Enzo
This was painful. I rolled over the bed in the guest room. The mattress was fine. Stiffer than I liked. The windows were open, letting in the breeze, with the curtains halfway down to keep out some of the light.
None of that was an issue.
It was the stiff cock I woke up with that was horrible. It was Serena, padding around my room, naked in my shower, that was slowly driving me out of my mind.
After everyone went to bed, I stayed up trying to find more leads, but I had nothing.
The dead ends were making me want to put a bullet through the wall. The money traced back to a shell company linked to other shell companies, and I didn’t have anyone capable of breaking through the bank’s encryption to identify the account owner.
I was at a standstill. My gut told me there was a simpler answer: Charles Clearwart. He was petty and vindictive. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had money tucked away.
The only bright side was finding that the shipment the men lost a few weeks ago. Somehow, they were surprised I didn’t congratulate them for fixing their screw-up. The mistake shouldn’t have happened to begin with.
My phone lit up, and sure enough, Serena was in her studio, up before everyone else, already working.
It might have been creepy to watch her through the cameras the way I did, but then I thought of the night in her studio, searching to find her, and stopped caring about how it seemed.
I needed to check on her—for my own sanity as much as her safety.
Rolling out of bed, I stretched and started getting ready for the day.
I didn’t spend time around kids. No one I knew had any. If I had to bet, Harper would still be funnier than any kid I’d ever come across. Smarter, too.
First, she convinced me she needed a double chocolate muffin. It wasn’t hard when she looked at me with those big, disappointed eyes and a frown. How did Serena say no to her?
She demanded a song about big girls not crying, belting out every third word. It wasn’t until she was buckled in that the meltdown hit. One I never, ever want to experience again.
I held her tiny hand as I walked her into the reception area. She skipped along, unaware of the eyes that were on us. Moms wearing pearls smiled at me. The teachers eyed me with more scrutiny.
At least I knew Harper was in good hands. Anyone who eyed me with suspicion was good to teach Harper.
“Bye, Enzos.” Harper hugged me and ran into her classroom. I chuckled to myself at her mispronunciation of my name, which was slightly different each time, and left. I could correct her, but I liked it.
It was our special thing.
Donovan drove in silence while I reviewed a report on my phone.
Two men were in my office. One sat behind my desk. The other lay out across the small couch in the corner.
Both men looked up from their phones when I entered, stood, and started clapping for me.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“We wanted to offer our congratulations on finding your balls in person,” Marcello said and started clapping for me again.
I tilted my head back and stared at the ceiling, hoping I could find my patience there.
“And you?” I asked Rafael.
“Bored. And someone has to keep him in check when Adrienne is gone,” Rafael said.
“What’s Mrs. Parisi up to this week?” I asked, pushing Marcello away from my desk and standing behind it.
He shrugged. “Saving the world or scaring a dictator. It’s Wednesday.”
Rafael laughed. “She’s been gone for a few days and hasn’t called him. He was going stir crazy.”
A bored Marcello was a recipe for disaster.
“Since both of you are on this side of the country, let’s run the numbers,” I said, pulling out my laptop.
We went through Panorama’s numbers, new projects, and what was about ready to sell.
“The shipments?” Marcello asked. “Our men back in Augusta ran into some problems getting our cargo on the ships. Then we lost one or two containers in transit.”
I let Marcello rehash information I already knew. He was unaware of the misplaced loads because they had been found. He stressed over the smallest details.
“Yes. Everyone is playing nicely right now,” I said.
Must have been the sunshine, or the fact that most of the leaders had fled to the Hamptons—either way, no fighting, no broken arguments.
We had something like NATO, where we agreed to terms, including who ran which territories and the like.
When I first heard about it, it sounded ridiculous. But having lived with the rules for a bit, I realized it worked.
There was none of the ‘80s fighting, where people were killed on the street because they were selling the same products on the wrong blocks. Bribing was easier, and if something went wrong, everyone knew who was responsible.
No one wanted the government to keep track of us. We were already under enough surveillance with our phones and cameras at every light, recording our movements.
“We just need to make sure the money is getting washed through the new construction sites. Is Giulia still gone?” Marcello asked.
“Yeah. She’s still in Sicily, I think.” I shrugged. “Haven’t you spoken to her?”
“Not in a few weeks. She gets moody.” That was Marcello’s way of saying she did something stupid again and he had to put his foot down.
Giulia was his sister, though it was a secret for most of Giulia’s life. She lived with their mother’s side of the family, hidden away so no one, especially Marcello’s father, could use her like she was a piece of property to be sold.
When she was twenty-one, fresh out of college, Marcello gave her a job.
She wanted nothing to do with the Cosa Nostra; she hated everything the brotherhood stood for, but wanted to be closer to Marcello, so she said.
It spiraled from there. She became more entitled the longer she worked at Panorama.
Then it all got blown to hell when Adrienne showed up.
One outburst and she showed everyone exactly who she was, undoing everything Marcello had done for her in the process.
There was animosity there, so I kept tabs on her to make sure nothing she did could be traced back to us.
“So, we want the details,” Rafael said, clearing the paper off the table.
“Details on what?”
“Adrienne said Serena and her daughter were living with you. That something happened.” Marcello looked at me like I was missing a few screws. “What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything. A group of thugs broke into her studio. I was passing by, noticed, and saved her.” I gave them the shortest version possible.
“Who did you hire to do that?” Rafael asked. “I might be in need of their services.”
“Passing by? Do you expect me to believe that you were conveniently in the area when she was in danger and came to her rescue like some superhero?” Marcello rolled his eyes.
“Yes. Like I do every night. I passed by her place. And one of the guys I kept on her building notified me of the break-in. Lucky I was only a few blocks away.” I turned to Rafael.
“I didn’t pay them to scare her, so she’d come live with me.
What is wrong with your brain?” I pointed to my skull to help drive my point home.
“It’s a good plan,” Marcello agreed. “I wish I had thought of something like that when I was dealing with Adrienne.”
“Why would you think sending people to break into the home of your future wife, who is an assassin, was a good idea? She’d kill the first two and torture the third for fun because they interrupted her beauty sleep.” Rafael gave Marcello an incredulous look. I snickered at him.
“That’s true.” Marcello sighed. “Anyway, is that what Adrienne was muttering to herself about? I heard Serena and break-in, but nothing else, and you didn’t call me.”
“What are we? Old men gossiping over Scopa?” I said. “I was a little busy making sure everything was perfect, so they’d stay.”
“They will,” Rafael said, putting a hand on my shoulder. “You’re thoughtful.”
“Smart,” Marcello added.
“Detail oriented.”
“Adaptable.”
“Willing to kill anyone who touches either of them.”
“Please stop. You're inflating my ego,” I deadpanned, interrupting their list of what they thought were my good qualities.
“Let’s get out of here and eat at La Luna. I have to see Martina, or she might skin me alive,” Marcello said and headed to the door. Rafael and I followed, so his mother-in-law didn’t kill him for not stopping by to say hi while he was in town.