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Our archenemies.
So, getting me back would mean my father had to start a war.
Or I would never get back home again.
CHAPTERTWELVE
“Ineed you to cut off the video feed of the underground parking and then take her up to my room, but keep her tied up,” I said to Cristo as soon as we entered the grounds of Castello dei Pietra, my family home…castle…fortress. I opened the window and inhaled the familiar scent of burnt earth, pine trees, and salty air.
Home.
“I’ll go say hello to Alessandro and Mamma and be there as soon as I can.”
“You’re not staying in your room,” Cristo said.
“I’m not?”
He shook his head. “Mamma moved out of the suite. You’re the new boss—you’ll be treated like it.”
The suite, my parents’ suite.
I rubbed at the heaviness settling in my chest. My father was gone. I was back to replace him.
I let myself feel the pain of that loss sink in.
Never again would I see his face, never again hear his voice, or walk into the library to smell his unique blend of cigar smoke and aftershave. I’d never get the chance to tell him…what…I didn’t even know.
We’d had a love/hate relationship growing up. He’d been hard on me—as hard as you needed to be on the heir of one of the leading families in the Italian Mafia.
And I’d been a major failure and disappointment—which became abundantly clear by losing my shit after my first kill and failing to live up to my father’s expectations.
We never spoke after I left. I was too ashamed. But that didn’t change my love for him and Mamma.
I rubbed my neck.
I’d been a failure in my father’s eyes…and in my own eyes.
Was that why I came back? To prove something to a dead man?
I exhaled and stared at the building illuminated by security lights.
No time like the present to face what I’d avoided for years.
I exited the car without looking back, praying Cristo would do what I asked of him.
I didn’t want to think we had traitors in our own home, but before I had a firm grip on the situation and threat level, I had to assume the worst.
Everywhere was enemy territory.
And nowhere was safe, not for me and not for my pretty little captive.
“You should help me because I helped you.”
Just remembering her throaty voice was enough to make my dick stir.
Fuck.
She was practically a child. I should let her go. Help her to get back home.
