Enzo
“Did you listen to anything I said?” Rafael threw a crumpled piece of paper at my head.
“Yes,” I lied. I hadn’t heard a word since he started talking. All I could think about was Serena. Kissing her was life-altering, not that I expected anything less.
The reality was so much more.
I was a planner. It was why it took me so long to make a move on Serena. The circumstances had to be just right.
They weren’t now, but everything was still falling perfectly into place.
I’d thought about kissing Serena, among other things I imagined doing to her body, a near shameful amount.
One kiss. That was all it took to blow every fantasy out of the water.
It was all I could think about. The feel of her lips. Her body under my hands.
Cazzo, nothing was better. The cute moan she made.
Another ball of paper hit me, bounced off my forehead, poked me in the eye, and rolled onto the floor. I glared at him.
“Say it.” He rolled his eyes and closed his laptop.
“What?” I barely comprehended his words, my brain automatically drifting back to Serena.
“What’s on your mind? We aren’t going to get anything done with your head in the clouds.” He motioned to me. “Speak. I’m waiting.”
“Serena,” I started, but didn’t know what I wanted him to know.
“Stop. If you’re telling me you finally got her into bed and you’re here instead of still there with her, I'm going to question your sanity.” Rafael’s incredulous face made me smile.
“Of course not. She’s in my bed, but not with me. Not yet. Soon.”
“Let’s go over it,” Rafael said.
“Go over what?”
“Cazzo,” Rafael huffed. “The plan. I know you have a plan. It may take another year for you to act on it and get her into bed, but I know you have one.”
“I don't have a step-by-step plan on how to get her into my bed.” I rolled my eyes. He made me sound predictable. What I had planned was anything but predictable. The hard part wasn’t creating it; it was getting Serena to go along with it.
We needed uninterrupted time together. Where we only had each other and a bed within easy reach.
“You do. I watched you create a studio for her. Paint a pink princess room for her daughter. Create a second closet from all the suits you paid her to alter so you could find an excuse to talk to her.”
“You’re making me sound pathetic,” I said.
“You are pathetic. Or a simp as I think the kids call it now,” Rafael said. “It isn’t a bad thing. This is how you always wanted it to be. Adrienne said it was good to know a man was more in love with you than you were with him. It gives them power or something.”
I grumbled, not answering him. I pushed a file to him, but he ignored it.
“I’m waiting,” Rafael said. “How am I supposed to help if I don’t know what the plan is?”
“Are you going to hold helping me over my head for the next ten years?” I asked.
“Of course. And it’s fifteen, not ten. So, tell me, what is it you have up your sleeve?” Rafael pressed.
I stared at him. Rafael wasn’t one to offer help with women or anything outside of the Cosa. The brotherhood was his life, and he enjoyed it. He wasn’t the one I would’ve thought to go to for help with a woman.
He didn’t care about long-term relationships.
He liked a challenge, chasing after a woman, but was easily bored when it stopped and moved on, leaving a trail of broken hearts. Those broken hearts would haunt him someday, of that I was sure.
He was also the one who had offhandedly suggested building the studio for Serena. Who purposefully got blood on me after torturing someone and suggested I go back to Serena for a new suit.
The man who poked at me every chance he got about how slowly I was moving with Serena. He didn’t get why.
“Remind me what you’re doing in New York, again?” I asked.
“Bouncing between New York and the West is what I’m supposed to do.
I haven’t been around in three months, and look at you,” he waved a hand at me, “a lovesick puppy. So, tell me your plan so I can make sure security is in place for Harper. If I have to play Best Zio in the world, I need to start planning now.”
I tilted my head back, staring at the ceiling. What I wanted required a lot of work. There was still the unknown threat of someone paying to break into Serena’s apartment hanging over my head.
I was an excellent marksman. Torturing and killing didn’t bother me. It was part of the job I did to keep the Cosa up and running. I did it for the family.
Rafael was a touch better at all those things than I was, not that I’d ever tell him. He approached wet work with a focus and ruthlessness that neither Marcello nor I could match.
He wouldn’t let anything happen to Harper when I wasn’t around. That was the nail in the coffin. There was no one better to protect her in my absence.
“Fine.” I stood up, suddenly needing to move around as I told him my plans.
We went back and forth, both on how to ensure Harper would be safe and on how to make something magical happen so Serena would fall in love with me.
“I think we have it all sorted out.” Rafael stood. “Let’s get those two in a room and hope for no bloodshed.”
I nodded. Everything else I could control. Two women like Minnie and Martina in the same room? That, I couldn’t.
“Ready for this?” Rafael asked.
“Yes.” I think.
I held the key card to the reader, saying a quick prayer that we weren’t about to walk into a murder scene, and pushed open the door.
Rafael pushed me in with a hand on my back.
The two women sat on opposite couches, staring at each other.
The plate of food I had sent up was untouched, and the small knives left to cut the cheese were still on the table.
“Martina.” Rafael moved around me to Martina and kissed her on the cheek. I did the same.
I looked at the woman on the other couch, who sat ramrod straight, her face a blank mask.
“Minnie Clearwart. Nice to see you again,” I said.
“I wish I could say the same. I don’t appreciate cryptic messages or being put in a suite with someone I barely know glaring at me for ten minutes.
