Bound by Honor

**Bound by Honor** is the first book in the Born in Blood Mafia Chronicles and the main series by Cora Reilly, followed by *Bound by Honor.* It was released on December 6, 2014.

## Synopsis

*Born into one of the leading Mob families in Chicago, Aria Scuderi struggles to find her own path in a world where no choices are given. Aria was only fifteen when her parents betrothed her to Luca – The Vice – Vitiello, the oldest son of the head of the New York Cosa Nostra to ensure peace between the two families.*

*Now with eighteen, the day Aria has been dreading for years is looming dangerously: her wedding to Luca.*

*Aria is terrified of marrying a man she hardly knows, especially someone like Luca who got his nickname ‘the Vice’ for crushing a man’s throat with his bare hands. Luca might be one of the most sought after men in New York thanks to his good looks, wealth and predator-like charisma that radiates power, but the society girls throwing themselves at him don’t know what Aria does: that the bad boy aura isn’t just a game; blood and death lurk beneath Luca’s striking gray eyes and arrogant smile.*

*In her world a handsome exterior often hides the monster within; a monster who can just as easily kill as kiss you.*

*The only way to escape the marriage to Luca would be to run away and leave everything she’s ever known behind but Aria can’t bear the thought of never seeing her family again.*

*Despite her fear, she decides to go through with the marriage; Aria has grown up among predators like Luca and knows that even most cold-hearted bastards have a heart and she has every intention of working her way into Luca’s.*

## Summary

As outside forces push in, the feud between New York and Chicago must end. The only way for them to have peace is for them to join forces together, a bond of blood must be formed - by marriage. At the age of fifteen Aria, the daughter of the Outfit's consigliere, has been betrothed to the Famiglia's future Capo de Capi, Luca Vitiello. The first time she meets Luca is at the age of fifteen by accident before her engagement. Gianna and Liliana were chasing Fabiano around, Aria quickly followed trying to stop them before they got in trouble, but Liliana ended up running literally into Luca, Matteo and Cesare who had arrived for the engagement a day early. Fabiano, who is five, starts pummeling Luca. Gianna goes off on Luca, causing Aria to stop her and take Lily and Fabiano to their rooms. She quickly apologizes to Luca and then abruptly leaves, scared to be alone with him.

At the engagement party her father has her dress up in a revealing dress and five-inch heels, that Aria said made her look like a hooker. The outfit was made to show Luca all he would be getting, but instead of seeing a sexy young girl, all he can see is how *young* she is and doesn’t seem to want much to do with her in the meantime. Luca and Aria are left alone and he presents her with the engagement ring. Aria looks at her ring and can’t help but see it as a mark of Luca’s possession instead of an engagement.

Later that night, after the party Aria wanders through the secret passageway, she sees Gianna who is looking through the peephole to the lounge, listening in on the conversation. Gianna moves aside and lets Aria look herself, but all she sees is Luca and his entourage. Matteo is provoking Luca, trying to get Cesare and Romero to say something to make Luca talk about his young fiance. Luca orders Cesare to find the men who were to be watching over Aria for the next three years, while he was in New York. Cesare returns with Raffaele and Umberto, Rocco not far behind upset at the way they were summoned and wanting to know the meaning of this. Luca and Matteo interrogate Umberto challenging him and provoking him to see if he could be trusted to watch Aria, they agree that Umberto is a good fit but when they get to Raffaele they provoke him in an even more intense manner, Raffaele smugly admits that he would do whatever he wanted to Aria and they wouldn’t even know. Despite being Aria’s cousin he details his desire for her causing Luca to throw him down, pull out his knife, and cut off Raffaele’s pinky.

At that same moment, Gianna lets out an ear-piercing scream from the passageway revealing that Aria and Gianna have been listening the whole time. Gianna begins to throw up and soon the secret door is pulled open to show their furious father. He grabbed Gianna about to slap her, but Aria quickly stepped in the way to take the blow. When the hit didn't come Aria was surprised to see Luca holding her father's fist, stating that Aria was now Luca's responsibility and so he would no longer be punishing her.

