Chapter Four
Lilianna Genovese
I held Callum’s hand in mine as he followed me from room to room in the apartment. For two days, he’d been at my side, holding my hand constantly. The wedding had terrified him.
If he wasn’t holding my hand, he held my shorts or my shirt as he followed me everywhere.
I considered taking him back to Italy, but if they were looking for me, they’d find him. If I couldn’t hold them off, they’d kill my toddler. I knew that while some Dons had morals, the ones who had something to gain wouldn’t care about the life of a kid.
I couldn’t think of anywhere safer than under Matteo’s protection, even if he’d been gone for the past day and a half, gathering leads and information.
He finally appeared with a young woman at his side as I gave Callum eggs and French toast sticks for breakfast. Matteo glanced between me and my son, giving him a smile that, surprisingly, reached his eyes.
“Breakfast of champions,” he commented.
“Good breakfast,” Callum said, licking his lips and shoving another syrupy bite between his teeth. “Seat.”
I chuckled lightly as Matteo looked confused. “He wants you to take a seat beside him.”
“Seat,” Callum repeated, pointing.
Matteo, clearly used to standing, fell into one of the chairs before looking at me. “Lili, this is my cousin, Sophie. She’s worked for me for quite some time.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“I brought her here because she has a master's degree in child development, and she worked as a grade school teacher for a few years before stepping into her role with me.”
I nodded slowly. I knew the meaning of “stepping into her role”. She worked in the mob, too.
“I loved my work with children, but when the family business called, I had to answer,” Sophie said. “Matteo mentioned that you plan on staying, and that you have a son.”
I looked between Matteo and his cousin. She looked the part of an elementary school teacher with her long hair and sincere smile. She shone with a light that was rare in this line of business. I wondered what she ordinarily did for Matteo.
“I can’t leave him with someone I’ve never met,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m sure you’re great…”
“I understand,” she said with a smile.
Matteo chimed in. “I can do these things myself, but you said you wanted to be a part of this. We can’t bring your son where we need to go, so you can either stay here with him or let my cousin help.”
His take-charge tone had me clenching my jaw. “You’re aware you’re not my boss, right?” I asked.
Matteo’s brows rose. “Do you want to take your kid to a casino? Do you want him around guns?”
“No, obviously not.” I understood his point, and though I wanted to continue arguing with him, I sighed. Matteo would never recommend someone who wasn’t equipped to handle Callum. In all the years I’d known him, I’d never seen his cruel side directed at me or my family.
He may not have known Callum, but I knew he’d do anything to keep him safe. He’d already proven that.
“How long do you plan on taking me away today? We can do a trial run.”
Matteo smiled, and I hoped I was making the right choice.
**
The thrill of the casino ran through my blood as Matteo led us inside. People waved him on with respectful nods as if he came here frequently. I knew this had been one of his father’s investments when we were children. Silas had brought me and a friend here after hours once, allowing us to play the slot machines to our heart’s content. He and Matteo had gone in the back, and I had never once thought about what my brother had seen back there.
Now, as I waltzed past a woman kicking a machine in frustration and toward the back doors, I realized I would finally learn exactly where he’d gone to that night.
Here I was, doing the exact thing he’d never wanted me to do.
I was going deeper into a life of crime than I ever had before.
We went through the double doors at the back, and another metal door greeted us. Matteo made no effort to hide the combination as he typed in six numbers and pressed his thumb into a keypad. The door swung open, and he gestured for me to enter first.
I hadn’t expected this. Not in the back of the casino building.
The walls were lined with various firearms. One wall had twenty-three different varieties of pistols, and as I approached, I found more lying in crates beneath it. I made my way around the perimeter of the room, finding semi-automatics with extended barrels. Some of the weapons were equipped with extended mags, while others retained their traditional design.
The back wall was the largest, holding an assortment of sniper rifles and automatics. Different styles of knives were also on display. I looked around in awe at the large inventory he had stored here.
This was enough to equip an army. More than an army. Between the displays and the crates of additional weapons beneath them, this room could win a war for a large group of people.
“It’s fireproofed and soundproofed. The whole room. It’s only accessible through that door, and I am one of the two people who can get inside. Anthony is the only other person able to access it.” Matteo walked around the room, assessing it with a scrutinizing gaze. “Are you familiar with any of these weapons?”
“All of them,” I admitted.
“Silas mentioned that you were trained, but I wasn’t sure how well.”
My eyes swept across everything again, and I noticed my personal favorite, the Beretta 92FS. I reached for it and pulled it from the wall gently. No scuffs or dings. Overall, the weapon looked brand new. Unused.
“I was trained with all different calibers and types of guns, but I prefer something smaller with less of a kickback. The Beretta was always my favorite.”
“There are lighter options,” he said, pulling down a Smith and Wesson.
I weighed it in my hand and shook my head.
