“Not yet,” I tell her, shooting Marco a glare.
My younger brother’s impatience is understandable, especially with regard to Candi. It was only last week that I voiced my suspicions to him and Dante that she was spying on our family. But I didn’t elaborate on what I intend to do about it, which isn’t my usual MO. No wonder Marco is getting antsy. I’m supposed to be the man with the plan.
The thing is, my brothers prefer not to do the dirty work when it comes to handling outside threats. I’ve always been the Bellanti family’s protector. As the eldest, Dante may be our patriarch—and he’s certainly the final word when it comes to decision making—but bloodshed makes him go all existential. I’m more the shoot now, ask questions later type. As for Marco, I’m fairly certain he wants to hide under the couch anytime there’s gunfire.
But they’re good fighters, both of them, and they’re loyal. They’ve set aside their distaste for violence to fight for our family time and time again, and together, we managed to put the Brunos in their place and stop their aggression toward us.
For now.
Marco’s right, though. The war isn’t over. There’s more coming, and Candi is the key to finding out what that is. She’s our link to our enemies. Our woman on the inside. She just doesn’t know it.
I’ll be playing two games now. One, to coerce any information I can out of the woman who will be sharing my bed, and two, keeping my brothers appeased without giving away my entire hand.
“We’ve called a truce with our enemies, Marco,” I remind him. “That will do for now.”
He frowns. “For now, yeah. And then what? How long you think the truce is gonna last?”
Not long at all, to be honest, but this isn’t a conversation I want to get into at the moment. Candi will be here soon, and I need to send the staff on a shopping trip to prepare for her arrival.
And no, I haven’t forgotten how the Brunos threatened my family, sabotaging Marco’s race car in a move that almost killed him in a fiery crash, kidnapping the sister of Dante’s wife and holding her hostage, and then kidnapping Marco’s wife Karina. I’ve certainly not forgotten how they tried to use Karina against us by bugging her engagement ring and using her mother as leverage to make sure Karina complied with being an informant.
So do I trust the truce we made with the Brunos? Of course not. But I do things my own way. Marco should know that by now.
“Please be sure there are fresh flowers on the nightstand, in the bathroom, and in the sitting room at all times,” I tell the maid.
“And for housekeeping…is once per week still good, or should we add your rooms to the rotation more frequently?” she asks.
Huh. I hadn’t considered that. I wonder if Candi likes to keep things as obsessively neat as I do, or if she’s the messy type. The thought gives me pause. I hadn’t considered asking her what her housekeeping style is like. She always looks put together when she’s here for work reasons, but that doesn’t mean she’s the same at home. Fuck.
I require my surroundings to be organized and spotlessly clean, with everything in its place. No mess. Candi better be the same, or we’re going to have problems.
“Let’s keep it once a week, and adjust if necessary,” I tell the maid. “That will be all. You can apprise the staff of my needs and start making preparations immediately. Thank you.”
She nods and leaves.
Running a hand over my mouth, I move to the sideboard in my adjoining sitting room and pour a whiskey. Marco watches, unimpressed, as I prepare my drink. Then he sinks into a chair, letting out another sigh.
“I don’t believe the Brunos are just going to roll over and let us pat their bellies for long,” he says. “We need to be prepared. If Candi knows something that could be useful to us—”
“Then I’ll find out about it.”
“I can’t believe you’re acting so chill about this!” he explodes. “Are you sure you didn’t secretly meet with Dante about this already? You guys keeping something from me? Spit it out. I know you’re hiding something.”
I’m getting bored with this conversation. I love my brother, but life was quieter when he was on his honeymoon. I stroll over to the windows that look out over the long driveway below.
“Marco, come on. There was no secret meeting.”
“I wouldn’t put it past you two.”
I take a sip, enjoying the burn. “To be fair, there was a time when you didn’t give two shits about what was going on in this family. Your focus was on fast cars and women. Dante and I got used to doing things without you. But this isn’t one of those times.”
He leans back in the chair and crosses his arms, practically pouting. “I’ve changed, bro. You know that. I met Karina and everything changed. How can I not be more involved with all this mafia shit when the Brunos tried to take down our entire family? Not to mention, Dante’s got a baby coming literallyany minute now. We can’t just kick back, thinking we’re off the hook with the Brunos. The moment we do, the other shoe is going to drop.”
He’s right, but I’m not going to tell him that. Marco is hotheaded and rash. The less he knows, the better.
“When are you going to learn to trust me?” I ask, eyeing him over the rim of my glass.
He softens. “I do trust you. With my life. With the life of our family. Which is why I want to know what the plan is.”
