Fierce Hearts (Fierce Mafia #2)

Chapter 1

SOFIA

I nursed my champagne at the bridal table, watching Leo Donati—one of Ironstone's most feared man—look at Meredith like she hung the moon. His hands, capable of unspeakable violence, cradled her with sweet tenderness as they swayed beneath crystal chandeliers.

It was a sight to see.

Only Meredith could make his stone cold heart melt. I'd not been a fan when they'd first gotten involved, but after seeing them in action, how happy Meredith was, I couldn't help but soften.

Leo may have been a killer, but Meredith was everything to him, and he'd give her the world if she wanted it. It was a love I couldn't argue with.

She deserved all the happiness she could get after everything she'd endured in her life. And Leo was determined to give it to her.

One month. It had taken exactly one month from their engagement for Leo Donati to make Meredith his wife. Then again, when you had his resources and connections, the impossible became merely a phone call away. The Duke Hotel's grand ballroom had been transformed overnight, no expense spared for the woman who'd captured the heart of one of Ironstone's most dangerous man.

He'd really gone all out, and Meredith loved it. Seeing her glowing, a grin plastered on her face, made everything as perfect as it could be in my eyes.

"To the happy couple!" someone shouted, and glasses clinked around me.

Yes, to the couple of the hour indeed.

I drained my glass in one swallow—my fourth? Or was it my fifth? I wasn't paying attention. Tonight was a time for celebration.

And yet, the expensive bubbles couldn't numb the hollow ache beneath my ribs. Not jealousy, not exactly. Leo Donati had never been the object of my desire. But seeing Meredith so complete, so certain, so happy…

Romance was not something I pursued anymore. With my family background, it wasn't easy to make a real connection with someone. Despite the Savoca family moving their operations to another city, it was still a shadow looming over me. I'd cut my ties. Built something legitimate with bloodstained money. The irony wasn't lost on me—using my family's dirty cash to become someone who saved lives instead of taking them, of investing it into legitimate enterprises and stocks.

I flagged over a wandering waiter, helping myself to yet another glass of champagne.

Every once in a while, I got a postcard from my mother, just to remind me she was still okay and safe, although she signed off using an alias. The only connection I still maintained to my family.

I hadn't seen her in years because of the target on her back, her lack of standing in my family despite marrying my father.

How could I ever hope to find something like Meredith when the sins of my family followed me? I'd almost lost Meredith because of it. I'd kept it from her, wanting her to like me for me, and then she'd not taken the revelation well when it had all come to light.

At least our friendship had overcome the deceit. It had been for her safety, but now I knew that protecting her should've been a choice she was given. We'd taken that choice from her, all three of us. Leo, Grayson, and me.

I gulped down the new glass of champagne.

That was the past. Meredith knew everything now, and it meant I finally had someone I could be fully open with. Speak about the things that bothered me from my own past, my own family. Not that it had been brought up, with the wedding preparations and all.

Had I thought about changing my identity, changing my last name? Yes, but for some odd reason, I hadn't. If anyone had ever asked, I'd lied, saying it was my last tie to my heritage. If I'd wanted that, I'd have taken my mother's maiden name. But that also came with a target.

No, I couldn't explain why I'd held onto it. Maybe it was because I felt like changing my last name would have made my family come after me for disowning them. No… it wasn't that either…

"You look lost in thought." Grayson's voice startled me from my mind.

I looked up at him, the familiar flutter in my chest starting up, the one I always tried to ignore. His tux fit him like a second skin, accentuating broad shoulders that tapered to a narrow waist. Silver threaded through his dark hair at the temples, giving him a distinguished look that made my mouth go dry. Unlike Leo's cold demeanor, Gray's features held a warmth that crinkled at the corners of his eyes when he smiled. Those green eyes—a perfect match to Meredith's—studied me in a way that made me feel exposed, my skin prickling. The subtle cologne he wore hit my senses, expensive but not overpowering. Damn him for looking so good while I was five champagnes deep.

"Just reflecting on life's little ironies," I replied, raising my empty glass. "Your sister marrying the boogeyman of the criminal underworld. You giving her away with a smile."

He chuckled, a rich sound that traveled straight to my core. "You were against it from the beginning."

"And you punched him in the face when you found out." I arched a brow. Gray really didn't look both ways when it came to his little sister, he just acted and protected. Even against his best friend, the rising head of a mafia family. "Funny how things change. I feel like it wasn't all that long ago that she was dealing with Logan, and now..."

"Now she's where she belongs." Gray's voice held a note of satisfaction, which made me arch my brow higher. "Hard to argue with that kind of devotion." His eyes tracked the couple across the dance floor. "He'd burn this city to ashes for her."

"And that doesn't terrify you?" I asked uneasily.

"What terrifies me is imagining her with someone who wouldn't." His gaze shifted to me, a strange depth in those eyes. "Someone who'd run at the first sign of danger."

Like I had. From my family. From my heritage. From everything I was born to be.

