Tristano shifts his hand from my throat to the back of my head and brings me so close that our noses brush. “I’m not asking you anything because I’m not going to give you the chance to say no, or the time to find someone you think will be better for you. No one else will do the things I’m willing to in order to have and keep you.Hai capacito?”
“What about love me?” I whisper.
He’s quiet for a while, his gaze roaming over my face and growing brighter with intensity. And tenderness.
“Silence is agreeance,” I say, repeating his words back to him. When he smiles at me, I sweep my lips over his, relief blooming in my chest. “And yes, I understand. And yes, I agree to your terms and conditions for…whatever we are.”
He takes my face between his hands, cradling it gently. “Weare the beginning of a legacy, you and I.”
Tristano
“Good morning,” I say, nodding to Maximus and Rafael as I enter my study and shut the door behind me.
Rafael smirks at me from his seated position. “Well, hello to you too, brother. Aren’t we chipper this morning?”
I give him a look of warning.
Which he promptly ignores.
“Thank you for taking care of Violetta last night. Carina was worried sick,” he says with a mocking tone. “I don’t know what was upsetting her, but it’s a good thing you were close by to offer Violetta reassurance.” He pauses. “At 3a.m.”
Maximus rolls his eyes, but there’s a hint of curiosity that gleams in his gaze. “I wasn’t aware there was a situation. However, Emilia and I are on a different floor, so that could be why.”
I exhale and take my seat behind my desk, now facing the pair of them seated in the chairs across from me. “If you must know, Violetta is mine, so I will pursue, comfort, and fuck her whenever I damn well please. Is that what you wanted to know?”
“Hell yeah,” Rafael says. He slaps his leg and grins at me. “That’s awesome. Now we can go on triple dates.”
Maximus’s face twists with distaste. “We already live together for the time being and I would consider anything more than that to be excessive.”
“So fucking lame,” Rafael mutters under his breath.
I rest my elbows on the desk and steeple my fingers, meeting each of my brothers’ gazes. “Now that we’ve finished discussing my personal affairs, let’s move on to the business ones.”
Rafael holds up a pointed finger. “Iam not done talking about your personal life. In fact, I think there needs to be a lengthy discussion about it. Especially since you were so inclined to interfere with ours.”
“No,” I say.
“I don’t want to talk about it ad nauseum,” Maximus says, “but considering she’s Nardone’s daughter and sister to Rafael’s fiancée, I don’t think it’s beyond the realm of propriety to ask what your plans are concerning her.”
“Right on, Max.”
I narrow my gaze at Rafael from across the desk. “Shut. Up.” He simply flashes me a cheeky grin and I blow out a breath of frustration. “I plan to marry Violetta.”
Two sets of eyes blink at me. Rafael is the first to break free of his shock-induced stupor. “Wow, that was fucking quick. So are we doing a double wedding, Tris, since Max is already hitched?”
Maximus turns in his seat, frowning at our brother. “Why do you want to do everything together all of a sudden? What’s next? A fucking orgy?”
Rafael nods emphatically. “Great idea, bro.”
“That,” I say, raising my voice, “will not be happening.Ever.”
Rafael’s grin remains in place and I kind of want to shoot him because of it. “I’m just fucking with you guys,” he says. “Here’s the thing, we’re all one big happy family now and it’s something to celebrate. That’s all I’m saying.”
Maximus glares at him. “I’m very close to shoving a confetti-filled Glock up your ass, so let’s change topics. How about the one where we kill Caruso? That never fails to make me want to celebrate.”
Rafael shrugs. “Or we could talk about the elephant in the room, that’s bigger than my cock I’m sad to say.”
“And that would be our mother,” I say quietly. “We know she’s alive, left the city and then continued on with her life. Then she contacted me over twenty years later to coerce me for millions of dollars to save her employer. What is there left to discuss exactly?”
