinized. You must be strong and calculating."I sat in the grand, dimly lit library, my back straight, my hands folded neatly in my lap. Caterina sat across from me, speaking in a measured tone.She knew what happened yesternight, and she didn't approve of any.She didn't approve of my discussion with Luciana.I nodded. "What if I don't want to be cold and calculating?" I asked, my mind not even close to present.Caterina had been relentless, arriving at the stroke of dawn, then proceeding to cover everything from the proper way to address certain men to the subtleties of surviving this harsh world I found myself in.Where were those lessons when I needed to talk to Sophia, Matteo's sister."Then you should consider the next possible option. Divorce."The silence between us stretched, the only sound in the room
“Teach me then. Teach me how to defend myself.”There was nothing hotter than my grey eyed wife, standing before me while asking for things like she had nothing to lose.I couldn't help but chuckle.I had spent the night staring at the little Instagram post she made yesternight from our ride to the party.My hand on her bare thigh, the black gown complementing my black suit.Some photos were meant for aesthetic purposes. I knew the reason what that one meant.But just one word kept replaying in my mind.Mine.I let out a low chuckle. "You think you can just demand for something, and I would simply hand it to you on a silver platter?" A part of me admired her boldness, her refusal to cower for her mother, and in the face of the storm that was our marriage.But another part of me knew better.Her jaw tightened, and she took a step closer. "I'm not asking you to hand me anything, Matteo. I'm asking you to teach me how to protect myself," She said. "Everyone talks about how being the wif
Valentina"Let me go then. I'm never going to be Isabella."My eyes narrowed. My breaths had finally evened out, and I could feel the hot flush in my cheeks."Let me go. End this misery for both of us."He allowed a soft laugh to slip free.My anger came and went like flashes of lightning. One minute, it was there, and the next, I was just tired of it all.He didn't break his gaze as he stepped closer. "Then I wouldn't find you at home waiting for me in my room."The way he looked at me was something I had always wished to have. A look of longing, desire."I thought you didn't want that." I whispered, my body practically electrified from nerves.He rolled his eyes. "Don't assume what I want, Mrs Nevarro." He replied, his voice placid. Disinterested.Just one touch. One touch from him, and the room would ignite."Noted." I curled my fingers around the hem of my shorts as tightly as I could to stop the embarrassment flushing through me.It had taken a lot from me to walk to his wing and
“Where would I even go?” The rain poured down relentlessly, drenching me as I stepped outside the estate gates, but I didn’t care.I was getting away from Matteo, from his estate, from Caterina and all her rules.Each drop of the rain pelted my skin like tiny needles, a reminder that the world would never be fair to me, no matter what.“At this point, I can hardly think.” I muttered to myself as I stepped onto the gravel path, the darkness pressing in around me.I walked faster, driven by a need to escape the weight of it all. “Don't let me find you in my wing without being called again, or you’ll discover there are limits to my kindness.” Matteo’s cold words echoed in my mind, his commanding presence looming over everything like a storm swirling above me.I knew this path was unfamiliar, and I didn’t care. I just needed to be far from him as best as I could. The further I went, the more the estate disappeared behind the trees, and soon I realized I had where I was anymore.But I di
Valentina."Planning a party isn't the hardest thing in the world," Caterina's voice was the only sound I could hear in this library. It was steady, almost clinical, as she rattled off the list of responsibilities that now fell on my shoulders. "I'm pretty sure you watched your mom do it."It had been two weeks. Two weeks since I almost left the estate for good.Two weeks since I saw someone who had something to say about my sister.Two weeks since Matteo came after me in the pouring rain, stopping me from walking away. Two weeks since that kiss.I still couldn't stop thinking about it. How his lips had been soft yet commanding, claiming me with a force that left me breathless.It was the first real sign of emotion he'd shown toward me since I had been dragged into his world. His cold, dominating exterior had cracked for just a moment, and I had seen something raw underneath. Desire, yes - but something more.Something darker. Unresolved."....and the guest list will have to be finali