Twenty-five: Audrina Bianchi I still called The Fixer Dad in my head. I had never known Alessandro Ramono, and he had never made it a point to know me. The Fixer was the only father I had ever known. He might have been the scariest man in all of the crime families. I took him into his apartment. He’d given me a key in case I had any emergencies. Even though I wasn’t his daughter, he still tried to look out for me. I dragged him up the front steps of his stoop, into his apartment, and I placed him on the couch. I then went to go and get him some water. “Dad. Daddy!” I called out. I sat down on the edge of his couch. He snorted awake. “Shit!” He winced, and pressed his fingers to the temples of his forehead. Dad looked around. When he spotted me, he groaned. “Audrina, you shouldn’t be here.” I glared. “What was I supposed to do, Daddy? Was I supposed to leave you at the bar drunk, so that you could choke on your own vomit?” He sighed. “You’re not supposed to call me Daddy anymore

Twenty-seven: Audrina Bianchi Andre had a large, blown up picture of my Vogue cover in the entry way. He stood behind me, pressing himself up against my backside. I could feel him. He was hard, and it made my mouth fill with vile. It hadn’t been so long ago that I had been in bed with Luca. That my husband had been making me feel all sorts of wonderful things. Now though, it wasn’t Luca. It was the man that had been my abuser for years. He made me sick. He brushed back my hair, his fingers grazing my neck, making it flinch. “Do you like the picture? I had it specially made. You were so excited about that cover. I even threw you a party that night. You invited your little friends. And of course, you fucking betrayed me.” He grabbed my shoulders and pulled me around roughly so that I was now facing him. “It drove my wife mad, having that there. But I always made sure that she knew that you were the only woman for me.” I didn’t know what to do. His poor wife. Andre was a monster, and

Thirty Luca Capaldi I couldn’t find Audrina anywhere. The night had started off so good and then Marie had ruined everything the way she usually did. Daniela, strangely, (or maybe not) was dancing with Niccolo. The two of them had been in a weird rythm and Niccolo had mentioned something about scaring off some guy at the coffee shop a while ago that had resulted in a “date” between them. He assured me it was a one time thing. I didn’t buy it for one second as I watched the two grind up against each other. My brother looked happy for once. He was just too much of a dumbass to realize that was a good thing. Me, I wanted my girl. I got up from the black, velvet couch that I was sitting on and went to go look for her. I pushed my way through the crowds of people dancing in the club. I’d had an idea of how this night was supposed to go. I was supposed to get Audrina alone and we were supposed to be together. Maybe even run off to Vegas and get The Fixer and Giuseppe to sign off on

Thirty-two: Luca Capaldi When my father was alive, everyone second guessed me. They would look to Giuseppe, then Niccolo, then me. But only as a last resort. And usually because it was something neither my father or my brother wanted to do. Now though, I was the head of our family organization. I had power and people to do things for me. The Fixer said we had to take on the Barretta’s together. Because if we didn’t get rid of them, they would come after all of us. I had my family with me. Niccolo, who had come back when I explained everything that was going on. My cousin Domitus, who was from the New York branch of the Capaldi family. Along with his brothers, Felix, Anthony, and Benedict. Then there were the cousins from Miami. Marius, Julian, and Noah. And the ones from Los Angeles. Cristian, Gio, and Xavier. Thirteen of us all together and that didn’t include the other men that we had underneath us. Or The Fixer, who was the important part of all of this. “Explain to me w

Thirty-four:Luca Capaldi When I brought Audrina home on the night of her birthday, Augusta was in the kitchen. She was preparing the weeks meals for us. She never knew if we would be home or not when she was and she liked to have freshly prepared food for when she wasn’t available to cook. Augusta was playing Frank Sinatra on the radio and singing to herself as she made fresh pasta. I told Audrina to wait out in the hall. “Augusta?” I called. Augusta looked up and smiled at me. “Luca, nino, what are you doing home early? I thought that you were supposed to be out with that girl you have a crush on. Dani said something about a birthday party for her?” I blushed fiercely. “Daniela talks too much.” The older woman smiled at me. “She is my daughter. Of course, she does. So, did something bad happen?” I shook my head. “Actually, uh. I brought her home with me.” Augusta wagged a finger at me. “You better not get that girl pregnant. She seems like an ambitious young woman. She