Chapter 28: Sticky Is The New Sexy

He didn’t look up. “Am I supposed to be afraid of her?”

“If your wife finds out,” Nonnina said gently, “your father finds out.”

That made him pause. He lifted the cup, sipped slowly, buying himself a moment. The coffee was bitter. He liked it that way. “It’s nothing, Nonnina. Like I said, a temporary arrangement. Nothing to it.”

She hummed, unconvinced.

Soft footsteps approached. The maid entered first, then stepped aside.

Vee followed.

She wore a satin pajama set clearly chosen in haste. Short sleeves. Shorts that skimmed her thighs. Her hair was loose, still holding the shape of sleep, and her eyes carried the cautious alertness of someone who knew she was being assessed.

“Morning,” Vee said.

Nonnina looked delighted.

“Ay… Zuccherino!” she beamed, sweeping toward Vee. She looked her up and down.

Vee smiled. “You must be Nonnina.”

Nonnina’s eyes lit up. “Ah… Diavolino talks about me, uhn?”

Vee tilted her head. “Diavolino?”

“Sit,” Luca cut in sharply, before the conversation could take a scenic detour through decades of family embarrassment.

Vee shot him a look, unimpressed, then deliberately chose the chair farthest from him. The space between them felt loud.

Nonnina noticed everything.

She moved beside Vee and began scooping food onto her plate. Eggs, bread, a little fruit. Then more eggs.

“That’s… that’s enough,” Vee said quickly, lifting her hands in surrender.

Nonnina paused mid scoop. “Ah. You are one of those, uhn?”

“One of…?” Vee asked carefully.

“Those girls who barely eat,” Nonnina said with a dramatic sigh. “Always trying to look like stick insects. Sticky is the new sexy.”

Vee burst out laughing. “No, no. It’s not that. I’m going to work today. I’ll be on my feet all day, so just a little is okay.”

“Hardworking,” Nonnina said, nodding. “I like you.”

“I like you too,” Vee replied warmly, then added, without missing a beat, “Not so much the company you keep though.”

Nonnina snorted and glanced toward Luca just as he scowled. “I could say the same about you,” she said cheerfully.

Nonnina gave Vee a gentle pat on the shoulder, then shuffled back toward the kitchen.

“When did I decide you could go to work?” Luca asked calmly, lifting his coffee cup to his lips.

“Am I a prisoner here?”

“No.” He said it easily. He set the cup down. “I’m sure you’ll behave. And if I find the boyfriend sniffing around you, it will be the last thing he smells of you.”

She stared at him. “You really know how to inspire loyalty.”

“That wasn’t meant to inspire anything,” Luca replied. “It was meant to be understood.”

Vee crossed her arms over her chest, suddenly aware again of the silk pajamas clinging to her skin, of how exposed she felt. “Can you at least let me talk to him? To tell him to stay away? You came to kidnap me from his house in the middle of the night. He’s going to be worried.”

Luca’s fingers drummed once on the table. “In a public place.”

She sighed. “Can I have my phone back?”

“You’ll get it back tonight.”

Vee rolled her eyes. “Very generous of you. And Valentina?” she asked.

“In a safe house. Until Bastardi comes for her.”

Vee swallowed. “You cannot really be serious about still auctioning her. How much do I have to beg?” she pressed. “You have me, Luca. I’m here. I’ll do anything you want.”

“You still don’t get it.”

“No,” Vee agreed.

“Even if I wanted to, Veronica, I cannot. The deal has been sealed. I made an agreement with Bastardi when your father offered his virgin daughter as repayment for his debt. Bastardi is in the market for rare girls. I need something from him. The deal was made. It’s done.”

“You should have let me take her place,” Vee said. “Anything is better than holding my breath, waiting for what is going to happen to her.”

“Eat your food. I hate discussing work at home. This place is supposed to be my peace. Not an additional headache. If you want to be angry at someone, be angry at your father.”

“Oh, I am,” she said quickly. “I truly am. But you’re the one who can still stop this.” She lifted her gaze to him. “Is there really nothing I can do to make you let Valentina go?”

“Nothing,” Luca replied. “What I need from Bastardi is important.”

Veronica stared down at her plate. The eggs had gone cold. The bread looked suddenly offensive in its innocence. Her appetite vanished, replaced by a tight, aching knot in her throat. Tears burned behind her eyes.

Luca watched her. He had sat across from men who begged for their lives. He had listened to sobbing apologies and desperate promises. None of it had lodged under his skin the way this did.

“Don’t do that,” Luca said, already on his feet.

“What?” Vee asked.

“Cry.”

“That’s what people do when they’re sad.”

He stepped closer, the space between them shrinking until the air itself seemed to tense. “No,” he said quietly. “That’s what people do when they are weak. You’re not spineless. Don’t pretend to be.”

“Pretend?” She straightened, anger snapping through her. “Pretend?” She rose to her feet. “You think I am pretending to worry about my sister? That my heart breaks knowing she’s somewhere under your control, where I can’t protect her? Where I don’t know what kind of horror you’ve already subjected her to?”

When she turned to walk away, he caught her arm.

“Let go of me.” She spun into him instead, momentum carrying her straight into his chest. Her fingers spread instinctively against the open front of his robe, heat and muscle beneath her palm, solid and infuriatingly real. Neither of them moved.

“Eat,” he ordered.

“I lost my appetite.” She pushed lightly against him, trying to step back again.

His hand slid from her arm to her waist. “Nonnina made that meal. You will sit and you will eat, or you will not move an inch from that chair.”

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