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Seeing he had gone, she rolled onto her back and stared dismally at the ceiling. He obviously wasn’t used to being asked to leave once the sex was over. He was used to staying with his sexual partners. Sparks of jealousy chased away any lingering desire for sleep.

She had always dreamed of having a hot, sexual relationship that would send her soaring to heaven. With Wizard she might have flown too close to the sun.

Sliding her legs out of bed, she tiredly went into the bathroom to shower.

“How much longer are you going to keep this up?” she asked her reflection as she applied her makeup.

“I’ll catch up tonight,” she promised herself. “I’ll come home right after work.”

Today, she planned to keep any man who tried to take more than a minute of her time at least fifty feet away.

Yesterday, it had taken most of the afternoon to deal with Rocco’s anger when she admitted she was letting The Last Riders handle the backlash instead of enlisting his and the family’s help. Rocco’s offer of using the family’s help showed how seriously he was concerned about what was happening on the internet.

Her brother understood her reasoning of refusing their aide and had tried to allay her fears, but she had stood firm. She was leaving it in The Last Riders’ hands.

Sighing, she brushed on some blush to give herself a healthy glow. She was willing to accept the cost of using The Last Riders. The family’s price would be too high. They would expect her to return to their fold, which she had sworn never to do.

She had never revealed the full truth about her father’s side of the family to anyone, not even those she considered close to her. Her father led a large Cosa Nostra organization in a region of Sicily.

She and Rocco had been clueless when they had gone to visit him for the first time. His villa had been smaller than the home where they lived with their mother, giving no hint of the wealth or power he possessed.

They had been there only a few hours when family members they had never met began arriving. After being introduced to cousins her own age, Natalia was herded outside into a private garden for refreshments while Rocco remained inside with the adults.

Her cousins were anything but welcoming. They remained polite until the adult watching them went inside for more drinks. Then their true personalities emerged. By the time Natalia returned inside, she had learned more about her father than she had ever wanted to know. Frightened, she had cornered Rocco in the crowd and begged him to call their mother so they could go home.

Her father overheard her and had her removed from the party and locked in a bedroom. She was forced to stay there alone for two days before he relented and allowed her out.

It was one of the first lessons she had learned: if she misbehaved, she would be isolated until her punishment ended. She hadn’t been allowed to see Rocco during those two days.

Older and more street-smart than her, Rocco had been frustrated and resentful over the poverty they endured with their mother—a result of their father withholding financial support as punishment for not allowing them to visit.

Rocco did what he had to do. He began ingratiating himself with their father. While Natalia was unable to form any bond with him, Rocco made a point of spending hours at his side. By the time they returned home, even she had believed the act he had put on for their father.

Her brother became a buffer between her and Rafael. Rocco called him Patri; she called him Rafael. She hated him. Rocco used him.

Natalia’s success in business had been possible only because Rocco had convinced Rafael to give him family recipes that had been handed down from their grandmother. She kept her distance from Rafael’s illegal activities, while Rocco entered the ranks and eventually became Rafael’s underboss.

Rocco waited until Natalia could manage the restaurant without his help before completely joining their father’s organization, protecting her from the world she feared and hated.

Natalia had begged him not to. She knew he felt no fatherly affection for Rafael. He had joined only to protect her and repay the money Rafael had provided to start the restaurant.

She hadn’t known the money came from Rafael. She found out only when she fought Rocco’s decision to leave the business.

For years, she scrimped and saved to repay him, only for Rocco to accept the money and still refuse to leave the Cosa Nostra.

“It’s too late,” he had told her. The sadness in his eyes was still burned into her memory.

She had hugged him and cried against his shoulder. “Please, Rocco,” she begged. “Get out. It’s not too late.”

“I sold my soul to them when I was fourteen. It’s safer for us if I stay than if I leave.”

Despite how many times she tried to convince him otherwise, Rocco stood by his decision.

After finishing her makeup, she went downstairs to gather everything she needed for the day. Munching on a breakfast bar, she walked outside and locked the front door. So intent on not dropping the bottle of wine she was taking to a special client, she didn’t notice her van until she reached for the key fob.

The bottle slipped from her hand and shattered on the driveway as she stared at the vandalized vehicle.

“What the …?”