Of volume lineage

“You really believe I would let someone harm Marzia?” Hurt coated my voice before my anger reignited. “Out of all the Viglianos, she’s my favorite, Giusy’s second, your dead brother’s third and you’re so far down the ladder–”

Air escaped my lungs as Giova

I let out a squeak. “Watch it–!”

“What do you know about my brother?” Wrath, pure undulating wrath, warped his expression. In the depths of his eyes, something tormented and twisted shimmered.

I had never seen him so angry, except for at the club when the waiter had watched…Ice spread through my veins as I remembered the slit throat, the blood pouring from lifeless eyes.

I swallowed, the sound echoing through the parking lot. What had happened to his brother?

“I…nothing. The photo in your office…”

Giova

“Who else would I be talking about?” My voice shook.

He eyed me before taking a step back. “Let’s go upstairs. It’s late.”

I didn’t move. “Where is your twin now?”

Giova

He stopped. I had too much velocity and continued forward, almost colliding face first into the gravel. Only the iron-grip of my husband’s hand wrapped around my arm stopped me. Giova

“I do trust you, Isabella,” he said it neutrally, even if I almost tripped at his words.

“You do?”

His grip didn’t loosen. “You and Leo are the only two people I trust.”

Delight flared in my chest. It was the same feeling I got when a stray cat came up to me. There was strange joy in being liked by something that didn’t like anything else. No hissing or scratching for me, Giova

Mixed in with the delight was guilt. The constant gnawing feeling that haunted me day and night. I ignored it.

I was getting good at ignoring it.

With a soft voice, I said, “You’re the only person I trust too.” The words felt dirty in my mouth, and I almost took them back except they were true. I did trust Giova

The sounds of the city surrounded us, but the parking lot was quiet except for the thump of my heart. Giova

“Giova

“Isabella.”

My name on his lips…It was enough to drive me to insanity.

I stretched onto my tiptoes and pressed a kiss to Giova

“I–”

He moved forward, pressing his lips to mine. His hand came up to my hair, tangling itself in the strands tightly. I swooned against him, flushing myself up against his chest, trying to get as close as possible.

Kissing Giova

We broke apart, clarity slowly dripping back into my mind. I realized the parking lot was fine, cars remained unchanged, but I had warped a thousand times. God, kissing Giova

I’m in so much trouble.

I wanted to kiss him again, I wanted to run away. I wanted him to press me up against the closet car and have his way with me on the bo

He is the enemy, the bastard usurper. He is wearing a crown that does not belong to him. Steal it back, Isabella.

I stumbled back, straightening my shoulders and gulping. Giova

Instead, I blurted out, “Is Leo your brother? Your twin brother?”

Anyone else would’ve been whiplashed by how fast I changed the topic but not my husband.

“He is,” he said neutrally.

“Where is he?”

Giova

“D.C? What is he doing there?”

“This is not the time nor the place to have this discussion,” he warned, urging me forward.

Suspicion grew inside of me, but a quick glance at the security cameras made me fall into silence. Giova

Especially since the Vigliano’s biggest enemy rest her head beside their king.

We made our way back to the exit. As we stood in the elevator, my husband was staring at me with a peculiar expression on his face. It was an expression I had never seen before from him, one where his brows furrowed and his lips pressed together like he was trying to solve a particularly difficult equation.

“What is it?” I touched my cheeks self-consciously. “Did I have something on my face?”

He was quiet for a moment before saying, “It is unwise to trust me, Isabella. My daughter and territory come first. Always.”

It’s unwise to trust me too, I mocked to myself. “I said I trusted you, Giova

“You would save me?”

“Astride a noble steed,” I replied. “Wouldn’t you save me?”

He didn’t reply.

When the elevator doors opened and we stepped out in the hallway, I could’ve sworn I heard him mutter, “Yes.” But when I turned my head to look back at him, his expression was cold and unchanged, no hint of vulnerability.

It didn’t matter that Giova

I wasn’t going to save him.