The next three years had flown by, and the next time Aria saw Luca was a few days before their wedding. He showed up at her hotel suite, asking to speak to her in her bedroom alone so he could give her contraception to start taking before their wedding night, this soon turned into an argument between the two, ending with Romero taking the place of Umberto as Aria’s bodyguard. The day of the wedding came and despite her fear, Aria married Luca. As they welcome congratulations from all the guests, Aria finds herself not feeling as happy as she should be. Grace Parker, the daughter of a New York senator, and a former fling of Luca’s gives Aria a congratulatory hug but tells her the bad things that will happen to her tonight when she and Luca are alone.

When the celebration is over and they go back to their room alone, the terror from what is to come became too much for Aria and she blatantly refused to consummate the marriage with Luca. Luca tells her he can do whatever he wants and she wouldn’t be strong enough to stop him.  Luca pulls out his knife, Aria expects he is going to kill her with it after refusing to sleep with Luca but is surprised when he cuts his own arm and lets the blood drip on the bed’s white sheets. The presentation of the bloody sheets was the Famiglia tradition. The next morning people would expect to see blood. Not too long after Aria and Luca lay in bed and Aria just starts sobbing, terrified of her husband and fed up with the situation she has been dealt. Luca pulls her towards him, places her hand over his tattoo, and swears an oath not to take her virginity or harm her in any way that night. This action stunned and confused Aria.

The next morning Aria wakes to find Luca's arms wrapped around her. He tells her how the women of the Famiglia would be there soon to collect the sheets. He tells Aria the importance of what happened last night staying between them. To make the story more believable he kisses her passionately just as the knock comes announcing the women have arrived. Luca lets them in and they make a big scene as they grab the sheets. Gianna sneaks in despite her mother trying to hold her back. Aria grabs her and takes her into the bathroom to help her get ready. She confides in Gianna that Luca and she did not actually consummate their marriage. At the presentation of the sheets, Aria feels more than embarrassed. Gianna doesn't hesitate to give her opinion on the matter. Meanwhile Lily and Fabiano sneak in. The sight of the sheets causes Lily to get sick and she ends up throwing up. Soon Arai says goodbye to her family and starts her new life in New York.

Aria finds her new life lonely and after turning down Luca's advances to sleep with her, he started acting cold towards her. After an adventure out in the city, Cosima, one of Luca's cousins gives Aria a note and a key to a Vitiello penthouse. The note tells her to come if she wants to see what Luca is really up to. That night Aria convinces Romero to take her out to dinner at a place not too far from the address of the penthouse Cosima gave her. After sneaking away from Romero, Aria makes her way to the brownstone. She sneaks up to the apartment to find Luca sleeping with Grace Parker. Grace sees her and smiles triumphantly. As soon as Luca sees Aria, she runs out of the building. Despite Romero and Luca following close behind she slips into a metro car, taking her away from the two. Aria calls Gianna and wanders around the city. After she calmed down she made her way back to her and Luca's apartment. Romero was waiting for her, he calls Luca to tell him Aria is back. Not long after Luca arrives angry and the two have it out. By the end of it, they both agree they need to make this marriage work and Luca agrees to never sleep with another woman.

Aria decides she wants to take things with Luca slow. As they grow closer together, Aria is surprised by Luca. Later on, he agrees to let Gianna visit for a few days. The first day Gianna is in New York, she convinces Aria to take her to a club. That day they go shopping for new outfits. That night they force Romero into a compromising position and he takes them to the Sphere. The girls grab some drinks at the bar and then start dancing. Romero is irritated at the whole situation he keeps a close eye on both girls the whole time. The girls start getting a lot of attention from guys, Gianna notices that as she moves to dance with them while Aria does not, she notices the scared look on the eyes of people around her and knows Luca is standing behind her. Aria and Luca dance. Luca leaves Cesare and Romero to watch the girls as he returns to the business. Aria spots Grace watching her from the VIP section.

