Four
Niccolo Capaldi
When I got home, the first thing I did was I scrolled through Daniela’s I*******m. I had kept tabs on her over the years. Knowing who her family was, I had to. Pop had given Daniela’s mom, Augusta Berni, a job when no one else would because of them. As long as she’d worked for us, she had been safe from her past. Augusta had been a teenager when she met and fell in love with the son of our rivals, the Ramono’s. Augusta had worked as a nanny for the family. When their son got her pregnant, the Ramono family wanted her and her baby gone because it interfered with their plans to marry their son off to a mafia don’s daughter.
My dad had done a business deal with the Ramono’s at the time had seen everything happened. Knowing Augusta would need someone to help keep her and her baby safe, he gave her a job as the maid in our house. That way he could always keep her safe and everyone would know that Augusta and her daughter Daniela were under Capaldi protection. It was one of the main reasons Pop had wanted Daniela to marry me when we turned eighteen after her mom had died.
Once she left our house, she wouldn’t have the protection of our family anymore. Sure, I knew people in Florida that could keep tabs on her, but it was different. They had loyalties elsewhere. And I had no doubt that if people knew who Daniela really was, they would sell her to the highest bidder.
I’d always known what Giuseppe’s plans for Daniela were. But I hated the idea that he had told me, and not her. And that she wasn’t given a choice in the matter. I’d done everything I could to make her hate me. If Daniela was going to be with me, I wanted it to be her choice. Not because she was caught in some turf war that she didn’t even know about.
As I sat in my home office looking at Daniela’s pictures, I searched for any of her with another man. Mostly, it was pictures of her with her aunt, or with her aunt’s friends. All older, all retirees. No one that was a real threat.
Good.
I needed to know who was in Daniela’s life to keep her safe. I had let Daniela go once; I wasn’t going to let that happen again. Daniela had come back to Boston to put down roots. So, I was going to make sure that I was part of that.
She’d been part of my life for as long as I could remember. The first memory I have of her, we were both five years old. My old man was known for throwing extravagant Christmas parties with everyone who worked for, friends, and family coming to the big mansion that we had in Beacon Hill. Her mom and her had just arrived from the party as I was coming down stairs to get a present for my parents.
Mrs. Berni and Daniela had entered at that exact, moment. They’d both been wearing matching, red jackets trimmed in black, faux fur with golden buttons holding gifts for my mom and dad. Mrs. Bruni helped Daniela get the jacket off, along with her mittens. She was wearing a maroon velvet dress with glittery snowflakes stenciled on it. Her brown hair had been held back in a ribbon.
I remembered thinking that I didn’t care about all of the presents that were under the tree waiting for me and my brother. All I wanted for Christmas was Daniela Berni. And I hated that I knew I would never have her. From that moment on, I resolved that keep my distance from her. That was harder than it should have been.
When Daniela was eighteen, one of the Ramono’s found out the truth about her and Daniela. Daniela’s father had long since re-married, giving up Augusta so he could keep them safe and taking his place in the family that he hated. It had been his son that had found out the truth about Daniela. He’d been so filled with anger; he had killed Daniela’s mom. But there had been no one around and no way to prove it at the time.
I had only found out because my old man had told me about it. And he had wanted to keep Daniela safe too, so he had kept his mouth shut about the whole thing. If Daniela ever found out the truth, she would hate our family more than she already did. I had to do what I could to keep that from happening. Even if that meant keeping her close by when she wanted nothing to do with me.
Luca would hate it, I was sure. We always said what was best for Daniela was to keep our distance. This time though, knowing that my father was near death, I wasn’t sure about what was best anymore. Just that if I lost Daniela, I was sure I would lose my fucking mind. So, since Daniela was in Boston, it was time to bring her back into the Capaldi fold. Whether she liked it or not.
I was about to go to bed when I cell phone buzzed in my pocket. I took it out, surprised at the name that had flashed across the screen. “Hello?” I asked.
