Trying to put her at ease, I carefully said, “It is my pleasure to help in any way, myBella Farfalla. If you need anything, all you have to do is ask.”
“Thank you,” she softly replied before curling up into the seat.
“Gio, don’t even think about it,” Reggie threatened for only me to hear before he too went to take his seat.
Both Reggie and Dwayne were more alert with Layla present. Neither took their eyes off her, watching her like a hawk. I wondered what it was about her that had both my cousins in such an uproar. Whatever they were hiding had to do with her. She was more than some club brother’s sister. In fact, I was starting to wonder who exactly she was and what her association with the Golden Skulls truly was.
5
Layla
“It is my pleasure to help in any way, myBella Farfalla. If you need anything, all you have to do is ask,” Giovanni Valentinetti said sincerely as I stared into his eyes. The man was a caution, that was for sure, but nothing I wasn’t capable of dealing with. I knew men like him. What they were all about. Men like Mr. Valentinetti seemed cordial and polite to the outside world, but behind closed doors, they were anything but. At least that was my assessment.
However, this man was different.
In all my research, I hadn’t been able to find anything personal about the man. Besides being a multi-billionaire who had his hands in everything from goods to the entertainment industry, the man was loyal to his family. Though he perceived himself to be a pillar in the community, his ties to the mafia always overshadowed him.
The Valentinetti family, or theFamilyas he called them, came to America during the 1930s with a price on their heads. They left Italy in the middle of the night and never returned. During my research, there was a war between several of the families back in Italy. It was a bloodbath.
However, when the Valentinetti’s fled, the war ended.
After coming to America, they settled in Chicago, made a new life, and prospered. Now, the Valentinetti family was a household name. Everyone around the world bought their products, most not even realizing who produced them. And this fall, some of those people were going to walk into a movie theater and watch a new action movie produced by Valentine Entertainment, owned and operated by Lorenzo Valentinetti, brother to Giovanni Valentinetti, head of the Valentinetti Family.
“Thank you,” I softly replied before curling up into the seat.
“Gio, don’t even think about it,” Reggie threatened him, and I wanted to chuckle but didn’t. Poor Reginald Buchannon, or Player as the Golden Skulls called him. He was too easy. To kind. To soft-hearted. I would never know how he was part of the Golden Skulls, but he was my way into the Valentinetti Family for right now.
Bella farfalla, indeed.
Whatever.
I wasn’t some beautiful butterfly. What I was, was something altogether different. Something dangerous, menacing. Something that when the time came, I was going to unleash holy hell on all those around me.
Nobody was safe.
Not even the Golden Skulls.
Life was like chess. Every move received a counter move, and then it was game on. The only difference was that life played for keeps. I couldn’t restart this game if I lost. Nope. I needed to be damn sure I won in this game because the alternative wasn’t an option.
Like being kidnapped, I knew exactly when they would come for me, thanks to the cut that arrived the day before. Kitty and I knew it was game on when the cut arrived. We both knew the response would be immediate. We both had our parts to play, and though we both knew what could happen, I wasn’t shocked when it did.
Seeing the cut in Kitty’s hands didn’t give us a lot of time to plan, but it was enough time to think of contingencies. And those contingencies came in handy when I was bought and traded to the Black Vultures. Though I wasn’t expecting that, I was prepared for it, and getting out of that mess would be a problem, but thanks to my brother and the Golden Skulls, I was where I am now.
On a plane with the very man I desperately needed to talk to and warn.
My dilemma was currently figuring out how to get Giovanni Valentinetti alone. The man was extraordinarily private and never went anywhere without two or more guards. When he was alone, he was still surrounded by men who would easily give their lives for him. Every minute of every day was scheduled down to the second, and from what I knew about him, I wouldn’t be surprised if the man went to the bathroom without someone in the room with him.
While everyone believed that I was some broken woman, too frail to speak or think for myself, I was anything but. I knew what I was doing. I knew everything that would happen the moment I was taken all that time ago from my apartment. I knew they would come for me…because I was the one who sent them the message on how to find me.
From an early age, I knew things. I couldn’t explain it then, and I sure as hell couldn’t explain it now. I just knew things. Odd things, things that shouldn’t have mattered but did. I knew them all. My mom told me I was empathetic or had the second sight. That shit only scared me. As I grew older, I understood more, and I got what she was saying. It made sense, just like her telling me that my second sight would always protect me.
The funny thing about that second sight, it never let me down.
Now, I’m not saying I’m psychic because I’m not. I just see things differently. Maybe I see what others can’t or don’t want to see. Who knows? For example, I learned that James Doherty was not my father from an early age. Then again, it didn’t take a genius to figure that out, which was surprising because my brother Dylan was supposed to be the damn genius, not me.
Yet, he didn’t see it.
It’s called scotomisation. The mind sees what it wants to see.