Ipat the bed, having fallen asleep fully dressed waiting for Massimo.Even just waking from sleep, my body looks for the comfort of his.I sigh, opening my eyes to glance at the bedside clock and then my phone for a message from Massimo that isn’t there.It’s far too late for him to be out but I also know how much is at stake.Who knows how long that meeting with the other crime families took, and then if someone knew something about his missing mother.
A light ping on the glass pane causes my brow to furrow.Birds hit these huge-ass windows often.It really is a problem we should do something about, but it usually doesn’t happen in the dark.
I push the satin sheets back and pad across the floor, sliding into a pair of flats before reaching the floor-to-ceiling windows, looking out into the night.Another ping hits the window, and I jump back, this one louder than the last.Opening the window, I lean out to see if I can see if a bird is flailing on the ground, or if they just got a little blinded and are going to be able to recover on their own and be on their way.
A tall, broad man growls my name.The voice is one that I could never forget.“Delz, what are you doing here?”I whisper hiss, looking down at the man who’s protected me since I was a youngster.When Papa was too busy running the business, ensuring there was a family and a business yet to run.There was always someone trying to get a leg up on the Cassones, but Papa was always smarter, employed the best men around.Well, at least that’s what they say.The only one who was allowed to get too close to me or my sister was Delz.Always there, protecting us from anyone who wanted to do us any harm.
He calls to me.“Jump, do it now.”
I give the drop a long look.“Yeah, I’m not doing that.”Sorry, Delz, there’s no way in friggin’ hell I’m making that jump.He growls again.“Do it now.”
My eyes scan the entire yard, lit dimly with some distant perimeter lights.The men are off in the distance, and even from here I can see their silhouettes by the perimeter of the high gates and the guard station.How Delz got by them without getting killed is beyond me but if there’s a way Delz is going to find it, that’s for damn sure.No one stops him from anything when he’s on a mission and it seems this time the mission is me.
“It’s a long way down,” I whine, nervously looking to the ground, but already knowing that if he’s come all this way, I’m at least going to hear what he has to say, and I don’t plan on getting the guy killed by inviting him to the enemy’s front door.
The screen gives me more difficulty than it should but with a few more twists, a couple grunts and a few f-bombs, it pops right out, declaring me triumphant over the stubborn piece of wire mesh that’s the only thing standing between me and Delz.Well, except for the space between me and the ground which still looks like a hell of a long way down.I can’t believe I’m doing this.“You better catch me,” I whisper hiss into the night.
“Have I ever dropped you, once?”he growls.
All those training sessions and not once in all those years did he ever drop me or my big sister.Always training for different scenarios whether it be intruders, an enemy attack on the house, or fire, because back in the day Mom worried because Papa smoked that cherry smelling cigar so much.
I slide my feet out first and settle onto the ledge of the window, just like he taught me.Now I’m going straight down.No fancy twists or trying to make it on my own.I’m just going to float straight down and trust that he’s got me.I take a deep breath.Don’t you drop me, Delz.Don’t you drop me.And then I’m falling through the air, trying to catch my breath, trying hard to keep my chin up and not look down, just like he drilled into us time and time again.He catches me around the hips and waist, and I open my eyes to find him looking at me.
He draws me to him in a bear hug.“Damn, I’m so glad to see you in one piece.I heard rumors and didn’t know what the fuck to think.The Roselli soldiers hit me from the back when they attacked and took you.Knocked me out cold or I would have been there to protect you, Sophia.The minute I got out of the hospital the ones who survived the attack told me that the Rosellis had you.”
I hug him tight.“It’s okay, Delz.I’m so sorry you got hurt, but no matter what you’ve heard I’m okay.I’m more than okay.The rumors you heard, they’re not true.Well, maybe they were at first.It’s a long story, but I need to know how Anna is.I’ve been trying to reach her, and she doesn’t pick up, her phone just goes to voicemail.She must be checking it though or by now her voicemail would be more than full a few times over with the number of times I’ve called.”
He scowls.“I’ve heard rumors about that too, but I can only save one Roselli at a time and your sister’s fucking sleeping with the enemy.”I inhale a deep breath, about to tell him that technically, I’m the one who’s sleeping with the enemy, but I need answers more.“What did you hear about what happened?The Rosellis thought the Cassones hit their trucks.”
Delz runs a hand over the scruff of his chin.“No one can find your dad or Anna.They believe the two of them went underground with Barcelo.I think Barcelo is a double-crossing low life who played the situation to his advantage and caused an all-out war, so he didn’t have to fight one himself.Now the bastard is underground and hiding like the little bitch that he is, that’s what I think.”He strokes a finger down the side of my face.“I’m so glad that you are okay.There were so many stories floating around I didn’t know what to believe.”