“Good evening, Niccolo,” a deep, raspy voice said, “I heard your father was in the hospital. I wanted to call and give my regards.”
I coughed. “Yes, thank you Mr. Romano. I’ll be sure he knows. How are you?”
“Oh, absolutely terrible,” he said, “it seems that my father’s nurse gave him the wrong medication, and he passed away today. The funeral will be on Friday, and I’ll be taking over his place.”
“Well….” I didn’t know what to say. “I’m very sorry for your loss, Mr. Ramono. If there’s anything I can do, please let me know.”
There was a pause. “How kind of you to say, Niccolo. You’ve always been such a good boy. So good in fact that I know you’ll do the right thing when I ask you to.”
“What’s that?”
“Bring my daughter with you to the funeral. I know that she’s back, Niccolo. I lost her mother because I couldn’t keep her safe. But I’m at the top now. I want my daughter back. And if you don’t bring her to me, there will be consequences. I promise.” The call ended then, and I stared at my phone in shock.
The head of the Ramono crime family was dead.
Now, Daniela’s father was the head of it. Which made her a mafia princess. And her father wanted her back.
I couldn’t let that happen. Ever. Because I knew if I did, she’d be married off to the richest bidder. Daniela was mine or no ones. I was going to see to it.
FiveDaniela Berni I had twisted dreams all night. Even the plush bed Audrina had in her guest bedroom couldn’t make me escape them. Niccolo’s face kept dancing around in my mind. In it, I was a seventeen-year-old girl again. Living in the Capaldi mansion after my mom had just died in that horrible, awful shooting. It had happened during winter break. After the small funeral, all of my possessions had been taken to the Capaldi mansion. The rest of our stuff, Mr. Capaldi had had put in a storage unit for me, and he said I could have it when I turned twenty-five. My mom had a small savings, but that was also in a trust now too. Mr. Capaldi wanted me to be taken care of and granted, I would never be as rich as the Capaldi’s, but it would be something. Since I’d moved in with the Capaldi’s, I had mostly stayed to myself. I wasn’t in a hurry to get back to school and Mr. Capaldi had allowed me to stay at home for a little bit as long as I did all of my
SixNiccolo Capaldi Alessandro Romano knew his daughter was back in town. He also had no one stopping him from contacting her. Not his father, not her mother, not even Niccolo’s own father had that reach anymore. Not with him in the hospital, barely able to move, and the doctors certain that he wasn’t going to last long. “Luca!” he called out to his brother. The two of them lived in the same, large Beacon Hill mansion that had been in the family for as long as anyone could remember. He made his way from the office, to the hallway, looking for his brother. “Luca!” he called again. “Hey, hey, hey!” His brother came out of his room. “What’s wrong?” “Romano.” Luca’s face paled. “What about Romano?” “The old don is dead. Alessandro’s taking the throne. He just called me to invite us to the funeral and he wants us to bring Daniela.” Luca’s gaze narrowed. “Well, that’s not fucking happening. Her
SevenDaniela Berni “I’m sorry, we’re going where?” I stared at Audrina in shock when she got home. “Italy!” she smiled brightly at me. “I know it’s kind of last minute, but I don’t want to travel alone. And I’ve got to meet with some suppliers. Come on. You’re not employed right now, and you’ve never traveled. Just let me treat you to this trip, okay?” I blinked. “I really think that if I’m going to be living here, I should be looking for a job. I already put some applications out and if I’m not here for interviews, it’s going to take longer for it.” “Look, I’ll give you some tasks if you want, make you like my assistant.” I rolled my eyes. “Audrina, you already have an assistant.” “I’m the CEO. I can make up something for you. Just please, come with me. This is a really big deal and I don’t want to go alone. I need my best friend there! If this goes through, I’ll be able to go global. Well, even more than I alr
