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There would be no forgetting.
No forgiving as a red haze surrounded those images.
After throwing on some pajamas, I crawled into bed, knowing tomorrow was going to be a busy day. I didn’t have time to fall apart. In fact, I barely had time to do anything. The company needed me, and Giovanni requested my presence at a family dinner. I had to get my head together, because one slip and he would know.
He always did.
Closing my eyes, I rolled onto my side, sinking deeper into my pillows. I whispered, “You just fucked with the wrong woman, Maxim.”
Hell, hath no fury like a woman scorned had nothing on me.
I didn’t know when or how, but when I was done with him, he was going to wish his father came down his mother’s throat.
Chapter Two
Illyria
Present day,
“Ms. Valentinetti?”
Looking up from my computer, I smiled. “Come in,Olivia. What can I do for you?”
Olivia Smith was my personal assistant. She had been with me ever since I started working for Valentinetti Corp. after I graduated from Loyola University with a degree in Business Management.
God, that felt like eons ago. I thought it funny how life never really turned out as I planned. When I graduated college, I had planned on working for the family business, not becoming its CEO.
Then the sudden death of my brother Luciano and cousin Dwayne at the Golden Skulls wedding in California a few years back changed everything. When the dust settled, Giovanni transferred the entire company over into my name without a second thought.
I owned it.
All of it.
While the family mourned, Giovanni sank into a deep depression. As the head of the family, he blamed himself for their deaths. He closed himself off from everyone, refusing to talk. It forced Salvatore to step in and take over the family business. My Aunt Daniella was inconsolable, condemning Giovanni for the death of her beloved son. A major rift had appeared in the family, and I was uncertain if it could be repaired. While some still believed in the family, most of them walked away, refusing to be fodder any longer.
The consolation was when Reggie, Giorgio and Lorenzo returned home with Donatella, Catarina and Colin. Reggie refused to talk about Dwayne. The loss of his brother hit him hard and weighed on him heavily. Lorenzo became a shell of his former self with the loss of his twin, Luciano. He rarely smiled anymore. I thought when Donatella gave birth to their son, Luke, it would make him happy. Instead, Lorenzo sank deeper into his thoughts.
As for me, there wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t think of Luciano and his beautiful smiling face or Dwayne and his funny jokes. My brother and cousin were the best of all of us in my book. Kind, gentle and nothing like the rest of the family. Both men lived by their own set of codes. Luciano, the artist of the family, preferred his paintings, showing the world that there was still beauty to be had. As for Dwayne, when he left and joined the Golden Skulls, he did so to protect Reggie. Dwayne never left his brother’s side. He was funny, strong and real. So unlike most of the people I knew who were fake and only cared about themselves. Mostly, I missed their smiling faces and the laughter we shared.
“Mr. Jackson Deveroux is here.”
“Send him in.” I smiled as I quickly tucked a lone strand of hair behind my ear. Sitting up straight, I ran my hands down the front of my shirt, trying to look presentable. Not that I wasn’t. It was just that Jackson Deveroux had an uncanny way of throwing me off my game.
There was something about the attorney that unsettled me.
The former law partner in my brother Antonio’s firm had done well since he arrived in Chicago. He even weathered the death of his partner, Suzanna Thorpe, with grace. After my brother Antonio signed the law firm over to Suzanna, it was a shock to all of those in the community that the police found her dead in her apartment. The police ruled her death as a robbery gone wrong. They never found the murderer. After Suzanna’s death, Jackson took over the firm and built it up into one of Chicago’s leading firms in the city. Not bad for a man from Alabama.
It also helped that the man was fucking gorgeous.
His face alone could seriously be on the cover of every GQ magazine. He was that handsome. Not to mention the man was tall, standing over six-foot six and filled out his perfectly tailored suits to perfection.
I looked up just as the door opened and in walked Mr. GQ himself, closing the door behind him.
Standing, I extended my hand and smiled. “Mr. Deveroux.”
“Ms. Valentinetti,” the sly southern charmer grinned wickedly, as his eyes left my face and traveled south. Clearing my throat, I released his hand and sat back down. Mr. Deveroux smirked, taking his time as he sat. His deep, sapphire blue eyes never leaving mine as he unbuttoned his suit jacket.
“I was in the neighborhood,and I thought I’d stop by.”
