“I’ve always thought it was true, but what makes you think so now?”
Leandro clears his throat.“He asked me outright about the Cassone girl, why you brought her to your estate and not the warehouse and where you took her today.He said he already knew, just wanted to see where my loyalties lie.You know they lie with you, Massimo.Don’t ever fucking doubt that.”
My jaw clenches with irritation.“Well, at least he didn’t have me followed all the way to the boat, but still.I would have known that, and my men would have let me know, but still fucking annoying.If he ever wants to retire and let us run it, then he’s going to need to ease up on the reins.”
Leandro laughs.“That may never happen, Massimo.He may put you in charge and want to drive from the backseat for his natural born life.”
“Yeah, and with him, he’ll find a way to do it from the afterlife too.”
“What are you doing with the Cassone girl, Massimo?Is it really a thing?”
I lower my voice, so Sophia doesn’t hear me from the kitchen.“Fuck, it’s more than a thing, Leandro.You know how our parents always said they knew the moment they met, that they didn’t have a choice, the chemistry drew them together, no matter what?”
He whistles.“It’s like that, huh?”
“It is, from the moment I saw her across the fucking room.”
“What are you going to do about Desiree, more importantly her father, who has had plans to retire on the money dad will give him when you marry and take over their territory?”
I exhale a deep breath and run a hand through my hair.“We’re still working on it, but Desiree and I both want the same thing, out.We both agree on that, no matter what we have to do.”
“If Desiree’s father has anything to say about it, you’ll be chained to his daughter for the rest of your natural born life and she’ll be in a living hell,” he says.
“Yeah, and I also still need to tell Sophia about the Desiree issue.There’s no relationship, but still I’d feel better if she knew the score.”
“Fuck, big brother.That’s a whole lot of relationship trouble for someone who doesn’t do relationships.”
I laugh.“Don’t I fucking know it.”I don’t tell him that my plans for Sophia are contingent on a bet, one that at the moment she’s not willing to concede.But I don’t fucking lose.Especially when I’m taking the gamble of my life.
I disconnect as Sophia comes outside with two plates of food that look fit for a king and queen.I pour each of us a glass of wine while we enjoy our post-coital bliss and pretend that we’re no longer enemies, and what we’ve done today won’t start a fucking war.Oblivious to everything as we prepare to enjoy the evening, pretending to be two normal people watching the sunset as it descends into the horizon over the Jersey shore.
A few drinksand rounds of sex later, I stroke the dark-haired beauty before I get out of bed, contemplating everything light and beautiful about her and everything dark and ugly in this world, the world I’m about to tie her to for an eternity.She has a chance to get out, if my father will forgive the debt and I’ll make damn sure he does because I’ll pay it, and if her father will allow it, she could finish school and be allowed to disappear from the drudgery of this world, at least as the younger sister.
Sophia’s sister Anna though, as the oldest daughter of the Cassones, will be used as a bargaining chip to secure the position of the family for years to come, just as Desiree’s father is using her.Our world is not for the faint of heart.Someday, I will be in charge, and someday if I have a daughter, I will face the very same decisions.
Even in the shower, all I can think of is the plan.The one that has to work in order for me to keep Sophia protected in my arms, with my ring on her finger, while protecting Desiree from the wrath of her father and an all-out war starting between her family and ours, and ours and the Cassone’s.
Being at odds with the Cassones is proving troubling enough.I step out of the shower and towel dry myself before heading into the bedroom and pulling on a pair of jeans and T-shirt.
I smile at the little kitten curled on my bed, exactly where I want her to be, where against all the obstacles in the world, I will make this work at least for a year.
But first, she has to cave and say my name.Something that in my mind I saw happening last night, or at worst tonight, but my little kitten is ferociously holding on to her vow not to let my name fall from her lips in the throes of passion no matter how many times I make her come.
She shifts in her sleep and the sheet falls, exposing the creamy roundness of her hip.The tilt of my lips is hard to control, because I’m the fucking mafia….I have ways of making her crack … and torturing my little kitten with the most exquisite torture is something that I am not opposed to in the least in order to get my way.
23
Sophia
The next day, Massimo is quiet on the drive back to his estate.I scan the bridges and roadways, already missing the serenity of our time on the yacht, mostly because the soldiers were almost invisible, and I know they’ll be in full force once we get back to his home just outside the city.“Why are we going back?I wish we could just stay on the yacht until this whole thing is resolved.”
Massimo navigates the black sedan with ease, moving into the heavy lanes of traffic, glancing into the rearview every once in a while.“There are things I need to do to smooth the way forward.One of them involves getting extricated from a particularly sticky situation and convincing my father that if the matter of the debt is settled he’ll consider the Cassone debt paid in full, with no further discussion of retribution.”
My chest tightens.It’s not that I didn’t know his father and he would be discussing such things, but still, hearing them from Massimo confirms even my worst fears.What if I win the bet, and Massimo’s father still doesn’t agree to release my father from his debt?Then it’s all for naught?A game, to pass the time, while his father lays out a devious plan to put my father and entire family into the ground.
His hand tightens around mine.“Stop worrying.I’ll find a way forward.”
I exhale a deep breath as we go over the bridge.“My father doesn’t back down lightly, probably not unlike yours.I don’t know how you think you can make this work, no matter if I win or lose.Your father is going to want the end to be the same.The Rosellis and Cassones have hated each other for a lifetime.If I win, you’ll wipe my debt, but you don’t know, can’t tell me in all honesty, that your father will, can you?”
