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My jaw locks tight, and my chest pumps harder. He’s not wrong if you’re just looking at it from his perspective. Which is where we all should be looking at it from, not from a personal lens of any sort. But that doesn’t change one fucking thing for me. “Look, she’s working for us, Sal. She’s done everything that I’ve asked her to do. The way I see it, she’s under our protection, and if those De Rosa fucks so much as look at her, I’ll find them and pull the fucking trigger myself.”
He gives me a look that’s usually reserved for the others when they’re getting close to crossing a line. I’m just thankful as fuck that I didn’t mention anything about the black rose story to him or anyone else in the family. Because that, I don’t know if they in all good conscience could really forgive.
A picture of Dominic and Emelia kissing in public is far different from a story with all three of us laying a black rose on the casket
of our family with a story about the history of that gesture splashed across the papers for all the world to see.
Salvatore doesn’t say a word, but I can tell he’s conflicted. “It’s being handled,” I assure him.
His dark intense eyes watch me. He takes a drink of his wine and a moment to think about what I’ve said. “What about the picture of Dominic and Emelia kissing? She infiltrated our fucking club, Lorenzo. She stole a goddamn security badge from one of our most trusted employees and managed to smuggle out pictures that she sold to papers across the globe. No matter that Dominic and Emelia wanted it flaunted in her father’s face. Excuse me if I’m not as protective of her as you seem to be.”
He's not wrong about any of it. But that doesn’t change a damn thing for me, even though as consigliere of the family, it probably should. “She had her reasons, Salvatore, and they weren’t intended to harm us specifically. More to give an honest insight into the workings of a crime family, any crime family. We don’t go after others who do the same thing every single day. Why would you make this personal to her?”
His hand tightens around his glass as he twists it.
“Besides, since when do we choose law-abiding citizens to work for us?”
I don’t even wait for him to answer. “We don’t. We use people who don’t have any issue with crossing the lines. How many of those people over the years have become dedicated and committed members of our family? This can work, Sal. Just trust me on this and give it a chance.”
His dark eyes narrow, but he shrugs. “Perhaps.”
Everything that I say is true, and he knows it. “If I hadn’t called for backup, they would have blocked us in and killed us. Both of us. I didn’t take the soldiers this morning. As soon as I realized that fuck was following us, I knew there would be more and they would try to kill me and take Izzy for what they could get out of her. It was the right call, even though it was more than a mess.”
He nods. “You’re probably not wrong, but fuck, Lorenzo. Take the goddamn soldiers from now on. That’s what they’re paid to do so you don’t get into these situations, capiche?”
I grin, relaxing as his mood settles. “Look at you, going all Dom and shit on me.”
He laughs. “Drink your fucking wine. You’ve caused enough trouble for one day.” He glances around, turning serious again. “Speaking of trouble, about Sergio…” he starts.
I groan internally. Keeping that man out of trouble could be someone’s full-time job. “What did he do this time?”
Salvatore shakes his head. “Nothing that I know of, at least not yet. I just haven’t seen him in a while. Dominic was going to go look for him in the lower level, but Matteo and Renzo needed him. I told Sergio and Alena to stay close until this blows over, but you know how good he is at listening.”
Not good at all, but I don’t have to say a word; he already knows everything there is to know about his little brother.
“I talked to Alena. She’s not going back to school until I know these fucks are under our complete control. De Rosa’s a crazed man right now, and I’m sure today’s incident just added fuel to the fire. I asked Dominic to put one of our crews on her and Sergio full time. You and I both know the minute he gets a bug up his ass he’ll be out on the strip or down on Fremont Street stirring up trouble. He’ll be vulnerable out there if he’s alone whether he thinks so or not.”
My jaw locks tight because there’s no reason that we should have to use up an entire crew when the two of them can just sit tight in the security of our resort for a while. “Sergio’s grown now. He needs to start acting like a contributing member of this family. We can’t keep babysitting his ass at this age.”
Salvatore’s eyes go dark. It’s not like we haven’t had this conversation before— different day, same ole Sergio—but he needs to man the fuck up. Especially when we’re in the middle of a fucking war between two of the oldest rival families alive. “He’s been better since the attack at the wedding. What you say isn’t wrong, but right now, I just need to make sure my little brother and sister stay safe, capiche?”
I nod. He doesn’t have to explain the loyalty to me, and he knows venting or not I’d do anything needed to protect either one of them. Hell, he and his sister and brother are more like my siblings than cousins. “He’s probably downstairs giving all the ladies a run for their money.” I glance at my watch. “If he’s in one of his moods and it’s this early, the capos are in for a long-ass night.”
He laughs but it’s not that funny to me. “I don’t doubt it, but I’ll feel better when I put eyes on him. It’s not like him not to respond to a text.”
I push down my comment. We all know Salvatore has taken care of Sergio and Alena like they were his own since his parents’ accident. Even when they were under Great-Uncle’s roof, he was always the one they looked up to. Besides, all of us have baggage. Lord knows I have enough of my own to deal with. “Look,” I tell him, “I was going to stop down and check out the rooms anyway. I can nose around down there and see if I can find him. I know how he feels about you checking up on him. Better that I go than you.”
Salvatore smirks. Everyone knows that going to the lower level with all the beautiful half-naked women running around in various states of sexy attire is hardly a hardship. “Thanks, Lorenzo. Text me, will you?” he says, getting up. “I need to go mingle with a few people.”
I swallow back the last of my drink. “Have fun with that.”
His eyes narrow. “It wouldn’t hurt for you to say hello to Arman either, though. He’s flown in a few times the last few weeks, and we’ve been talking. It sounds like there’s a job coming up they could use our help with. In return, we’ll not only get paid, but have more ammunition than we’ll know what to do with for a very long time.”
I stand and toss some bills on the table. “I’ll see what Sergio is up to and then stop back up. I’d like to ride along to the funeral tomorrow too.”
His eyebrows squint. “Damn, with all the plans to get our soldiers where they need to be, make sure we have groundsmen on the inside and the like, I completely forget to mention something. Dominic and I talked about tomorrow. What would you think of Emelia wearing the camera you told us about instead of Izzy?”
My chest tightens because I don’t want her anywhere near any of the De Rosas anymore, but I’ve given her the job. “Why, because you don’t trust her?” He hasn’t mentioned a word to me before, and busy or not, that’s unlike our boss.
