“Tell me what you need,” I say. “You and the Lucanias.”
Silence on the other end. “What?”
“You heard me.”
“Just like that?” Silas’s voice is sharp with suspicion. “Rafiel punches you in the face and you’re still willing to work with me?”
“I’m not doing it for Rafiel or you. I’m doing it for me. The Sokolis already cost me my cousin. He may have been a traitorous idiot, but he was family. I’m not letting them take anything else from me.”
Silas is quiet for a moment. I can practically hear him trying to decide if he believes me or if this is a trap.
“Why should I trust you?” he asks finally.
“Because I’m telling you the truth. I don’t give a shit about the Lucanias. I don’t care about your territory or your pride or the home you can’t return to. But I care about keeping the Sokolis away from what’s mine.”
Silas exhales slowly. “All right. This is what we need from you.”
I listen to his plan in silence.
It’s a solid plan. Good for the Lucanias and even better for me.
“Well?” Silas prompts.
“I’ll do it.”
“Don’t screw us over, Montoni. Without you, the whole operation falls apart.”
“I said I’ll do it.”
I toss the phone onto the passenger seat and flex my jaw, feeling the ache where Rafiel’s fist connected.
I’ll work with these assholes for one reason and one reason only.
Mina.
I can picture her so clearly it’s like she’s beside me. Dark hair spread across a pillow, her body warm beneath the sheets. She left the hotel penthouse room four days ago, slipping away rather than sleeping beside me, and the ache of her absence hasn’t dulled even slightly. If anything, it’s gotten worse. A constant, gnawing hunger.
My hands clench on the steering wheel until my knuckles go white. The highway stretches out ahead of me, lights blurring past, and all I can think about is the distance between us. The agonizing distance I maintain because getting too close breaks her. Staying away from the woman I love is slowly killing me.
Rafiel Lucania is rotting in a prison cell, loving a woman he’ll never have, and I taunted him about it, because for a few fucking minutes, it was a relief to see another man in as much pain as I am.
I fumble for my phone and open the secret camera feed I put in Mina’s apartment. I can see only the back of the picture frame, and her apartment is silent. She must be at work.
I sigh and put my phone away. Tonight, I’ll go home alone to a mansion full of ghosts, and I’ll dream about a woman who left me bleeding in a driveway five years ago.
Soon, I’ll start a war to keep them safe.
The following day,I find Mrs. Santoro crying in the kitchen.
She’s standing at the sink with her back to me, shoulders shaking, trying to muffle the sound with a dish towel pressed to her mouth. She doesn’t hear me come in.
I should leave and give her privacy. Whatever’s upset her is none of my business.
But I hesitate on the threshold, because there’s a chance that this might have something to do with Mina. The way she’s sobbing, I hope it doesn’t. But I have to know.
“Mrs. Santoro?”
She whirls around, eyes red, cheeks wet. “Mr. Montoni. I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize you were there.” She swipes at her face with the dish towel, trying to compose herself. “Is there something you need? Are you hungry?”
