AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I’ll just have to find a few easy recipes to start, then build my repertoire from there. I want to be able to provide my woman with everything, including her favorite meals.
I can’t help the grin tugging at my lips. I sound like such a sap. I sound like someone I would have made fun of just a few short weeks ago. Actually, I remember telling our enforcer, Armando, that I couldn’t understand his irrational attachment to Allegra. Seeing him, as well as Dante and Romeo find love was shocking and confusing to me. I didn’t understand how one person could change your life so completely in the blink of an eye, or how priorities shift when you find someone worth keeping.
My situation is different from theirs, however. Katya is an enemy of the family, and a powerful one at that. She could be an important bargaining chip or give us intel on her father and his men. There are about a dozen things I should have done once I figured out who was squatting in the warehouse, but I couldn’t bring myself to do any of them. I just… knew she was mine. Even back then, when I was fighting it with every cell in my body.
What the hell am I going to do? I’ve been wracking my mind for a solution, but can’t seem to think of a way to keep Katya and my position within the family.
Usually, I’d talk to Armando about any problems I’m having, or Romeo himself if the occasion called for it. I trust both men with my life, and I wouldn’t be in the inner circle if they didn’t trust me with theirs.
I can’t talk to anyone from the Di Salvos about this. Not until I have a plan.
Walking out of the kitchen, I peer up the stairs, listening for any sounds indicating Katya is awake. She was sleeping so soundly when I got up this morning, I couldn’t bring myself to disturb her. She looked absolutely angelic with the golden morning light pouring over her soft skin and highlighting her curves.
She must still be asleep, which makes me smirk. We wore each other out last night, and she deserves her rest.
Satisfied that I have a little while until she wakes up, I grab my phone from the counter and call one of two friends I have outside of the family. It rings a few times, and I pace around my kitchen, trying to decide if I should hang up and not bother with it.
“Val?” comes a raspy voice slurred with sleep.
Hawk is the only person who can call me that and get away with it. We’ve known each other for most of our lives, and everyone called me Val growing up. When I left that life, I left Val behind. I’ve been Valentino ever since.
“You there?” he asks.
“Yeah,” I answer, clearing my throat.
“Everything okay? What fuckin’ time is it?”
“Uh…”
“Seven-thirty in the morning? Not cool,” he groans dramatically. I can just picture him running a hand through his messy hair as he flops back down on his bed. He never was a morning person, even before he joined the Savage Saints MC.
“Not all of us party at the clubhouse until three in the morning,” I counter.
“I haven’t lived that life for years and you know it,” he grouses. “Besides, are you really trying to argue the moral high ground between the mafia and an outlaw MC?”
“No, I’m just giving you shit because you’re easy to rile up.”
“Remind me why I’m your friend?” he mutters, though I know he’s mostly over it.
He doesn’t stay upset for long. Despite being a high-ranking member of Savage Saints, Hawk is basically a golden retriever. Maybe that should have been his road name instead of Hawk.
“Because it’s good to have friends in low places,” I tease.
Hawk grunts then lets out a chuckle. “So what’s up, Val? Why the early morning wake-up call?”
I sigh as I continue to circle around the kitchen restlessly. “I have a… situation,” I start. “A sensitive situation that I couldn’t trust anyone else with.”
My friend hums over the line, and I can tell he’s focused on the conversation now. We give each other shit, but at the end of the day, we’ll always have each other’s back.
“There’s a woman. She’s… well, she’s important to me. I think she’s it. Like, the one or whatever sappy bullshit you want to call it.”
I’m expecting Hawk to come in with a jab about falling in love, but he’s surprisingly quiet. Strange.
“But she’s also the daughter of our rivals. She ran away from her family, straight across enemy lines and into our territory. I should have called the Boss when I found her, but I just…”
“Couldn’t let him decide her fate,” Hawk finishes for me.
“Exactly. And now I don’t know what the hell to do.”
