12. CONSIDER
TWELVE
consider
Enzo
Everyone except Eva left the mansion hours ago. After connecting with Niko and Luca on plans for the week, we retreated to our separate offices. I came here to get some work done, but mainly to make sense of everything I’m feeling.
Today’s meeting went better than expected. A feeling of rightness lingers—the rare sense something aligned as it was supposed to.
I don’t trust things that come too easily. I never have.
Especially not since Ciara.
The easiest of relationships. An arrangement between our fathers. Another alliance.
I grew up knowing I’d marry her—or someone like her—for the mutual interest of our two families. I remember feeling relieved that I never had to worry about dating. Women seemed too complicated. Duty, loyalty, those were things I knew.
Romance, attraction, love all seemed too elusive, too hard to figure out.
My father told me when I was seventeen that he had reached an agreement with Micky Donovan.
Micky had a daughter one year younger than me, and we would wed when she was twenty.
Our union would bring the Irish and Italian syndicates together. Seemed straightforward.
It was anything but.
It never felt right with Ciara. I knew it then, but I was young. Even if I had told my dad something was off, it wouldn’t have mattered. It wasn’t my decision.
She was beautiful. She was kind. I figured we had time to grow into it.
Neither Micky, my father, nor I could have imagined she and Junior Volkov would fall in love. Or that her choosing him would lead to a territory war that resulted in both their fathers’ and my parents’ deaths. It was madness.
The fact that I’m even considering another form of an alliance again ten years later should be a red flag—especially when the catalyst for this union is yet another woman.
I remind myself that today’s meeting was the result of following my instincts several times over. There wasn’t anything easy about this. These women would never allow it to be. Instead it has felt kindred, intended.
That realization settles slowly, like I don’t quite believe it yet. I replay moments of the last week and a half again for the hundredth time. On paper, none of this makes sense.
My encounter with Pippa at that bar. Tailing her on the night she ends up in the warehouse. Barging in without a plan. Luna being with her and Hudson being with me. Their operation flying under the radar all these years. It all feels so unbelievable.
Doesn’t that tell me what I need to know?
We crossed paths for a reason.
I don’t even believe in that shit, but today’s meeting has me reconsidering if fate is real. The pauses, the looks exchanged, the way no one reached for control just to prove they had it.
Instincts matter to me. They always have. They’re the only reason I’m still here, the reason the Luciano family empire survived after our world imploded.
I was twenty-two when I took over the family business. An operation that spanned a dozen states and three countries. Many of my dad’s rivals—and even more of his allies—saw me as weak, inexperienced. Saw my dad’s death as their chance at power.
I had more attempts on my life in those first few years than my dad ever had in his almost-thirty years as the head of the family.
If I didn’t trust my instincts then, I’d be dead. If I didn’t figure out how to lead this empire, Eva could be dead. Or taken and used as leverage.
Eva and Hudson are the reason we survived—that we thrived.
Eva brought us into this modern era. Hudson protected us from government forces.
He helped me get out of the sex work operations and expand our arms business.
Eva learned more effective ways of managing assets and money laundering and helped me grow my crew with new technology.
I owe them everything.
And they seemed just as eager and open today as I felt on the inside.
My mind inevitably drifts back to Pippa. The same way it has since the night I met her. It hasn’t even been two weeks since that night and she occupies more of my thoughts than I’m willing to admit.
I was impressed by her today. I’m not easily impressed by people, not in DC.
I had no doubt she would be smart. But seeing her in action, the way she commanded the room, it was a major turn on.
That and her black tank that somehow managed to be both simple and criminally distracting.
I swear the woman weaponizes her wardrobe.
I brush my fingers over my lips as I feel the memory of her lips on mine. Of my hands on her hips, her ass, tight in her hair.
Fuck! I want her.
Hudson left with everyone else this afternoon, but we’ll talk soon. The way he and Pippa so easily joked about a threesome… I can’t get it out of my head. They said it so casually, like it was no big deal. Like the mere idea of it didn’t make me feel like the ground was shifting beneath me.
The moment was gone before I could process it, let alone respond.
Throughout lunch I couldn’t stop myself from stealing looks at them both.
There is no doubt they are comfortable together.
She’s different with him. Of all the personas I’ve seen her sport, she seems at ease with him.
