It’s been two weeks since the attacks, and now I find myself sitting in a hotel bar and waiting to meet with the man I suspect is behind everything. Andrei Tulvan has been quiet, not even agreeing to meet with any of his suppliers. That alone should be a warning sign but I have a feeling there’s more to it than that. Why suddenly agree to meet with me? What is his angle right now? Dom managed to track Tulvan’s last meeting with Alberto Moretti to a week before the latter’s disappearance. When two and two suddenly get me six, I have a shit load to be worried about. I am aware that this could be a set up, but there’s no way I’m going to back out when I’ve been dying to see the fucker face-to-face. There has to be a reason he wants to see me, so here I fucking am. “Cunt just pulled up,” Frankie’s voice comes through the earpiece and I raise my glass to my lips, about to respond when Frankie says something that nearly makes me lose it. “What the fuck? Emilia is with him.” The audacit
The drive back to my estate is filled with stony silence as I am uncertain how to process what just happened in the last hour. Emilia cannot meet my eye and Frankie looks like he’s close to bursting with questions. But how do I tell my second in command that our sister might be a rat and if not, it could be him? How do I tell him that I can’t trust anyone, not even him, the one person who would die for me? Things are so fucked up right now and I don’t know which way is up. The wheels hit the cobblestone and a sense of trepidation sets deep in my heart. I have never felt this way before, never felt like I couldn’t trust anyone close to me. Maybe this is what Kaius wanted, for me not to trust anyone? Wait, could that be his fucking angle? Divide and conquer? “Gio, you need to tell me what the fuck is going on, man,” Frankie says as soon as we get out of the SUV. “Why are you guys covered in blood? What went down in there?” I look at my brother and shake my head. “We’ll speak once w
Giovanni is being kind to me. I don’t know why or how this started, but he’s even started joining me for dinner in the evenings. Of course, he would leave straight after, but even as we sat there, he would ask me questions about myself. Like he wants to know me. I am probably being delusional about things, but how can I not feel optimistic about things when they’re looking up? Even when I had my panic attacks, he would be right there, breathing with me through it. They’ve stopped now, so I don’t know if he comes to bed at night anymore. But it doesn’t bother me; my husband is showing my kindness for some or other reason. When I walk out of the bathroom, my heart leaps into my throat when I see the burgundy and yellow bouquet of flowers on my nightstand. Unable to keep the smile on my face as I approach the flowers, my hands shake as I pick them up, I see a note left and open it. “I won’t be able to join you for Cena tonight, I hope this makes up for it. -G” That little burst of ho
Meeting up with a rival family to iron things out may seem like a good idea, but meeting the head with no guards or weapons is another thing altogether. To show our trust, we’re meeting alone at the docks at midnight with no men and no weapons. Just the two of us uninterrupted. Both Frankie and Dom tried to talk me out of it, saying it will be an ambush, but why should I back away from this if it’ll gain me access to ports and routes no Famiglia member has touched?Kaius Tulvan may be a scary bastard, but I have a feeling I can trust him. I suppose we’ll see how good my gut feelings are today.I get out of my Bugatti and straighten my suit before walking over to where I see the hulking figure of Kaius; hands in the pockets of his black jeans and staring into the dark, frigid water below.“You know, most mafioso wouldn’t meet with Brigăzi unarmed,” he says without looking at me. “You’re either stupid or have complete trust in what I have to say.”Chuckling, I walk up to him. “I give a
“Bella,”My eyes flutter open as I feel soft lips trailing over my collarbone and caressing their way up my neck and behind my ear. I gasp at the sensation, a shiver rippling up my spine and my eyes widen.Giovanni’s body bears over me, hard, naked, and gorgeous while smelling like fresh shampoo and body wash. I close my eyes and mold into him, wrapping my arms around his still-damp waist without even thinking.“Are you awake now?” he murmurs against my skin as he trails his lips toward my chest and moves lower. He slips my breasts out of the silky nightie I am wearing and covers one taut nipple with his mouth. “Giovanni… What are… you-”“Shhh, I need you,” he says while running his tongue between the valley of my breasts. “Fuck, I need you so badly, Lucia.”There’s a flutter in my stomach as he calls me by my name and not Micetta. I’ve noticed that whenever we’re intimate like this, he calls me Lucia…. and gosh, it makes me so happy.“You… need me?” I gasp.“You have no idea,” he gr
After we’re done eating breakfast, Giovanni takes me back to the estate because Frankie needs to discuss something urgent with him. The time spent with him went by quickly, but it was pleasant nonetheless. He asked me questions about my time at the convent but never answered anything about himself. All I know was that he had a twin sister who died young. It made me more curious, to be honest. When we drive towards the mansion, I turn to him. “You said it’s safe to go out now, right?” I ask and his gaze flits to me. I see the frown on his brow as he nods, and I continue. “Is it possible for me to have a day to myself out of the mansion?” “A day to yourself? What do you mean, you have every day to yourself, Micetta,” he says with a chuckle and I bite the inside of my cheek. “No, I mean like…A day at a spa? Getting my nails or hair done?” I explain as he brings the car to a stop in front of the mansion. I hope I sound right as I explain this and from the look on his face, I think I d
What a fucking shitshow of an evening. It was supposed to be a normal meeting, and it ended up in me killing people to show I mean business, a few punks who thought it would be cool to steal from me. They had to be made examples of, so I killed their families in front of them. “Do I even want to fucking know, Gio?” Frankie asks when I walk inside my office, and I shake my head. “Made examples of a few cunts who tried to steal from me, but that’s not why I wanted to talk to you,” I say, walking to the liquor cabinet. “I wasn’t honest about my meeting with Tulvan, and I think you need to know what I found out.” I wasn’t going to tell Frankie the truth about our family because I still wanted him to believe in my father. But right now I am suffering under the weight of this secret, and since I trust my brother with my life, I want him to know. Handing the cell phone over to him, he takes it with a frown. “Why do I have a feeling this will fuck me up?” he asks. “Because it probably
LuciaThis morning was one of the worst for me. Giovanni snapped because I asked him a simple question, then I ended up revealing my pregnancy in the worst way possible. I just wanted to talk, and arrange to have dinner with him to see his face as I told him the news. Then again, I probably went about it the wrong way by being all emotional about it. If we had a proper conversation, I wouldn’t have felt the need to interact with his mother. I wouldn’t have wanted to bond with her and accept her invitation to go to dinner that night and get to know each other. I would still be at home, cooking dinner and waiting for him to come home.Instead, now I’m cold and it feels like my body is on fire.I wake up to a searing pain in my ribs; I struggle to move, the pain in my body making even the slightest movement excruciating. My vision is blurry and my head is pounding. I try to remember what happened, but my thoughts are jumbled and confused… Everything is foggy.Groaning, I try to sit up,