Aria and Gianna go back to the bar for more drinks. Gianna leaves Aria to go to the restroom. Meanwhile, a man comes up to Aria trying to talk to her. Aria tries to ignore him, but he won't go away. Suddenly she started to not feel good, trying to get away from the guy Aria realized something was wrong. She was dizzy and her legs felt weak, the guy caught her as she started to fall. He starts dragging her away from the bar. Helpless and unable to walk, Aria desperately looks for someone, she catches Romero who quickly comes towards them, he stabs the guy in the leg and Cesare holds Aria. They take Aria and her attacker down to the basement where Matteo and Luca's offices are. It is revealed that the guy's name is Rick and had drugged Aria's drink. When Luca sees him he realizes he knows Aria's attacker. When Aria tells Luca what Rick said he was going to do to her, Gianna goes after the guy kicking and punching him, Matteo rips her away from him and Luca takes over. Before the girls can see what Luca is about to do to Rick, he has Romero take them away. While Aria is drugged she tells Luca she loves him, but knows he will not love her back, she wishes she could hate him but can't. She doesn't remember telling him that the next morning when she wakes up. She does tell Luca she will consummate the marriage when Gianna leaves.

A few days later Gianna leaves they consummate the marriage. Later that night Luca reveals what happened to his mother. When he was nine his mother killed herself to get away from his abusive father. Luca was the found to find her, he ran out crying. His father found him and slapped him. Telling him to never cry again because it is a sign of weakness. He also revealed the night he killed his first man, and how he saved his brother's life. For the next few weeks, Aria and Luca's relationship blossomed. She found herself falling in love with him. Things between them were going great until one day when Gianna calls Aria and tells her she has been betrothed to Matteo and Luca has known for weeks now. This made Aria furious, when Luca got home they got into a fight, saying the ugliest things they could to each other. She went as far as to go downstairs and slap Matteo, almost causing a fight between him and Luca. Luca and Aria didn’t speak for days. Three days later, Luca came home late. He attacked Romero and was acting unlike himself. The next day he revealed to Aria that his father was dead, the Bratva had killed him.

After the funeral of Salvatore Vitiello, Aria and her siblings spend the night at the Vitiello Hamptons house. Suddenly shots are rung out, killing Umberto. It is an attack by the Bratva. Romero takes Lily and Fabiano to safety and Aria goes in search of Gianna. Luca calls Aria and tells her to hide because the Bratva is coming after her. He tells her he will be there soon, but Aria is insistent about finding Gianna. After finding her they head back to the house and are grabbed by two Russian mobsters. Vitali, the leader grabs Aria, and the other Igor, grabs Gianna. Luca appears, Vitali tells Luca to put his gins down or else he will kill Aria. To Aria's horror, he drops his gun. Aria takes a knife she had stuck in her pocket and rams it into Vitali. He releases her and Luca kills him. Soon Luca is fighting off Russians, when an unnoticed Russian mobster points his gun at Luca, Aria jumps in from of Luca and shoots her gun. She gets shot by the bullet and in return killed the Russian Mobster.

When Aria has received proper medical attention and is able to go back home, Luca tells her she should not have taken a bullet for him. Aria tells him she couldn't help it because she loved him and she would do it again if she had to. Luca then reveals that he loves her too, more than the Famiglia, and while he should put the Famiglia first, he can't because he loves Aria too much.

## Characters

* Aria Scuderi
* Luca Vitiello
* Gianna Scuderi
* Rocco Scuderi
* Ludevica Scuderi
* Umberto
* Matteo Vitiello
* Salvatore Vitiello
* Fiore Cavallaro
* Fabiano Scuderi
* Liliana Scuderi
* Dante Cavallaro
* Romero Cancio
* Cesare
* Raffaele
* Valentina Aresco
* Nina Vitiello
* Cosima
* Livia Aresco
* Ornatella
* Bibiana
* Grace Parker
* Jorge
* Rick
* Igor
* Vitali

## Quotes

* *"Born in blood. Sworn in blood. I enter alive and I will have to get out dead." —* Famiglia induction oath.
* "*Did your father never tell you to hide your fear from monsters? They give chase if you run.*" *—* Luca to Aria on their wedding night.
* Aria: "*I want to pretend I'm an ordinary girl tonight."* Luca: *"Nobody who looks at you will think you are ordinary."*
* "*Then so be it. I'll go where you go no matter how dark the path." --Aria to Luca.*
* "*I lied because I hate that I love you, because I hate that you can hurt me without ever laying a finger on me, because I hate myself for loving you even though you won't ever love me back." -Aria to Luca.*
* "There are very few good things in our world, Luca, and if you find one you cling to it with all your might. You are one of those good things in my life." --Aria to Luca.
* *"Love is a risk on our world. and a weakness a Capo can't afford...But I don't care because loving you is the only pure thing in my life."* - Luca to Aria.