Chapter 12

I grin as I bite my lip, 'You have an answer for everything. If you want me to even consider a wager with you, I'll need more than just sweet words." 'How about I make an honest woman out of you and show you more than just sweet words?" I snort at how absurd that sounds. He is a Catelli. There is no way a Catelli would marry a half-blood Russian woman who is easily 10 years younger than him. I am tainted-blood. And there is no way Papa will even consider it, he hates the Catelli Family for what they did to my sister. 'My father will have the honor in that if I don't choose a man soon." 'You aren't like other girls, Aliyana." My name rolls off his tongue, putting my heart in overdrive and my conscience in turmoil at what he just said. 'Of course, I'm not. I actually have a brain." He chuckles again. This man isn't serious, is he? Of course, not Aliyana! 'You sound like you have too much faith in your father. It makes me question if you have any faith at all." "Faith. It's the only thing I can have. I'm the lucky girl of my family. The Russian half-blood." Marco is quiet as I voice out the obvious, he already knows, no need to sugar coat it. "You will get an option. You are a lucky girl. Men don't even get such options in our world any longer." His voice is soft when he talks, and his eyes drift to the lights from a distance. I know because I am looking up at him. His eyes are so black, unique yet fitting for a man as mysterious as him. 'Options," I mutter. 'You don't want the option, do you, Aliyana? You fear rejection, loneliness, you crave to just belong." His words are so accurate and brutal that I feel it inside my very being. The parts of me that I keep hidden only to come out when I am weak. I don't want to be vulnerable. I hate it, always have. 'Everyone deserves their share of happiness, what I want is nothing more than everyone else." My answer is a fact, we all want a bit of ordinary in this world. 'You are not everyone else, look around you, this very building you stand on, that holds your life on its very foundation was built with blood money, and I can tell you the souls that died didn't do so smiling." He is right. There is no denying it, so I say nothing. 'This world will never offer you those comforts for very long, Aliyana. Sooner or later, your luck will run out, and all you'll have left is yourself. You should find someone to love while you can and enjoy the beginning of that love because, if there is one thing I can guarantee you, Aliyana, is that love will end as fast as it began." I have never met this man before today, and our brief moment is just this moment. But there is something in the sky at work tonight because when he stands next to me, I can sincerely say that I feel safe. And his words have more truth to it than I will confess to even myself. I shrug, digesting his all too knowing words. "I should. But the one I love will be promised to my sister soon. It took me 5 minutes in his company to see, I am not the one he wants, and I have spent 5 years loving him." It's the truth I had to confront today. I have known it for a while. My sister is clueless, and her innocent attraction to Marco has made it easy to turn a blind eye to the facts. I am good at pretending blindness, I have done it my whole life. "I gathered as much when I saw you earlier today. My brother has never been the smartest Jack when it came to choosing anything. You might just get better. So how about that wager? And no, it isn't sex." 'If not sex, then prey, do tell what is this wager that has you so anxious you are practically screaming my name?" His one side of his face pulls up into a crooked, yet utterly wicked smile as he slips his ringing phone from his pocket, silencing the call. It rings again, and I watch his screen flash ‘Killer' as he puts it on flight mode. All the while, I remain aware of how devastatingly evil his eyes remain as they watch me with mischievous intentions, I should know all too well. My nerves heighten with the knowledge of how corrupt all of this is. Him. Me. Us. He walks across the room, putting a few UVA lights on. Brightness comes from the far left of where I am standing barefoot. His steps are slow, as he advances closer to me, giving me no option but to glance up into his onyx orbs. My mind is thoughtless, my body attuned to his inaudible steps. Black depths stare unblinking. But where I have seen many eyes, none as full as this man has ever held me at a standstill. Until now Chaos undisposed. A war ablaze in a fire couldn't come close to what I see in his unspeaking irises. The roses sweeten the air as he draws closer, while I stay, remaining here. Memories are going through his head as I remain stuck to the ground by just knowing he is walking toward me. For the first time since I have met Marco Catelli, I wish to know just how far his crimes go. He is a killer, Aliyana, does it matter? My mind screams to walk away, but here I am still, gawking at a made-mad-man. 'You look at me as though you have seen all the ones I have laid to the ground." His observation isn't far off. 'Perhaps I am just thinking how deep a hole would I need to dig, to fit them all in." He smiles, his mouth twitching to the left, 'Or, you've figured it out, and now you just crave the words." My teeth sink into the inside of my cheek, as his jaw flexes under my silent scrutiny. He is right again. "Tell me, Aliyana, is that what turns you on? Is that what keeps all those boys wrapped around your little finger waiting for you to whisper their names?" My mouth tightens, as my eyes get smaller, 'Ren never mentioned you being the jealous type." He circles me slowly, as his finger twirls around my hair, 'I'm surprised he mentioned me at all. I was under the impression I wasn't up for discussion and gathering by that assessing look you so innocently gifted me minutes ago, I would presume I am correct." 'You know I might look at you in assessing ways, but you look at me knowing more about me than I of you, yet you still stand here, staring at me, talking to me, unafraid that I just might burn you." His black depths pierce me with something so dark, it's bursting to be set aflame, and I hope to all that I believe is holy I am not the one on the other side of that blizzard. 'The word is ‘hoping' you would burn me." He grabs my upper arm spinning me to face him. I want to keep my attention on his chest, but my chin lifts up to face the harshness of his masculine face. 