"Some of us prefer building rather than burning," I said, my voice sharp.

"Hey, I meant nothing by it, Sof. Besides, I know you, you won't run from danger. You're too stubborn," he said, offering me that wretched lopsided smile that still made my stomach knot.

I sighed, knowing he'd meant no harm by it. Tonight was just a sentimental one for me, seeing all the friends and family together.

"I know. Thanks. This is crazy though, isn't it? How everything has played out," I mused, wanting to change the subject, and he sunk into the seat beside me at the bridal party table.

"Tell me about it. It's all batshit crazy in my opinion," he said with a shake of his head, but his smile didn't falter.

He was right. From the whole brother's best friend, to the mafia revelation, then the blackmailing, to the quickness of their marriage. The whole thing had been a rollercoaster of a ride.

"Must be weird for you, seeing them together. When they fight, whose side will you take?" I joked, and he winced.

"God, I don't want to think about that, it'll be brutal," he said with a hiss before smiling at me. "At least you were always against Leo. You can side with Mer and not wind up hated by him."

"Eh, he's grown on me now. Seeing how he is with her, what he'd do for her. Meredith is my family, I just want her happy and safe." I pursed my lips as my gaze returned to the pair.

Having Meredith fully submerged in the shadows of our world was not what I'd call safe. But it was her choice, and I'd respect it. Besides, I knew Leo would tear anyone limb from limb if they tried to hurt her.

So would Grayson.

Again, another ache in my chest, but this time, it was something else. Having family that cared like that. People who loved you enough to fight for you. To protect you.

I'd had that in a way with my cousin, who'd been like a brother to me considering I'd had no siblings. But when I'd left, I'd cut the last of my ties, including those with even him. It was the safest move, and he’d understood. He’d even said it was for the best, for me to grow and become my own person, free from the family.

Meredith was all I had now.

When I'd come clean to her, and she'd been so mad, I'd thought I was going to lose the only family I had.

I thanked my lucky stars every day that we'd worked through it. There were no more secrets between us now.

"Meredith Donati. Still not sure how I feel about that," Grayson murmured, and I chuckled.

"Get used to it. Before you know it, you'll be an uncle, especially with the rate they're doing things. She might pop one out next week!" I joked, and he chuckled with a shake of his head.

"Damn, don't make those jokes. She's still on birth control, thankfully, although I know Leo wants an heir. Meredith will have trouble dealing with knowing her kids will be targets, I think," he said softly. "A mother's instincts are to protect and keep them away from danger. Leo is a magnet for it."

"No one left in this city will take on the Donati family. They'll be safe," I attempted to reassure him, although I knew I couldn't promise it.

His words about a mother protecting her children and keeping them away from danger made my throat tighten.

My mother had fled, abandoning me when my father had died. She'd tried to get me to go with her, but this was the world I knew, the only life I understood, so I'd declined, and she'd left. I was stubborn like that, something I'd inherited from my father. She’d tried hard to get me to go, so I couldn’t be too mad at her, I’d chosen not to.

She'd done what she'd needed to do considering her circumstances, and I understood, but it still hurt sometimes.

Then again, if she’d stayed, I doubted she’d be alive.

I blinked, tugging myself from the down thoughts. I didn't want to be feeling miserable about my own life on my best friend's special day.

"What about you? What's your thoughts on kids given your family?" Gray asked, his eyes not leaving his sister and best friend as they danced to another song.

"I wouldn't do it. If I were to have a son, he'd have some claim to the family head, and I don't ever want to go back to that. Marco is handling the Savoca family, and I'm happy for him to keep that title and job." I leaned back in my chair, not wanting to dwell on the whole idea of children.

"So you wouldn't do it because of that. But if you didn't need to worry about your family, do you think you'd want them?"

I turned to him, taking in how his brows were drawn together, an uneasiness in his features.

Grayson Cassaro was a handsome man, that was nothing new. When I'd first met him, I'd even been a little interested, until I'd met Leo, and I realized just who they were. Although Gray had never been involved in the shadows of the Donati family. Not until Meredith's life was put on the line.

That whole mess, when we were put into the panic room, seeing Gray getting shot at, and then when he got hit…

"Sof?" He turned to me now, and I looked away, realizing I'd not answered his question.

"What I want and what I can have are two different things. I learnt from a young age that we need to give up things because of the life I was brought into. The blood that runs in my veins." I clenched my jaw as I focused on the couple in the spotlight, their song coming to an end. "So I've not even thought about it, if I had been born with different blood, a different name, it’s just not something I’ve wondered. Why play that game with myself?”

"I'm sorry, Sof. I get that. Although, I sometimes wonder about it, about what having kids would mean. I always wanted to be a better father than my dad, but now, maybe it's safer I don't have them." He sounded defeated, and a sad smile touched my lips. I knew how he felt there.

"Safe. Such a difficult word in this life, isn't it?" I glanced back at him, and he bobbed his head slightly.

So much for not being miserable right now.