Lorenzo’s wife joined us, and then another man came. He was close to my age, so I assumed he was Lorenzo’s son. With very Italian features, he had dark eyes and thick, dark hair combed back. His eyes immediately went to me when he joined our circle.
“My son, Alessandro,” Lorenzo said. “He just returned from Rome to join the family business.”
Alessandro shook my father’s hand with a slight smile. “Not willingly.”
Lorenzo didn’t look amused by the joke.
My father introduced us. “My son, Leo. And my daughter, Francesca.”
Alessandro quickly shook Leo’s hand, but when he reached out his hand for mine, he was much slower, our touch lingering longer than necessary. Then his eyes remained a second too long, and I hoped Wolfe didn’t notice.
Lorenzo focused on me. “Your father shared how you held your own until he got there. He said you killed ten men entirely byyourself. I’m not impressed often, but I’m thoroughly impressed by your strength and courage.”
It was a nice compliment to receive, but I tried every day to forget what had happened. I didn’t feel stronger as an outcome of the aftermath. Didn’t feel better prepared if or when it happened again. “My father taught me well.” I forced a smile at Lorenzo, but then my eyes shifted back to Alessandro, whose gaze was stuck to my face like glue.
He was a good-looking man, and that just made this situation worse.
Because Wolfe was bound to notice the attraction, and he would lose his shit right in the middle of the service. Jump over the pews and punch this guy right in the face.
“We should get inside,” I said. “The doors are opening.”
We headed into the church, everyone filling the first rows and then making their way back. Because we all stood together, we ended up sitting together, Lorenzo and his wife beside Leo and my dad.
And then Alessandro sat beside me.
Shit.
He was tall and lean and toned, a guy I probably would have been interested in if Wolfe hadn’t ruined all men for me.
Alessandro flipped through the program quietly, everyone else still filing inside and finding their seats for the service. The priest was at the lectern in the front, along with the closed coffin.
I didn’t know where Wolfe was sitting, but I suspected he was in the row behind me with Salvatore.
“You know how to handle a gun, then?” Alessandro asked suddenly.
Fuuuuccckkk.“Um, yes. But trust me, my hands were shaking the whole time.”
“You still got your shots,” he said. “Did you get hit?”
“One bullet hit me, but I had a vest on. Got a nasty bruise, though.”
“I was running our restaurants in Rome and moving product to distributors there. But my father is getting older, and he wants to prepare a transfer of power.” He offered an answer to a question I never asked.
I didn’t know what to say, so I just said, “That’s nice.” Maybe it was all in my head, but the back of my scalp and part of the side of my face felt white-hot, like a laser from a scope was aimed at the spot.
And it stayed and stayed…and I knew that laser came from Wolfe’s pissed-off stare.
“What else do you do for your father?” Alessandro asked before he rolled up the program in his hand.
I knew Wolfe’s head was about to explode. “I basically run the winery so he can focus on other things. He includes me in the other business too, but loosely. When Lombardi’s men hit us, they waited until my father and his associates left so they could take me.”
“But you didn’t let them,” he said. “Badass.”
“Um, I guess.” I was turned toward Alessandro, and I made the mistake of shifting my gaze past him to see Wolfe’s pissed-off eyes hard on my face, like he’d been staring the entire time. He wasn’t just mad. His face was tinted red like the blood underneath his skin had turned into lava. His eyes were like bullets about to pierce Alessandro’s skull. His murderous rage burned so hot, I swore I could smell smoke.
My eyes quickly flicked away, but the image was seared into my brain.
Fuck, he was mad.
