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I’d made a mistake coming here with them, but now it was too late. I had to deal with it whether I liked it or not, but that didn’t mean I had to be part of it. So I walked away. I acted like I hadn’t seen her there in yesterday's stained clothes. I acted like I’d come home to an empty apartment, because pretending everything was how it had been was easier than acknowledging the fact that nothing would ever change.
* * *
MATEO
My eyes never stayed in the same position for long. I was hyperaware of every single thing around us. I knew that the car directly behind had been on the same path we were for the last two blocks, but I also knew that the old woman behind the wheel wasn’t a threat. At least, I hoped she wasn’t.
I knew that the car two behind hers had followed us from the time we left the mansion. The fact that they were law enforcement wasn’t something easily detected, but I was so used to it that I could spot them from a mile away. Sometimes I allowed them to follow me just so that they’d be occupied, but days like today when I was driving Aida to college, I needed to lose them—when the time was right.
Each day we took a different route to Aida’s college, knowing that predictability wasn’t something we wanted. I was always finding alternative routes to the places we had to go to on a regular basis, and once I had at least ten options, I would switch them out, not leaving a single pattern behind. Confusion was the key.
Some people may have only seen me as the person who drove Lorenzo and Aida anywhere they needed to go, but I knew I was more than that. I was a personal bodyguard and now the head of security. I was one of Lorenzo’s most trusted allies; I had to be with how close contact we all were. I saw and heard things no one else did. I knew what the punishments were. I knew what the rewards were. I knew how to deal with everything.
Normally, Aida wouldn’t have stopped talking on the way to college, but since this was her first day back since—I gritted my teeth and gripped the steering wheel harder. I didn’t want to think about that day. I didn’t want to look at Aida and only see the scars she was left with thanks to Paolo. But it was hard. I blamed myself even if they didn’t. I was meant to protect her, just like I was meant to protect my siblings. But I felt like I was failing. We were still stuck in that shitty apartment, and even though they both went to school during the day, they still had to be around her when they got home.
My breaths came faster the closer to college we got, and I tried to slow them. I didn’t want Aida asking anything that I didn’t want to answer. She had enough to deal with. She didn’t need my shit added on to that. Not that I would have told her anyway. I kept things close to my chest, not letting anyone in. I’d learned a long time ago that you couldn’t truly trust anyone but yourself.
I closed my eyes as I pulled up to a red light, trying to gain my control back. It wasn’t often that I let it slip, but it was becoming more and more lately. Maybe my brain was trying to tell me something? If it was, then I refused to listen. All I needed to do was make it through each day and it would all be fine.
The light turned green and I hooked a left, pulling up to the edge of campus. I left the engine running as Lorenzo and Aida said their goodbyes. Lorenzo didn’t get out of the back of the SUV. He never did. I wasn’t sure whether it was because he didn’t want to draw any extra attention to them, or if it was because it was a safety risk. Maybe it was a combination of both.
“See you later, Mateo,” Aida said softly. I met her gaze in the rearview mirror, clearly able to see her apprehension. I’d overheard her and Lorenzo arguing about her going back to college. She’d told him in no uncertain terms that she was going to get her degree whether he liked it or not.
“Later,” I murmured, smiling as she closed the door. I didn’t move from the spot I was in until she’d entered the building. The air suspended until she was out of sight.
“Let’s go,” Lorenzo barked, pulling out both his usual cell and the satellite phone Mr. Blue had gotten him. The apprehension rolled off of him in crashing waves. I wasn’t sure whether it was because this was the first time Aida had been out of the house on her own, or because we were heading to a meeting with The Enterprise.
It was only the second meeting since Lorenzo had escaped Paolo’s clutches, and I knew it would be full of tension. The Enterprise consisted of five heads of the families with Lorenzo at the top of them. And now the leader of The Enterprise had been targeted, which meant the lanes were open for anyone else to do the same. We may have upped our security, but that didn’t mean we weren’t vulnerable in other areas.
I pulled into the lot of the usual meeting place and right to the entrance. It didn’t matter that I was blocking the way for anyone else because it meant Lorenzo was safe. I switched the engine off and we both got out at the same time, Lorenzo in front of me, his attention focused forward, but I knew he was as aware of what was around as I was.
Neither of us spoke as we walked inside. The other four men were already seated around the table in their usual chairs. I followed Lorenzo to the head of the table and stood a couple of feet behind him to the left. I wasn’t just there to jump in if Lorenzo needed me, but I was also there to record the entire meeting without any of them knowing.
What was said in these meetings wasn’t meant to leave this room, but Lorenzo was forging his own path. He needed it not just to protect himself, but his family too. And nothing was more important than family. I knew that better than anyone.
“First order of business,” Lorenzo started, placing his hands on the wooden surface. “Does anyone have anything they want to bring attention to?”
I glanced at each of them in turn, reading their expressions and body language. You could tell more from a person by their actions than the words they spoke. Alessandro Roti leaned back in his seat, looking bored out of his mind, but I knew it was an act. He was the one who wanted to be in charge and hated that Lorenzo had been voted in. Stefano and Neri kept their positions, not moving a single inch. But it was the newcomer, Gio Pozzi that lifted his hand.
“I wanna talk about territory,” he said, his voice trying to sound in control, but we all heard the squeak in the middle of his sentence.
“Territory?” Lorenzo asked, turning his head to look at me. His ink-black hair was pushed back in its usual style, and his give-no-fucks expression was firmly in place. His lips quirked at the corner, his eyes narrowing on me. He was silently telling me to take note of what was about to happen, but he didn’t need to because I was fully focused.
“Yeah.” Gio shuffled in his seat, so I took a step forward. It would only take a second for him to grab his gun and fire off several shots. I slowly moved my hand to my waistband where one of my two guns was placed. “We have the smallest territory. I want to expand.”
The silence echoed around the room until Lorenzo softly said, “No.” He turned to face Alessandro and Neri. “Anything else
needing to be—”
“What do you mean, no?” Gio stood, his chair scraping against the wooden floor.
I lunged forward, standing side by side with Lorenzo, but he didn’t make a single move. He simply stared up at Gio, tilting his head at him. “You’re new here, so I’m gonna let that slide.” Lorenzo planted both hands on the table and slowly pushed up, his attention not moving off of Gio. “This is your one and only warning.” He paused; the tension so thick there was no way you could cut through it. “Never fuckin’ interrupt me. Ever.” Gio swallowed, his face turning a bright hue of red as he plopped back in his seat. “Got it?”
“Got it,” he whispered, hanging his head like he was a kid who had been told off. And in a way he had. Lorenzo was the head of The Enterprise for a reason, and he needed to learn that—fast.
“Now that Gio has had his tantrum…” The room filled with chuckles at Lorenzo’s quip, and I took that as my cue to step back. “Let’s discuss Paolo.” The temperature in the room plummeted at his words. Even I felt a shiver run down my back. No one but the closest to Lorenzo knew what had happened when his uncle had taken him and Aida. We’d witnessed the aftermath, and now we were about to be part of the anger that would follow.
“He’s dead,” Alessandro commented. “What’s there to discuss?”
