Surrender To Me

He whips me around to face him, but he does it so quickly that I’m slammed into his chest. I look up into his eyes and there’s liquid fire burning within. Rage doesn’t describe

what I see. “You won’t be doing that.”

“Only if you admit that you’re jealous.”

He breathes deep, looks away from me and to nothing in particular and then back to me. “Fine. I am jealous. Is that what you want me to say? No, stop seducing my brothers.” It’s tough holding back the laughter bubbling inside me as I have to clench my lips. “I’m being serious.”

I laugh. “God,” I punch his hard chest. “I’m not going to fuck your very handsome brothers. I was just playing with you. I wanted you to agree that you’re in fact jealous, and I got that. Now I can die happy.”

“So, what were you three talking about?”

“The wedding. You know, the thing we were witnessing? I was just asking Nico a few questions since you didn’t want to entertain me.”

“And when I left you?”

“You, actually. If you can believe it.”

He sighs. The next thing I know, he’s grabbing my chin and drawing me to his mouth for a punishing kiss. It’s too hot for me not to accept. He nips and bites my lip, and like a masochist, I accept the pain he’s inflicting on my lips. When I moan, his tongue slips into my mouth and caresses my own, driving me wild with desire. After a while, he lets me go. When I open my eyes, he’s staring down at me. “What will I do with you, Corina? You drive me crazy.” This is the first time he’s ever said anything close to acknowledging he has feelings for me. It’s not an outright declaration, but it shows me that he isn’t just an emotionless block of wood. He feels something for me.

“You’re not the only one. You make me lose my senses, too.” My voice is gruff as I speak. Even now, as we’re standing holding each other, I feel like I’m in my little heaven. It’s addictive and I must remind myself there’s a deadline to this. There will be a time where he will no longer be mine.

He holds me in his embrace and says, “Never give Nico and Rico any ideas.”

“I doubt they think of me in that way at all.”

“I’m serious.”

“Fine. I won’t let them get any ideas. But trust me, they had none.”

He drops another kiss on my lips. This one is sweeter than the last. “Corina, Corina,” he whispers against my lips. He makes my name sound like an endearment. I want to hear him say it like that again and again.

A sound from the bushes outside the maze breaks the spell, and we disentangle from each other. We make our way back to the reception, hand in hand.

The reception is being held in the vast garden just like the wedding, but on the other side of the villa. Two parallel long tables have been set and one small table lies across them, which I assume is where the bride and groom will be. We’re led to the front of one of the long tables where, I notice, is where everyone who’s the Morelli family is. The other table is, I assume, for the other family.

“Shouldn’t you all be mixing now that you’re all family?” I ask him. He’s never responded to anything I ask about his business or his ‘family,’ and I assume this too will fall on deaf ears, but he says, “Too soon. There’s still some bad

blood between us, for that to be possible.”

“That much?”

“If my father knew our family was joining the Vannuccis, he would be spitting on the ground. He’s probably rolling in his grave as we speak.”

“So why are you uniting now?”

His gaze goes to the father of the bride, who’s sitting on the other table opposite us. The man raises a glass of champagne at Dante and Dante responds the same way.

“We need all the help we can get.” “To defeat Saccone.”

His brow furrows while giving me an inquisitive look. “How do you know about that?”

“Isn’t Saccone your sworn enemy? Isn’t he the one who tried to kill you in Brazil after he took your arms dealer away from you?”

“You know way too much about me and my business.”

“How could I not when I spend so much time with you?”

“Who told you all of this? Colin? Nico?”

“You.” “Me?”

“When you were talking too loudly on your call the other day.” He stares as if he’s seeing a brand new me. “I’m not as dumb as you think, you know.”

“I’ve never thought you were.”

The compliment surprises me such that I have nothing to say except to stare at him.

“Who would have thought that anything like this would happen?” I turn to the sound of the voice to see the father of the bride standing behind us, specifically behind Dante. He stands up and so do I. “My father wouldn’t have thought so too,” Dante says, “But times have changed.”

“Indeed, I look forward to our partnership.”

