“Everything’s moving the way it should.” I lean forward and rest my arms on the desk. “He doesn’t know we’re coming for him yet, and by the time he figures it out, it’ll be too late to matter.”
Marco nods, but his brow furrows. “And Gaviani?”
“Petrelli. What about him?”
“You’ve got him roaming the house.” He crosses his arms. “He can go anywhere he wants, and no one’s stopping him. He already knows the place better than half your men.”
“I let him roam because a man who feels caged starts looking for the door.” I hold his gaze. “And I want Matteo comfortable. Men who feel safe get sloppy, and that’s when they show you who they really are.”
“Or he’ll learn where everything is and use it against you.”
“He could.” I shrug. “But he’s not getting near anything that matters, and he knows the second he makes a mistake, he’s back in that cell or worse. I’m not worried about him.”
“Someone should be.” He presses his lips into a tight line.
“And that’s why I have you.” I spread my lips into a smile. “Keep an eye on him. I don’t need a leash on him yet, but I want to know who he talks to. If he so much as looks at something he shouldn’t, I want to hear about it.”
Marco’s mouth twitches, and I know that’s as close to agreement as I’m going to get out of him today. He still thinks marrying Matteo was too much of a risk to take, but he’s never been the one who has to hold all of this alone, especially as a woman, so he doesn’t get a say in how I do it.
“I’ll watch him,” he says.
“Good.” I lean back again. “Now go get him for me and bring him here.”
Marco’s eyebrows lift just a little. “To the office?”
“Yeah.” I pick up my phone and glance at the messages one more time. “It’s time my husband and I had a real conversation.”
Chapter 6
MATTEO
MARCO TELLS ME THEboss wants to see me, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t like me. I follow him to Amalia’s office anyway, and I’m a little curious about what she wants, because she hasn’t called for me since the wedding. Actually, once the guests left, she just had her men lead me to my room, and that was that. At least I can go wherever I want in the house, but I’ll probably get bored soon.
When I enter the office, Amalia glances up at me from her desk. Yep, she definitely seems like a queen here, born to rule. She now has what I bet her father spent his whole life telling her would never be hers. I should know what it’s like to want something your father swore you’d never have.
I like that she took it anyway, probably more than I should, since it’s not like we’re friends or anything.
“Have a seat,” she says, and I settle in the chair across from her.
“What’s the occasion? You don’t usually call me to your throne room.”
Her dark eyes hold mine for a moment, her lips not even twitching, and then she leans forward a little. “Have you heard of Dominic Bianchi?”
Huh. Not what I expected. I figured she’d want to go over some boring thing, like telling me where to stand at the next dinner so the right people see my face.
“Yeah,” I say. “I’ve heard of him.”
My father used to bring his name up. Dominic’s got fingers in everything, from what I gathered. Shipping, money, half the families up north owing him favors they’ll never pay off... He doesn’t stay in one place long enough to get pinned down, and everybody knows somebody who works for him.
“My father talked about him,” I add. “He operates everywhere. He’s got people in places you wouldn’t expect.”
She nods, as if I’ve passed some small test. “Good. That saves me explaining it.”
“Why are we talking about Dominic?”
“Because I’m going after him.”
I blink at her. That’s a bold thing to say out loud, even to me. You don’t pick a man like Dominic when you’re a few weeks into running a family and half your men still don’t trust you.
