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“I have,” I say angelically. “I’ve beenextremelywell behaved.”
“Except for disappearing for a week,andfucking a member of our greatest enemy,” Sandro growls.
“I didn’trealize,” I sigh again.
“Yeah,” Jack says. “Let’s circle back to that. Because I don’t see how you couldn’t’ve picked up on it earlier.”
He’s a dog with a bone, is Jack, and this line of questioning is very inconvenient. “I’m afraid the men I sleep with have become forgettable due to their sheer number.”
“If Julian can prove his worth to the Family, I am not opposed to giving him the opportunity,” Sandro says. “And you, Jack—you can keep an eye on him. Make sure he does not disgrace us.”
Jack’s startled face suggests he’d rather not babysit me. I’d rather he didn’t either, but if it means Sandro will agree to my idea, I’m willing to work with that.
“But let me be absolutely clear,” Sandro goes on. “I won’t tolerate any more lies or half-truths or disappearances or betrayals, Julian. You need to be honest with us, and you need to keep your word. If you can’t do that, I will put you down myself.”
I smile. “Promise?”
“Julian.”
Ah, it’s that tone again that tells me he’s reached his limit with me. “I understand, Don Castellani. I won’t give you any reason to doubt me.”
Itdoescross my mind to come clean about finding Vincenzo Esposito’s body in that alleyway, but I dismiss it just as quickly. Sandro is finally beginning to trust me.
Telling him about Vincenzo would just set us back to square one.
CHAPTER13
LEO
“This is bullshit,”I say flat out, and Julian Castellani’s eyebrow arches.
We’re sitting in a booth in The Cellar bar, and Julian has been playing his foot up and down my leg while telling me that ofcoursehe’d love to make an alliance with the Bernardis, as long as my father agrees to meet with him and make the offer himself.
Alone.
“That’s a strong reaction,” he says innocently, and takes a sip of his drink. I scoff, but he just shrugs. “Youtried to recruitme, darling, not the other way around.
“You told me you were in. You said you didn’t need to think about it.”
“I just want to make sure you’re not playing me, Leo. That’s all. If your father is offering an alliance, I want him to tell me to my face.”
“You want to meet my father,” I counter, “then you prove your loyalty first.” And Julian is never going to be in a room alone with my father, not on my watch.
He sighs. “But Leo, I’mnotloyal to the Bernardis. I never will be. There’s only one man worthy of my loyalty—and that’sme. You were right the other day. Idowant the crown. I deserve to be my father’s heir. What does Sandro know, after all? He doesn’t understand this city. And I most certainly do.”
He’s not lying. Julian Castellani has this annoying ability to slide from billionaire boardrooms through Hollywood parties down to this slum, and look like he’s enjoying himself equally everywhere.
Maybe he is.
But I still don’t trust him.
“You want to show you’re in, then help me tonight,” I tell him. “PacSyn stiffed us on our cut from the docks this week. My father asked me to have a word with them. You can come as my backup.”
He smirks. “Are you asking me out on a date?”
“It’s not a date. It’s business. And I’m not asking, I’mtelling.”
He takes a long sip of his drink as if thinking it over. But he’s not one to turn down a challenge—especially if it’s coming from me. As much as I hate myself for it, I still can’t look at him withoutwantinghim.