“I like feeling the weight,” I admitted. “This is the perfect balance for me.”
I went to put the Beretta back on the wall, but Matteo’s large hand wrapped around my forearm, and he shook his head. “I want you to keep it. Stock up on ammo, keep it loaded, and keep yourself safe.”
I gaped, looking down at it. Arming myself was a wise idea, and refusing such a kind gesture would be ignorant.
“What do you want for it?” I asked.
He grinned wickedly. “Baby, that’s how I know you’re a mafia princess.”
The word “baby” had my stomach tying itself in knots. I took a breath, but the hand that rested on my arm burned into me, bringing forward the wicked feeling of lust that had gotten us into this situation in the first place. Silas hadn’t wanted this. He hadn’t wanted us together, and I had gone behind his back three years ago for one night with Matteo.
I couldn’t disappoint him from the grave, too.
I pulled my arm out of his grip. “Because I know everything has a cost?” I asked.
“Because you don’t trust me, even though I’ve given you no reason not to.”
I licked my lips and glanced down at the gun I still held. “Gifts always come with strings in this business, and I’m not indebting myself to you for a gun.”
“Consider it a string-free gift.”
He sounded amused, and that made a tendril of frustration rise in me. “Matteo, three years ago… it was a mistake. You know that, don’t you?”
His eyes glazed over with a bit of that coldness I’d learned to expect from him. His shoulders stiffened, and he took a deep breath.
“You think it was a mistake on your part, or do you think I regret it?”
Now was not the time to have this conversation. I planned to leave and go back to Italy once we settled this situation with the Russians, and I couldn’t have anything tethering me back to the mafia life that I’d worked so hard to escape. I needed vengeance, but not at the cost of my freedom. Not at the cost of Callum’s.
I rested the gun on the top of a crate and leaned back into it. “Silas didn’t want us together. He made that abundantly clear, and I went behind his back. I’d be spitting on his grave to consider being with you again.”
Matteo chuckled, and it rumbled deep in his chest as he took a step forward. He pressed into me, leaving no room for escape. I should have been scared. Having such a powerful Don in front of me, trapping me, should have terrified me. Instead, a spark of exhilaration ran through me. Excitement. My traitorous body wanted to be close to him, even if logic told me to back away.
I knew that Matteo had never been a threat to me. My body knew it, too.
“Silas wanted you to be safe. He didn’t want you getting yourself deeper into the life of crime, and he knew I would lead you toward that.”
“You still will.”
He lowered his head, his breath fanning my face. “You’re already here, are you not?”
Not for long. Not beyond my quest for vengeance.
But I couldn’t say that. Not with him so close.
I had liked him as a child. I’d had a crush on him for years the way all girls had a crush on their brother’s friends. It had been meaningless and inexplicable. It had been a crush that was never meant to evolve into something more. As a teenager, I felt something new and foreign. Something powerful and passionate. But as an adult?
The lust was all-consuming. The reasons for staying away grew murkier the closer he stood. With him in my face, I could hardly remember the reasons I’d been pushing him away.
“I can’t be tied to this place,” I whispered, but my words didn’t sound convincing, even to me.
His hand came to my face, and a knuckle lightly trailed down my cheek and the side of my neck. My body wanted this. Who was I to argue with my physical reaction to him? Did it really matter anyway?
“I was waiting for you to come home for years,” he growled. “I never stopped waiting for you.”
The words were my undoing. I wasn’t sure if he closed the distance between us or if I did, but our lips met in a frenzy of lust and longing. Years of pent-up need coursed through my body. I felt like a ball of liquid flame standing before him. My arms tangled around his neck, fists grasping at his hair.
Matteo lifted me by my thighs, and I wrapped my legs around him as I sat on the crate at my back.
God, I’d yearned for this. I’d craved this.
For years I had tried pushing aside thoughts of him, but I couldn’t ever expel him entirely from my mind. Not when my night with him had been the most memorable night of my life. There was no forgetting the way he had made me feel.
“Fuck, Lili,” he growled against my lips.
I shuddered at the sound of my nickname on his lips.
I wouldn’t be able to stop this. I knew that as well as I knew my name. Logic had nothing to do with it.
The trill of a ringing phone cut through the moment like a bucket of water being poured over me, and I jerked away, gasping for breath. My fingers trembled as they pressed into his chest, creating a breath of distance between us.
He didn’t back away. Not entirely. He pulled his phone from his pocket, his nearly black eyes holding mine. I saw the promise there: we weren’t done. Not even close.
“What?” he said into the phone. His eyes hardened as he took a step back, his mood shifting and gaze moving from mine.
I sagged in place with a deep exhale as he ended the call and began pulling weapons from the wall quickly, tucking them into his clothes in every possible place.
“One of my warehouses is being attacked, and I don’t have enough men in the area today. I have to go.”