Page 16 of Valentino

“Ferrara.”

I frown, not understanding. “You’ve lost me, I don’t understand where this is going?”

“You know Enrico Ferrara. The one that wants to kill me.”

“Yeah.”

“He was my father’s oldest son by his wife.”

“What?” This is so confusing and I’m having trouble keeping up.

“Ferrari Industries isn’t what we think it is.”

“What is it?”

“It’s an empire built on crime.”

Alex’s and my eyes widen.

“Generations of family war and organized crime and billions and billions of dollars.”

“What do you mean?” I whisper.

“I don’t know, they didn’t say the words, but it sounded a lot like a Mafia syndicate.”

“Your father was the head of the fucking Mafia?” I whisper.

“The Don?” Alex gasps.

“But that’s not the worst of it,” Giuliano whispers.

“It gets worse?” I squeak. “How could it get fucking worse?”

“He left it in his will that if Enrico was ever killed that I would take over to lead Ferrara.”

We stare at each other, shocked to our core,

“What?” I murmur. “So you’re in charge of Ferrara now?”

Giuliano’s eyes well with tears, “How could he lie to me my whole life? How could he leave everything in my hands? I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing.”

“It’s okay.” I pull him into a hug. “We’ll work it out, we’ll work it out.”

“How can we work this out?” His eyes fill with new tears. “You know what this means, don’t you?”

We stare at him, unsure if we can even fathom another thing.

“The woman I love…Francesca.”

“Yes.”

“She’s the youngest daughter of my father.”

My eyes widen. “Which makes her….”

“My sister.”

Holy…. Fuck.