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PROLOGUE
LORENZO
It’s been six months since I laid eyes on her—six months since I yearned to make her mine and take her completely. It’s taken longer than expected to put a plan in place, but I will have her. I will marry Havana Camden if it’s the last thing I do.
1
LORENZO
SIX MONTHS BEFORE
My brother is finally getting remarried. It’s been a long decade waiting for him to find love again, and nothing makes me happier than celebrating his bachelor party.
“Bitch,” Riccardo draws out the term of endearment as he claps his hand on my shoulder blade, “do youseethat girl’s ass? Oh. My. Fucking. God.”
I’ve seen my brother fall in love, go through loss, and lust after one girl or another ever since; I’ll take lust every time. I won’t shame him because Riccardo deserves the best things in life, including a bachelor party with sexy strippers clapping their cheeks in front of his face. “That’s a nice ass,” I agree with a grin. “What are you going to do with it?”
He starts swearing in Italian, and though I understand him, the ladies don’t. One looks scandalized and gets up from the table, backing away. She looks at Riccardo like he might start lashing out at any moment.
“Don’t mind him.” I sit beside the pretty blonde and give her my best sardonic smile. “He’s a virgin and doesn’t know what to do with an ass like that.”
“Vaffanculo,” Riccardo flips me the bird while telling me to fuck off.
The blonde dancer isn’t sure what to do. She slips away from our group and disappears into one of the backrooms.
“You know I’m getting married,” my brother gives me a pointed stare. “Why you gotta ask what I’m gonna do with an ass like that when I’ve got abetterass than that I get to spend the rest of my life with?”
Riccardo takes his relationship with Jacqueline very seriously. He hasn’t looked at another woman since the day he met her. He was against coming to a strip club for his bachelor party since he put me in charge, but here we are. “Shut up,” I roll my eyes at him. “It was a joke. Get a fucking shot, Jesus.” I’ll pay to get my brother fucked up on tequila shots if it means loosening him up.
Riccardo waves his middle finger at me again before he’s distracted by another dancer. I feel for the guy, truly, but he’s acting like he’s never seen a half-naked woman before. Just two years ago, I saw him entertaining a harem just like this, and they were all over his dick. But now that he has Jacqueline, it’s a whole different story. You won’t catch me falling that hard for a woman. I’ve been burned before for loving too hard, and I’m not doing it again now.
“Lorenzo.” I hear a familiar voice, and it causes me to tense up. “It’s good to see you could leave Lawrence for a few minutes to enjoy the offerings of the Flint Hills.”
When I turn around, I see Nicholas Calvino’s smug, smiling face. With his dark tan and the dimmed lights of the club, his teeth look like they’re glowing in the dark. “Nicholas,” I try to return his pleasantries, but they seem to fall short on my lips. “I’d say it’s a pleasure to see you, but we’d both know I was lying.”
The corner of his lips twitches upward. “I don’t like liars, Lorenzo.”
“And that’s why I can happily tell you I’m incredibly disappointed to see you here.” I stifle a yawn for his benefit. “I did hear that congratulations are in order, though. I hear you’re a pop-pop or whatever grandfather nickname it is you choose to go by.”
The Kansas rumor mill works like a well-oiled machine. I might be based out of Lawrence, Kansas, but there’s no shortage of my men traveling to Manhattan on the weekends to keep tabs on the rival families. I heard that Nicholas’ daughter shacked up with a Valenti. What a fucking mess—it couldn’t have happened to a better guy.
Nicholas takes my insult in stride. “Yes, thank you. I am a blessed man. I have a beautiful home, a beautiful daughter, a beautiful grandson,” he smiles broadly. “And you have what?” He pauses and looks around at the bachelor party attendees. “You have yourbrother’swedding?” That stings a little, I’ll admit. “Congratulations, I suppose. Hopefully, this one doesn’t go the way of his first wife.”
I promised myself that I would stay in line tonight. Whatever drunk shenanigans Riccardo got into, I’d take him home at the end of the night. Whatever crazy shit our bachelors did, I’d take care of it. But I didn’t expect this kind of disrespect to be leveled at me like a weapon. I must swallow my pride and remind myself to be good because this isRiccardo’snight. “Hopefully,” I repeat his words between gritted teeth. “Have a good evening, Nicholas.”
He tips an imaginary hat in victory before sauntering off to chat up the girl at the bar. “I fucking hate that guy,” I mumble as I return to the bachelor party.
We’ll never know for sure, but I’ve always believed that Nicholas was responsible for the death of Riccardo’s first wife. I can’t prove it, though, or else he’d be six feet under along with Selene.
Ten years ago, after a late night out with Riccardo, we returned to his place to smoke cigars. He found out earlier that day that he and Selene were having a boy. It was going to be the first of all the Riva children and the likely heir to our family fortune. I had no plans to have a family, so Riccardo was doing the dirty work.
Except when we returned to his place, the neighborhood was covered in fire trucks and police cars. His home was up in flames, and a dozen firefighters were trying to put out the fire. The fire marshal said that faulty electrical work was responsible for the fire, but with Riccardo’s dead wife burned to a crisp in the same room that the fire started, it looked suspicious to us.
My brother was near inconsolable for months after his wife died. He was a widow at twenty-four after the passing of the love of his life. You never really know what to say in situations like that.
That’s why I was determined to make his relationship with Jacqueline work out. At first, he wasn’t quite sure of her. Jacqueline Gaumont was nothing like Selene. While Selene had grown up in the Italian culture and knew what was expected of her, Jacqueline was bold and fierce. She never stood in the shadows and waited for Riccardo to tell her what to do. She was exactly what I thought my younger brother needed. And I was right. In two weeks, they’re getting married. He should thank me for pushing him toward a strong-willed woman.
“Dio me salvi da me stesso.” I hear my brother’s uttered words over the cacophony of chaos, and I turn to find him staring at a dancer with his jaw on the floor. As I follow his gaze, I immediately understand why.
