CHAPTER SIX
LUCA
My girl needs me.
Earlier, I caught her crying for the second day in a row as she sat outside on the screened-in patio with her arms curled around her knees and a blanket covering her from head to toe.
She wiped her cheeks multiple times while tears fell, and it took all of my strength to resist scaling the building and pulling Eden into my arms.
I’d care for her, give her whatever she needs before finding what or who made her cry and dealing with the problem.
Because no one hurts what’s mine.
But I forced myself to wait.
Restrained the primal need to shield her from pain because nothing has changed on my end. We’re still in the midst of figuring out how to destroy my father and by extension, part of The Syndicate.
That doesn't mean I'm above sneaking a little closer to my Butterfly to make sure she's okay.
The midnight hour casts long shadows as I climb the post leading to her third-story patio. My pocket knife cuts through the mesh screen, and I make a note to fix it later before climbing in and walking to the door leading to her living room. The knob turns easily in my palm.
That won’t happen again.
I vow that a lot more security will be added, and this door will remain locked. No one else will be able to get to my Butterfly.
Carpet hushes my footsteps as I step inside her apartment for the second time. It smells like she does: sweet with notes of earthy cinnamon.
Wide eyes stare at me as I pause in front of Beanie.
The feline sits stock still like a stone statue rather than a living, breathing being.
Lowering to my haunches, I remove the tiny bag of cat treats from my back pocket and shake the contents.
Immediately, the furry beast trots closer, purring up a storm while I offer brown bits of kibble.
Bribery works on humans and animals alike it seems.
Once the treats are gone, I head down the hallway to the open bedroom door, inhaling deeply of Eden’s addicting scent before stopping beside her bed.
Two fans blow on either side of the mattress, causing her blonde waves to flutter in the wind, and the constant roar masks anything but the loudest of sounds.
Not that I make any.
I’m not an amateur when it comes to breaking and entering, although this is my first time slipping into a woman’s home for my own selfish reasons.
Removing my leather gloves, I run my bare fingers over her round cheek, a shiver of awareness working through me. To touch her is fucking heaven. My cock hardens with each light stroke, my mind and body fascinated by the innocence radiating from Eden’s sleeping form.
I don’t want to scare her, and a stranger in her bedroom would surely do so. Which means this is as far as things go tonight, unfortunately.
Soon, sweet Butterfly.
Soon, you’ll be mine.
***
“Congratulate your half-brother, Luca. Fabian is finally becoming a man.” My father pats Fabian’s shoulder as he raises his glass of bourbon in his elegant Beacon Hill brownstone, and I join the toast while maintaining a facade of complete apathy.
Fabian and I aren’t close.
He’s the legitimate heir to The Family .
I’m the illegitimate bastard, borne from our father’s past indiscretion.
None of that would matter, though, if Fabian wasn’t the world’s greatest prick.
“Thank you, Father. I’m sure Luca is overjoyed to see me so happy. Eden Marino will be a sweet little bride, won’t she, brother?”
Oh, yeah, and this jackass got himself engaged to my woman.
I don’t know why Fabian took an interest in Eden when his usual type is rail thin with fangs for teeth, but the why isn’t important when this wedding is never going to happen.
Not while I’ve still got breath in my lungs.
Enzo wants Fabian married in the hopes that he stops being a damn nuisance by drawing police attention to himself. The cops are in the mafia’s pocket, but that doesn’t give Fabian a free pass for reckless driving, drug possession, and drunken brawls, though he likes to think so.
There’s not a chance in hell Fabian will calm down with Eden as his wife, so maybe I can steer our father in a different direction.
“I don’t know her, but Eden sounds like a good woman. Her family isn’t very well-connected, though. I’m surprised you approved of the union.”
“Fabian made a compelling case.” Enzo beams at his younger son whose satisfied smirk grates on my nerves. No way in hell is he getting anywhere near my Eden.
“Let me offer another one,” I say, and immediately, Fabian straightens in his seat to glare daggers at me.
Just wait, brother. “You’ve been wanting a stronger connection with Blackthorn.
Perhaps we’ve overlooked a simple solution: I could marry someone in The Family .
Eden, for example. Which would leave Fabian open for a more advantageous match. ”
Enzo strokes his chin in consideration. “I thought you despised how the mafia forges contracts. You’re willing to marry a stranger to strengthen our bond? Your brother’s betrothed?”
“Father…”
“Silence,” Enzo barks, and Fabian shuts his mouth like the weak little runt he is.
“It’s a win-win situation. Eden’s family isn’t so high in the ranks that people would chafe at her marrying outside the Boston faction, but she’s still connected to it.
And while I admire my brother’s interest in matrimony to a nobody…
” I hide my wince at the description. “This isn’t the first scheme he’s cooked up to get in your good graces after a spot of trouble.
I heard about the DUI charge that was dropped last week.
I’m guessing his sudden rush to marry a good Italian girl is for your benefit alone.
But why go along with a woman of his choosing when it makes sense for Fabian to make a stronger match? ”
“You bastard! You…”
“What did I say, Fabian? Your don is speaking, and you will hold your tongue unless you want me to rip it out.” The fatherly indulgence that blanketed Enzo before is gone, replaced by the authority of a powerful mafia don.
“You make valid points, Luca. I will think about it. Until then, I’ll let Marino and his family continue to prepare for a wedding.
We won’t tell them there might be a change in the groom yet. ”
Hiding a grin behind my tumbler, I mentally pat myself on the back.
Score: Luca 1. Fabian 0.
Ever since my father’s wife died, he’s stopped pretending I don’t exist. The first overture was an invitation to his birthday party—the one where I saw Eden for the first time. Then he invited me for drinks at his private club where he officially introduced his two sons to each other.
The change in tune—from hiring a crew to kill me in a drive-by shooting in Paris months ago to welcoming me back into the The Family fold—raised several red flags, but like the old adage says: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer .
Murderous family members included.
I don’t know what Enzo’s endgame is. Maybe he truly wants to reconnect with the son he abandoned. Maybe this is all an elaborate ruse to secure an alliance with Blackthorn.
At this point, it doesn’t matter.
His time's almost up.
And my top priority now is protecting Eden from my asshole half-brother by any means necessary.