Little freak.
CHAPTER 50
Di Lorenzo Empire
Gio
I walk over to Nonno with a glass of champagne in my hand. He pulls me in and kisses both of my cheeks. Looking at me with pride in his eyes, he nods for me to follow him.
We start to walk the grounds of the wedding. I lift my glass to my lips and start to talk. “Any word on Barbieri yet?”
“No, nothing yet. Patience.”
“The man has nine lives,” I hiss.
“Yes, it feels like it, but that’s not where your focus needs to be. Dario will start to work in the restaurants. Dante should take over for you at the company. He has a mind for business. You can serve as an adviser.”
“Pushing me in the background again. I like it. I can move freely. Take some pressure off Jace and Ny,” I reply.
“Among other things. You’re gaining too much power, too fast. I’m getting information too slowly. You need to be focused on what you need me to know. Remember, you are using me as cover.”
I know what he’s talking about. I made a last-minute decision I didn’t get to talk to him about. It got back to Italy before I could tell him. I had other things on my plate.
I lift my glass again.
“Sorry about that. I’ll hand things over to him once he comes back from his honeymoon. It might settle him and rein in his temper.”
The reason I had to make the last-minute decision. Dante slaughtered one of Robby’s guys. The guy was low level, but Robby felt slighted. I had to put him down before he came for my brother.
“It’s just rumors for now. I’m sure you handled it so there’s no confirmation. Remember, ten steps ahead and always keep your pawns in the know of what they need to know.”
“You’re not a pawn, Nonno,” I say.
He stops and turns to look at me sternly. “Yes, Michelangelo. I am and you will do well not to forget that. I’m teaching, learning, and guiding. This is how a great leader works. Capisce?”
“Capisce.”
He starts to walk again. “Now, tell me, what can you teach me this visit?”
Nyla
I walk into the gym at the house and LL’s “Headsprung” is blasting. Lizzy comes into view beating the shit out of the heavy bag. I smile with pride. She’s moving with a confidence she didn’t have five months ago.
I pick up a pair of gloves to spar with her. I’ll admit. I was pissed when she took the job at the rink. I thought Gio had sent Ming for her to train as a doll.
I would have killed him. However, Lizzy seems to be making friends with some of the girls and she’s not aware of who they are or what they do. Since the main training facility moved to the Dollhouse basement, she wouldn’t make the connection.
“Hey you,” I call over the music with a smile.
She spins with her hands up. Seeing it’s me, she drops them and wipes at the sweat on her face. My heart swells as she gives me that pretty dimpled smile.
In the span of seconds, my heart pangs as I think of Dante. I would hate to watch Lizzy make such a big mistake. I give Gio so much respect for letting this happen.
“Hey, you okay?”
I shake off my thoughts. “Yeah. Come on. Show me what you got.”
She smiles, then nods and starts for me. All smiles are gone as we square up. She’s just like Mom and doesn’t know it. I anticipate her attack because she’s going to come at me just like Mom would have. She leads with her left.
All the women in our family can fight orthodox and southpaw. We’re ambidextrous, we have no dominant side. We can do most things from either side.
Lizzy frowns when I block her, and she quickly shifts to orthodox. I’m expecting that too. I catch her with two body shots. She frowns and shakes it off.
I watch with pride when she starts to dance. I get ready because she’s about to show me who Beth’s girls are.
“Ah,” she yells as she throws a right hook that rocks my head to the side.
My ear is ringing. “Nice,” I say and shake it off and dance back.
In real life, the person fighting her isn’t going to see a baby sister, so I forget all that and take her ass to task. You can hear the force of our blows thunder though the gym over the music.
I don’t get workouts like this with the dolls. Lizzy is matching my skills and challenging me. Even as I taste the metal flavor of my blood in my mouth, I grin and fight.
“Girls, girls,” Elijah bellows right as I rock Lizzy’s head back with an uppercut. “What the hell?”
I bend over and place my hands on my knees to catch my breath. Lizzy sits up from the floor and shakes her head with a little grin. We both laugh.