Undressed By The Maf Chapter 28: Sticky Is The New Sexy

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 mont. The coffee was bitter. He liked it that way. "It’s nothing, Nonnina. Like I said, a temporary arrangent. Nothing to it."

She humd, 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 skimd her thighs. Her hair was loose, still holding the shape of sleep, and her eyes carried the cautious alertness of soone who knew she was being assessed.

"Morning," Vee said.

Nonnina looked delighted.

"Ay... Zuccherino!" she bead, sweeping toward Vee. She looked her up and down.

Vee smiled. "You must be Nonnina."

Nonnina’s eyes lit up. "Ah... Diavolino talks about , uhn?"

Vee tilted her head. "Diavolino?"

"Sit," Luca cut in sharply, before the conversation could take a scenic detour through decades of family embarrassnt.

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 sa 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 slls of you."

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

"That wasn’t ant to inspire anything," Luca replied. "It was ant 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

talk to him? To tell him to stay away? You ca to kidnap

from his house in the middle of the night. He’s going to be worried."

Luca’s fingers drumd 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 cos for her."

Vee swallowed. "You cannot really be serious about still auctioning her. How much do I have to beg?" she pressed. "You have , 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 agreent with Bastardi when your father offered his virgin daughter as repaynt for his debt. Bastardi is in the market for rare girls. I need sothing from him. The deal was made. It’s done."

"You should have let

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 ho. This place is supposed to be my peace. Not an additional headache. If you want to be angry at soone, 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 n 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 seed 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 sowhere 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 ." She spun into him instead, montum 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 al. You will sit and you will eat, or you will not move an inch from that chair."