“I think we could all eat,” Lil said to a chorus of similar responses.
When Lil reached for a glass, a bandage wrapped around her hand snagged my attention. Sofia must have caught me looking because I felt the heat of her stare.
“Lil got scraped up when a bomb went off at one of our clubs. If it hadn’t been for Max’s quick reflexes—he literally shielded her with his body—the outcome would have been much worse.” That same hard glint flashed in her eyes. “Know anything about that?”
I recoiled at the implication. “I—no, why would I?”
“We’ve heard that you’re close with Dante Verretti.” El turned the top and bottom ovens on after delivering that little bomb.
“I’ve known him all my life. I wouldn’t say we’re that close, but he was going to help me sabotage an operation my family runs.”
“Close enough to plant a bomb for him?” Emiliana leaned forward, boxing me in to press my back against the counter.
“Why would I do that?” I pushed back so that we were separated by only an inch, refusing to be intimidated. “I want to get away from my family, stop them from trafficking women. Dante was helping me with that.”
“What the hell?” Emiliana’s lips pulled back, and horror leached her face of color.
Sofia, Lil, and El crowded around her, wearing similar expressions but not as severe or deadly as Emiliana’s. Nico chose that moment to walk in with the rest of the bosses and Trey following close behind.
“What’s going on?” Nico’s voice cracked through the kitchen like a whip. Then he casually pulled me away from them and to his side.
“Nothing.” If those women wanted a fight, I would have to step up. Having Nico run defense for me wouldn’t win their respect. I snuck a peek at him out of the corner of my eye as he observed the other women, seeming laid-back. I didn’t get the vibe that he was there to defend me. “I mentioned that Dante and I were working together but not to go against or harm anyone in Chicago.”
One of the bosses, who had dark-blond hair and eyes that screamed death angled between El and Emiliana. El moved to the side, and he wrapped an arm around Emiliana’s waist. It had to have been Stefano, her husband and the boss of the Rossi family. Another man went to Sofia, and I knew by his resemblance to Emiliana that he was her brother, Enzo, and Sofia’s husband.
“Explain what you were working with Dante on,” Stefano growled.
I summed up what I’d stumbled across—Ricco with the two girls, telling my father they were meant for the holding cells. How Dante and I had planned to intercept an incoming truck containing several more who had been abducted. That it was supposed to occur the day I’d fled for my life. I had no idea if he’d followed through on the small amount of intel I had passed along. But I recounted what Ricco had done, where I had been held, and how and why I ended up at Nico’s place in Grand Cayman.
The only things I held back were the details, such as where the women were held, when the new shipments of girls came in, and the security measures in place.
By the time I finished talking, the fury emanating from everyone in the room had given me hope that I was in a family that was the polar opposite of the one I’d come from. Emiliana convinced me I’d made the right decision. “I’ll kill them all,” she said with palpable rage.
* * *
Nico
Iwas torn between defending Mia, whom I barely knew, and siding with those of my blood. My family had been through a lot, and we’d done it together. My traitorous heart hurt as I looked between my brothers and their other halves and the rest of our Mafia family.
Stefano had left a bloody trail of bodies when he saved Emiliana from a hellish fate. Luc, a recent addition to the Five Families and the new boss of the Brambilla family, had done the same for his wife, Summer, an outsider who had joined the fold and was expecting a baby in July.
Our generation had endured too much, but it only solidified our bond, including the one with Max, who’d been left for dead but returned to us and fell in love with Lil—he’d helped to unite the families and make them stronger than ever. I’d always thought of Lil as the sweetest of the Mafia princesses among my sister, El, Emiliana, and Marissa, who’d been murdered in college.
I’d never thought I would find the love that my parents, brothers, or Sofia had. But Mia kept surprising me, and I was starting to care for her. I only hoped that it wasn’t to the detriment of my family.
After I’d made hasty introductions, even though I was sure she knew on sight who everyone was, we broke apart from the group and followed Trey into the room where he had left his equipment. The tracker in her hip had to come out.
My body felt strung tight and ready to snap—her soft skin beckoned me to run my fingers over it. I found it difficult not to touch her. I rarely acted on impulse, but being around my family and witnessing the fierce love each couple had for one another had stirred the cavernous ache for the same within me. And in a moment of weakness, I gave in and slid my arm around her waist, my fingers nudging under the hem of her shirt to rest against her skin as I led her away from everyone. Beneath my hand, her body stiffened, and a small gasp escaped her lips. A deep sense of satisfaction flooded me—my touch had an effect.
She kept her gaze locked on Trey’s back and carried herself with the same confidence and fiery strength that had attracted me from the moment I’d turned to find her on the beach with a gun aimed at my chest. She intrigued me more than any other woman I’d known. But none of them had been able to breach the walls of my heart. I supposed that was why I considered myself an abnormality in our family. I was broken, unable to let a woman inside and experience the same all-consuming love that everyone else had.
Which was why this marriage for protection wasn’t an unrealistic endeavor for me. The glitch in my decision was how attracted I was to her. And if we decided to lower our guards and explore the energy that swirled between us, I couldn’t help but wonder if she could be the one.
CHAPTER TEN
MIA
The door opened, tearing me from sleep. I jackknifed to sitting, my hand automatically going under my pillow for a weapon and encounteringnothing. Panic swelled, chasing the remnants of sleep away. Four shadowy forms entered as a light flicked on, blinding me. I sprang from the bed, fists raised and ready to fight.