But now, there are slight remnants of dark circles under her eyes. Almost as if she tried to cover them up with concealer, but it wasn’t enough to shield them. And her eyes… They look as if she’s been crying for hours on end.
“My dad told him to throw his performance at the Combine,” she finally says.
“He did what?!” Izzy exclaims.
“He said if he doesn’t, he’ll start going after his dad for the money, which is absolutely insane because he knows he doesn’t have it. It was a threat. My dad is threatening to physically harm Colton’s dad.” Tears form in Alessia’s eyes, and before I know it, they’re streaming down her face.
“He’s going to ruin his career before it even starts. How is Colton supposed to continue like this? He’s under my dad’s thumb, all because of me, and there’s nothing I can do about it.” Her hand is shaking as she drops her gaze. “And this is just the beginning. My dad will end up controlling Colton like he’s his damn puppet.”
The defeated look on Alessia’s face has my brain working in overdrive. I cannot let her suffer like this.
“I tried talking to my dad to see if he’d leave him alone if I break up with him, but he said no. He said Colton’s going to be more use to him now than he ever thought he could be.”
“Wait, but I thought he wanted to control who you date?”
“I thought so too, but now he’s changed his mind and is just resorting to using Colton in the NFL.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. Why would he want him to perform poorly during the Combine, then? Wouldn’t that affect his chances of getting drafted?” I ask.
Alessia shakes her head. “Colton will still go high in the draft even with poor stats in the Combine. I think this is my dad’s way of saying he’s not messing around. This is him telling us he owns Colton. I don’t know how I wound up in this situation. I should’ve never gotten so close to him.”
The crack in her voice pushes me to make a decision. I cannot stand by while Alessia and her boyfriend are torn apart by her poor excuse of a father.I won’t.
“You love Colton, right?”
“More than anything. He’s my rock. He’s given me hope that I might not just be stuck in this world we’ve grown up in. He gives me hope for a future I never thought I’d have.”
Her words hit me harder than I thought they would; they’re the reason I never wanted to date someone from our world.
“Then that settles it,” I say, looking over at Izzy who has a furrow in her brow as she stares back at me. “You don’t have anything to worry about, Alessia. I’m going to fix this.”
10
MASSIMO
“And what about this one?” I ask my architect, Shane, who’s been here for the past hour going over the plans for three residential buildings we broke ground on last year. “I want the top five levels to be penthouses only. These three buildings need to be Manhattan’s most sought-after living spaces.”
“We can do that,” he says, marking something down on the plans.
“I already have buyers for the penthouses in the other two buildings. Once the plans are finalized for this third building, I’m going to get the brokerage on it. The goal is to have all of the apartments sold before the doors even open.”
“Can do, boss.”
“Are they still expected to be complete by the end of next year?”
Shane nods. “We’re still on track.”
“Great. Anything else we need to go over?”
“Nope. I’m going to make a couple adjustments to the penthouses in this building, and I’ll get it sent over to you tonight for your approval.”
“Great. I’ll keep an eye out for your email,” I say.
Shane packs up his stuff and exits my office.
My family has been in real estate development since my dad took over as the don several decades ago. It’s been the best way to make sure the feds stay out of our business. Not only has it made laundering money a piece of fucking cake, it’s also legitimized us to the public. The properties we’ve managed to build and sell over the years have made our name extremely well-known in the city. Everyone knows not to mess with the Bonettis because of the influence we have in multiple facets.
A knock sounds at my door, then it’s pushed open, and Gio and Gui walk in.
