Chapter 4
KADE
I’m in deep, deep shit.
That was the first thought that crossed my mind as my eyes were met with a pair of stunning light green ones. They were the kind of green you’d see in meadows full of flowers, or the color of fresh cut grass on a sunny day.
I wouldn’t be in such deep shit if this wasn’t Lilah’s daughter, who she’d sold off to the highest bidder, who just so happened to be the son of another powerful Mafia Boss. The same one who was fighting with Lilah against us for the territory now.
Most definitely a marriage for power.
I tried and failed not to stare at her and take in everything about her. But it wasn’t her beauty that stuck out to me the most.
It was the cold, dead look in her eyes. The hopelessness. I knew it all too well because whenever I looked in the mirror, I saw it in my own.
Pity sliced through me like a knife, because she looked too young and too innocent to already seem so dead inside.
How had she gotten caught up in something like this?
I knew, without even truly having to think about it, how she’d gotten trapped into this life. Lilah had made her a prisoner and thrown away the key, forever trapping this girl in misery.
Just as the thought entered my mind, so did confusion.
Why did I care so much about a girl who was nothing to me? Why did I care about the relationship she had with her husband, or the hurt in her eyes?
But something underneath my skin began to sing the more that I looked at her.
At the need to claim her as my own, without any logical reason.
Something deep within me called for her.
Mine.
I finally broke eye contact, not missing the warning glare her husband gave me as introductions were made around the table.
Jude Peirano didn’t know it then, but he should consider himself grateful that I was being a good boy for my father.
Because I now felt a very strong possessiveness over his wife, and everything in me screamed to take her from him.
A seed of obsession began to take root in that moment, and I could do nothing to stop it.
“These are my sons: Finn, Sawyer, Kade, and Maverick,” my father said, gesturing to us one by one.
There wasn’t a single bit of warmth about any of us or the body language we currently displayed.
Looking at any single one of us the wrong way was asking for a death wish.
Everyone knew not to fuck with any of the Luchetti men.
And for good reason.
“Boys, this is Lilah Canella,” my father said as he gestured to the Mafia Queen of Boston. I’d heard plenty about her, but never met or put a face to the name before.
Honestly, I wasn’t impressed.
I nodded in greeting to her, the bare minimum of response, whilst Maverick and Finn barely acted like she existed, just staring coldly at her. Sawyer seemed indifferent, as if he wasn’t sure which response to give.
He had always been the most reasonable and softest of us brothers, and it had only gotten worse once he’d married his wife Vanessa.
“Pleasure,” Lilah responded, a sickly sweet fake smile plastered on her face. “This is my son-in-law Jude, and his wife Soren.”
She didn’t have to introduce them. I already knew who they were when I stepped into the room. Everyone knew about the notorious Jude Peirano who had bought his bride. Not to mention she’d just introduced Jude to my father not two seconds ago.
Just like Lilah, I had no idea what either of them looked like until now, but the way he carried himself, like the prick I knew he was, I nailed his identity down in two seconds flat. Only he would arrive so fashionably late with his wife on his arm.
I didn’t tempt myself to look at Soren again, nodding to Jude in greeting and knowing damn well by the look on his face that he was daring me to look at his wife again.
Protective prick.
I wanted to stare at her and laugh in Jude’s face just to piss him off. If this was a game he wanted to play, then game on.
I’d make him regret ever thinking he could cross me.
“Thank you for joining us, Matthias,” Lilah began, as the greetings and introductions finished. “Although I’m afraid it will just be a waste of time and gas for you.”
I could see my father’s blood begin to boil already, and I’m surprised there wasn’t steam blowing out of his ears.
“You’d do well to remember who you’re talking to, Lilah,” my father warned, surprising me slightly that he hadn’t threatened her worse than that.
“I remember very well who I’m dealing with, Matthias. You’d do well to remember who exactly you’re trying to duel with,” Lilah replied, clasping her hands together on the table in front of her.
I could almost hear my father’s jaw breaking as he clenched it, using every bit of restraint he had left to not strangle this woman.
“Everyone in Boston knows that any territory in the harbor belongs to the Luchetti’s,” Finn piped up, knowing my father clearly needed a minute to collect himself.
“Unfortunately for you, that territory intermingles with that of the Peirano family, and since it’s in Boston, it belongs to us.”
If I could describe what Lilah’s voice sounded like, I could equate it to nails on a chalkboard.
She had me grinding my teeth with each word that came out of her mouth.
I couldn’t imagine how my father must be feeling.
I snuck a peek at Maverick to see how he was taking this, and he was about as close to losing his shit as my father was .
That’s what happens when you inherit his lack of patience.
“My father, and his father, and his father before him, have owned the harbor, and it will continue to be that way as I pass it to my sons and they pass it to their sons. I don’t give a fuck if the Queen of England’s territory intermingles with it.
It belongs to us. The only reason this is up for debate is because some small, unimportant mob member who owned the turf was murdered and he didn’t belong to either of us.
How he managed that I’ll never know, but that’s not what’s important here.
Only a fool would question whose ownership it belongs to now that he’s dead.
That’s the only time it’s left Luchetti hands, and it won’t happen again. ”
“So you think I'm a fool?” Lilah hissed, and I could have sworn I saw venom fly from her lips.
“Must be,” Maverick grumbled, causing Lilah to whip her head towards him and pin him with a death stare.
“The land is ours. There’s no room for compromise, adjustments, or argument. You’ve wasted your time coming here tonight, Matthias. And you will be the one who leaves here a fool.”
“We’re done here,” my father hollered to us all, giving us our cue to leave.
