ALEX
Hesitant to expose himself, Luca sighed as he turned around. I choked back a gasp. Seeing the scars up close was devastating. My mind conjured horrific images: someone striking him with a belt buckle until skin cracked, knives slashing into flesh. Some marks were clearly from cigar burns.
I wondered how he had survived years of such torture. When I placed my hand on his lower back, he flinched and hissed. The worst scar was long and jagged; it ripped a tear from my eye, the drop wetting his skin.
Luca groaned softly, then turned to face me.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—"
He swiped his thumb beneath my eye. "Don't cry for me. I don't deserve your tears."
Luca buttoned his shirt, staring at me as if deciding what to do with me, before opening the door.
He took my hand as we descended the stairs that led us into the staff kitchen. The room was busy, plates being filled with entrees ranging from chicken and fish to steak and lobster.
My stomach rumbled at the delicious scents.
Luca grabbed a bottle of champagne from the refrigerator. A woman wearing a white apron and chef's hat spotted him and turned her head, pretending not to notice us. His attitude made it clear he got away with murder. No one would challenge the son of Arlo Salvatore.
We moved outside to an expansive veranda paved with Tuscan stone. Everyone wore costumes to match the party's theme. Some women looked ethereal in fairy dresses and tulle skirts, their faces painted with glitter and gold.
To our left, men smoked cigars and played poker. Women sat on their laps, laughing and drinking. Everyone seemed happy, perhaps even enchanted.
Luca tugged on my fingers and picked up his pace. My feet hurt from walking so fast, but he wouldn't slow down until we stood at the cliff's edge, staring out at the bay.
His house stood at the center of Devil's Creek. Lights twinkled below from the neighboring cities. Water splashed in the distance.
I stared down at the massive drop to the beach. His view was better than that of my grandparents, who lived opposite him on Founders Way.
Luca drank from the champagne bottle and handed it to me. I took a sip, and sweetness exploded on my tongue. He played with the ring on his finger. Platinum with onyx chips formed what looked like an S… or a snake. A snake shaped like an S?
He appraised me with curiosity. "Are you afraid of heights?"
"No," I lied.
I hated heights. In high school, I'd almost fallen from a cliff during a skiing trip and never wanted to tempt fate again, staying far away from anything dangerous. At least, that was my goal until the day I met Luca.
He turned his piercing gaze on me. "I jumped once. The drop isn't as bad as it looks."
"Why would you do that?"
Luca rolled his broad shoulders, and my eyes wandered down to his thick biceps bulging beneath his fitted dress shirt. "To get away from my dad. I wanted to cross the bay without him finding me."
"Did you make it?"
He laughed like a villain in a horror film. "There's no escaping Arlo Salvatore. Once you're in Devil's Creek, he owns you."
"Did your dad do that to your back?"
"Pain is weakness leaving the body. Once you understand that, it doesn't hurt as much."
My mouth fell open in shock, but I got the impression Luca said things to scare me. Did he enjoy inflicting pain on others? Was he just as sick and twisted as his father?
"I know what your parents have done," Luca said, his deep voice like a melody. "Your scars are on the inside, and that pain hurts much worse."
I let his words roll over me, closing my eyes for a few seconds and listening to the water crash against the beach. He understood me in ways no one ever had, not even my twin brother.
"My family isn't like yours," I said, though I wasn't sure my statement held much truth.
Luca sipped from the bottle. "Why do you think you're here? You're the only granddaughter of a Founder. You are one of us. You belong to us."
"No, I don't," I snapped, annoyed by his comment.
Luca ran a hand over his jaw, eyes on the bay. "Our families decided our futures a long time ago."
I thought about the woman from the ballroom and wondered if my grandfather had secretly arranged my marriage. He'd never mentioned it. However, he had said that I would be expected to fulfill my duties as a Wellington one day.
"I just graduated from RISD last month," I told Luca. "I'm not ready to get married."
He released a dark chuckle. "How do you think you got into art school?"
"I applied."
Luca shook his head. "You're talented. But a recommendation from the Franco Foundation goes a long way at the Rhode Island School of Design."
His mother's foundation.
"What are you talking about?"
He handed me the champagne. "I made sure you got into that school."
After reading that Evangeline Franco had attended RISD, I wanted to follow in her footsteps. I downloaded everything I could about the school and spent years planning my future. For four years, I worked my ass off.
The air siphoned from my lungs as I considered his words. I thought I'd gained acceptance on my own and that I deserved to be there.
"But I…" I struggled to find the correct words to match the emotions tearing through my chest. "Are you saying they were going to reject my application?"
"No, but I'm not a man who leaves anything to chance."
"We barely know each other."
Why would he intervene on my behalf?
