My father shocked me back to reality by grabbing my arm and pulling me in close. “Listen, my son. It’s critical that you marry this woman. Do you understand? All our plans depend on it. You must secure this marriage at all costs. Failure is not an option.”
“What plans?”
“As soon as you marry her, all her property and the Leone family assets will pass to us. Then we’ll discard her and cut off everyone who ever worked for Don Alonzo or Consigliere Evangelista.”
“But… what about the alliance?” I whispered. “What about joining our empires into one?”
“Forget all that! As soon as we dump Gia Leone, you’ll be free to marry someone else, and we’ll ride off into the sunset with all her money and territory. We’ll destroy her and leave her in the gutter. We’ll absorb the Leone empire as our own and wipe our old enemy off the map.”
LEO
Ihalted on the threshold and glared across the grand dining room. Gia stood on the other side of the table with Romeo Necci. They talked and smiled, and as soon as I turned up, she laughed and blushed at him.
This was the worst idea yet. This man beat one of my best soldiers within an inch of his life right here on our own property. Then the son of a bitch had the balls to break into her bedroom and manhandle her under our own roof.
This was not someone either Gia or I should consider as a potential suitor for her. Romeo should already be dead. We should have hunted him down and castrated him the instant we found Nicky on the grass outside the wall.
Now he was raising one finger and tracing it down Gia’s cheek to comb her hair out of her eyes. He was bending in close and whispering in her ear like he thought he already had her in the bag. The fucking cocksucker!
I would have stormed over there and broken the piece of shit in half if Nicky hadn’t been standing guard. He wouldn’t let Romeo do anything to Gia. I only let Romeo stay in this house because Nicky was keeping watch on them every living second.
Someone came up behind me, and Cesare made a disgusted noise in my ear. “That scum-sucking eel! He should be skinned and left on the sidewalk for the birds to pick.”
“I feel the same way,” I muttered, “but it’s her choice. You have to admit he’s a decent match for her.”
“You mean because his family is your sworn enemy?” Cesare snorted. “He’s a perfect match for the graveyard.”
“If he fucks up once, that’s exactly where he’ll be going. Nicky will be the first to tear his head off.”
Cesare chuckled in my ear. “Where the hell did you find that guy? He’s a fucking machine.”
“He’s a gem. I wish I could clone him and deploy an army of Nickys all over town.”
One of the butlers came up to us. “Excuse me, Consigliere. Dinner is ready. When would you like us to serve it?”
“Now, please. Come on,” I said to Cesare. “Maybe we can distract her from Romeo.”
I headed into the room. Gia and Romeo both turned to meet me and Cesare, but they annoyed me even more by smiling at us. Neither of them acted like we interrupted anything they should feel guilty about.
I sat down in my chair at the head of the table. One of the butlers tried to pull out Gia’s chair, but Romeo cut him off and tried to do it.
Cesare shouldered the piece of shit out of the way and glared at Romeo while he pulled her chair out instead.
Gia only smiled and sat down. She beamed at everyone in obvious delight. She must be eating up the attention of having all of us competing for her affections.
Cesare shot Romeo an even more venomous glare and took the seat next to Gia. Nicky planted himself right behind her chair, and when Romeo took the only other seat opposite her, he wound up looking straight at Nicky. That should teach him a lesson.
The servants moved in and started serving dinner, but I could have cut the tension with a knife.
“Your father doesn’t seriously expect me to believe he had nothing to do with the Tribeca warehouse, does he?” I demanded.
Romeo started to speak, but Gia interrupted. “Romeo isn’t here to discuss business. He’s here to get to know me.” She turned to him. “I hear you graduated from Duke with a masters in international relations. Is that true?”
“That’s right.” He beamed back at her, and his eyes sparkled like a kid on Christmas morning. “I went to China last year and then took a tour of Europe. I’m scheduled to go to Australia and New Zealand next year.”
“That’s so interesting!” she exclaimed. “What do you do when you’re overseas?”
“Mostly coordinate with my father’s business contacts. It really pays to have someone in the family who knows the laws and local customs in those countries. Then we don’t have to bring in ringers from outside the family. Each country is unique, and we have to tailor our business to each culture. It’s fascinating. You should try it.”