The Unwanted Conti Bride. Tara Pammi

“Kairos can be hard to—” he raised a brow and she realized she’d jumped to her supposed lover’s defense “—understand.”

      “You feel sorry for her?” he said, amazement in his eyes.

      Sophia shrugged. Despite the sting in her cheek and the burn in her stomach at the comment on her looks, something inside Sophia recoiled at the vulnerability in Valentina’s eyes. A palette of emotions for Kairos, who was as hard-hearted as hell, to see. And everything was acted upon, too...

      No man was worth that self-doubt, that haunting sense of inadequacy, Sophia wanted to tell Valentina.

      Swift anger rose through her at Kairos; he was supposed to be her friend. Couldn’t he have reassured Valentina instead of using Sophia to keep his own wife at a distance?

      “It’s obvious that what I suggested is a disastrous idea.” She chanced a glance at Luca, greedy to the last second. She’d make sure it was another decade before she saw him again. Something in her clenched tight. “Forget what I suggested.”

      Without waiting for his answer, Sophia turned and walked away.

      And in that moment she hated all men.

      Antonio, for planting that horrible idea in her head, for using her desperation to promote his own agenda.

      Kairos, for using their friendship as a barrier against his own wife.

      Salvatore, for never giving her a chance in the company, even though he called her his daughter.

      And the man behind her, more than anyone else, for kissing her like he meant it. Now and ten years ago. For making her want him so much, for making her weak and foolish, for making her imagine, even for a second, that she was all the things she could never be.

CHAPTER THREE

      LUCA SPENT THAT Monday morning with Huang from the design team of Conti Luxury Goods, studying the prototype for new heels that would be released the coming spring.

      Huang and he had worked together for almost ten years now, since Leandro had convinced Luca to take a small part in Conti Luxury Goods. Luca interacted only with Huang, and Huang worked with the rest of the design team.

      He picked up a royal blue pump, tracing the aerodynamic sole with his fingers. The success of these pieces didn’t worry him. As always, anything he designed, from pumps to handbags, became instantly covetous among the fanatically fashionable.

      Seeing something raw and shapeless transform into something so pleasing, that was success to him. But this particular design run had come to fruition and he felt the loss of it keenly. It had been quite a challenge—the design of the new heel. Now the production team would take over.

      Familiar restlessness slithered through his veins. What to work on next? Sophia’s outrageous proposal from Friday night winked at him.

      Dio, but that had challenge and fun and all kinds of things written into it. She hated him—had every right to, but she was still attracted to him. When his looks tripped Sophia into that kind of a kiss, he couldn’t quite hate them. It should have been one of a hundred kisses, she one of numerous, interchangeable faces he filled his life with and yet, the taste of her lips lingered, the passion with which she had taken him lingered, filling him with a restless craving for more.

      Since he had no intention of following that up with Sophia, he needed a woman. To forget her and her kisses and that he had no place in her life. Soon.

      He was at the door when Huang said, “You’re not going to wait?”

      “For what?”

      “You don’t even know, do you? Your brother—” Huang’s smile dimmed for the rift between Leandro and him, the first in their life, was fodder for office gossip “—is at the board meeting today. The one that’s going on now.”

      “Well, he’s the CEO of CLG, Huang.” His mind ran over the next few days. He couldn’t disappear without checking on Tina first.

      “There are rumors that he’s making a big announcement today.”

      Luca stilled.

      His brother claimed to have changed, that he regretted ruthlessly arranging Tina’s marriage to Kairos, pulling such deception over their sister, even if he intended it for her own good. But Leandro did nothing without reason. Needing to control everyone and everything around him was an itch in his brother’s blood.

      A lot of fates depended on Leandro’s decision. Including Salvatore’s. And Sophia’s.

      Her problems are not yours.

      No warning could curb his thoughts, though. The poor state of the Rossi finances was common knowledge now. What would be her next move? Who would she propose marriage to next?

      Curiosity was wildfire in his gut, eating away at that restlessness that never deserted him. Her expression when she had walked away, defeated yet resolute, stayed with him.

      If nothing, it would be amusing to see what Sophia would do next. So Luca waited, for Sophia was a breath of fresh air, cold and yet invigorating, in his predestined life.

      * * *

      Leandro was stepping down as the CEO of the CLG Board.

      Two hours and a million thoughts later, Luca still hadn’t recovered from the shock. For years Leandro’s life had been CLG. Kairos, his brother-in-law, would be the front-runner for CEO.

      What use would his sister, Tina,then be to the ruthlessly ambitious Kairos once he had that?

      His thoughts in a tangle, Luca walked past the alarmed secretary and pushed the door open to his brother’s office.

      Kairos was in Leandro’s office, his hands on Sophia’s shoulders.

      Jealousy twisted Luca’s gut, his blood singing with that same possessive fury again. Dio, only Sophia reduced him to this. Willing control over his emotions, he stayed by the door. The question he’d refused to ask, because he’d believed that Sophia was above such disgusting behavior as him, even after Tina’s accusations gnawed at him now.

      How well did Sophia know him?

      Sophia’s quick shake to Kairos’s whisper, the intimacy their very stance betrayed...suggested something more than an affair, something far more dangerous.

      He couldn’t be the only man in the world who realized Sophia’s worth, the only man who wanted to claim her in every way. Did Kairos want more, too?

      Even if they weren’t having an affair, it was clear Sophia had something with Kairos that Tina could never reach.

      He’d hated this match between Tina and Kairos from the beginning, but seeing the stars in his sister’s eyes, he had stayed out of it. Even now, every instinct in him wanted to let Kairos have the CEO position he’d pursued with such cunning and ruthlessness, to let their marriage reach that destructive conclusion.

      Only the tears he’d seen in Tina’s eyes at that party stayed his hand now.

      It had been Leandro who had brought Tina to live with them after their mother’s death but it was Luca who’d made her laugh. Luca who’d gained her trust first; Luca she laughed with over all these years.

      With her smile and generous heart, Tina loved Luca unconditionally, provided as much an anchor in his life as Leandro had.

      Smarting at the direction of his thoughts, Luca ran a hand through his hair.

      If there was a chance that Tina’s marriage to Kairos could be saved, he had to take it. He had to trust in Leandro’s belief that Kairos was the right man for Tina.

      And to give Tina a running chance, he’d take away what stood between his sister and Kairos—the CEO position of CLG and Sophia Rossi. Luca’s seat on the board, which he’d have to claim for the first time in his life, would see to the