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“I see. You can have the jet. I expect you have heard about Leone's new alliance. When you get back, we are sitting down and discussing the agreement with the Aianis. You have had enough time,” his voice was stern and dominant. I ran my hand down my face.
“Agreed.”
He hung up and I placed the phone back on the receiver. I had been trying to block that situation out of my mind as much as possible. I knew that this was an extremely important alliance, and my hands were pretty much tied, but I couldn’t get Olivia out of my head. I couldn’t marry another woman. Not when Olivia was in my life. I just needed to figure out what this was between us and if she could ever feel the same way about me as I do about her. But time was not my friend.
Lifting my phone, I dialled Max’s number.
“Fratello!”
“Max, please tell me you have sorted out your own fucking shit?”
“Si. Nessun problema! I just wanted to keep you in the loop, that’s all.”
I sighed and leaned back on my chair. “Good. You are old enough that I shouldn’t need to hold your hand anymore.”
“Fuck off asshole. You know I have been secretly running this ship for years,” his deep chuckle put a smile on my face. Max was a very clever man. We had an inside joke between us where together we would openly have ‘innocent conversations’ in front of Toni and play them off like it was banter, but within a week or so, our zio would announce his new business idea or interest. He had no idea that most of them were coming from Max.
“Listen. I am taking the family to France for a few days. I am leaving you in charge of holding the fort until I am back. Can you come and stay at the mansion?”
“Course man. Anything for you, fratello. Is that little minx going with you?” he teased.
“Well, I am not leaving her here with you, so what do you think?”
He laughed loudly. “Good move.”
I hung up the phone and opened my drawer to grab the folder on the French business deal to go over some notes. As I lifted it out, I noticed Olivia’s file below. I hadn’t looked at it again since that night. There was more to read but it felt somehow wrong now. Now I had decided to try and earn her trust and respect. I wanted her to be the one to tell me about her past. About why she was here and what she was really running from. It would be too easy for me to read it all in her file and then use it to my advantage to make her mine. I may be a fucking monster, but I still have morals deep down in the depths of my dark soul.
Closing the drawer, I opened the French file and started to read the business proposal. Olivia’s past would remain safely locked away until she was ready to share it with me. When that day comes, it will mean more to me than she will realise.
It will mean she will be mine.
Dreams
Cecilia
Ican’t remember the last time I felt this excited! The cabin was one of my favourite places in the world. Vinny and I bought it after we took a skiing holiday in Courchevel in the French Alps and fell in love with the place. We wanted to make it a family tradition to take the children every year and teach them how to ski. Gio and Elle grew up with it as a second home, but we haven’t been back since Vinny died. It was always him who would suggest we go and without him around, it just never happened.
There is a sadness festering in me that this will be the first time I will be back there without him, but I know I am ready. I am strong enough to handle it now and my excitement at having the family together for a mini vacation outweighs the pain. But something else is making me even happier... Giovanni! He is changing. I can see it already. He had never thought of taking the family away since he had become an underboss. It has always been work, work, work. Yet here we are. This was his idea, and he is just as excited as me, I can tell. Although his excitement, I feel, has much more to do with a little British firecracker than the vacation itself. I cannot help but feel a little smug right now. Mamma always knows best.
Packing the last few items into my suitcase, I stood back, hand on hip and tried to work out if I was missing anything.
“Signora Buccini, the jewellery from the safe you requested,” Lucinda placed my expensive rings and necklaces on the bed in their velvet cases. I opened the Cartier box to reveal the most beautiful, platinum emerald cut diamond ring. It had been Vinny’s mother's, the crazy lady, and she had left it to Giovanni in her will. I was a little pissed off, I’ll be honest. It was the most gorgeous thing she owned, and I’d had my eye on it for years. But the old bat left it for my son along with her creepy China doll. I never understood it and nor did Gio. He gave it to me, knowing how much I loved it, but I have never allowed myself to wear it. It wasn’t meant for me. It was meant for her. Olivia.
I smiled as I picked it out of the box carefully and admired its beauty. My mother-in-law and I rarely saw eye to eye, but on this...she did well!
“I will only need this one, Lucinda. The rest can be returned to the safe.”
She nodded, picked the other boxes up and left the room. I knew I was jumping the gun here, but I wanted to make sure I had this ring on me so that whenever the time was right to give it back to Gio, I could. If she is the right girl for him. He will know why I have returned it to him.
My phone started vibrating on the bed and I answered it with a beaming smile. My beautiful daughter.
“Elle!”
“Mamma! Am I dreaming? Is this really happening?”
I chuckled at her dramatics. She was always the eccentric one in the family. Artsy, creative, vibrant and full of life. She could never be held down in one place for more than five minutes and I knew this lifestyle grated on her more than the rest of us. She craved her freedom. Normality. It is not her fault. She was born into this lifestyle and although it comes with glitz and glamour, it also comes with danger and the feeling of being trapped.
“So, you are joining us?”