"That's not true. I have known about you for most of my life. Until recently, you were Carl Wellington's best-kept secret. A union between our families will secure world domination for the Wellingtons and Salvatores."
He grinned like a megalomaniac plotting his next move, wheels turning inside his beautiful mind.
"When I was a boy, my father promised me the most beautiful woman in the world. As usual, he didn't disappoint. I grew up knowing how our lives would play out. I've been waiting a long time for you, Drea."
I narrowed my eyes at him. "Drea?"
"It's your name, is it not?"
"Alexandrea."
He slid his fingers beneath my chin, and my heart skipped another beat. "Okay, Drea."
Luca pulled away, and our brief connection dissipated. I stared at the pink label on the Dom Perignon Brut Rosé bottle, wondering if I could marry a man like Luca. Arranged marriages were so old-fashioned and ridiculous. I could choose my husband, thank you very much.
At least now I understood why my parents had sprung the last-minute trip to Devil's Creek on my brother and me only two days into our summer break. They shipped us across the country to visit our estranged grandparents, so I could meet my future husband.
"No offense," I said to clear the air, "but I don't want to marry you. I don't even know you."
Luca was devastatingly hot, but I had plans for my life that did not involve him.
"People like us don't get to choose."
I shoved the bottle at his chest. "I've had enough."
He finished the rest of the bubbly in one gulp and then threw the bottle off the cliff. The water splashed below us, reminding me of the drop. Orchestra music floated through the air.
Luca seemed at ease as the song reached its crescendo, his shoulders relaxing at the violin's sound. My head spun from the alcohol, making it hard to catch my balance. When my body felt too heavy, I lowered myself onto the grass, shoving the fairy dress over my legs.
Luca sat facing me and twirled one of my blonde curls around his finger. The right corner of his mouth turned up into a crooked grin. "I know everything about you, Drea. And I have the means to give you anything your heart desires."
"What have you heard? Everyone at this party seems to think they know me. They haven't stopped talking about me all night."
Luca leaned closer, our mouths inches apart. "Want to know a secret?"
I bit my lip and nodded.
"You're the first woman I've let touch me."
I found it hard to believe someone with his looks had never had sex. Women must have thrown themselves at him every chance they got.
"So, you're a virgin?"
He laughed as if it were the craziest thing he'd ever heard. "No. I have fucked a lot of women."
Heat coiled in my belly and spread throughout my body. He was too close, too tempting, and I wanted him to put his hands on me. Everywhere. Anywhere. I just wanted to feel him.
"How can you have sex with a woman and not let them touch you?"
"Easy." Luca shrugged. "Tie them up. Bend them over. Punish them for breaking the rules."
I gasped at his confession.
"Your innocence is…" He paused to consider his next word but didn't finish his thought.
My pulse pounded, blood rushing to my head. I licked my lips, hating myself for being turned on by the idea of Luca dominating me.
"If women are not allowed to touch you, how do you kiss them?"
"I don't."
"Ever?"
He shook his head. "Never."
"You've never kissed a woman?"
Luca gave a light shrug, unaffected by my question. "I don't see the point in intimacy."
I leaned closer as if drawn to him by dark magic. "Would you kiss your wife?"
"I knew there was a little devil in there."
Luca tugged on my curls, lips pressed into a thin line.
His expression was unreachable, as if he'd gone to another place in his mind, yet his body was still very much present and pressing against me. I felt the warmth and strength of his thigh and smelled the sweetness of the champagne on his breath.
An uncomfortable silence fell over us as he held me firmly.
"You won't like how this ends."
His words sounded like a threat.
Damaged and broken, Luca was the shell of a gorgeous man with a wicked slant to his mouth and blue eyes that sliced through me. He was trying to intimidate me. But I didn't understand why.
"Why did you let me touch your scars?"
"Because you need to understand the cruelty of our world." He lifted my fairy mask and cupped my cheek. "You're so beautiful and pure, easy to break."
I'm already broken.
His sapphire irises flickered, and I shivered from his touch. "One day, you'll understand what being one of us is like. Until then, you have your freedom."
Before I could respond, my grandfather's deep voice boomed behind us. "Alexandrea, I've been looking everywhere for you. Get in the house."
His words said one thing, but his face said, *Get away from Luca.*
Aiden stood beside Pops, giving me a disapproving look.
"I was just…"
What was I doing?
I was sitting at the edge of a cliff with a sexy lunatic who made my heart pound with a mixture of fear and desire.
Luca glanced over his shoulder and smirked at my grandfather.
Then he looked at me and said, "I have to do this. I can't help myself. I have to know."
Know what?
To my surprise, he clutched my cheek, his fingers digging into my skin, and kissed me.