'Dance with me, Aliyana." He doesn't allow me an answer as thick fingers wrap around my naked flesh as the music plays. A familiar tune, causing my eyes to widen in recognition. My heart races in assumption. He knows me. 'You were there, but..." My words die as his eyes boil me alive with an intensity so unravelling to my minuscule mind I forget to inhale. He cups my elbows and pulls me closer toward his heat. The dark gaze of a killer, never leaving mine. He bends his head. His nose right next to my own. Flesh to flesh, breath to breath. Rough, thick fingers restrain me. I breathe painful gulps of oxygen. I don't take shallow gulps, no I take big chunks of air. My chest expanding and contracting. He must notice it, but all he does is slides me deeper toward him. Closer but still not close enough. 'Balla con me, Mezzosangue." Dance with me half-blood. He doesn't wait for me to reply as Nina-Simone sings feeling good. Marco's hands travel, gingerly down my arms. Sure, secure fingers touching my pulse. Warm, rough hands engulf my dainty ones. Taking my left hand, Marco places my palm flat on his chest. I have always felt short and invisible around people, but here, now, with this mad-man, I am so much more. His warming hold leaves my own as his fingers spread across the bare part of my back. Flesh to flesh. Breath to breath. I move my left foot to take a step back, away from his temporary prison of seduction. I inhale a lungful of air, hoping to leave this. Whatever ‘this' is. He is too much. Marco uses my escape-move to dip me down. An intense frown mar his features as he brings me up again, and digs the tips of his fingers in the flesh of my back. This is sinful, and not the way it was supposed to go. He is not the one. But like a succubus, born to lure you into its temporary will, I am only a human being held by a demon whose wants right now is all I can think about as the music plays on. 'Dance," He whispers, and I finally surrender to the devil who holds me under the night sky. My feet move as the song plays on repeat, my body releasing itself, coming alive at this moment. My eyes sealed as my body's awareness remains heightened by every touch Marco Catelli places on my skin. I surrender to him. His breath, hot against my cheek as he draws me closer to his tall form. His leg rubs against my own. The soft satin of my dress grazing the pebbles of my breast as his arm persists pressing against my erratic beating chest. Every sense intensified as I close my eyes taking it all in. His scent- rich, spicy, and earthy. The small pokes from his jaw against my soft skin, rough. Is this belonging? A sinful promise? Or is it a stolen moment by two people who are wrong together, meeting in a perfect setting, that the who's no longer matter, but the where, is an ideal match, lined up into one small paragraph of your life? A sudden occurrence meant to last for just a moment, even if the people don't match up. Because that is what it is, a magical place, surrounded by roses, but him and I, there is nothing right about us. Why does the thought sound like a lie? As if he senses my mind's corruption, he tightens his hold on my back, eliciting a small gasp to leave my lips. The strength of his leg sends shivers along my spine when he slides his thigh between my own, millimeters from the part of my body inflamed by him. This all feels like a dream. Something is at play tonight because, in our world, I know this doesn't happen without repercussions. A forbidden moment, a wrong turn, always has deadly consequences. Forgive me, father, for this sin. As Marco Catelli dances with me, I wonder, what is the extent of his crimes. Is it coincidence when that ring that makes him who he is, scratches my cheek as his knuckles brush my face? He is a man that is made in blood, grown into power by the art of war, and right now, I am the woman in his arms, looking into his soul. I, Aliyana Capello, am the one at his mercy, and what a sinner I am. A phone rings, another phone I didn't even know he had, and like all experiences, this moment comes to an end. It feels like the spell is broken, the after-effects fading fast, taking away all it allowed in the few short minutes we stood with our bodies so close, connected. The moment now ended as he lets me go. I take a few steps backward, curious to who would be phoning. Who and what has interrupted this moment? Should I be glad? Or angry? I watch the imposing man that just danced with me as his face turns ashen. His fingers tighten around the phone attached to his ear. All this time I think, how bad could it be. I should have known it would be critical, life-altering. But as I said, hiding from the truth is something I am good at. It takes a simple decision to turn your life around. For me, it's a moment of weakness. I walk toward Marco Catelli's frozen form. And then it comes. My betrayal. My biggest moment. A kiss, like Judas had done to Jesus when he betrayed him, I bestow upon myself as I kiss Marco Catelli. I place my lips on his cold ones, as his haunted black depths stare at me, imprinting his obsidian gaze in my head as a reminder of this moment. Under the moonlit sky, inside a glasshouse. On this day, I, Aliyana Capello, change my fate in a greenhouse owned by Deno Catelli as I kiss his brother, a made-mad-man. He kisses me back for a second, it is so quick that his tongue touches mine for just a small moment, a promise. If I were wiser, I should forget about it, only I won't. I would remember it all, even when it consumes me. Deno walks in. I jump back as Marco faces his younger brother. 'Marco, we need to go." He left me on the rooftop that day without a backward glance and no clue that my best friend, his brother, was killed. Gunned down by the Scottish. It was hours later when I found out. And a few seconds after, when I tripped down the stairs of the house owned by my father, screaming. Falling in my haste to escape my brother's words as he told me that the boy who wiped my knees every day for three years while I learned to rollerblade was dead. I confess, on this day, I chose a different direction in my life. Lorenzo Catelli's death twisted my compass further in that direction. My mother must have thought me weak, lying on the stairs, as my sister tried to calm me, and my brother and father just stood there, watching me. It was on this day that the chain tying me to Marco Catelli was made in blood. The war was still coming.