The Temporary Wife: Luca and Valentina's Story(8)

There was a time I thought I’d found someone I wanted to marry even if it cost me everything, someone I loved beyond reason. I wish I knew then what I know now. Relationships are always transactional, and there’s no such thing as unconditional love. Hell, I don’t even believe love truly exists, and if it does, it’s fickle as fuck. It’s not an emotion I ever care to experience again. I suppose, in that way, an arranged marriage is a saving grace.

The crowd cheers when Ares kisses Raven, and I smirk to myself. The way he’s kissing her… yeah, he’s betraying how badly he wants her, and he doesn’t even realize it. Fucking moron.

I watch as the bride and groom walk away together, hand in hand. Ares has no idea how lucky he is — and not just because Raven is one of the most wonderful women I know. Love isn’t part of my plan, but Ares isn’t like me. He’s a hopeless romantic, and he wants a true marriage, the kind he’ll have with Raven. Just because I don’t want it for myself doesn’t mean I’m not happy my brother gets to experience it at least.

Yeah, even now, when their lives are in turmoil and the future looks uncertain, I can see it. There’s something between them that wasn’t there between Ares and Hannah.





Chapter Six





Luca

“Just one more photo,” Grandma says, a smile on her face. Raven and Ares both look weary and uncertain, but Grandma looks excessively happy. It’s almost as though they walked right into her trap. I suppose, in some ways, they did. If not for her insistence, they wouldn’t be standing here today.

“Grams,” I say, my tone indulgent as I wrap my arm around her waist. I pull her against me and smirk. “How about we let the happy couple rest? You’re turning this into a work event for my darling sister-in-law. She already has to model for hours on end, day after day. Let’s join the rest of our guests at the reception, shall we?”

She looks up at me with a sweet smile and nods. When she looks like that, it’s easy to forget that she’s the Windsor matriarch, the one who raised us all when we lost our parents. My grandmother rules our family with an iron fist, but on days like today, she looks like any grandmother would at a wedding. She looks proud and emotional, her eyes filled with genuine happiness for Ares and Raven.

I wonder if she’d look that way if it was Hannah that had married Ares. I don’t recall her ever smiling that way at Hannah.

I offer my grandmother my arm, and she loops hers through it. “Fine,” she grumbles, “but you owe me a dance.”

A soft chuckle escapes my lips as I lead her into the reception hall. “A dance with my favorite lady? It’s an honor.”

She narrows her eyes at me as I take her hand. “You’re a smooth talker, just like your father was.”

I pause, stunned for a moment. Grandma rarely speaks about my parents, so to hear her mentioning Dad so casually is surprising. She smiles at me as I pull her onto the dance floor, a slow ballad resounding through the room.

“It’s hard not to think of James on a day like today,” she says, a tinge of longing in her eyes. “He’d be so proud of Ares, and he’d welcome Raven with open arms. Not a day goes by without me thinking of them. I just hope I managed to raise your siblings and you the way your parents would have.”

My grandmother is a titan, a force to be reckoned with. She doesn’t show weaknesses, and for the longest time, I didn’t think she had any. “You’ve done an amazing job, Grandma,” I reassure her. “I don’t even want to imagine what might have happened to us if not for you.”

She reaches up and cups my cheek gently. Her fingers feel thinner than they used to, and she seems smaller than I remember her being. “You know that everything I do is for you and your siblings, right?”

There’s something in her tone that makes me pause, and I nod hesitantly. “Of course.” Somehow, her words feel like an omen, and I can’t push aside the discomfort I feel.

“Good. Always remember that.”

I twirl my grandmother around as I mull over her words. She’s a strategist, and nothing she ever says can be taken at face value.

I’m snapped out of my thoughts by the sound of familiar laughter, and I glance over, my eyes widening when I see Valentina dancing with a man I know all too well. He pulls her close, and she grins up at him. There’s something in her eyes that I’ve never seen before, and it does something to me. It’s rare to hear her laugh so genuinely, and I can’t help but wonder what he said to her. What did he say to earn her laughter?

She’s never looked at me that way before, and she’s certainly never laughed for me that way. Laughed at me behind my back, perhaps, but never with me. I didn’t think she could get any more beautiful, but watching her smile that way… yeah. She’s without a doubt the most beautiful woman I know. I fucking hate that she’s showing that fucker a part of her that she hides from me. He doesn’t deserve it. No one does. Not even me.

“Luca?”

I blink and force my attention back to my grandmother. “Hmm? What did you say, Grams?”

Her eyes twinkle, and she smiles at me. “I said, doesn’t Valentina look great dancing with Joshua Rivera? Perhaps your marriage isn’t the only one I should arrange. She isn’t getting any younger either, and you keep her so busy at work that she hasn’t had time to date. It’d be good for her to find a man that’ll love and appreciate her.”