My eyebrows raise in silent question.I shouldn’t be surprised that trouble follows me with a last name like Roselli, but still, my jaw tightens with aggravation.“What happened, did her father know you or that you work for me?”
Jimmy shakes his head.“No boss.I took the other girls home first, dropped them off outside their homes.If Sophia had given me the address instead of giving me directions from the back seat, I could have avoided the incident entirely.I’m sorry, I just didn’t know, or I wouldn’t have taken her all the way home.I would have parked a little ways off or something.”
Fuck, it’s like pulling teeth to get any information at all today.“Know what, Jimmy?What the fuck happened last night?Out with all of it,” I grind out.
My best friend in the world and the only capo I fucking trust with my life never has an issue with telling me anything, usually, but when he does, I usually don’t fucking like it.He runs a hand through his long wavy locks.“We all heard the fucking Cassones moved into the hills, but there’s a lot of fucking estates up that way.I pulled into the property, Massimo.The estate was like Fort Knox.They had a guard house full of fucking soldiers, all ready to put holes in my ass with semi-automatics.Sophia tells me thanks for the ride and that she’ll deal with it and jumped out of the fucking back seat before I could stop her.”
My hand tightens around my coffee cup, slowly spinning it, with little patience left.“What are you not telling me, Jimmy?”
“Fuck boss, the woman I gave a ride home to last night was Sophia Cassone.At least, I’m about ninety nine percent sure.I looked up the address after I got the fuck out of there and that’s the Cassone estate alright.Not their home in the city, that large estate on the hill in the woods, that was all over the papers last year, that one.”
Not much can shock me, but this does.Like a fucking punch to the gut.Nothing about the classy young woman with so much light in her eyes just moments before some asshole slipped something into her drink could have given me any indication that she was the spawn of the hated Cassone Family.The little princess of the family, Sophia Maria Cassone.
The pictures of Sophia as a young woman run through my mind.There’s no way.Maybe.Okay, it’s definitely possible but damn she’s grown up since I remember seeing her years ago.I turn to Jimmy.“What did their soldiers do to you?”
He laughs, but I don’t find it fucking funny at all.Especially if my father finds out and it starts a fucking war.He leans forward and places both palms on the table.“I wasn’t waiting to see if they were going to invite me in, Massimo.I backed the hell up and peeled out of there as quick as I could.Nothing like just driving right up to the enemy’s doorstep, with their youngest daughter in tow, no less.Jesus, boss, they had semi-automatics ready to blow me out of that car.
If it weren’t for Sophia standing right in front of my window before I took off, I’d put money on it that one of them would have pulled me right the fuck out and tried to get me to talk.You know?”
Sophia Cassone, un-fucking-believable.Out of all the women in this world, my dick has to get harder than fuck for the enemy’s youngest daughter.She was in my club, in the back seat of my car, and I didn’t even recognize the enemy standing right in front of me.
Jimmy pulls up a picture of her on his phone and shows me.“Sophia has grown up since this.That’s for fucking sure.”My jaw locks tight.I would have recognized the little girl in the picture, but the woman in my club last night, in my car, and literally lying in my lap—she has grown into a beautiful young and seductive woman.A very off limits and forbidden young woman if your last name is Roselli because even looking at a Cassone daughter the wrong way could restart a war that goes centuries back.
A few dayslater and I’ve done nothing but think of the infuriating but seductive Sophia Cassone.Night after fucking night, three long nights of releasing pent up frustration and desire into the palm of my hand as images of her softness torment my dreams.Every damn night, I swear it’s the last time.My jaw tightens as we pull up to the entrance of Carnal Sins.Fucking Cassones.Everywhere we turn in life, there they are.Now, destiny sends their youngest daughter to get under my skin and she’s sure as shit managed to do that.
I straighten the cufflinks on my suit, glancing down with irritation at the large-faced gold watch that taunts me with the lateness of the hour.My step quickens, taking the stairs two at a time down to the lower level of the members-only section of our high-end club.The diamonds on my watch glint under the dim lighting, calling attention to the advancing time.Tik Tok.Tik Tok.
