"Last night, as in when you were supposed to be sleeping?" she arches an eyebrow at him, but he just shrugs, continuing his examination of the piece of jade.
One thing Luca's inherited from his mother is his thirst for knowledge. The boy's been reading everything he can get his hands on, sometimes even things way above his grade level.
I wink at Allegra, motioning her to the side.
Propping open the box, I do a quick inventory of our weapons. The exchange is supposed to be peaceful, but we've learned never to underestimate the situation.
Although Allegra and I had agreed we'd continue our lives in the mob, I'd slowly retreated from the public scene of New York, letting Nero, my trusted right hand, handle everything Stateside. Instead, we've started spending more time in Europe, moving permanently to my palazzo in Gozo.
Allegra had been quick to dive into the world of art trafficking, and she enjoys spending her time researching artifacts and potential buyers. While we do most of the trading behind the scenes, sometimes we like to personally get involved in an exchange—like now.
Because I'd assessed this mission as low-risk, we'd also taken Luca with us.
He might be just shy of ten, but he's our little Indiana Jones in the making, his passion for antiques rivaling his mother's.
"We should leave Luca at the hotel," my little tigress leans in to whisper to me.
"Do you think he'll let us?" I ask dryly. He needs to be where the action is, one way or another. If we don't take him with us, we might find him in the trunk of the car. "You know he has his ways," I continue in a low voice.
Allegra's checking the guns for ammo, looking now and then at Luca.
"I know, but what if this gets dangerous?" she sighs, putting the pistol down and resting her head on my shoulder.
"So far we've had only good experiences, but we're in a foreign country—one we have never traded in before. I just don't want any surprises."
"I know, little tigress, I know. But it's better if we take him with us onourterms, rather than wake up with him there, in the middle of the action." Which I don't doubt would happen.
For all his quiet demeanor, Luca is very shrewd, and hisability to read a room is unparalleled. Even now, though he looks entranced by the jade, I'm sure he's assessing our body language, suspecting we're plotting something.
"Give him a gun," I tell her, and her eyes widen in shock.
"Enzo!" she exclaims, incensed but still whispering.
"He knows how to shoot. Give him one, just in case, and then we can be more at peace."
She purses her lips, narrowing her eyes at me, but she eventually agrees.
Allegra can be quite the mother hen, but she's also aware of what Luca's future entails, so she's tried not to coddle him too much. Still mindful of his safety, she always tries to push him beyond his limits—certainly beyond what any other normal parent would allow. But she'd been the first to point out that it's better to urge him to try things in a controlled environment, rather than have him do everything by himself and potentially get hurt because we're not there to supervise.
And I can't help but be enthralled byher.She never fails to amaze me with her strength and fortitude. I'll probably be eternally grateful to DeVille for trying to kill me, because if that hadn't happened, I would have never met my little tigress.
I lay a kiss on her forehead, and we both gear up for the exchange.
"I can't wait to get back to my girls," she says, releasing a sad sigh as she puts on her bulletproof vest.
Diotima, our eldest, is four now, while Nerissa, the youngest, is only two. Both are currently withmamanMargot and Lia. They've been our go-to babysitters in times like this, and I don't think I couldevertrust my baby girls with anyone else.
"Me too, little tigress. Me too," I reply, buttoning her shirt and quickly kissing her lips. I'd do a whole lot more, since seeing her with a gun strapped to her thigh is only making me uncomfortably hard. It would be so easy to bend her over and slide inside her…
"Mind out of the gutter, sir," she giggles, pointing at my already tented pants.
"You know I can't help it," I complain, pouting at her so she'll at least give me a kiss to last me until tonight.
She does take pity on me, and she raises herself on her tiptoes to fit her mouth to mine.
"We need to hurry." Luca casually walks past us to pick up a smaller gun.
"If you say so, son," I clear my throat, willing my erection to disappear.
