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Even though I hate working out early as much as I hate getting up early, I couldn’t go back to sleep after I left her, so I thought working out for a while might tire me out enough to sleep a few more hours. I often do go to Fortress to train there because Angelo has a state-of-the-art gym and we often spar a few rounds. That always takes the edge off and makes me feel like I’m keeping relatively fit.
I wouldn’t have been able to face him in the ring today, though, knowing what I know and what I’ve done. It feels wrong. I suppose I am laying low until I sort out what’s going on in my head.
I need to talk to Valentina, and I need to fix things.
I send her a text after I finish working out, considering she thinks I’m a bastard when I ghost her, and I prefer to keep on her good side. I even tell her that we will see each other soon. I just don’t know when.
If I want Valentina, then I need to step up and be a man. It’s also very hard to date a woman who is under constant surveillance, and I’m not so sure Rocco hasn’t suspected something already.
Regardless of all my misgivings and my cluttered thoughts on how best to broach this, I can’t wait to see her again and breathe her in.
I palm one off in the shower before I go back to bed. Even that doesn’t evoke me to sleep straight away, though, but eventually I drift off.
I’m sure I have elusive dreams, or perhaps nightmares, about my raven-haired beauty and being hunted down by her brothers. Because I wake up in a pool of sweat, sucking in harsh breaths. Broken sleep like this has never agreed with me.
At least I’ve not had a nightmare in a while. Usually those are about my turbulent upbringing and my alcoholic father. I can’t even say he had a kind bone in his body, and if he did, I don’t remember it.
My mom eventually packed up her shit one day when he was out drinking and left the bastard, driving across the country with me bundled in the back. She filed for divorce soon after. Thank fuck he never bothered to track us down. I think he tried in the beginning, but saw it as too much like hard work.
It was the best thing that she ever did, and a part of me wonders about him, but it’s not something I want to rehash or relook at. He had his chances.
You don’t beat up on the people you’re meant to protect. It’s just not normal.
My mom doesn’t live far from me. I have her set up pretty sweetly with a place of her own and, of course, the best security money can buy. She remarried again when I was in high school, and she’s been happy with Ken ever since. He’s cool; we’ve always gotten along very well, and he treats her like a queen. He’s the normal in her life that she never had.
Even though I didn’t grow up with him my whole life, he has been a big influence, and just as much of a father figure to me as Mario has been.
Going to Mario’s funeral recently was certainly no picnic, since the guy was such a big part of my life growing up. He welcomed me into the fold just from knowing and being friends with Angelo.
It does remind me that I have to call my mother and let her know I’m okay. If I don’t call her within a few days of the last phone call, she starts to worry. I try my best to go see them every Sunday, and they come over as well whenever they can. It’s difficult when I’m so busy all the time, and the casino took up a lot of everything, especially these last six months. With the casino now open and things into full swing, I can concentrate on other avenues and focus on seeing my family a little bit more.
The Medicis are big on family ties. It’s not something you want to go forgetting about.
Angelo himself has been at his property in Falmouth a fair bit with Rayne and her sister while she recuperates from her kidnapping saga. It hasn’t been an easy ride for them, but I’m glad he’s taken the time to be there and to take a step back for a moment to smell the roses.
That’s all I want to do with Valentina, smell her fucking roses. And be with her.
Surely that can’t be too much to ask?
* * *
I head into Fortress Security later that morning, though it feels later than usual because I’ve been awake for so freaking long. In reality, it’s only ten o’clock. We have an office just outside the city.
I do a lot of driving, but I don’t mind it. Not when I have my sexy metallic Alfa Romeo to fly around it. I fucking love the thing.
I’m sorting out some new jobs for private clients today and catching up with Marco and Rocco to see how the new guys are going at the casino. From what I hear, things are going very well.
I don’t care for the gambling scene too much; it’s never been my thing, but I can appreciate what Angelo and Marco have achieved in the few short years from just an idea on a rundown piece of land, to the full manifestation. The hotel is a thing of beauty, the foyer into the casino and the hotel itself are second to none. I’m proud of Valentina too for sticking to her guns with her ideas and what she knew would work best for the color scheme. It’s a massive, lucrative job that she took on and it certainly has had heads turning and tails wagging ever since.
I have a lot to contend with where mybelladonnais concerned. Not only is she fucking insanely hot, beautiful, and tastes like a dream, but she’s actually smart too. That is one thing that growing up with four brothers and us guys has instilled in her: how to be tough.
She can be hard-assed, but she’s not a nasty bitch with it. She has that soft side, that sweet side too, and I just can’t get enough.
I dial my mom from the car as I head to The Royale.
“Enzo, my baby, how are you, darling?”
Thirty-three years old and she still calls me her baby.
