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He’s trying to kill what Lucy and I have.
I can’t allow that.
I spin when I feel someone walking up behind me.
My gaze moves over the room.
Fuck-fuck-fuck.
Most of my men are pinned against the wall with rifles pointed at their chest. Aldo wrestles on the floor, gritting his teeth as he aims a vicious head butt at the man beneath him. Aldo may be small but the bastard knows how to fight.
He’s sliding his arms around the man’s neck – going for a rear naked choke like we do when we train in martial arts – when a man approaches behind him, prodding the back of his head with his rifle’s barrel.
“It’s over, Aldo,” I growl, standing slowly as I stare into the eyes of the man with the gun. “We need to remember the stars, cousin.”
He pauses, and then stands slowly with his hands up.
Remember the stars is code to bide our time and save our energy for a follow-up attack. We’ve used it ever since a bunch of jumped-up bikers tried to make a play and took us hostage when we were kids. We fucked those bikers up bad and got them and their drugs out of my city.
“Remember the stars?” the man with the gun aimed at me snaps. “What does that mean?”
He’s tall and skinny, with acne creeping up his neck. His hair is jet-black without a shred of steel in it. His Adam’s apple is a bony fist in his neck, making him look even more angular. He has no experience, no grit.
I don’t recognize any of these men.
“Where’s Franco?” I snarl.
“No questions,” the kid grunts, as Aldo and I walk over to the wall with our men.
“Where is Franco?” I say again, colder this time.
“I said no questions—”
I dart out and take his rifle, spinning it and aiming it at his head. All his false confidence drains away and he shivers, staring at me like I’m a lion who just escaped its cage.
Three of his men already have their guns trained on me, but I don’t flinch.
“They’ll kill you,” he whimpers.
“Won’t save you,” I tell him. “Now, where the fuck is Franco?”
“Don’t say a fucking word,” one of his men grunts.
“You’ve got three seconds, boy,” I snap.
My mind throws itself back to the closeness in the garden with Lucy. When we counted to three before saying how many children we wanted. That was only last night, and yet it feels so detached and remote from this it could be a hundred years ago.
These motherfuckers are keeping me from my woman.
“One, two…”
He shudders and turns his face away from the rifle.
“Three—”
“Wait,” he cries. “Okay. Just wait.”
“Shut your fucking mouth,” his man snarls, but the kid has never felt terror like this before. He must be nineteen, twenty at a push.
“Franco is attacking your estate,” he says. “Please, don’t shoot.”
The words take a moment to hit me.
Franco is going to try to kill Lucy and Maria and all my staff, and Toto… Or he’ll kidnap them and do grotesque things to them, torturing them in the most depraved ways.
The men move closer to me with their rifles.
“Against the wall,” one of them grunts. “Now.”
It’s the smart thing to do, but there’s nothing logical about love, and these bastards are trying to take that from me.
Don’t they know who I am?
Don’t they know how long I’ve ruled?
“Now, Lioni,” the man growls.
I close my eyes for a moment, taking a bolstering breath.
Chapter Sixteen
Lucy
“I can’t believe Luca said you’re a lazy boy.”
I giggle as I flail the toy rope around. Toto leaps around on the lawn, throwing his whole body into every jump, his fluffy orange tail wagging like there’s a motor attached to it.
Maria sits beside me in the lawn chair, a wide cap pulled low to shade her face from the sun, holding her coffee like a proper lady.
I find myself longing to see her as a mentor figure, a mother figure, something I was never allowed to experience. The staff at the orphanage were efficient and kind, but none of them ever felt like mine.
“What is it, dear?” Maria asks.
I throw the rope and Toto bounds away, biting it and shaking it from side to side.
“What’s what?”
“Don’t play games with me. You’ve wanted to say something ever since we came out here.”
I wring my hands, anxiety moving through me like hot liquid. “It’s silly. It doesn’t matter.”
She leans forward and lifts the brim of her hat, revealing her smiling sun-dappled face. “You and Luca are going to be together forever, am I correct?”
I nod, fresh fire infusing me, even as part of me cautions to be wary about so much sudden enthusiasm.
I’ve known him such a short time… and yet minutes and hours seem to grow whenever I think about Luca, seeming longer.
Our date last night – and the walk and the kiss and his patience – felt longer and more fulfilling than any other experience in my life.