” She eyed the room. “Regardless of how nice the suite is.” She adjusted her position, crossing her legs with practiced elegance.
“If this is because of the scene Charles created at La Luna, I am sorry. Chuck shouldn’t have told him we were cutting him off there. It was in poor taste.”
“This isn’t about him,” I said. “This is about Serena.”
“What has her imbecile of a son done now?” Martina asked.
“Ladies,” I said, knowing that despite Minnie knowing her son was an ass, she’d still defend him. “I’m in need of both of your help.”
“Whatever Serena needs, I can help with,” Minnie said. “She knows I’m only a call away.”
“Me, too,” Martina said, narrowing her eyes at Minnie.
“Ladies, let’s take a step back. This isn’t a competition,” Rafael jumped in. “This is a meeting of the minds. Of two women who love Serena and Harper and want the best for them.”
Martina scrunched her nose, a telltale sign that she was ready to continue arguing. Minnie tilted her head in one motion, looking down her nose at Rafael.
This meeting was going down in a blazing inferno, fast.
“I called both of you to fill you in and ask for your help,” I said. “Mostly with Harper. Serena and I need uninterrupted time together, which means Harper needs someone to watch her.”
“She can sleep at my house. We’ll cook, watch movies,” Martina said. “She’ll love it.”
“Or she could stay with me for the weekend. I’ve been meaning to ask Serena if I can introduce her to horses and horseback riding,” Minnie countered.
“Why don’t both of you watch her?” Rafael asked. I sent him a grateful look. I should have foreseen it, though—neither of them willing to let the other win, already trying to one-up each other with activities so we’d have to pick a favorite.
“Both of us?” Martina wrinkled her nose.
“Yes. It has been brought to my attention that Harper hasn’t had time with either of you. Rather than breaking up her days or having the two of you fight over her time, this is what I was thinking.” I outlined my idea for them.
By the end, both women were nodding.
“We’ll be providing security,” Rafael added at the end.
“You think Flavio will let your men watch over me?” She barked out a laugh.
“If he wants to add to the detail, then he has my number. I know you care for Serena, but she’s mine now, and I will protect her.
My men will die to protect them.” I stated, leaving no room for doubt.
Many of the younger guys, like Donovan and Angelo, would jump at the opportunity to stand guard for Serena and Harper.
In barely two weeks, the two of them had won over every man they came across in my house.
“Do we need security?” Minnie asked.
“Yes. I won’t have Harper traveling without someone there to ensure she’ll be safe. It’s not a chance I’m willing to take,” I said.
“That’s fine.” Minnie shrugged. She pulled out her phone. “If we want a girls’ weekend, we can split the day.” She looked at Martina. “There is no such thing as too many people loving Harper.”
“I don’t like your son,” Martina said. “But I understand what it's like to have an idiot son. If mine was smarter, he’d have beaten Enzo to Serena, but,” Martina raised her hands, palms up, and shrugged, “we cannot help being stupid.”
“Yes, my son hasn’t made choices I’m particularly proud of.” Minnie sighed. “I got Serena and Harper in my life, so he isn’t all bad decisions. He clearly can make some good ones when the spirit moves him to.”
Martina rolled her eyes.
The door opened; Rafael and I were on our feet, guns in hand, in a second.
“Well, that’s a welcome,” Sylvester ‘Sly’ Vinci said as he walked into the room.
I glared at him as he walked around me and headed to his mother.
I hadn’t forgotten that Martina tried to set him up with Serena. He probably flirted with her, too.
A sharp jab in my ribs made me turn my glare to the cause.
Rafael leaned in and said, “Knock it off. He’s not here to steal your girl. She’s too smart for him.”
I sighed, rolling my shoulders to release the tension. Serena was too smart to fall for a pretty smile and flattering words.
“Why are you always following me?” Martina stood, hands on her hips. “I told you I don’t want you hovering.”
“It was either me or Dad. I doubt you wanted Dad to show up and make a big deal because you’re in a hotel room with another man.” He walked over and kissed her on the cheek.
“Did he miss that there was another woman,” she pointed to Minnie, “and two men who he knows. They’re your age.”
Sly shrugged and smiled. “You know he’s the jealous type.” He turned and nodded to Rafael and me.
“Fill me in on what this is so Flavio doesn’t come up here to shoot you.”
Martina slapped her son on the back of the head and went over to Minnie. “Here is my number. Text me. We can sort it all out.”
She came to me and kissed me on the cheek. “We’ll take care of her. You make sure you give Serena the night she deserves.”
Before she left, she turned to glare at her son. “Maybe, while you’re talking, you can ask him what it’s like to find a woman worthwhile and settle down. Instead of whoring yourself out.” She slammed the door behind her.
“She makes it sound like it’s a bad thing. There is nothing wrong with spreading the love,” Sly said, nabbing a cheese slice from the untouched platter.
Minnie stood up. “Well, this has been eventful. Martina and I will work everything out. Harper won’t miss a beat.” She sent a sweet smile my way. “Charles screwed up with Serena. Please give her everything my son wasn’t capable of.”
She left; the door closed quietly behind her.
“Fill me in,” Sly said.