“She’s only nineteen, Franco,” Gio hisses, almost angrily. But I know he’s more concerned than angry. His eyes glower at me, matching my glare with one of his own.
“She is,” I concede. “But Lucio asked something of me he knew I could never deny. And if a gift is handed to you on a silver platter, do you refuse it?”
“She’s not an object.”
“Matteo, are you really judging me by this choice?” I question him incredulously. Leaning forward, I place my elbows on my thighs, meeting my brother’s eyes.
“No, just…” He sighs. “Be careful with her.”
I nod, sitting back, and silence envelops us easily. My mind still racing with thoughts of her. It’s wrong. So fucking wrong. But I don’t care. I never did, and I never will.
Raina Lombardi will be mine.
* * *
“This iswhy I asked you to fucking do it last night!” I slam down the phone in frustration. Pinning Gio with a glare, I bite out, “Get the fuck outside with that damn thing.” He’s smoking in my office again and he knows I fucking hate it.
“Gesù, clamati.” He chuckles, rising from the chair. With a confident stride, he heads to the balcony that sits just off my large office and pushes open the glass doors. Light and fresh air stream through the room, bathing the space in a false serenity.
“Don’t fucking tell me to calm down. Do you know how much money was lost?Che stronzo!The asshole didn’t follow orders.”
Giovanni doesn’t respond. Instead, he puffs the white smoke into the clean air outside. Matteo shifts in his seat, lifting the laptop, and places it on my desk. “This is what you’re looking for.” He points to the information I’ve been waiting for.
The background intel on Raina Lombardi.
Just as I figured—no siblings. So how is it that Andrea has claim to the money and is titled as her brother? When I got home last night, I did some research into the Lombardis. They only had one child. My men who scrape the dark web for anything I need to bring my enemies down found out that she’s the only child, heir to the fortune.
Did Lucio know this?There wasn’t anything in the file he left behind.
Her father was murdered and her mother is gone. Disappeared. Raina’s single. She’s nineteen, turning twenty in a few months, and she’s applied to study at Princeton. She wants to go into finance, like her father. Everything is there, blood type, all known addresses, even the type of contraceptive she’s on.
“Do you think you should do this?” Giovanni questions from the doorway, the sunlight stealing his features, his face half in shadow as he regards me with narrowed eyes. He might be younger than me and I know he’s only trying to be the voice of reason, but I’ve made my decision. There’s nothing and nobody that’s going to stop me from having her.
“An opportunity had landed in my lap. I’m not letting slip through my fingers. Let’s see if her brother can handle my games. He wants to fuck withla mafia, I’ll teach him how the big boys play. There’s something he’s hiding, and if my gut feeling is right, he was the one who killed Lucio. Like the saying goes, an eye for an eye. This time, however, it will be a life for a life.” I flit my gaze between them. Both nod quickly. They know the life. They know that soon, we’ll need to avenge our familia.
“First things first, tonight I collect Raina. I’ll bring her back here,” I tell my brothers. “Then we’ll have a man on her when she’s at school.”
“You know, Franco, since we’re not sure who is responsible, I can tail her.” Matteo smirks, and I know exactly what he means. My brother is a player. He loves women. One, ten, fifty, it doesn’t matter how many at a time, and it doesn’t matter if they’re married or not. As much as I trust him to do his job, she’s my responsibility.
“You need to be at the warehouse,” I inform him. He nods in understanding. “And you,”—I glance at Gio, who’s still basking in the sunlight—“I want focused on Andrea. You’re both going to take two soldiers with you at all times.”
“Yes, Franco,” Matteo responds.
For years, my father ran a tight ship. He did nothing by half measure. Only one hundred percent. Or nothing at all. What got him killed was the fact that he allowed himself to lower his guard against someone he considered a friend. Me, however, I don’t have friends. That’s why I will not go down like he did.
I should’ve been at the meeting last night. Lucio should’ve called me. But he probably didn’t realize the danger he was in until it was too late.
“Let’s get this done. I want to focus on going home soon.”
They move without responding.
I will set my plan in motion soon enough, and I’ll have a Mafia Princess by my side.
6
Raina
The morning sunlight wakes me from a restless dream of a handsome man in an immaculate suit. Last night was strange. The way he looked at me was as if he knew me. But I don’t know his name. He never offered it. The only thing that struck me was how much he reminded me of Lucio.