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Fuck.
“Drive,” I barked out, slumping in my seat and needing something to distract me from the woman who was turning out to be more than I’d realized. She wasn’t meant to be a handful. She wasn’t meant to talk back to me. She wasn’t meant to have me on edge.
“Call Veev,” I told Mateo as he pulled up outside of the restaurant. “Tell her to be at the house by four.”
I smirked as I did my suit jacket button up and ignored the burn of Christian’s eyes on me as I slipped out of the back of the SUV. I’d teach Aida a lesson, but more than that, I’d remind myself what was most important: the business. I didn’t have time or space in my brain to think about her. I didn’t want to think about her, which was why, as I walked into the restaurant, I schooled my features, forgetting about the ride here and preparing for the meeting. I needed to be respectful, but I also needed to let them know that I was the boss of the Beretta family, the founding Mafia family in this state.
Aida didn’t know who she was messing with, but they didn’t either.
No one else was in the restaurant, just the waiting bosses sitting around a large table. All chairs were taken apart from one in the middle of one of the sides. I bypassed it, stopping next to the chair at the head, and staring down at Alessandro Roti. “You’re in my seat,” I told him, keeping my tone even.
He looked up at me, his lips quirked at the corner. “Is that so?”
“It is so,” I snapped back, narrowing my eyes. “The head of the Beretta family sits at the head of The Enterprise.” I glanced at the other three men around the table. They were all older than fifty, with Alessandro Roti being the youngest of them all.
“He’s right,” Neri Riva said, leaning forward. Neri was the oldest here. He’d been at the table when my dad had set this entire thing up, and I knew if there was one person on my side, it would be him. He’d been the one to fill me in on what Uncle Paolo had been up to. Neri’s business was all about money. He dealt as a loan shark and also made most of his money through gambling, owning an array of casinos throughout the country. “His place is at the head.”
“And what if I want to take a vote for a new head to be appointed?” Alessa
ndro asked. He didn’t make a single move to get up. Instead, he sat there, waiting for what everyone else was going to do. Alessandro knew he had power at the table, especially with the business he was in. He held several unions in the palm of his hand, but most importantly, the construction union.
“Fuck's sake,” Stefano gritted out. “Just move, Alessandro.” I raised a brow at Stefano, head of the Cerutti crime family. Their business flourished in washing money. He reminded me of Uncle Antonio, straight to the point and little patience.
Alessandro ignored Stefano and Neri, his eyes laser-focused on me. “Then vote,” I ground out. “Do it now so we can get down to the real business.”
“Patience,” Alessandro tutted. “All those in favor of Lorenzo Beretta being head of The Enterprise, raise your hands.”
Neri’s hand rose first, followed by Stefano, and finally, Piero. He’d been quiet, silently observing what was happening around him. Piero Pozzi was the head of the Pozzi family. His was the lowest crime family, making deals with politicians and growing as much marijuana as they could. They were trying to offset the balance between legal and illegal so they were seen as legitimate, and whatever he was doing was working.
“Looks like a clean sweep to me.” I flicked my fingers in the air. “Now move.” He grumbled in the back of his throat but didn’t say another word as he slinked to a different seat.
“Now that that has been resolved,” I started. “Let’s get to the issue at hand.” I stared at each of them in turn, knowing I would walk out of the restaurant getting exactly what I came for. They didn’t have a choice in the matter, and deep down, they all knew that. I got what I wanted. I always got what I wanted.
AIDA
I slowly walked out of my last class of the day and down the hallway to the main doors. I had no reason to rush, not like I did before I became a married woman. I had nowhere to go but back to the mansion and nothing to do other than getting started on yet another assignment.
My college classes felt like they were getting harder—either that or I wasn’t as focused. I’d darted to my class this morning to hand in my assignment on time, but I’d managed to get my schedule mixed up because it wasn’t due for another two days. I was lost without my usual routine, trying to wade myself through unchartered territory, but I felt like I was failing epically.
Every day was the same, a repeat of the day before. I got home, had a shower, ate dinner in silence with the rest of the family, and then went to my room. It was boring, but more than that, it wasn’t the life I wanted to have. I may have agreed to marry Lorenzo, but I hadn’t signed my life away in the process.
But this morning had been different. Lorenzo had been in the car with me, and I’d…I’d snapped at him. I winced as I walked through the building doors and outside. I knew I needed to apologize, but something bubbling up told me I shouldn’t. He’d spoken to me like crap over and over again, and not once had I bitten back. But this morning, with my lack of sleep, I’d lost my patience.
Dammit. I scrubbed my hand over my face. I had to apologize. So, as I got into the SUV, I knew I had to talk to him and explain the pressure I was under. Maybe if I explained how I felt, he’d ease up a little. I silently went over scenario after scenario in my head during the drive back, trying to prepare myself for any kind of reaction he would give me. But ultimately, I knew I wouldn’t know how he would act until I’d said what I needed to say. And there was only one way to find out. When the SUV pulled through the gates and stopped in front of the mansion doors, I resolved to go straight to him. It was an unspoken rule not to go knocking on his door—I’d found that out the night I’d cooked—but right then, I didn’t care. I needed to get this out. I needed to tell him that I couldn’t live like this anymore.
The stones crunched under my feet, my breaths coming faster as the doors opened up. I didn’t stop to greet anyone like I normally did. Instead, I beelined it for his office, hearing voices the closer I got.
It didn’t register at first because I was going over and over in my mind what I was going to say and how I was going to say it. It was only when I got within a couple of feet and saw the door wide open that I realized Lorenzo wasn’t alone.
I halted. Wondering if I should wait. Then a moan rang out.
What the…
I stepped closer, blinking several times, swearing my eyes were deceiving me. But they weren’t. I was seeing the truth. Seeing who Lorenzo really was.
A head full of long dark hair turned, a face appearing, and I gasped. Laid out on his desk was a naked woman, the one who had been here to give his office a makeover. She lifted her red-painted lips up into a smirk and winked at me, and all the while Lorenzo pounded into her over and over again.
Her chest bounced with each of his movements, and when he hit a spot she must have liked, her back bowed. She was fully naked, her small breasts pointed to the ceiling, but Lorenzo wasn’t. I could barely see any of him, other than his hips pistoning forward.