A large dark shadow dwarfs the two of us as Massimo comes around the corner of the house with his weapon out.“You have about two fucking seconds to get your fucking hands off my wife before you lose both of them and end up with nothing but a story to tell.”
“Massimo!”I cry, racing to him.“Please, this is Delz.He was hurt when you and your brothers came in and is just trying to make sure I’m safe.He’s been with me since I was little.Please don’t hurt him,” I tell him, placing my hand on the hand armed with the gun that I know can end Delz’s life with just a gentle squeeze of that trigger.“Please, maybe Delz can help us find your mom.”
His eyes gentle, but he doesn’t put his gun away or waste time with introductions or small talk.“What do you know about the Gallini warehouses?”
I look to both of them.“Or the Cassones’,” I ask Delz.“If Gallini has taken over and has Dad and Anna with him too, it’s likely that he’ll use some of our areas.”
Delz looks at me like I’ve gone crazy because he sure as hell didn’t train me to take the enemy to our most secure sites, the ones no one knows about because they’ve always been blindfolded, the ones I’m not even supposed to know about, but I don’t really care.“Right now, we need to find three people and that’s our fucking mission.We’ll deal with the rest down the road.”I look at Massimo.“Let’s get a driver.Delz can navigate us to the Cassone warehouses.”
Massimo may not like the situation I’ve put him in, but all is fair in love and war, and we’re in the middle of the biggest war of our life and the people we love are caught in the middle.My sister, father and his mother.“Massimo?”
He slides his gun into his pants but glares at Delz.“At some point, I’m going to want to know how the fuck you got onto this estate.For now, it’s enough that you were trying to keep my wife safe.Let’s go.Jimmy is on his way around with the car.”
Massimo’s hand slides possessively around my waist as we walk to the front of the house and head to the car approaching the long winding driveway.One of the guards comes around.“Take Sophia inside and keep her protected.Do not let her out of your fucking sight.It’s clear that anyone can get onto our grounds.Twice, this has happened,” Massimo grinds out.“Two times someone has been able to get onto our property right under your guards’ noses.If I had time to deal with it right now, you would all be dead.Fucking guard her,” he growls.
My temper heats and the residual alcohol left in my system is not helping tamp down these emotions at all.Women are generally shielded from the business side, but that’s not how things are going down between me and Massimo.There was a time when I wanted nothing to do with the underworld life, but that feels like a long time ago, not just a year.I feel so differently now.If we’re in this together then that means in it completely together, side by side with no secrets between us.I want the bastards who sullied the Cassone name and brought war to our doorsteps as much as Massimo.They killed the Cassone soldiers, trashed our name, and may even have my sister and father.I’m not convinced that my sister is willingly sleeping with the enemy, but if she is, I’ll deal with that too.Either way, I’m not hiding out while my family is in harm’s way.He wouldn’t expect it from a Roselli and I sure as hell am not going to accept it as a Cassone-Roselli.
5
Massimo
My little kitten’s claws are starting to show, but she’s under my protection and I make the decisions about her safety whether my little hellcat likes it or not.I want her by my side, but not at the hefty price of seeing her mowed down.Now, instead of being in the middle of the war, I’ll have to keep the car on the periphery if I’m going to keep her from catching a stray bullet.I could have insisted, but there’s something about her tenacity, her grit and determination to stand by my side no matter how bad things get that I have to admit, makes me love her even more.No matter that she’s upset with me now.My kitten will forgive when she learns the entire story, but there’s no time to worry about it now.
Right now, we need to get everyone out of this alive.Tomorrow, I’ll bend her over my lap and paddle her ass red for defying me, for putting herself in danger and for making me worry about her safety.I still can’t believe she jumped out of that fucking second story window, right into the arms of a man who’s been with her for years.I try not to be jealous, he’s nothing to worry about, a man who’s sworn to keep her safe, and isn’t that what I want, but when his arms went around her and she wrapped herself in his protection, my new soldier almost lost his fucking life.
If it weren’t for the sincerity in her eyes, and the love for me I saw shining there, I would have shot him on the spot.No one touches Sophia, and anyone who does will learn that lesson the hard way.No matter that she’s upset with me, still she responds to my touch like she always does.She may have moved away from me when I tried to put my arm around her, but my touch on the top of her palm, it calms her down.Just like the light in her eyes settles my nerves and calms my internal ire, settling the darkness inside of me that until her was darker than hell.