Maybe it’s the closest to her real self.
It was captivating to watch.
Seeing them together felt different than I expected. I thought I’d be jealous or feel left out. I never thought I’d be open to sharing a woman with another man, but as I sit with the idea tonight, I’m surprised by how unbothered I am at the idea of sharing her with Hudson.
In fact, the idea of sharing her with someone who already knows her body, knows her edges and her triggers…and who also happens to be the person I trust most in this world… It doesn’t feel threatening. It feels...irresistible.
Inevitable, even.
And I won’t deny that seeing Hudson with her, all easy smiles, fast jokes, in his element…adds another level of appeal. Images and thoughts I haven’t let myself think about in a really long time have resurfaced. Curiosities I had to shove deep down at a young age.
Knock, knock.
Eva lets herself in, laptop tucked under one arm and coffee in the opposite hand. “So today went well, right?” she asks, perching on the edge of my desk like she owns the place.
“You tell me. What’d you think?”
She watches me for a long moment. “We have time to talk about the mission later. First, I need to know if you’re good.”
“Define ‘good.’” I hope she’s not going to pry too hard.
“Sure. ‘Good,’ as in are you spiraling because you want to jump the redhead, but also maybe your best friend?”
I groan. “Jesus fuck, E. Really?”
“You’re not that subtle, Enz.”
I lean back in my chair, take a deep breath, and stare at the ceiling.
Eva is the perfect person to talk to about this.
We’ve always been able to talk to each other about the hard stuff, and she is way wiser than her years.
Hell, she’s way wiser than me. Christ knows spinning this around in my head isn’t getting me anywhere.
“I don’t know what the hell is happening. I want her. More than I’ve ever wanted anyone. How could I not? Jesus. She’s…she’s—”
“A goddess. She’s a goddess, Enz. They all are.”
I chuckle. The three have beauty, grace, intelligence, and grit.
I’ve never seen anything like it before.
And while they are all uniquely impressive, I’m drawn to Pippa in a way I’ve never been drawn to another woman before.
“You have a point, but I don’t want to screw things up with Hudson.
I could never do anything to hurt him—you know that.
And he’s had it bad for her for a long time. Long before I was in the picture.”
“And?” Eva raises eyebrows.
“Are you really going to make me say it?”
She confirms with a slight motion.
“They both threw me a grenade today about…sharing. As if it were no big deal. So, yes, I’m spiraling. There. Are you happy?”
Eva takes a beat before answering. “Big brother, you and I both know Hudson would never do anything to make you uncomfortable. And if all you want to do is share Pippa with him, even to just get her out of your system, you know he’d grant that wish. He’d grant you anything you want.”
I know.
“And yes,” she continues, “there is something between the two of them—chemistry for sure—but you and Hudson are thicker than blood.”
“Which is why I’m not sure what to do,” I admit.
“Is it the idea of sharing her that has you feeling confused? I have to imagine you’ve had a menage-a-trois before.” She chuckles.
I glare at her. “I will not be discussing such things with my little sister.” Or anyone, if I can help it. Intimacy avoidance is my cross to bear.
“If I may,” she says in a voice I know is preparing me for a hard truth. She learned it from our parents. “I don’t think sharing Pippa is what has you in your head.” She pauses.
I wait silently for her to finish.
“I think you’re more curious about Hudson than you’re willing to admit. Even to yourself.”
The statement hangs in the air. I let it. A few moments pass as I ask myself if that is true. I love Hudson. He’s family. I’ve always been curious about his bisexuality. How could I not be? He had freedom to explore. That was never on the table for me.
Is it the freedom? Is it attraction?
I don’t deny or confirm.
She breaks the silence. “I think you’re feeling real things for the first time in a long time. Can you see yourself feeling more now? With her? Him? Them?”
I close my eyes. On a whisper, I admit, “I don’t know. It all feels too big. They seem so casual about it, but to me, it’s…huge.”
She smiles and pats my arm. “Life’s short, Enz. Especially for people like us. Don’t waste time pretending you don’t want something you do. Go after it. You deserve happiness.” With one last glance, she leaves my office.
And I’m alone again, realizing I’m not unsure. I know exactly what I want. The question is whether I’m ready to take it.