Dante turns his gaze to the opposite table. “Do the others think the same way as you do? I’ve heard you have some dissenters in your family?”

“Nothing I can handle. Mostly men who thought they could take over my business by becoming my son-in-law.

They will come around.”

“Let’s hope so.”

Vannucci’s gaze lands on me, as if noticing me for the first time. “And who’s the lovely young lady with you?”

“Corina, meet my new business partner, Pietro Vannucci, head of the Vannucci family.”

“Vannucci meet Corina.”

Vannucci takes my hand and kisses it. “Out of all the flowers present here today, you, my darling, are the most beautiful.”

I can’t help smiling. “Thank you.”

He lets go of my hand and turns his attention to Dante. As they converse in mostly Italian, I notice his gaze keeps wandering to me. After a while he says, “Sorry, it’s just you remind me of someone. Could it be…” he trails off as if catching himself.

“Who do I remind you of?” I say.

Vannucci glances at Dante, and then says, “I must be mistaken, never mind.” Vannucci’s phone rings. He looks at it, turns it off, and says, “Dante, it’s been nice meeting you. You too Corina.” He draws Dante away and whispers something in his ear. Dante nods as if in agreement. Vannucci pats his back, takes another look at me, and leaves.

“What was that all about?” I say to Dante as he’s getting back into his seat.

“Nothing.” His tone indicates, ‘don’t ask anymore questions.’ And here I was thinking he’s now being more open. Whatever they were talking about, I can tell that I was at least one percent of the conversation. A little pissed off with him in general, I decide to get up and walk around. “Where are you going?” He asks when he sees me standing up.NôvelD(ram)a.ôrg owns this content.

“The powder room.”

“I’ll come with you.” He says, about to stand.

“To the powder room?”

“Right.” He gets back into his seat.

I don’t go to the villa. Instead, I take a stroll around the garden, admiring the beautifully manicured landscape. I spot an old-looking fountain of two angels with their hands in the air and I make my way there. The angels look like they’re holding the water as it shoots out of their hands. It’s a mesmerizing piece, and I get lost in watching the flow of the water when I hear, “It was made during the Renaissance around the fifteen hundreds, but I can’t remember.” I turn around to see Nico standing in a casual pose with him in his pocket.

“It’s beautiful. Dante told me your father bought this house in the eighties.”

“You mean killed the owner and made it his own? If so, yeah, he bought it.”

I chuckle. “I was trying to sanitize it.”

“You don’t have to. I know it’s a spoil of war.” He looks up at the villa. “I like this place. You never know what you might find. I’m the only one who bothered to tally the

priceless art that’s around here.”

“Priceless art?”

“There’s like a few Bellinis, and a Raphael confiscated from the Vatican in that house.”

“Holy shit.”

“I know. Do you want to see? I can give you a tour.”

“Maybe next time. I think I should get back to Dante.” I don’t want him to think I’m flagrantly disobeying him, like he thinks I usually do.

Nico grins. “Did he say something? He seemed pretty pissed when you two left.”

“A little.”

He chuckles and offers me his hand. “We shouldn’t give him even more ammo then. He might break my neck.” I take it and we stroll back to the direction of the reception, walking slowly with little conversation passing between us. We pass by two women who see us and jump into the other path as if we’re a couple of snakes. “I don’t think I’ve ever been to such an awkward wedding.”

“Things are about to get even more awkward considering we’ll be fighting your father.”

“What?”

I don’t think I’ve ever seen him flushed, but his face is red right now. “Nothing.”

“I’m pretty sure you said your father.”

He looks away from me, picking up pace. I keep up with him. “You misheard me.”

“No, I didn’t. What do you mean by that?”

“Uh,” he looks around, as if searching for an exit. “Nothing. Nothing at all.”

I scan the area for Dante. If Nico will not give me an answer, Dante will. He’s still at the table. Food is getting served. The father of the bride is about to give a speech. I increase my pace, making a beeline towards Dante. Nico is behind me, swearing and calling me to come back. Dante sees us and before I even ask, he looks like he knows what I’m going to say. “What does Nico mean when he says you’re fighting my father?”