Then the Bertozzis rose from the ashes.
Tomasso Bertozzi now leads the family. Ironically, he was the only decent Bertozzi among them. Salvatore Magarelli treated him like another son growing up. For a long time, Tomasso had been living like a ghost.
Working in the shadows.
Eliminating threats all while trying to stay out of the mafia.
Tomasso’s children, the baby Bertozzis, will soon represent the next generation of organized crime.
Power shifts quickly in our world.
My brother Nick and I were supposed to rule Elizabeth, New Jersey together. That changed the day Dover boss Torrance Aiello kidnapped Nick’s wife.
We answered with blood.
When the smoke cleared, Dover belonged to us.
Actually...
Let me back up.
Nick never wanted an arranged marriage. He wanted to choose his own wife, but our world doesn’t always allow choice. He went to the Wife for Hire Agency intending to fulfill his obligation and secure an heir for the family.
Instead, fate laughed in his face.
He opened a file and found Kinsley.
His ex-girlfriend.
The one woman he was forbidden to touch.
Years earlier, our father had struck a deal with Aiello that promised Nick to Aiello’s daughter, Norah. Kinsley was supposed to be off-limits.
Nick ignored every rule.
He entered a marriage of convenience with Kinsley, anyway.
But I understood my brother’s pain. I knew just how hard it was to be away from the woman you loved. So of course I was willing to stand by his side in battle.
I can’t believe this day has finally come. Five years after disappearing to Florence, Italy, Serenity Cichello is back in the United States.
“I’m back,” she says at my side. “I’ll trade you.”
She slides a tumbler of whiskey into my hand, trading me for my champagne. Her manicured fingers lace with mine.
“This house is enormous,” she says with a smile too wide to be sober.
“You were supposed to be in the powder room,” I remind her.
A smile widens on her crimson lips. “I took myself on a little tour.”
Her long red hair tumbles over one shoulder in lush deep waves.
Years ago, I planned to let her live in one of the condos in my building in Newark, Delaware. Instead, I allowed her to stay in my condo. Guess I feel a little responsible for her brush with death over the years. Two years ago, the war with Ettore ended. And six months later, I entered a new war with Aleksandr Novikoff out of Baltimore. I told Lucinda she didn’t have to attend parties and galas with me, but she said she was a big girl and could handle herself. So here we are.
“Lucinda, you’re supposed to behave tonight.”
“I am. Your cock in my mouth in the powder room would’ve been nice, right?” she chuckles.
