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And I was just floating up to the ceiling.
Up, and up, and up…
Chapter Thirty-Five
Nico
“You know who she is, don’t you?” I stood in front of Lorenzo’s gleaming mahogany desk, staring down at the man who’d sired me.
He smiled, though like always, it didn’t reach his dead eyes. “Sofia Luca, you mean? Of course, I recognized her. I am rather disappointed in you, though. To be deceived by the complicitous offspring of Vincent Luca… I thought you were smarter than that.” Every word out of his mouth dripped with arrogance and disdain.
“I’m smart enough to make you my first stop, Lorenzo. If you—”
He held up one wrinkled hand. “The girl is of no use to you. She’s a lying snake, and that is not the kind of woman you’ll have for a wife.”
I scoffed. If he thought he was going to tell me who I could or could not have for a wife, then my father had clearly lost all of his mental faculties. “If you wanted an obedient, little puppet for a son, you shouldn’t have raised a monster. I’ll do what I damn well please, and you know it. If you want to kill me for it, I’m right here,” I said, holding my arms out wide. “Take your best shot.”
I stood still, waiting, part of me begging for him to try, to finally have an excuse to end this.
But he shook his head and sat back in his chair, laying his hands across his stomach. “I’m not going to kill you, Nico. It wouldn’t do me any good. I’ve seen the way your brothers look at you. You’ve sunk your claws into every one of them. If I do away with all of my disobedient, disrespectful offspring, I’ll have no heirs left, will I?” He sneered.
That was all that kept him from putting a bullet between my eyes. Not love, not anything that resembled affection for his son. Only his empire. His legacy.
The image I’d had of my father cracked and shattered into a thousand pieces. I’d always thought of Lorenzo as a brave monster, but the man wasn’t brave, he wasn’t fearless. He just had nothing to lose. For all the people in Lorenzo’s life, there wasn’t a person he truly cared about. He had nothing to fear because there was no one that could be taken from him that would cause him a moment’s grief. He had nothing.
He wasn’t brave; he was pathetic, but with almost nothing to lose, it made him a difficult man to scare. So, for Raven, I played the only card I could.
“If you so much as have one hair on her head harmed, Lorenzo, I will burn your empire to the ground.”
He scoffed, not believing me for a second. “It is your empire as well, my son.”
“I don’t care.” I met the man’s lifeless stare, letting him look his fill, letting him see that I wasn’t bluffing one fucking bit.
He stared for a long time. Maybe he was hoping to see some flicker of doubt in my eyes. Maybe he was just stalling for our men to get here and put a bullet in my brain. I didn’t think so, though. Over the past several months, there’d been a shift, a subtle change in the way our men looked at the two of us. Men like Cesare and Salvatore, they’d take a bullet for me. They’d follow my orders to the ends of the earth. But for Lorenzo? I wasn’t so sure anymore.
His hands clenched together across his stomach, knuckles turning white. It seemed he’d noticed the shift as well. “More deals then, is it?” he asked, his tone flippant but with an undercurrent of tension that gave him away. “You never seemed happy with the last deal you made me.”
“I’ll be happy when you’re dead and buried, Lorenzo. Until then, you’ll give me your word.”
He was quiet for a moment like he was mulling it over, but there was nothing to consider. He’d do it. He’d make the deal because his empire was his only friend. The only thing in the world he was afraid to lose.
He nodded once, but that wasn’t good enough. I cocked an eyebrow, waiting. I wanted to hear him say it.
“You have a deal. So long as my empire stays strong, your snake remains safe.”
“Her name is Raven. Do not disrespect her again.”
I strode out of the room before he could respond, closing the door behind me.
It was done. Raven was safe. The knots in my stomach loosened, and I took the first real deep breath since I’d walked into that office.
Now all I had to do was stop the scumbag Berlusconi from chipping away at the goddamned Costa empire.
***
“A Luca, huh?” Gabe asked from the passenger seat of the Porsche, grinning like a seven-year-old at Disneyland.
I scoffed.
