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Giovanni

PLAYLIST: ? WORSHIP - AMBER RUN?

The war is won.

The sun rises above the distant mountain skyline, bathing Vegas’s desert landscape in golden warmth. I watch from the giant window of my penthouse suite at the Vittoria. Still dressed in last night’s clothes, shirt stained with blood and dust, I can’t help but allow for a rare smile.

Dawn means a new day is here. A new era for not only myself, but for the Sorrentino family, and for Las Vegas. I’m the new king looking down on the town I rule over. Today the city of sin. Tomorrow the rest of the world.

There’s much to be done. Now that the Vittoria is operating in full swing, it’s time to move in on Lovato’s territory. With him dead, his soldiers are bound to scurry back to the east coast, running home to Don Lovato to lick their wounds. But it’s the street guys who’ll be up for grabs—the guys like Falynn’s ex, Lorenzo, whose loyalty depends on the best offer made.

As for Lorenzo Espinosa himself, I made sure C.J. knew he was to survive last night’s confrontation. I have separate plans for him—plans I’ve kept from Falynn in case the urge for mercy strikes her. No man puts his hands on my woman and keeps all ten fingers.

A knock on the door interrupts my thoughts. I glance in the bedroom, checking if Falynn is still asleep, and then cross the suite to the door. Louis stands on the other side with a cart of breakfast. I press a finger to my lips and let him inside.

“I figured she’d still be asleep,” he says in a low tone. “But it’ll be nice to wake up to breakfast.”

“She’ll be up soon enough. Then she’ll eat everything on that cart.” I move over to the door adjoining the bedroom with the rest of the penthouse and draw it to a gentle close. Falynn’s been through hell over the past twenty-four hours. She needs as much rest as humanly possible.

As if reading my mind, Louis folds his gorilla arms over his chest and asks, “Boss, have you gotten a wink of sleep?”

No.

In the weeks of Falynn’s absence, I have returned to my insomniac ways. I’ve been making due with two or three hours at most. With everything that went down last night, I can’t power off my brain even if I want to. Even Falynn in my bed can’t put me to rest right now. My brain’s too alert, too overactive with a million thoughts about my growing empire, Lovato’s downfall, and what this means for the future.

“You should get some rest. Take the day off,” Louis says.

“I have an empire to run. You think I get days off from that?”

“Just saying. A chill day lounging by the pool with your lady sounds good, doesn’t it?”

Like heaven.

Falynn and I haven’t had any time alone. She barely spoke to me last night before she collapsed in the bed.

I think she’s traumatized. Not that I can blame her. For the second time in two months, she was kidnapped by a mobster. Though seeing how she trembled, something tells me Lovato had been a lot less considerate and a lot more cruel than I had been. He had been seconds away from killing her. And when push came to shove, and the opportunity presented itself, Falynn had killed him. She’s never taken a life before.

For someone as pure as she is, I worry it’s darkened her soul. Being with mewilldarken her soul.

I’m acapoin one of the world’s most powerful crime families. If we’re to be together, danger and darkness will always be a part of our lives. It’s part of the sacrifice you make for a position of absolute power. Can Falynn be happy in my world? Can she even survive it?

My mother had taken a gamble, and she hadn’t lived to win that bet. She paid the price for it being with my father. In turn, her passing left two young boys—me and Giancarlo—motherless and closed off to emotion. I’d been sure any relationship I have would mimic my parents, because what other possibility is there in this lifestyle?

But I’ve learned it can be different with Falynn. I can have her and rule the throne I was born to inherit. I can have it all.

My phone goes off in the breast pocket of my shirt. The dried blood and gunk from last night have left it looking a mess. I really should light it on fire and toss it. Also, shower. I need one badly.

“Hello,” I say, bringing the phone to my ear.

“Son,” wheezes Papa, “you have been a busy man.”

I meet Louis’s eye. He stares back with his brows hiked up. He knows who it is and that this call is important. We’re either going to find out our actions last night were approved of, or that we’ve seriously fucked up. It’s not lost on me that any developments on the west coast have repercussions for the east coast. The Lovatos are still power players in New York and Jersey.

“I take it you heard.”

“How could I not? Coast to coast, the streets are talking.”

“You know that from your nursing facility?” I add a humorous tint to the words, hoping it’ll lighten the vibe of the conversation.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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