EightNiccolo Capaldi The call came at lunch. It was from one of my men. Marco. “Hey, boss?” he said. I was sitting in my office at the club, going over some paperwork. In the afternoon, the club was closed, meaning I got to work on the day-to-day minutiae of owning it. It wasn’t until night that the club truly came to life. Now, it was empty, and depressing. “Hi, Marco,” I said, “what’s up?” “I know that you’re working. Normally, I wouldn’t have bothered you. But uh, you remember that girl you went to school with?” I froze. “Which one?” “The one that lived with you for a while. Dani, I think it was?” “Daniela,” I corrected. Dani was too familiar. I didn’t like the idea of anyone, particularly Marco, thinking they were friendlier with Dani than I was. And Dani was what Daniela allowed her friends, the few that she had, to call her. Marco wasn’t her friend. “Right. Daniela. I’m down here at
NineDaniela Berni There was no way any of this was a coincidence. I didn’t believe for one second that Niccolo had ever stepped foot into Revere’s. When I had worked there in high school, he had called the place, “a shit hole.” No, Niccolo had found out about me meeting Alessandro somehow and had timed this perfectly. I had always wondered if there was someone from Boston watching me. Now, I knew for sure. Niccolo Capaldi was never going to let me go, or let me be happy. He knew that I could never say no to anything involving Giuseppe. Mr. Capaldi had always treated my family like his, even though my mom was just his maid. We never felt like staff with him. I hadn’t even known that Giuseppe was in the hospital. I’d been so startled when I saw Luca the other night, I had no idea if he had mentioned anything about his dad. Still, I had just met my father for the first time. Even though I knew everything my aunt had said about him, I was still curious. I had so
TenNiccolo Capaldi I knew that she was going to be difficult. That was why I had brought the knock out serum I used when I was having to fight off drunks in the club. Or anyone that might not be too excited about Capaldi family business practices. She didn’t even notice when I stuck her with the needle, knocking her out. “Rick!” I called. “Yes, boss?” my driver said. “Open the door for me, please. I’m going to be escorting Miss Berni to the plane, personally.” Rick glanced behind me to see me throwing an unconscious Daniela over my shoulder. “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! What the fuck are you doing, sir?” “I’m getting her out of Boston, safe,” I said. “Really?” he said. “Because it looks like you just drugged her.” “Relax. It’s nothing that will hurt her. It’s the same stuff I use to knock out drunks at the club when they’re getting a little handsy.” Rick rolled his eyes. “That makes me feel
ElevenDaniela Berni I woke up with a pounding in my head. There was something soft underneath me, and I couldn’t figure out why. The last thing that I remembered was being in the car with Niccolo after he had…what had he done? My vision was a little blurry and I forced myself to sit up. I blinked a few times, and then my vision cleared. But the headache remained. I saw someone sitting in a chair across from me. “Good. You’re awake.” It was a deep, male voice that spoke. I froze at the sound of his voice. I would have recognized it anywhere. Niccolo. It took me a moment to recognize where I was. I was in my old room, in the Capaldi summer home in Tropea, Italy. “What the hell did you do to me?” I demanded. He grinned. “I knocked you out with a sedative. It’s something that I use when there are people that are being too difficult at the club.” I frowned. “You mean, the stuff that your father used to knock people out that he
TwelveNiccolo Capaldi I was out on the veranda looking at the ocean. The summer home had been in the Capaldi family for generations. My great-great-grandfather, who had started out as a merchant, had bought the villa as a wedding gift for my great-great-grandfather. It had been built in the fifteen hundreds and was rumored to have originally been a vacation home for the Medici family. Daniela was inside. I had been in there when she woke up. But I didn’t know what she was doing. It had been a day since we’d arrived in Italy and she finally woke up. I was smoking a cigarette when I heard the back door open. “Did you have to knock her out?” Luca asked. I smirked as I glanced over my shoulder at him. “Who told you?” “Rick,” he said, “and then Daniela when I came here. I gave her my phone number when I saw her that first night. She texted me so many times I am surprised my phone didn’t somehow break from the amount of vibrating