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“Don’t worry.” Lil squeezed Summer’s hand. “They would be stupid to come near you when you’re under our protection.”
Max’s gray eyes held mine. I didn’t like the knowing smirk that curved his lips. I looked forward to wiping it off his face that afternoon, and I let him know. “You and I in the ring later.”
He snorted but agreed. As Lil leaned against Max, he wrapped his arm around her. Her silvery-blond hair and light eyes contrasted with his darker coloring. I scanned her features. It was hard to believe we were related—all we shared was eye color. My skin was a deeper olive tone, and my hair was the same shade of brown as my dad’s. I couldn’t help but wonder if our mom looked like Lil.
“We haven’t gone over the other syndicates except ours and the Sicilians.” Max took a sip of his coffee then set his cup down. “The three Italian-American families in New York are Amato, Tucci, and Morelli. The Amatos are the worst of the three and also the weakest. The Tucci family sits in the middle, but the Morellis have the most power, and we have a tentative line of communication with them.”
“Are the other families a concern to Summer?” Soon, I would have control of the Brambilla family, and I planned to use that power to ensure the Amatos—and the others—never bothered Summer again.
“Not a huge concern, so long as we or security are with her,” Max said.
“I would be more worried about the Tucci family if they were involved.”
“Why?” A tremor ran through the hand Summer used to keep a death grip on her mug, shaking the coffee, and I curled mine into a fist.
Nicole breezed into the kitchen. “Morning, all.” She took Lil’s coffee, stole a sip, then winked. “I always love how you make it best.” A contented sigh slipped past her lips before she went around the island to pour a cup of her own, adding some creamer until it was the same color as Lil’s. “What’re all the long faces for?”
“We’re talking about the New York Mafia. Max just brought up the Tucci family,” Lil answered.
Nicole grimaced then met Summer’s gaze. “They’ve worked with the Russians, specifically Ivan. That should tell you everything you need to know about them.”
“Ivan?” Summer tilted her head. “I don’t know anything about him. Is he in another crime family?”
“Yes.” Lil straightened, and Max’s arm fell away. “Ivan Pavlov was the son and underboss to Yuri, boss of the Pavlov Bratva. Ivan was also a psychopath, which should tell you how evil the Tucci family is to work closely with a man like him.”
“You said ‘was,’” Summer said, shifting closer to me. “Is he dead?”
“He is,” Max answered. “But we aren’t concerned with the Russians and your safety. Just the Amatos, and they’re not the brightest of the bunch.”
Nicole slid next to Summer and draped an arm around her. “Don’t worry, Darlin’. We’ve got your back.” Then she finished her coffee and tapped one of her light-pink nails against the island’s stone surface. “Why don’t you all go to the club tonight? Take your mind off things?”
“Which one will Tony be at?” Lil rested her elbows on the counter. “He’s the only one who hasn’t met Summer yet.”
“He’s my son and Max’s younger brother,” Nicole explained to Summer. “I believe he said he was at Temptation, but I’ll give him a call and find out for sure.”
“You’ll love it there, Summer.” Lil grinned at me with the same knowing look on her face that Max wore earlier. “And don’t worry, Luc. You’ll be with us too.”
I grunted in response because she wasn’t wrong. There was no way Summer would go to a club without me. Not when the Amato family posed a threat to her.
We finished our coffee then left Max, Lil, and Nicole to talk while we headed for the study to get some work done. When we entered the room, Summer went right to her laptop and booted it up. She was going through emails when she noticed I wasn’t working. Instead, I was staring at her, sorting what she’d said the first day we met.
“Is something wrong?”
“The reason you didn’t want to come with me to New York… it was because that’s where Ben Amato is from?”
“Yeah.” Her fingers fell from the keyboard, and she sat back against the couch, giving me her full attention. “I assumed he was in New York then, unless he was still looking for me in Georgia. New York would have been a death sentence for me. Too easy. I wasn’t on his radar in California until the online picture changed everything. I knew he would see it, and it gave him a way to track me.”
“What online picture?”
“Remember when I first saw you in the office?”
I nodded. “You had been on the phone.”
“It wasn’t what you thought it was.” She grimaced. “The call was work related.”
“That doesn’t explain the way you looked at me.”
“Right. I didn’t even register it was you at first. I’d caught a glimpse of an online article while I was scrolling through the news and handling that client call. The article was from earlier that morning, when my old boss was escorted out of the building by security. He made a scene, right when I was going in.”