He stopped short, turning once more to face Lilah, and spoke in a low and menacing tone.
“But be warned Lilah: you’ve made a grave mistake thinking you can cross me and my family.” With that, he turned and made his way out the front door, followed by my brothers and his men.
I should have known better that coming here tonight wouldn’t result in anything. My father and Lilah both craved power so badly that there was no way in Hell either of them would give something up so easily.
No, I had a feeling this war was just getting started.
And although I was already screwed, knowing I’d get a mouthful from my father tonight about keeping my focus on the task at hand, I couldn’t help but spare one more glance at the beautiful girl who had eyes filled with hopelessness.
With a wink in her direction, I sealed my fate and felt no fear about the potential consequences coming my way.
On the drive home, I pondered ideas in my mind of how to prevent a massacre during this war—because that’s exactly what would happen.
A massacre.
Blood would be shed, and neither side would stop until they won. It wasn’t just about the turf; it was about showing who had the biggest balls and wasn’t afraid to make everyone around them aware of it.
It was almost two in the morning, and I desperately craved my bed. But my father had sent out a message to me individually that he wanted to see me again, which was strange.
Strange that he’d texted me individually and not in a group with all of my brothers, and strange because this couldn’t wait until morning.
I pulled up to his mansion, wiping the tired from my eyes and pretending I couldn’t fall over at any moment and sleep into oblivion.
This was the longest I’d kept going in a while, having gotten used to my bedtime at midnight.
I needed to mentally prepare myself because, with this war coming our way, this would be the first of many sleepless nights.
When I made my way inside, my father was sitting on his black leather couch in the living room in front of the fireplace, holding a glass of brandy.
“Sit down, son,” he commanded, a deathly calm tone to his voice. I knew I was in trouble, but this badly? So bad it couldn’t wait until later and my father was drinking at two in the morning?
Maybe it had been incredibly stupid to throw that wink at Jude’s wife on the way out, but seeing how red his face got with anger was too good of a sight to pass up.
I just hoped Soren didn’t catch any of the repercussions because of my actions.
My father stared at me for a long moment as I made my way to the couch opposite of him, pinning me down with his dark cold eyes and intending to make me squirm before he realized it was useless and began to speak.
“Lilah Canella is a royal pain in my ass,” he muttered.
“I’ve been sitting and thinking about how to get us out of this situation ever since that mobster died and the land became available.
It should have never gone to him in the first place, but your grandfather was a soft damn idiot.
” He sat for a moment, swirling his drink around as if lost in thought.
“It wasn’t until tonight that I finally realized what needed to be done. ”
I had a bad feeling about what he was going to say next, and before he even began speaking, I knew I wasn’t going to like it.
“I noticed you eyeing Jude’s wife tonight.”
Yup. I’m really not going to like this.
“I figure, why not kill two birds with one stone?”
For fuck sakes, this cannot be happening.
“In order to win this turf war, you’re going to steal away Lilah and Jude’s precious princess.”
Oh yeah. I’m definitely in some deep shit now.
The irony of the universe and the karma it dealt with didn't escape me.
I had set myself up for this when I let my newfound possessiveness for her come to the surface, but no matter how messy this was going to be, I couldn’t wait to have her.
Mine.
All the bourbon in the world couldn’t give me enough courage to say no to my father’s request. Whoever came up with the concept of liquid courage has never met Matthias Luchetti.
It would have been smart of me to say no and to kill this obsessive bug I had for the woman before it began to multiply against my will, but it had been a long time since I’d been a smart man.
After the mentally exhausting day I’d had, but after the bomb he just dropped, I still couldn’t bring myself to peel myself from my father’s couch in the den and head home. My brothers had gone home long ago, leaving straight from Lilah’s, and my father left to do God knows what, so I was alone.
Or so I had thought, before I heard the distinct sound of footsteps from behind me.
“You’re more than welcome to stay here tonight, but you haven’t done that in many years,” my mother’s voice filled my ears as she teased me.
“Don’t worry mom, I’ll find the energy to leave soon,” I replied, putting on the best smile I could so she didn’t see the inner turmoil within.
“Long day?” She asked, taking a seat on the couch opposite of me.
“You could say that,” I sighed. When it came to my mother, I always felt like I could open up to her, which was a stark contrast to my father. He hadn’t been my go-to person since I was a child.
“Tell me what’s on your mind, Kade,” my mother said softly as she gave me her full attention.
I strained my ears to make sure there were no lurking footsteps around us and then let out a huge sigh.
“I’m just tired of this, ma,” I began. “I am tired of this life and the nothingness it offers me. It’s not like I have any choice in the matter. It’s not like dad would ever let me leave.”
“You underestimate your father, son,” my mother scoffed. “Not to mention you underestimate my ability of persuasion.”
I laughed because she had a point when it came to my father and his weakness for my mother. She was the one person he’d never been able to say no to, and I don’t think either of us would ever see that day in our lifetime.
But even if she had a point about being able to persuade my father into anything she asked, I still couldn’t bring myself to leave.
This had been my family and I’s life for as long as I could remember.
Leaving the Mafia life behind felt like I would be abandoning my family, and I refused to ever do that.
“I could never leave my family,” I responded, and I knew by the twinkle in my mother’s eye that she was up to no good in her train of thought.
“One day, my son, you will find a motivation that’s big enough to leave your family behind,” she said.
“And what would I care about more than my family?” I asked in disbelief.
“Starting your own,” she said knowingly.
I shook my head, because my mother’s heart was so pure still, that she believed someone as broken as me was capable of a woman’s love.
Little did she know I gave up on that dream a long time ago, and there wasn’t a woman out there today whose love I was worthy of.