Chapter 40 (Aliyana)


    We have been sitting at Azure for the past hour. Deno isughing, Kylie is going on about Vincent.


    Our wine is going down smooth, the table decked with snacks and my favorite chocte truffles.


    “How is it that he leaves you more pissed off than when he leaves Marco? And those two can fight,”


    Deno muses.


    “I have my way sugar. Nice to keep things interesting.”


    Kylie who is sitting by the window goes stiff as a small smile ys on her lips. A smile I know too well.


    Curiosity gets the better of me and I turn my head.


    “Speak of the Devil.” I sneer seeing a man I hoped to noty eyes on today.


    Deno finds me amusing as he stands up. He has removed his jacket and pulled up his sleeves since


    our 2nd shooter. His hair is still sleek and his jaw clean-shaven. His prominent nose, showing his


    strong Italian heritage.


    I keep my eyes on Deno, ignoring the man approaching us.


    “Ladies,” Marco says all polite, if only he was like that, polite.


    “What brings you here,” Deno asks as the two kisses and hug.


    “Actually, Aliyana.” My body goes stiff at the mention of my name from his lips.


    “Alone, now,” His order is terse.


    He turns around and I re at his retreating form.


    My chair scrapes as Kylie makes an uh oh sound and Deno presses his lips together.


    I march after him, and round the corner.


    Marco grabs my wrist as I take the passage, and before I even have a moment to think, I am getting


    pulled into Deno’s office.


    “What the hell do you think you are doing?” I blurt out. I haven''t seen him since a week ago and that


    was fleeting.


    He res at me, “What the fuck do you think you are doing.”


    “I was eating, having a good time. You should try it, maybe it will get that stick outta your ass.”


    Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    He pushes me to a wall and crowds me in, “Bull fucking shit. I received a very interesting call about 30


    minutes ago.”


    He shoves his phone close to my face and it takes me a second to recognize the picture.


    The same picture with Alice, Aleksie, and me.


    “I am going to ask you onest fucking time, Aliyana, what the fuck are you doing.”


    “Having lunch with my family.”


    “I am supposed to believe you are besties with a fucking member of the Bratva? Do you think I am


    fucking stupid? Aleksie doesn’t understand the concept of family. There is absolutely no scenario


    where Alice, Aleksie and you are sitting together catching up on old family drama. So, I am going to ask


    one more fucking time, what the fuck are you doing?” His eyes are holding my own in a prison, waiting


    for me to give him an answer I’m not ready to.


    “Who gave you that?”


    “This is my city, and you are a part of my people, Queen or not, how the fuck do you think this looks,


    Aliyana?”


    “I don''t know okay, what do you want me to tell you?” I scream.


    “The truth, Goddammit.”


    So, I told him. Everything but nothing at all.


    “How do you know about Rosco?”


    “I saw him at Kylie''s house over a year ago.” This is true, but my longst dead cousin who now


    belongs to a Biker club is not the reason I’m talking to the siblings I hate the most. Nor was it my


    sudden desire to know Alice and Aleksie. They were coteral damage in a much bigger picture, and


    that picture had a face with a name, La Sanati.


    Ren’s killer, the reason why Mero couldn’t return home, and the reason why Amariya DeMarco was


    living on the street, never having the choice of seeing her daughter.


    “Fuck.”


    “You wanted to marry me because of a group of men? Now a yearter you think you can just waltz in


    here and question me?”


    “No, I wanted to marry you because every morning when I woke up it was your name touching my lips.


    Now I don’t even want to look at you. All it does is show me your betrayal. You habor a killer,


    pretending to be better, but you are worse than all of us, you are a traitor to your own kind.” His words


    hurt me, but I am used to it by now. This is Marco Catelli.


    “I am trying to protect my friend; I don’t just go around killing people because of a stupid video that


    proves nothing besides a love gone wrong. Ring any bells?”


    "Why do you wanna hurt me? Why." His question takes me off guard, and here, now, staring at the man


    who should never have kissed me back the day on the rooftop, I am just a woman, hurting the man


    who made me belong. And Marco Catelli is that man.


    I grip on his forearm and I cry as my knees threaten to give out. I put all my weight on my arms, his


    strength, the only thing keeping me up right now. How far have wee from the man I first met, to


    this now? A stolen moment influenced by his rage toward me.


    His fingers wrap around my arm underneath my left armpit and he lifts me up. His left hand around my


    hip, pulling me in toward his body. My legs instinctively wrap around his torso. His eyes burn me alive


    as his right-hand slides in the crux of my ass. And he moves, eyes on me, till my back hits the corner of


    the door.


    Mad-man


    His mouth takes my soul, possesses me as it touches my lips in a manner that has never been a


    sweeter contradiction to the hells fire burning in his gaze.


    "You Mezzosangue, terrify me. I am a constant storm and you, Aliyana is the eye to my storm." I suck


    in his exhale as his mouth hovers over mine


    Never have I encountered a man like him. He rips me to shreds at the same time he is my greatest hit


    of dopamine. I hate him for it.


    Marco didn’t kiss me and I was d to just be in his arms even as I pushed him away and left. I didn’t


    go back to the table where Kylie and Deno sat, I went home, and thank God I


    did.