Mafiosa (Blood for Blood #3)(68)

The laugh burst out of me before I could stop it. It joined a spate of other sounds of uneasy amusement. Suddenly everyone was clearing their throats.

Felice looked like he had been stabbed.

He curled his lip, his words now thick with rage. ‘How dare you speak to me like that, you insolent, incompetent, ill-prepared—’

‘Basta!’ Luca shouted, his demeanour as feral as it had been with Nic. ‘One more word and you’ll lose your tongue.’

Valentino seemed unaffected by his uncle’s tirade. Then again, he always wore the best mask. ‘You have work to do, Felice, and I have a family to run. Nic and Luca, I suggest you take some time apart from each other before this gets any more out of hand. Dom and Gino, you’re on security. CJ has been manning it alone long enough. Sophie, I want to see you in my office right now.’

I wasn’t sure whether I should have been grateful or terrified, but Valentino was plucking me out of this impending shitstorm, and I didn’t have any choice but to follow him. He was the boss after all, and the last person I wanted to piss off. I traced a wide arc around the others, trying to catch Luca’s eye, to say something, anything, to make him feel like he wasn’t in this alone.

He glanced at me, his face awash with confusion – with regret. I did the only thing I could think to do without stirring up more dissension. I smiled at him; it was shy, tentative almost, but I watched him exhale heavily, a kernel of relief caught in his expression.

I shut the door to Valentino’s office behind us. Instead of rounding the desk and leaning across it, Valentino placed himself just opposite the leather armchair, and gestured for me to sit. It was almost like we were two old friends, about to have a catch-up. You know, if you disregarded the massive implosion and my starring role in it.

I sat down opposite him, looking as contrite as I could. I did feel guilty for hurting Nic, but nothing in the world would convince me to erase that kiss from my memory, the lingering sensation of Luca’s lips on mine … I shut down my thoughts. I definitely did not want to get all hot and bothered in front of Valentino. It was already awkward enough given how similar they were in appearance.

‘Well, that was unexpected,’ he said evenly.

‘Yes …’ I tried to gauge his mood. He seemed totally impassive, lips set in a hard line, lids drawn low over his eyes. He was lethal, this kind-faced boy, who could snap in the blink of an eye – acid-tongued and cruel when he wanted to be, placid when he felt safe. ‘It kind of got out of hand.’

‘Which part?’ he asked wryly.

Was he kidding? I was on my guard, sitting in what had now become my usual chair, my arms crossed, my legs crossed, my voice as neutral as I could make it.

‘I-I don’t know,’ I hedged. ‘All of it?’

Valentino smiled – it was quick and sudden, like a light being switched on. ‘I don’t want to make this even more excruciating for you, Sophie.’

‘You don’t?’

‘No,’ he said, bemused. ‘Why would I?’

‘I thought you’d be mad.’

Valentino shrugged. ‘I’m not in the habit of getting in the way of someone’s romantic inclinations.’

‘Oh.’

‘Your happiness is your own to navigate …’ He paused, swallowed, and then added, ‘Luca’s happiness is his own.’

‘So we’re not in trouble?’ I asked, feeling a little bit like I was being set up.

Valentino smiled at me again, a hint of his yellowing teeth winking through. ‘For falling in love?’ Heat crawled into my cheeks. ‘No,’ he said quietly, answering his own question. ‘You’re not in trouble.’

I lifted my brows. ‘So, then …’

‘You’re wondering why you’re here?’ He gestured to the hallway behind me. ‘I thought you might want a few moments of composure, away from the fighting and the arguing, not to mention my uncle’s endless propensity for other people’s drama.’

‘Thank you,’ I said, letting my guard down just a little. ‘I appreciate the reprieve.’

‘Did you think I wouldn’t be sympathetic? That I wouldn’t understand?’ he asked me.

His voice had gone a little funny. We were in uncharted waters, and all I knew for certain was that Valentino was sad about something. I couldn’t guess at what it was; there was a wall between us, and he was keeping it there, deliberately.

‘I don’t know,’ I told him quietly. ‘You always seem so …’

‘Cold,’ he finished for me.

‘Yes,’ I admitted.

He nodded contemplatively. ‘I’m not cruel, Sophie. I’m intelligent. I use my intelligence in a way that is unencumbered by emotion or affect, and so to others it seems cold. I seem cold. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t know the value of love, or how precious it is, or how unlikely it is that Luca has found it at all. I am not cold,’ he repeated. ‘Despite the mask I wear.’

‘You wear it a little too well, I think.’ I was still searching for the person underneath it. I had never seen him act so human, so relatable. I never thought he would be that way with me.

‘Yes,’ he agreed. ‘I’ve been wearing it far longer than the others.’

I traced a pattern on my jeans, too shy to look at him, as I said, ‘I didn’t mean to make such a mess … with Nic and Luca. I just … I couldn’t help it.’