I'm mere minutes from being late, and I don't fucking do late.Especially not when my father calls an unexpected meeting of the highest ranks, it can only mean one thing.Someone has declared an act of war on the Roselli family, and nothing good will come of that, especially for them.
My father, brothers, and our capos look solemn seated at our reserved table, all waiting for me to arrive.I make my way to the only occupied table in the place while the soft music from the old-world country plays overhead.
Lyndsey, a trusted employee who’s been with us for years, moves seductively among my brothers and the other men seated around the long rectangular table.They’re already drinking as I take a seat at my father’s right.He looks at the clock on the wall.“Nice of you to join us, Massimo.”
The topless blonde with long black false lashes gives me a wink.“Scotch,” I tell Lyndsey as she reaches my side.It’s not like she doesn't have all of our drinks memorized.She just knows her tips will double the longer she lets them see her skin.
Still, she scribbles in her little notepad while my brothers and our lieutenants hungrily eye the small and perky goods.“I’ll be right back with your drink,” she says before sauntering off atop her five-inch fuck me heels as most of the men watch her ass sway all the way back to the bar.
My father sets his glass down and swivels it, a gesture that he’s waited long enough and that we’re about to learn why we’ve been given barely a thirty-minute notice to get our asses down to the club without any explanation at all.
Lyndsey returns, sets my drink atop a white napkin, and gives me a wink.She stiffens beside me when my father clears his throat though.She knows underneath that calm exterior is a man who can combust at the slightest moment and no one, especially her, wants to give him a reason for that.
His dark eyes scan the club, and he turns to Lyndsey."Have them take a break.”No one but the ladies sliding up and down the poles on the other end of the club.But, clearly, whatever is going to be discussed, or done here tonight, is for our eyes and ears only.
She disappears, and I discreetly pocket the white napkin without turning it over because there’s no need.I know exactly what it will say.I'm usually game to let off a little steam while fucking the sexy little blonde on break, well at least before all the shit with Desiree.All I'm interested in right now is learning the reason that brought me out of the comfort of my home and leaves me facing the grimness of my father, Jimmy, and the anxious faces of my brothers and our most trusted men.
Something happened out of the ordinary or we wouldn’t be sitting here watching the head of the Roselli crime family glare around the room, looking as intense as I've ever seen the old man.
Antoine Roselli, don of our family, and known for swift and decisive action against our adversaries, places his crystal glass on the table with a thud.His dark amber eyes meet mine from the head of the table.“One of our shipments was hijacked from the docks.”
My brother Leandro is cool under pressure, but the intensity of his gaze as his eyes meet mine tells me that while a year younger than me, he knows exactly what this means.“Who the fuck would dare?”he challenges.
The reined in rage of my father can be felt in waves across the table.“The sons of bitches waited until all five of our trucks were loaded from the docks and then they hijacked every fucking one of them mid-route out of the city.”He almost grits out the next sentence.“They knew where each of those trucks were going and exactly how to disable them.On all that is holy…” He doesn’t finish his threat, and there’s no need.Every one of the Roselli boys, Jimmy, the other capos and the lieutenants feel the severity of what just happened.Our family is at war.
No one could have known those routes outside of the men given orders by none other than those sitting around this table.Maybe they didn’t tell someone personally, but each and every one of them know they’re fully responsible for the men who sit below them in the family, no matter what.
Father watches the room, and his eyes meet mine before moving to each of my brothers, Leandro, Angelo, Renato and Tristano, and then to those of the others around the table.“They killed good loyal and dedicated family men who were doing their jobs, protecting our product, and who are protected by us.They will pay dearly for their acts as will anyone at this table who let our secrets spill.”
My chest tightens with the angst of the men around the table, but I watch each and every one of them for a shift of an eye, a deep swallow, or a show of nerves.Nothing out of place, just men who all look beyond shocked, and angry as fuck.
