“Don’t give me that shit,” I snarl, and even some of the enforcers in the room looks surprised at my talking to my boss like that. Diego just watches me, burning cigarette in hand.
“I gave my life to this family, you all know that,” I say, looking around at the gathered people, even making eye contact with the consigliere. “I haven’t forgotten that, and I’ll take as many bullets as you have me dish out to those stronzi. But you know Serena’s safety means more than anything to me, and it has from the very start,” I say, looking back to Diego.
“Think about the past few months,” I say, knowing it’s time to show my bargaining chips if I want to get out of here unscathed. “The fight at the warehouse down by the river? I had that gunfight on lockdown. The Cleaners would have put all our men in the grave that night if I hadn’t been there, ask any one of them. Just last week, when that fucking rat Gabe tried to catch a bus out of state to cozy up to the Russians, I’m the one who put a bullet in his head coming out of his hotel room. When you need a job done right, Diego, you’ve come to me,” I say, “I’m the best you’ve got, and you know it.”
I can tell by the look in Diego’s eye he’s ready to start a fight with me right then and there. Some of the enforcers look to be of the same mind. Diego opens his mouth to speak, but to everyone’s surprise...the consigliere raises a hand.
It’s a simple move, but it silences Diego.
“You’re right, Bruno,” his calm voice says simply. He sounds older than he looks. “Diego, Bruno’s a big boy. He does good work for our family, and he’s proven more than capable. Which is why he’s going to take care of his own mess here.”
Diego and I both look at the consigliere blankly.
“Bruno, part of your ‘agreement’ with us means that we don’t touch Serena De Laurentis or her business. We respect that. But you’ve crossed the line here and dragged her into our business, whether she likes it or not.”
I feel heat wash over my body. Damn him, I know he’s right. I should have been protecting Serena, not getting involved with her like this. I’ve endangered us both just by coming near her. That’s the one accusation I can’t fight off.
“But you’re a man who takes responsibility,” he goes on, folding his hands in front of him as he watches me carefully. “So I have a solution that should make us both happy. I’m assigning you to her and her business. You’ll be her personal guard, and I expect you to handle the situation with all the stubbornness I’ve seen tonight.”
So that’s how it is. That’s why he’s here. He saw a chance to get the family to protect Serena’s business, and he took it. He’s good. And he’s right—because I’d take a bullet to the heart before I let anything happen to Serena.
“Lorenzo Abruzzi takes these kinds of things very personally,” the consigliere says. “If it makes you feel better about watching over Miss De Laurentis’s place, chances are good he’ll see this as between the two of you above all.”
“So what, should I expect a hit squad to come shoot up my place sometime soon?” I say.
“I wouldn’t rule that out,” Diego speaks up, “but Lorenzo has a reputation... with women.”
I raise an eyebrow.
“He’s not good to his girls, and the Abruzzis don’t shy away from the sex trade. Kid’s got an ego so fragile even someone like Serena can shake it. Hell, especially someone like her. He won’t like the fact that you showed his ass up in front of her. That shop of hers is going to be on his mind, Bruno—and so is she. The Cleaners know who she is. That and this new history the three of you have makes her a high-value target.”
They’re goading me into anger, but as much as the heat is boiling up inside me, I won’t show it. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying,” the consigliere says, standing up and locking eyes with me, “that going after you isn’t enough for a man like Lorenzo. We got a tip. Lorenzo has his eyes set on Serena. If he gets his hands on her, he’s going to make her disappear into the sex trade. Or worse.”
SERENA
L ast night was a whirlwind.
I was still reeling from the rush of it all when I finally made it back home last night around two in the morning. Thankfully, Mom was already in her bedroom with the lights off by then, instead of waiting up for me to come home like she often did. I wonder what time she gave up waiting for me, and the thought is almost enough to deflate my high spirits. In the back of my mind there’s a small voice telling me I should feel guilty for leaving her here all alone for so long when I know good and well that she’s prone to worrying about me. But then again, I do spend all my time working and doing everything in my power to look after Mom and the house. Don’t I deserve a break every now and then?
Besides, there’s no way in hell I could have resisted a reunion with Bruno, even if I wanted to.
He’s the one who got away, the knight in shining armor who has finally returned from a long, arduous eternity at war. From the very second it clicked in my brain who he was, it’s been totally clear to me that I have been waiting for him all this time, without even realizing it. Even though I thought I was over it, over all the awful stuff that went down several years ago between and around us, there’s always been a little part of me who kept looking for him everywhere I went.
And now he’s back. He’s back! It’s almost impossible to fathom, that we could find our way back to each other again after all this time. He’s changed, that’s for damn sure. No longer the scrappy, rebellious teenager who first captured my heart. No, he’s a man now.
Standing in the shower after waking up late — I somehow managed to sleep through my alarm again — I think about how much he’s changed. That face of his, always handsome, has gained a more serious, world-weary expression. Like he’s seen and done things that the teenage version of him could never imagine. It hurts my heart to think of him in pain.
And then there are the more physical changes: his height, his rippling muscles, the scruffy beard obscuring his strong jawline and making him look like some rugged mountain man in the very best way imaginable. I shiver involuntarily, feeling myself getting wet between my thighs just at the thought of him. If I thought I was subconsciously longing for him before, there was no hiding the fact that I very consciously wanted him now. Especially after last night, when I found myself wrapped up in the most explosively fantastic sex of my life.
Until the evening was cut short by that phone call.