Chapter One
Elio
“You should find a bride,” my Zio Gabriele sighed as he ran his fingers through his silver and black hair. We held video calls every once and a while, but I almost enjoyed these more than the regular ones because I frustrated him almost as much as his parents did.
They were nagging him in one ear, demanding that he’d marry and have a family while ordering him to demand I do the same. Gabriele was only eight years older than me, but he’d been through hell and back having fought a war with another rival mafia family that cost the lives of my parents when I was only fourteen.
“I will, and when I do, trust me, nothing will stand in my way to claim her,” I promised.
“Good. Good, how is everything else?”
“Smooth, everyone is on their shit. We do have a small money discrepancy, but I have it handled.”
“Good. I’m sure you’re on top of it all. Are all of your men behaving? If they’re not, treat them like I would.”
“You know I will.” He chuckled.
“Find your bride. We need to add to the family before we’re all gone.”
“Trust me when I say that I’m working on it. Maybe you should do the same. I’m not the one in my late thirties.”
“Late thirties? Fuck you, I’m only thirty-five.”
“Almost thirty-six. At least I’m still in my twenties, so you should speed it up before no one wants your old balls.”
“I have plenty of offers for my old sack. That’s not the problem. We’re good-looking, wealthy bastards, so they’re crawling on their knees for us.”
“Exactly, so what’s the problem?”
“I’ve got to find the one that makes me feel something. It hasn’t happened yet.” I knew precisely what he meant. My heart jumped in my chest because it happened to me. She came as a surprise, a betrayal, a theft, and now she would be mine.
“I wish you luck.”
“Same to you. I’ll keep in touch.” I ended the call and smiled as I thought about my obsession.
I tapped the mouse, and my computer screen lit up with the collection of photos I had found on her social media pages. She hadn’t posted in months, but the pretty little Ana Maria was more beautiful than any woman I’d ever seen. For nearly three days, I stared at her caramel eyes as they brightened for the camera and a plump-lipped smile spread wide across her face, that showed her joy.
I popped off a message to Marco to call me. My phone rang a moment later. “How is she?”
“It took us a while to locate their residence, if you could call it that. It’s in the slums and we stick out like sore fucking thumbs here.”
“Why did it take you so long?” The level of incompetence was unexpected and unacceptable from my second-in-command.
“First, this neighborhood looks like a damn war zone, and none of the places have addresses on them. The apartmentsare all trashed, littered, and with people wasted on every damn corner and stoop. If we hadn’t spotted her coming home at midnight—”
“What the fuck do you mean midnight?” I shouted, pounding my fist on the desk. My anger had gotten so out of control, I bet my entire staff heard me throughout the house.
“Well, apparently, she works at a gas station until then.”
“A gas station? I thought she worked at a grocery store.”
“She does. She has two jobs, not just one, but she didn’t post this one online.” That explained why her social media presence dropped off. It was hard to be active when you had to hold down two jobs.
“Fuck, okay. So tell me what you got.”
“Well, it’s only eight, so she’s probably still asleep. We have to keep a slight distance and then watch out because these motherfuckers are itching for a fight.”
“I’m heading down to the airport in two hours, so I’ll be picking her up myself. Just keep her safe. I mean it, damn it. Don’t lose sight of her.”
