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“None at all. That’s the problem. It’s totally random. They strike out of nowhere and disappear into the fog. It’s driving me crazy.”

“Why now?” I asked. “They’ve always been our enemies, but they’ve never rolled out in open hostility toward us before.”

“Isn’t it obvious? They’re attacking now because they think we’re weak. Your father just died last week. They think we’re rudderless without a leader who can strike back. They want to encroach and steal as much of our territory as they can so they stake a bigger claim on New York. I hate to admit it, but I’m not putting up enough of a defense. They probably think they were right about me.”

“No way!” I squeezed his wrist. “You’re the best thing that ever happened to this family—after Papa, I mean. The Necci family is going to find out how strong you are. You’re already doing everything anyone could possibly do. We just have to find a way to break them.”

He smiled and looked out the window. “I do my best, Princess. I’m consigliere of this family, so it’s my job to fill in for your father until a new don rises.”

“I’m glad you’re here. You’ve been a rock for me this last week. I don’t know what I would have done without you.” That made my eyes start streaming again. We really would be rudderless without Leo.

I hugged him again, and he hugged me back, but I didn’t linger there with Nicky watching and listening. He made me too uncomfortable.

“That reminds me…” Leo squinted through the window as the limo pulled into the cemetery. At least forty other limos were already there with mourners streaming up the hill toward the Leone family monument.

I groaned. “Sweet Jesus! Look at them all!”

“You can’t blame them. Every other mob family in New York wants to come out and pay their respects to Don Alonzo Leone and his grieving daughter.”

“You don’t have to sugarcoat it. We both know why they’re really here.”

“You can’t blame them for that, either. Our family is in a vulnerable position because your father died without a son. Whoever you marry will become the new don in your father’s place. His whole empire and his wealth and power will pass to your children.”

“So, everyone on the block wants to marry me. Great,” I grumbled. “Everyone here will want to suck up to me and get in my good books.”

“The best way to consolidate our family’s hold on the city is for you to marry an up-and-coming don from one of our allied families. We’ll combine our empires and build a new, more powerful alliance… but we both know why we’re really here, don’t we?”

He shot me a mischievous grin, and I blushed again. “Let’s not talk aboutthat.”

He nudged me with his elbow. “Come on! You know this is the real reason you’re so nervous. You can’t wait to see him, can you?”

“Way to build up the stakes so I’m a nervous wreck. Do you really have to blow it up into such a huge deal?”

“Just try to act naturally. You already know you like Cesare Terranova. You spent most of your summer vacations with him when you were growing up.”

“That was then. I haven’t seen him in years since he went away to college.”

“Oh, look! There he is!”

Leo leaned closer to the window, but I jolted back in the seat. I yanked him out of sight. “Don’t let him see you!”

“Keep your shorts on, Princess. We’re here to see and be seen… especially by Cesare. If you two hit it off, you could get engaged to him and marry him. That would be the best outcome we could hope for. His family is the biggest and the strongest after the Leones. They’re also our allies, so it would be good to pay that forward by forming a stronger alliance with them.”

I didn’t have time to say anything else before the limo pulled up to the curb. Nicky opened the door for Leo and me to get out.

Leo looked around at the crowd and then held out his hand to me. I slipped on my sunglasses so no one would see how puffy my eyes were.

I slipped my hand through Leo’s arm and did my best not to look around at the mourners who were all staring at me. Was Cesare in the crowd somewhere?

Leo had been in constant contact with Don Vincenzo Terranova, Cesare’s father, about Cesare and me meeting up at my father’s funeral. Leo and Don Vincenzo had been angling non-stop for me and Cesare to get engaged. Was I really ready for that, especially so soon after Papa’s death?

I used to love Cesare when we were growing up. We spent all our time together, and we even talked about getting married when we got old enough.

Then everything sort of fell apart when we actuallydidgrow up. He was seven years older than me, so “loving” each other turned out to mean something different when he went through adolescence while I was still a kid.

Cesare got involved in his father’s business and then left for college before I even reached puberty. I hadn’t spoken to him since. Now he was thirty years old while I was still only twenty-three.

I still had fond memories of him, and my stomach squirmed just thinking about him. What would he be like? Would he be as nice as I remembered? Would he be someone I’d like to marry?


Tags: Raven Blaire Erotic