Brave, knowing Nico was in the room behind her, Mia shrugged. “I was busy at work. He’s never had an issue with that before. He knows I’ll eventually call when I’m done.”
The Wolf’s eyes narrowed. “I see your attitude has not improved even after your father put you in your place the other night.”
Mia bristled. Yes, he was consigliere, but she was still the daughter of the boss—Mafia royalty—and he owed her some respect. “My relationship with Dante is nothing like my relationship with my father. I’m surprised he would send you here. This isn’t something Dante would do, and certainly he would never send a consigliere with a message that one of his soldiers could deliver.”
The Wolf closed the distance between them, stopping only a foot away. The enforcer stood in the doorway, as if to remind her there was no escape. Mia trembled, braced herself against the desk behind her, but refused to back down.
“A soldier would be ineffective at dealing with your disobedience. Only Don Cordano and I seem to have the ability to keep you in line.”
“I left years ago,” she snapped. “No one keeps me in line.”
The Wolf barked a laugh. “You don’t seem to understand that things have changed. When Don Cordano heard about how you dishonored the family by whoring yourself out to a Toscani in a downtown casino, he realized he had been too lenient. The marriage to Tony might have fallen through, but Dante needs someone who understands financial and computer matters by his side. This…” He waved vaguely over her office. “Little hobby is done. What freedom the don allowed you is gone. You will return to the house and assist Dante until Don Cordano decides otherwise.”
“And if I don’t go?”
“Do you really want to test me?” He brushed a rough finger over the small scar on her cheek, a reminder of the night he’d hit her, and sliced her cheek with his ring.
“Fuck you.” She slapped his hand away.
“Maybe next time.” He reached for her arm, but before his fingers even closed on her skin, he was no longer in front of her. Instead, Nico had him up against the wall, one hand around his throat, the other on the trigger of a gun pointed at the enforcer in the doorway.
“Drop your weapon or I’ll break his fucking neck.”
The enforcer placed his weapon on the floor and Frankie came up behind him and yanked his hands behind his back. Big Joe leaned in to grab the weapon, his chest heaving as if he had just run a marathon.
“There’s two more downstairs,” Big Joe puffed. “Luca’s dealing with them.”
“You would dare touch the daughter of your don?” Nico pressed the barrel of his gun against the Wolf’s throat.
“You would dare touch a Cordano woman, Toscani scum?” The Wolf wheezed out as Nico’s hand tightened around his neck. “But then she’s a whore and slut. Fitting for a Toscani bastard.”
Nico moved in a blur. One moment the Wolf was up against the wall; the next he was bruised and bloody on the floor, his mouth a wreck of teeth.
“Big Joe. Get her out of here.” Nico nodded in Mia’s direction, his voice devoid of anything but cold, lethal fury as he drew his weapon from its holster.
“Come on, love. Let’s go.” Big Joe gestured to the door.
Mia shook her head. “I’m not going anywhere. This is my office. My fight.”
“Take her.” Nico’s sharp command awakened fear in her heart. “Now.”
“I won’t be ordered around. Not by my father. Not by the Wolf. Not by anyone.” She stiffened her spine. “I won’t leave my office unsecured, especially if you plan to kill my family consigliere in cold blood.”
“Your office will be safe.” Still, he didn’t look at her, but she didn’t need to see his eyes to know death lay within them. “Trust me.”
Trust. The word was etched into his skin. But trust didn’t come easily in their world; it had to be earned, and she didn’t trust him. Not yet.
“I’m sorry, Nico. I can’t do that.”
His anger was a knife blade that cut through her heart. Tension thickened the air between them, and a curious silence filled the room. Nobody said no to a mob boss, and especially not one who had earned his position of power through blood and pain. But Mia had grown up defying her father. No matter how many times he punished her, she never backed down. Every family dinner was a battleground. Every interaction a fight. She didn’t know why she felt compelled to disobey him, only that she knew the day she gave in was the day she lost what little respect he had for her. Not once did he break her, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to break tonight.
She shivered at Nico’s glacial stare, realizing only as her blood chilled in warning that she’d made a serious tactical error. At home, with just her family within earshot, she could challenge or disrespect her father without causing him to lose face, but here, in front of both the Toscanis and the Cordanos, she had left Nico no way out.